Many Muslim feel lot of confusion regarding start of new lunar months and moon sightings.
For Allah, Allah has given special status to different days of the month and to different months of the year. Anyone doing Hajj on wrong day or keeping fast of Ramadhan during wrong month is unacceptable. Thus, it is important that we know what we are doing and on what days we are doing what. We cannot do Juma prayer on Jumarat neither we can do Ramadhan fasting in Shabaan (except Qiza). Thus, I am writing here with all good intention from what I know, to clear some confusion.
We should realise that moon night is the night when moon ‘can be seen’ with naked eyes after the sunset and then next day would be the first day of the new month.
[Note: According to sunnah, if moon cannot be sighted on 29 of Shabaan (or sighting cannot be verified by any means) then a Muslim should not fast but consider next day as 30 Shabaan. It is better (and recommended) not to fast on doubtful day (when possibility is that the day is either 1st ramadhan or 30 Shabaan) then to fast. Same goes regarding Ramadhan. (we should also note that to fast during the last days of Shaaban is also not allowed)
[Hadith: Bukhari
fasting not allowed during last days of Shaaban:
- Volume 3, Book 31, Number 138: * Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, “None of you should fast a day or two before the month of Ramadan unless he has the habit of fasting (Nawafil) (and if his fasting coincides with that day) then he can fast that day.”
(those are exempt from this hadith that fast regularly for instance on certain day/days and that day/days fall on last days of Shabaan (except 30 Shabaan, as fasting on 30 Shabaan is not allowed as for next hadith).
Fasting on doubtful day is not allowed .. that is 30 Shabaan, when there is confusion or not certainity on 29 Shabaan that next day is Ramadhan or not: That is, if it is 29 Shabaan then do not fast after that day, until moon is seen (that means ramadhan starts, as after 30 days, ramadhan starts anyhow, thus the hadith refers to 30 of Shabaan).
- Volume 3, Book 31, Number 131: * Narrated Abdullah bin Umar:
Allah’s Apostle said, “The month (can be) 29 nights (i.e. days), and do not fast till you see the moon, and if the sky is overcast, then complete Sha’ban as thirty days.”
We should remember that what Prophet (SAW) clearly asked us (or told us) not to do (as mentioned in above Hadiths) is considered as Haram]
Moon cannot be seen if moonset is before the sunset (if it is seen, that is almost impossible, still that would be immaterial, as moon need to be seen after the sunset). It is almost impossible to sight moon if moonset is just after the sunset. Normally, a 2 percent illumination of the moon is required though one thing is sure and that is, moon set should not be before sunset or should not be just after sunset (within few minutes).
One should remember that moon seen at a place far away place from where one is living is immaterial as our month starts according to this Allah made law, that is to sight the moon (or calculate the possibility of sighting the moon if possible) for new month to start, and we should follow the method Allah set for us. It is similar about salaat-e-fajar or salaat-e-maghrib etc. We cannot do fajar in USA when fajar time started in Pakistan or Saudia because fajar time is dependent on sunrise at that place. Same way we cannot start a month according to another far away country as month starts according to moon sighting (or possibility of moon sighting) at particular place.
Doing otherwise means going against the laws set by Allah and if done knowingly (or in situation when the person has the capability of questioning and knowing), that person would be answerable of their actions to Allah after death.
Now after knowing that, (if in doubt, especially when living in non-Muslim country, as in Muslim country, declaration of sighting becomes the responsibility of the state) one can verify moonset and sunset ourselves for satisfaction, as after death no one else would be answering for us (be they anyone). [Even in Muslim country, one should make sure about it if one can].
I am putting a site that is one of many I use for my own satisfaction (along with local newspaper that in west reports sunset time as well as moonset time, for all places in the world).
Site is:
Once on the site, put the name of the city you are in (you can use name of your country too). You will get number of cities, find yours and click on that. A new page would come. Go on Astronomy section (just scroll sown or it could be on extreme right hand side). Look at the date, than look below for ‘rise’ and ‘set’ column.
Two important times are for ‘Actual time (that is sun time, that is first row)’ and ‘moon’ (that is fifth or last row), then look at ‘set’ time for both.
If set time of moon is earlier then set time of sun (actual set time), then it is impossible to see the moon. Actually, even if moon set time is after sun set time, there are other parameters that is needed for moon to get sighted, though rough guide (not accurate) is that illumination should be enough (around 2 percent or so, sometime depending on angle, even 1 percent is enough) or that there is at least 20-25 or so minutes difference. Regardless, if moonset is after sunset by few minutes, theoretically it is possible to see the moon. (note: Moon only reflect sunlight and thus, in presence of sunlight or even strong twilight, it is impossible to see moon illumination.
On that site, you can change the date to see this time (sunset time and moonset time) for different dates (past or future).
For examples: Go for London-UK. Change the date to Friday 22nd Sept. Read the timing. Moonset time was 6-55 PM and sunset time was 7-00 PM. Thus, it was impossible to see moon on Friday 22nd Sept and thus, ramadhan could not have started on Saturday 23rd Sept.
Actually same is true regarding Mecca (sunset 6-17 PM, moonset 6-16 PM), Medina (sunset 6-17 PM, moonset 6-16 PM), Jeddah (sunset 6-20 PM, moonset 6-19 PM) or even Riyadh (sunset 5-49 PM, moonset 5-48 PM) and thus it was impossible for Ramahan to start on Saturday in Saudia on Saturday too (regardless of what Saudi government says).
[Note: Moon will be always there before the sunset, though before the start of new lunar month (moon-night), moonset would be before sunset, could be hours before sunset, so sighting moon before sunset is immaterial for new lunar month to start. What I know, new moon is born when moonrise is after sunrise (first time moonrise passes sunrise (anywhere in the world), then it is considered as new moon is born) that is during around fajar time and it is nothing to do with start of lunar month].