New Crescent Society
We have received news that Saudi Arabia have 'seen' the moon. If this is the case, the we are shocked.
To reiterate - the moon was less than 6 hours old, at an altitude less than 1 degree. This is not possible to 'see' in any sense of the word. To have' seen' this moon would have constituted a world record. More likely of course - it is another case of a false Saudi sighting report. We report this with much sadness.
We did say that we did not think Saudi would 'sight' this moon in our blog. This is because, even with our experience and our consultants (with over 30 years of experience), we thought that the Kingdom would not break their own internal rules of reporting a moon sighting that has less than one degree altitude on the horizon at sunset.
Please see the map below which shows the moon will not be visible anywhere in the inhabited world. This also accords with the statement issued by Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office earlier today.
For those who follow local sightings, we will be fasting tomorrow, and going out to sight the moon on Tuesday.
As ever, the New Crescent Society advocates a UK Islamic Calendar based on UK Sighting. We can only avoid these troubles by ceasing to rely on word from abroad.
Warm regards and Salams
New Crescent Society
Eid Mubarak, whenever you are celebrating.
