Sighting the moon: What’s wrong with the moon?

There it is

An open letter to “amateur astronomers” in the Muslim World: Did the moon break? Why is Eid such a mystery?

This Eid, we were forced to check websites and scramble on phones, giving Ma Bell our hard earned money to figure out what the collective “wisdom” had seen. One can’t help but think of the children’s fable The Emperor’s New Clothes as we feel obligated to see what others claim to see.

I am reminded of the church in 16th century Europe. The church was in disarray as to how the calendar would work. They couldn’t figure out Christmas, Easter and other important dates. A Polish scientist named Nicolas Copernicus proposed heresy in suggesting the Sun was the center of the galaxy rather than the earth. While this was a blasphemous thing to say (and later folks were excommunicated and burned to death for espousing it), it did make the calendar work. Now, no one actually believed the earth was the center of the universe � doing so would be wrong. But by pretending this was the case, the calendar worked! And just who were the folks making these pronouncements? Well-meaning, very schooled, religious folks who had reached high positions within the church.

Think about it: a group fond of burning witches and disemboweling folks in the name of God were clear-headed enough to recognize science might have something useful for them.

So what do we have today?

Well meaning, very schooled, religious folks who have reached high positions within the Ummah have concocted a mish-mash of pseudo-authorities conversing on the finer points of how a new moon should be seen/not seen/has been/has not been seen. Caught in this melee is our Ummah. Now, for reasons of stubborn reasoning, it seems some will demand the word of Saudi reigns supreme. Others say that a group in Chicago knows best. I’ll give them the upper hand on pizza � but astronomy? Others still will counter that a preponderance of evidence must be weighed, debated in a committee and voted upon. Yeah, votes.

Tell ya what. I got a cute little bunny rabbit here at my desk. We’ll take a vote on its sex. Some will vote male, others will vote female. Note how very democratic we are in the way we do this. All these very smart folks deciding on this rabbit. Here’s the problem: it doesn’t make one bit of difference to the rabbit! God made the decision before we came around and well meaning, very schooled, religious folks debating will neither change the facts, nor the science of making proper observations.

So every year during Ramadan the Laws of Science are ignored. The calculations of the moon position can be determined to the second along with sight lines, daylight reflectivity and other factors that could affect the ability of a person on earth seeing the moon. Despite the rise and fall of the tides and the setting of the evening sun, during Ramadan the moon must be broken. If a Muslim doesn’t see a new moon � it can’t exist. If we ignore all other signs of a moon, ignore timetables, ignore science, then certainly, the moon must be broken. Similarly, if a person claims to see the fleeting instance of a hair-thin sliver moon in a bright sky in Mudsuck, Nebraska � well, OK then!

Perhaps a moonsighting on Wednesday, November 2, could have been done if you were hanging out by a statue in Rapa Nui, or if you had a 40X telescope in Johannesburg – maybe. Either way, if you were north of the equator you didn’t see it. The Laws of Nature and Science are the Laws of God and those who said they saw it need to be brought to task.

So was it a crusty Bedouin peering from under a date tree in Saudi? Was a hungry uncle in Chicago? Was it a practical joke by some pranksters?

Whoever decided to act on this fable, clearly the decision was arbitrary. Which brings us to another point: why for the love of God, do you have to wait until late at night to make this kind of arbitrary decision? If you want to rely on rumor to determine a sighting, why not look at the astronomical tables and be done with it right now?

Listen, do the whole Ummah a favor: stop pretending to be astronomers. You’re embarrassing to folks who are. Given the Islamic involvement in mathematics, physics and astronomy, your ridiculous attempts are driving the rest of the Muslim world nuts. Let’s also agree a committee is a poor substitute for science. God wrote the laws of nature long before he helped codify our faith in the blessed Qur’an, so let’s use them, OK? The notion of abandoning science in favor of dusty, ill-translated pseudo-hadith when light pollution was a campfire in a desert is just stupid.

Maybe you don’t have to believe that science could be right, but it does make the calendar work pretty well.

PS: For those who care, Eid ul-Fitr will be October 22, 2006, 05:14 UT.

Omar Ahmad is a Silicon Valley-based technology entrepreneur.