Category: Ramadan

The Scottish Hilal Forum (SHF) has announced Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr dates for 2024 under the supervision of Ulama in line with agreed Islamic criteria and including data from Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (British Observatory).

Based on the agreed criteria:

The first day of Ramadan 2024/1445هـ will be on Monday, 11 March 2024

and

Eid ul-Fitr 2024/1445هـ will be on Wednesday, 10 April 2024, in sha Allah.

The Muslim community in Scotland has faced confusion for many years regarding the starting of Ramadan and Eid. This has resulted in severe difficulties for students, employees and the self-employed who could not take time off from work or from educational institutions due to the wait for last minute confirmation of Eid day.

SHF, by Ulama agreeing on Islamic and Scientific criteria, has been able to announce the required dates ahead of time, allowing the community to plan ahead while keeping united.

Scottish Hilal Forum agreed that the Shara’i new month is ascertained if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. The conjunction must have occurred in the UK (birth of new moon).
2. The moonset must occur after sunset in the UK.
3. The visibility of moon must fall either in Category A or B or C for either Makkah, or any city in the UK or any city in Australia, Asia, Europe or Americas.
4. The city that is chosen in the regions/ counties mentioned above in the point 3 for the start of Hijri month must be same for the end of Hijri month.

Ramadan 2024/1445هـ

We can safely determine Monday, 11 March 2024 as the first day of Ramadan 2024/1445هـ.

According to Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), the visibility falls in the category ‘C’ for some countries on 10th of March 2024:

	Saturday, 9 Mar 2024			Sunday, 10 Mar 2024
City	Visibility	Lag time (minutes)		Visibility	Lag time (minutes)
Makkah				F	13
Rabat				F	21
Cape Town – S Africa				F	15
Dakar – Senegal				F	23
New York				F	36
San Diego, California				C	43
Santiago, Chile				F	24
London				F	19
Glasgow				F	20

Eid ul-Fitr 2024/1445هـ

Similarly, we can safely determine Wednesday, 10 April 2024 as the 1^st of Shawwal 1445هـ. 

According to Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), the visibility falls in category ‘A’ on 9th April 2024 for most of the cities/ countries listed below:

	Monday, 8 April 2024			Tuesday, 9 April 2024
City	Visibility	Lag time (minutes)		Visibility	Lag time (minutes)
Makkah				A	52
Rabat	F	-3		A	69
Cape Town – S Africa				F	25
Dakar – Senegal	F	-2		A	58
New York	F	12		A	90
San Diego, California	F	19		A	90
Santiago, Chile	F	-1		B	34
London	F	-4		A	86
Glasgow	F	-3		A	95

It should be noted that the moon will be born on 8^th April 2024 but according to the British Observatory, it will be in Category ‘F’ for the cities/ countries listed above, which means it will not be visible even with the help of a telescope

The Scottish Hilal Forum (SHF) has announced Ramadan and Eid dates for 2022 under the supervision of Ulama in line with agreed Islamic criteria and including data from Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (British Observatory).

Based on the agreed criteria:

The first day of Ramadan 2022/1443هـ will be on Sunday, 3 April 2022

and

Eid ul-Fitr 2022/1443هـ will be on Monday, 2 May 2022, insha Allah.

The Muslim community in Scotland has faced confusion for many years regarding the starting of Ramadan and Eid. This has resulted in severe difficulties for students, employees and the self-employed who could not take time off from work or from educational institutions due to the wait for last minute confirmation of Eid day.

SHF, by Ulama agreeing on Islamic and Scientific criteria, has been able to announce the required dates ahead of time, allowing the community to plan ahead while keeping united.

Scottish Hilal Forum agreed that the Shara’i new month is ascertained if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. The conjunction must have actually occurred.
2. The moonset follows sunset.
3. The visibility falls either in Category A or B or C for either Makkah, or any city in the UK or any city in North, North West, West, South and South West African countries.
4. The city that is chosen in the regions/ counties mentioned above in the point 3 for the start of Hijri month must be same for the end of Hijri month.

Ramadan 2022/1443هـ

We can safely determine Sunday, 3 April 2022 as the first day of Ramadan 2022/1443هـ.

According to Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), the visibility falls in category ‘A’ for many countries on 2^nd of April 2022:

	Friday, 1 Apr 2022			Saturday, 2 Apr 2022
City	Visibility	Lag time (minutes)		Visibility	Lag time (minutes)
Makkah	F	17		A	70
Rabat	F	23		A	83
Cape Town – South Africa	F	22		A	51
Dakar – Senegal	F	25		A	75
Accra – Ghana	F	23		A	70
Freetown – Sierra Leone	F	25		A	72
London	F	20		A	94
Glasgow	F	20		A	99

It should be noted that the moon will be born on 1^st April 2022 but according to the British Observatory, it will be in Category ‘F’ for the cities/ countries listed above, which means it will be below the Danjon limit, not visible even with the help of a telescope.

Eid ul-Fitr 2022/1443هـ

Similarly, we can safely determine Monday, 2 May 2022 as the 1^st of Shawwal 1443هـ. 

According to Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), the visibility falls in categories ‘B’, or ‘C’ on 1^st May 2022 for most of the cities/ countries listed below:

	Saturday, 30 Apr 2022			Sunday, 1 May 2022
City	Visibility	Lag time (minutes)		Visibility	Lag time (minutes)
Makkah				C	38
Rabat				B	49
Cape Town – South Africa				F	26
Dakar – Senegal				B	44
Accra – Ghana				C	40
Freetown – Sierra Leone				B	42
London				C	58
Glasgow				D	63

The Scottish Hilal Forum (SHF) has announced Ramadan and Eid dates for 2021 under the supervision of Ulama in line with agreed Islamic criteria and including data from Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (British Observatory).

Based on the agreed criteria:

The first day of Ramadan 2021/1442هـ will be on Wednesday, 14 April 2021

and

Eid ul-Fitr 2021/1442هـ will be on Thursday, 13 May 2021, insha Allah.

The Muslim community in Scotland has faced confusion for many years regarding the starting of Ramadan and Eid. This has resulted in severe difficulties for students, employees and the self-employed who could not take time off from work or from educational institutions due to the wait for last minute confirmation of Eid day.

SHF, by Ulama agreeing on Islamic and Scientific criteria, has been able to announce the required dates ahead of time, allowing the community to plan ahead while keeping united.

Scottish Hilal Forum agreed that the Shara’i new month is ascertained if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. The conjunction must have actually occurred.
2. The moonset follows sunset.
3. The visibility falls either in Category A or B or C for either Makkah, or any city in the UK or any city in North, North West, West, South and South West African countries.
4. The city that is chosen in the regions/ counties mentioned above in the point 3 for the start of Hijri month must be same for the end of Hijri month.

Ramadan 2021/1442هـ

We can safely determine Wednesday, 14 April 2021 as the first day of Ramadan 2021/1442هـ.

According to Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), the visibility falls in category ‘A’ for many countries on 13^th of April 2021:

	Monday, 12 Apr 2021			Tuesday, 13 Apr 2021
City	Visibility	Lag time (minutes)		Visibility	Lag time (minutes)
Makkah	F	23		A	72
Rabat	F	29		A	84
Cape Town – South Africa	F	28		A	57
Dakar – Senegal	E	31		A	78
Accra – Ghana	F	29		A	73
Freetown – Sierra Leone	E	30		A	75
London	F	26		A	93
Glasgow	F	26		A	98

It should be noted that the moon will be born on 12^th April 2021 but according to the British Observatory, it will be in Category ‘F’ for the cities/ countries listed above, which means it will be below the Danjon limit, not visible even with the help of a telescope.

Eid ul-Fitr 2021/1442هـ

Similarly, we can safely determine Thursday, 13 May 2021 as the1^st of Shawwal 1442هـ. 

According to Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), the visibility falls in categories ‘B’, or ‘C’ on 12^th May 2021 for most of the cities/ countries listed below:

	Tuesday, 11 May 2021			Wednesday, 12 May 2021
City	Visibility	Lag time (minutes)		Visibility	Lag time (minutes)
Makkah				C	39
Rabat	F	-8		C	49
Cape Town – South Africa				F	31
Dakar – Senegal	F	-3		B	46
Accra – Ghana				B	42
Freetown – Sierra Leone	F	-3		B	44
London	F	-14		D	54
Glasgow	F	-15		E	57

It should be noted that the moon will be born on 11 May 2021 but according to the British Observatory, it will be in Category ‘F’ for the cities/ countries listed above, which means it will be below the Danjon limit, not visible even with the help of a telescope.

The Muslim community in Scotland has faced confusion for a number of years with regard to determining the start of Ramadan and Eid dates. This resulted in severe difficulties for students, employees in the public and private sector and even the self-employed.

Most Muslims falling in one or the other of these categories have not been able to take a day off from work or from their educational institutions to celebrate Eid due to receiving last minute confirmation as to the date of the Eid day. Even the self-employed, such as shopkeepers could not inform their suppliers and customers in advance as to which day they would be closed due to last minute decision on Eid dates. As a result many in the community suffer anxiety and uncertainty due to the supposed unpredictability of important religious festivals such as Eid.

This situation arises because sighting of the new moon is mostly not possible in Scotland due to the weather conditions and Scotland’s northern location on the globe. Traditionally, groups of Islamic Scholars, Imams and mosque committees often have to wait until the last minute of the last night of the Islamic month to receive sighting reports from Middle Eastern and African countries before they could announce the first day of Ramadan and Eid. The disagreements among decision makers to follow the moon sighting report from either one or the other country often led the Muslims residing even next door to each other in Scotland, to start their Ramadan and celebrate their Eid on different days. The decision makers did not take advantage of the most advanced scientific knowledge and astronomical calculations available to them, either due to their own lack of understanding, or due to mistrust of the available scientific data.

The scholars of Islamic Law (Shari’ah) have been striving, during recent years, to find a solution to these issues in the light of Islamic principles and additionally benefiting from astronomical calculations. All this in order to reach a consensus for determining the dates for the start and end of Ramadan and thereby creating unity on these dates among Muslims living in this part of the world, as a solution to our problem of reliable determination of the dates of Ramadan start and Eid.

The Scottish Hilal Forum (SHF) is pleased to announce the following conclusion under the supervision of Ulama from various backgrounds. They will use Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (British Observatory) calculations leading to six levels of visibility of moon as follows:
A. Easily visible
B. Visible under perfect conditions
C. May need optical aid to find the crescent Moon
D. Will need optical aid to find the crescent Moon
E. Not visible with a telescope
F. Not visible, below the Danjon limit

By using this grading as per the observatory, the following criteria were agreed:

1) The conjunction must have occurred
2) The moonset follows sunset
3) The visibility of the moon falls either in Category A or B or C for either Makkah, or any city in the UK or any city in North West, West, South and South West African countries.
4) The city that is chosen in the regions/ counties mentioned above in the point 3 for the start of Ramadan must be same for the end of Ramadan.

On the basis of this agreed criteria: Insha Allah

The first day of Ramadan 2017/1438 AH will be on Saturday 27th of May.
The Eid Al’fitr will be on Sunday the 25th of June 2017/1438AH.

NOTE: The SHF has already presented these criteria to various mosques and Madrassas. However, the SHF is willing to make detailed presentation on these criteria anywhere throughout Scotland via Skype or other available methods. We pray to Allah almighty for the unity and facility of the Muslim community in Scotland, Ameen.