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[quote]Assalaamu-Alaykum.

Dear Khusro,

It is a pleasure to respond to your query because you have read and understood the article 'Beginning Ramadaan 1425' and the statement 'the Islamic month cannot begin on the same gregorian date throughout the world'.

[Congratulations on using your skills of comprehension]

It appears to be a contradiction if one uses a generalization and applies the above statements to all lunar months.

There are a few rare exceptions when the instant of conjunction (birth of the moon) takes place near and west of the international date line (IDL) and the first visibility of the young crescent occurs almost 24 hours later.

In the case of the Ramadaan 1425 conjunction, this occured at longitude 144 E, which is 36 degrees west of the IDL (a difference of 2 hours 24 minutes) and visibility was predicted for areas west of the Americas. This was the exception.

Conjunction occurs at various longitudes (north and south of the equator) throughout the globe.

One works west from the point of conjunction to try and best predict the area where the youngest visible crescent may be observed, and if the prediction of visibility is anywhere near the IDL then the lunar month should enjoy the same gregorian dates throughout the world.

As I have said, this is a rare occasion.

There are occasions when conjunction occurs east of the IDL and first visibility occurs in the western parts of Africa.

In most instances, the beginning of the lunar month would span three gregorian dates around the world because one Islamic day consists of two gregorian dates.

As a matter of interest the following are the longitudinal points of conjunction (topocentric) for the next 12 months :-

12/11/2004 : 55.2 W
12/12/2004 : 147.9 E
10/01/2005 : 20.8 E
08/02/2005 : 111.3 W
10/03/2005 : 81.2 E
08/04/2005 : 122.0 W
08/05/2005 : 26.5 E
07/06/2005 : 166.7 W
06/07/2005 : 16.7 E
05/08/2005 : 178.5 W
03/09/2005 : 60.2 W
03/10/2005 : 28.2 E

My apologies if I was the cause of any confusion.

Thank you, Khusro.

Wassalaam.

Abdurrazak Ebrahim (Dr)

ebrahimsenior@ctrs.co.za

Cape Town.[/quote]

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