Sight vs. Science: The Competing Epistemologies Behind Eid Dates
By Nabeel Ahmad
On the eve of 25th May this year, moon-sighting committees gathered across various locations in India and declared the day on which Eid would be observed. In Jammu & Kashmir, the moon was sighted, and Eid-ul-Adha was confirmed on 27th May. In most other states, the moon was not sighted, and the Eid day was pushed to 28 May by default. In Kerala, which follows its own moon-sighting committee, Eid al-Adha was observed on both days, as the government declared both May 27 and May 28 public holidays. The federal government, which initially scheduled Eid’s public holiday on the 27th, revised its calendar to the 28th two days before the festival.
This did not happen for the first time; rather, it is a confusion that persists every year. Not an administrative or coordination failure, it is a theological debate that goes back 1,400 years. Islamic months begin and end with the lunar cycle. But the question remains the same: how to determine when the cycle starts?
The Argument That is Not Settled
Three schools of thought, Hanafi, Hanbali, and Maliki, believe that adjacent nations should have the same sighting, and remote countries, like the East and West, should have their own.
The new month begins only when the crescent moon is physically sighted by reliable witnesses under a local sky. This is the ru’yah (sighting) tradition. Over 1400 years of Islamic literature overwhelmingly favour physical crescent sighting exclusively. No traditional scholar accepted the astronomical computations. Only 4-5 recent scholars advocate conditional computation (only when foggy) – never as a substitute for eyesight. The opposing position holds that modern astronomical calculation is precise, universally verifiable, and more reliable than the human eye, which can be affected by weather, geography, and visibility. If science can predict the moon’s position to the minute, why wait to look for it?
Both positions have centuries of scholarly support within Islamic jurisprudence. The debate has been ongoing since at least the 10th century and involves foundational questions about how to interpret Hadith, the role of scientific reasoning in religious practice, and the limits of scholarly consensus.
Why India Feels It Most
These disputes are resolved in most countries with a Muslim majority by a central religious authority, such as a Supreme Court verdict, a statement by a Ministry of Religious Affairs, or a decision by a Grand Mufti, binding on the national level. Saudi Arabia declares Eid, and the whole country celebrates Eid. A Mufti in Morocco makes a call for the Eid, and the people observe it on the date.
India does not have any such system, nor can it have one constitutionally. India is a secular country without a state religion, and there is no one Islamic authority with national jurisdiction. The Imarat-e-Sharia, located in Patna, issues its fatwa for Bihar and the neighbouring states. The Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Delhi, releases his own. In Hyderabad, the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee of Sadar Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Deccan convenes each Islamic month to observe the crescent. Even at the district level, moon-sighting committees in Kerala work independently of each other, let alone with the committees in the north. This results in the celebration of the same festival on different days in a country that has the second-largest Muslim population.
The moon rises on the same night for everyone. But whether it signals the start of a new month is still, respectfully, a question that different authorities at different locations answer on their own terms.