The month of Ramadan is starting today here in Santa Clara. May be in other parts of California (and USA) too. The folks at Muslim Community Association (MCA), where I go to pray, have decided unanimously to go by the calculation method for determining the beginning of the months of Ramadan and Shawwal. They cited and endorsed the joint Fatwa of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) on the issue. So, we knew two weeks back that Ramadan will be starting from 13th September. Of course there is other view on this matter which calls for either manual sighting or wait for 30 days to start a new month. It is a hot debate within the Muslim community with persuasive arguments on both the sides. It has led to people celebrating Eid on different days even in the same city in North America.
Personally I feel one of the problems with pre-calculated dates for Ramadan and Eid is that it takes away all the excitement and suspense. May be that is just the way I have been brought up. Hilal (moon) sighting was a community affair and as kids we had lots of fun. There is this beautiful couplet on this event:
maah-e-nau dekhne tum chhat pe na jaanaa hargiz
log shahr meN Eid kii taariiKh badal deNge
Do not go on the terrace to sight the new moon at all
People in the city would change the day of Eid
Anyway, I don’t see this pre-calculated method being implemented in India anytime soon. In my small village there are many Muslims who would not celebrated Eid till they have seen the moon by their very eyes!
My last Ramadan in Corvallis, Oregon were really bad. I had just joined MBA program and all my three hour classes from Monday to Thursday were in evening. Iftar time used to come dot in the middle of the class. I tried for the first few days but then my weaknesses, physical and spiritual, overpowered me and I discontinued. I observed the fast on the last day of Ramadan as a token but overall it was a pretty bad Ramadan and Eid for me. I have regularly observed fasts since I first started observing them as a kid in class 6th. I still remember the day of my roza-kushai (the first fast) vividly. After that, last year was the first discontinuity. I think I left one fast in class 9th for our class picnic but that was about it.
So, I have lots of hope this year. The community here in Santa Clara is great. When we went for the isha prayers, there was no parking space available in the big MCA parking lot or anywhere nearby. There would be at least a couple of thousand people coming to pray isha and then the tarawih after that.
I plan to blog my experience of observing fasts during the month of Ramadan. insha Allah.
