How is it possible for Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar to start on Monday in some countries but on Tuesday in others?
The factors that cause the Ramadam timing are varied.
The exact timings depend on when local Islamic authorities around the world declare the sighting of the new moon, the astronomical event that marks the start of the observance.
The reasons for the variation from place to place are studied and reported.
The basics
Islamic countries, and Muslims around the world, use the traditional Hijri calendar to mark religious events. Each month of that calendar begins with the sighting of the early crescent moon, and the holy month of Ramadan begins at the start of the ninth month.
These customs go back centuries. But the exact start time of Ramadan varies from place to place because it depends on a range of factors, including who observes the moon and how, and whether the sky is clear or cloudy at the time.
That explains why Saudi Arabia declared that Ramadan would start on Monday after reporting a sighting of the crescent moon on Sunday, but also why nneighbouringOman reported the same day that the moon was not yet visible. As a result, the two countries will begin their Ramadan celebrations about 24 hours apart. The authorities in Iran, like Oman, have also declared Tuesday to be the official start of the holy month.
In Southeast Asia, Islamic authorities in several countries said over the weekend that they, too, would observe Ramadan from Tuesday, not Monday, after unsuccessful moon sightings. That gave millions of people across the region, including Indonesia, the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population, an extra day to prepare.
‘A challenging mission’
Astronomers have argued for centuries about what constitutes a crescent moon sighting, according to a recent study in the journal Scientific Reports, which explored how artificial intelligence and machine learning could help predict the moon’s visibility.
New technologies make moon readings more accurate, but they can also make the process more complex, the study said. For instance, does it count as an official sighting if a new crescent moon can be seen by an optical aid but not by the naked eye?
“Deciding on the start of Ramadan has always been a challenging mission, and, as a result, not all Muslims start Ramadan synchronously,” the study’s authors wrote.
In Islamic countries, national guidance helps ensure that Muslims are on the same Ramadan timetable. In other places, the timing can depend on which religious guidance residents follow. This year, for example, the Fiqh Council of North America chose Monday, while the Council of Shia Muslim Scholars of North America chose Tuesday.
Other variables
It isn’t just the start date of Ramadan that varies from place to place. The exact amount of time that people hold their dawn-to-dusk fasts depends on which year it is, and where they live in relation to the Equator.
Because the Hijri calendar is about 11 days shorter than the 365-day-ish Gregorian calendar, the month of Ramadan moves around every year in Gregorian terms. That means the fasting day in the Northern Hemisphere will get shorter between now and 2031 when Ramadan coincides with the winter solstice, Al Jazeera reported. In the Southern Hemisphere, it will grow incrementally longer over the same period.
As for location, latitude matters because it determines the timing of local sunrise and sunset. Muslims who live close to the Equator, where the length of a day changes less from season to season, can expect a relatively consistent fasting schedule each year. For those living at extreme northern or southern latitudes, there is a lot more variation.
That helps explain why, in some parts of Scandinavia, Muslims observe Ramadan fasts based on the time in Mecca, thousands of miles away. If they didn’t, depending on when the holiday fell in a given year, they would either be fasting for most of the day, or barely at all.
齋戒月在不同地點不同時間開始的原因
穆斯林曆法中最神聖的月份齋月為何在某些國家從星期一開始，而在其他國家則從星期二開始？
造成齋戒月時間的因素是多元的。
確切的時間取決於世界各地伊斯蘭當局宣布看到新月的時間，新月是標誌著紀念活動開始的天文事件。
研究並報告了各地差異的原因。
基礎
伊斯蘭國家和世界各地的穆斯林使用傳統的回曆來標記宗教活動。 這曆法的每個月都以新月的出現開始，而齋戒月則從九月初開始。
這些習俗可以追溯到幾個世紀前。 但齋戒月的確切開始時間因地而異，因為這取決於一系列因素，包括誰觀察月亮以及如何觀察月亮，以及當時天空是晴朗還是多雲。
這解釋了為什麼沙烏地阿拉伯在周日報告看到新月後宣布齋月將於週一開始，也解釋了為什麼鄰國阿曼在同一天報告說還看不到月亮。 因此，兩國將相隔約24小時開始齋戒月慶祝活動。 伊朗當局和阿曼一樣，也宣布週二為聖月的正式開始。
在東南亞，一些國家的伊斯蘭當局在周末表示，在觀測月球失敗後，他們也將從週二而不是周一開始慶祝齋戒月。 這給了該地區數百萬人的準備時間，其中包括印尼這個世界上穆斯林人口最多的國家。
“一項具有挑戰性的任務”
根據《科學報告》雜誌最近的一項研究，幾個世紀以來，天文學家一直在爭論新月觀測的組成，該研究探討了人工智慧和機器學習如何幫助預測月球的可見度。
研究稱，新技術使月球讀數更加準確，但也使過程更加複雜。 例如，如果透過光學設備可以看到新月，但肉眼卻看不到，這是否算是官方目擊呢？
研究的作者寫道：“決定齋月的開始一直是一項具有挑戰性的任務，因此，並非所有穆斯林都同步開始齋月。”
在伊斯蘭國家，國家指導有助於確保穆斯林遵循相同的齋戒月時間表。 在其他地方，具體時間可能取決於居民遵循的宗教指導。 例如，今年，北美伊斯蘭教法理事會選擇了周一，而北美甚葉派穆斯林學者理事會則選擇了周二。
其他變數
各地不同的不僅是齋戒月的開始日期。 人們從黎明到黃昏禁食的確切時間取決於年份以及他們居住的地方相對於赤道的位置。
由於回曆比 365 天左右的公曆短約 11 天，因此以公曆計算，齋戒月每年都會變動。 根據半島電視台報道，這意味著從現在到 2031 年，當齋月與冬至重合時，北半球的禁食日將會縮短。 在南半球，它會在同一時期逐漸增長。
至於位置，緯度很重要，因為它決定了當地日出和日落的時間。 居住在赤道附近的穆斯林，那裡一天的長度隨季節變化較小，每年的禁食時間相對一致。 對於那些生活在極端北緯或南緯的人來說，有更多的變化。
這有助於解釋為什麼在斯堪的納維亞半島的某些地區，穆斯林根據千里之外的麥加的時間來遵守齋戒。 如果他們不這樣做，根據一年中假期的時間，他們要么在一天的大部分時間裡禁食，要么幾乎不禁食。
Source: NYT
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