Works of Abul Baraa Muhamad Amreeki

All the praises is for Allah the Lord of the Worlds and peace and blessings be upon His Chosen Messenger Muhammad and upon his family and his companions all of them.

   By the Student of Knowledge, Shaykh Abdurrahman Murad هداه الله 

In’na li’laahi wa ‘in’na e’laihi ra’jioon…once again…these obscure reports surface…to ruin the unity of Muslims! So I’ve decided to analyze this entire ‘report’ a-z. “It says…” refers to the words of a ‘learned scholar’ who hates Saudi…as for the comment, that’s from me.

It says: Moon sighting results for Saudi Arabia, Wed, 24 Sep 2014 / 29 Zhul Qa’dah 1435
وقت الرصد: بعد غروب الشمس. لم تتم رؤية الهلال: ذكر عضو المشروع المهندس قمر الدين من مدينة Dammam في محافظة Eastern Province ان السماء (نسبة الغيم) كانت صافية والحالة الجوية كانت مغبرة أو ضباب ولم تتم رؤية الهلال بالعين المجردة ولم تتم رؤية الهلال بالمنظار ولم تتم رؤية الهلال بالمرقب ولم يتم تحري الهلال باستخدام السي سي دي كاميرا
Time of observation: After sunset. Not Seen: ICOP member Eng. Qamar Uddin from Dammam City in Eastern Province State mentioned that the sky was clear, the atmospheric condition was hazy, the crescent was not seen by naked eye, the crescent was not seen by binocular, the crescent was not seen by telescope, the crescent was not sought by CCD Imaging

Comment: It is made to appear here that this ‘committee’ for sighting the moon is an official one. It is as well made to appear that there was no sighting in Saudi! This report, if true, (as there is no indication where it was taken from) only indicates the view of one individual: Eng. Qamar Uddin. Who is left intentionally ‘unknown’…who is he? What is his religious condition? How strong is his eye-sight? How well is he mentally and physically? Allah A’lam! But we have to blindly accept this report without any reservations…because it is from Eng. Qamar Uddin.

It says: I was told that none of the official Hilal Committee Members were able to sight the hilal either, but the court has accepted the claims of a few early-sighters from near Riyadh (Shaqra/Sudair), even though the moon was not expected to be sighted anywhere in the whole world on that evening.

Comment: This is highly questionable and most unlikely! Who was this official that Eng. Qamar Uddin spoke to? What is his name…is he really on that committee?

On the contrary…if you look at the official reports they actually indicate that the crescent was sighted by the official committees, and by individuals in various parts of the country. The Shari’ah courts then reviewed these reports and they then concurred that they were correct and that the sightings had taken place (this is conducted by people with a scientific background…no bogus methods)…the courts then verified the people who sighted the crescent and then indicated further: وقد ثبت الرؤية بعدد من الشهود العدول
i.e. it was sighted by a number of trustworthy witnesses.

It says: I should also mention that the Saudi scholars strictly follow the Fiqh ruling of Ikhtilaf-Matale (difference of horizons) and hence they do not accept any sighting reports from outside their country. They also advise all neighbouring and foreign countries to follow their own respective sightings and not that of Saudi Arabia, even for fasting on the “Day of Arafah”!

Comment: This statement is preposterous, its as though with this, they want to sum up the entire issue and legitimize what they are doing! The statement here is erroneous as well…’Saudi scholars strictly follow…’ I disagree with this completely as this is not the case, some scholars do take by this view and others take by the view of the global sighting. Due to the area in which Saudi is situated, in that Umm al-Qura is located there, it is usually easier to sight the moon in the Arabian Peninsula as opposed to other areas in the world.
As for ‘advising’ neighboring countries to follow their own sightings…even for the fasting of Arafah…this is unheard of! The scholars of Saudi don’t give fatwa based on the Sykes-Picot agreement! The local area/region in Shari’ah is one that breaks these boundaries, if you take by the view of local sightings…a local area would include many, many countries!

It says: The Saudi Arabian authorities have positively declared that our pilgrims must celebrate Wuquf at Arafat on the 8th day of Dhul-Hijjah, which means on 3rd October. Eid is to be celebrated on the 9th day, 4th October. In endorsing these dates – based on false testimony – they confirm their deeply rooted contempt both for Science and for Sharia. We vouch for this before God and before men.

Comment: The deep contempt found in these words are simply profound…beyond words! A’oodthubillah…contempt for both science and Shari’ah…does it mean that Eng. Qamar Uddin is more knowledgable or has more insight. Mind you Eng. Qamar Uddin is only sighting the moon as a hobby, in his spare time. Furthermore, how well does Eng. Qamar Uddin know his stuff…is he looking in the right direction or area of the sky? What if he is looking in the wrong area? Truth be told…Saudi has a generation of seasoned scholars and ‘moon-sighters’ who only sight the moon.
Wallahi its things like this that ruin our unity! When you point a finger of blame towards scholars and mistreat them and issue ignorant statements of this nature…what a difference there is between one who says,
‘well I respectfully disagree, I take by the other opinion….’

and one who says: ‘endorsing these dates based on false testimony’.

A’oodthubillah! People who issue statements like this will face Allah and then be judged for the words they utter!

Brothers and sisters…don’t allow Satan to make you an agent of disunity…let’s unite together with our Huj’jaj and celebrate the Eid on a global unified day! Allah Akbar!

Brothers and sisters with all the ‘Fitnah’ occurring within our local communities in Canada about the announcement of Saudi in relation to the beginning of the month of Hajj…I’ve decided to write this post…to clarify this matter to my beloved brothers and sisters the source of the problem. I’ve patiently listened to all the evidence provided by the brothers who indicate that Saudi is wrong…and it boils down to:

a. ICO project and moonsighting.com and other similar websites have indicated that it is impossible to sight the moon in Saudi…yet they were able to sight it. The conclusion, the Saudi sighting is false, and is based on false testimony.
b. The Ulama of Saudi are coerced into agreeing with the political leaders, as the issue of moonsighting has now become a game of politics.
c. We should follow local moonsightings even for Hajj.

So how do we view this? Well, the most glaring argument is the first, as many have dwelled on this point repetitively…the question that we want to answer is the following: “If it is indicated that sighting the moon in Saudi will be difficult or almost impossible and then in that said country the moon is sighted…do we reject that moon-sighting?” According to these Imams (local and abroad) the answer to this is ‘yes’…or at least you should heavily doubt it…we should “respectfully” denounce it and do our own thing. This is where the command of the Prophet, may Allah praise him, really plays an important role…he said:
إنا أمة أمية لا نكتب ولا نحسب الشهر هكذا وهكذا
Meaning: Indeed we are an unlettered nation (in relation to affirming the beginning and ending of Hijri months), we neither calculate this matter nor write it down…a month may be 29 days or 30 days.
This Hadeeth is very clear…it should be what we stop at and apply.

Shockingly…what is visible from the attitudes of people today, is that science and the websites of moonsighting.com and icoproject are impeccable sources of “wahi” that never make an error or mistake! And they are then ready to discredit any sighting based on these websites…this is a huge error. In essence, without realizing it…they discredit the Hadeeth of the Prophet, may Allah praise him!
I personally have contacted the committee of رصد الهلال (sighting the moon) and they have affirmed that it was sighted. I also spoke to Sh. Khalid al-Eid, who sent me this confirmation:
وعليكم السلام…نعم ثبتت الرؤية في كثير من مناطق المملكة وتم الإعلان عن دخول الشهر ووقوف عرفة الجمعة وعيد الأضحى المبارك السبت إن شاء الله
Meaning: Wa Alaikum as-Salam, YES the crescent was sighted in numerous locations across Saudi, and the announcement (for the beginning of Dhul-Hijjah) was announced in accordance to these sightings. The day of Arafah will be this Friday and Eid al-Adha will be Saturday, Inshallah.

No scholars have been coerced, no arm twisting and no political agenda.

As for the last point…I’ve addressed it (the Fiqh issue) in detail in a previous post…may Allah give us success in this life and in the next…Ameen!