Q. Sighting of the new moon to determine the start of lunar months, particularly Ramadan and Shawwal, is a problem in the countries of the Indian subcontinent. This problem often results in the start of Ramadan or the Eid day being declared on two or even three different days. Please comment.
E. Khan
A. I have been asked this question more times than I can count. It is raised every year because the reality of what takes place as a result of such confusion is too disturbing to many people. They are right. It should not be the case. Yet this is merely a symptom of the miserable state of affairs in the world Muslim community of today. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution, because those who can provide the solution are either unwilling to undertake the initiative, or choose to turn their back on the solution. Yet a solution is easy and it should be put into practice without delay. The solution is to rely on astronomical data, which give us the exact time of the birth of the new moon and its time and place of visibility. Should we resort to such a method, the difference will not be more than one day, which is acceptable from the Islamic point of view.
Q. Some scholars produced Hadith collections such as Riyadh Al-Saliheen, Mishkat Al-Masabeeh, Kanz Al-Ummal. These include Hadiths from the anthologies of Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and others. However, they attribute these new collections to themselves. Nowadays, when people quote a Hadith from these later collections, they do not mention the original anthologies. Thus, the reward will be granted to the authors of the new collections, but not to the original ones. Please comment.
Abu Aqeelah
A. When we speak of God’s reward, we must not apply our own measures. God rewards people according to His knowledge of their efforts, intentions, sincerity and indeed all factors that are at play in their work. Thus, suppose that you have written a piece of commendable work that serves the Islamic cause or helps Muslims, but you could not publish it. Someone else sees it and publishes it under his own name without your permission. Does this mean that he will get all the reward for it? For certain, your effort will not be wasted. God says in the Qur’an: “Whoever does an atom’s weight of good shall see it then, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil shall see it then also.” (99: 7-8)
Not only so, but when a person does something and it is used by many to advantage, that person will get a reward for every time his work was used by anyone, because it was through his action that such people made advantage. What those scholars did was to produce Hadith anthologies on specific subjects, or related to a general theme. They used the original anthologies and others, according to their own selection criteria.
These works have been widely used, making the Prophet’s Hadiths better known to a much wider audience. They receive rich reward from God, as will everyone that made it possible for them to produce their anthologies. Thus, nothing of the reward of the earlier scholars will be wasted. On the contrary, it will be increased, God willing.
