The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Yet again, Saudi Arabia declares new moon sighting when it was impossible

It happened in 2019, it happened before 2019, and it has happened again this year in 2023!

The Saudi Arabia authorities declared on the evening of Thursday 20 April that the moon crescent was sighted in Saudi Arabia and therefore Eid-ul-Fitr would be on 21 April. However, it was entirely impossible to sight the new moon anywhere in the world at the time when the sun was setting in Saudi Arabia.

The first sighting reported anywhere in the world was in the USA at a time when in Saudi Arabia it would be about 3.30 am on Friday 21 April.

Previous experience and all evidence shows that the Saudi Arabia authorities must actually be determining the date of Eid long in advance by using scientific data. But they do not announce the date for fear of opposition from people who believe only in sighting by eye. So they pretend that they follow moon sighting by eye. Then, on the evening before their calculated date, they simply issue the claim that the new moon has been sighted, regardless of whether it was sighted or not.

The UK Lahore Ahmadiyya Jamaat has been determining Ramadan and Eid dates by scientific data every year since long ago in 1978, and announcing them in advance in a plain, above-board way

In the tale of the emperor with no clothes, at least the emperor believed that he was wearing clothes. He thought the reason he couldn’t see his clothes was that they were only visible to the intelligent people. In this case of moon sighting in Saudi Arabia, the emperor knows that he is wearing no clothes. But he is telling people that he is fully dressed and the subjects are saying: We believe him, even if someone can demonstrate to us that he is totally naked.

What a sad and sorry state of affairs!

— Zahid Aziz