Islam, Moonsighting, and the Limits of Mecca Time
The practice of celestial observation is pre-Islamic, as is the existence of a lunar calendar. After the birth of the Prophet Muhammad and the advent of Islam, the traditions of reliance upon celestial bodies continued. The significance of the lunar cycle in Islamic timekeeping did not originate with Islam; rather, Islamic revelations affirmed the importance of the lunar cycle and other celestial bodies for timekeeping.
Over time, and with the development of Islamic jurisprudence, these traditions were refined within the framework of Islamic monotheism. Traditional moonsighting by searching the skies for the hilal (new crescent moon) remains the primary method for determining the beginning of new lunar months. Similarly, the movement of the sun across the sky dictates the timing of daily prayers (Salaat). Traditionally, the position of the sun in the sky, changes in the hues and lighting in the sky, and the length of shadows are used to determine the times for different Salaat. Traditional moonsighting and charting the movement of the sun are the key religious methods of timekeeping in Islam and are widely regarded as acceptable practices among most Muslims.
Relative to what we have become accustomed to today, where timekeeping has meticulous and fine-tuned precision, and where the transition to new days and months is predictable and stable, Muslims’ reliance on traditional Islamic timekeeping in this era is unusual. Traditional Islamic timekeeping is erratic and unpredictable in comparison to modern standards of timekeeping. It cannot be regarded as a well-defined standard of timekeeping for modern life. It is fortunate that the rest of the world does not have to depend on the traditional practices of timekeeping in Islam today. If such Islamic timekeeping systems were the global standard, with decisions and regulations akin to the theological governance and logistics currently used in Islamic moonsighting today, it would doom the world to a state of chaos.
Today, there are more than 1.8 billion Muslims on the planet. Depending on their geographical location, determining the timing of Salaat and tracking the Islamic lunar calendar can be especially tedious because of the primitive nature of traditional Islamic timekeeping. Muslims’ religious activities are primarily governed by the movement of the Earth around the sun and secondarily by the cycles of the moon. Their tolerance for timekeeping methods based on the movement of the sun and the lunar calendar varies significantly. Today, precalculated Salaat times are available. While the timings for Salaat have become stable and predictable, moonsighting in its traditional form remains highly unpredictable. Despite the unorthodox nature of predetermined Salaat times that contradict traditional Islamic practices and the instability of moonsighting which conflicts with contemporary life, both methods continue to be accepted by the majority of Muslims.
Generally, though, geographical and chronological standards for relativity and time hold a perfunctory place. For devout Muslims in particular, trade and business are secondary to the performance of religious duties at the stipulated times. As Islam grew out alongside a changing world, Muslims adapted their business affairs to align with the timing of religious duties. A strong cultural and social climate blossomed to support the demands of timekeeping in both religion and business. In Muslim-majority countries, for instance, the call to prayer signals the closure of businesses and the suspension of regular activities for Salaat. Entire economies revolve around religious duties that demand that an individual stop all business activities up to five times a day. This practice is most pronounced for the Friday congregational Salaat, Juma.
Because Salaat times are determined by the movement of the sun, neighboring Islamic nations have different Salaat times that can differ by minutes or hours. In addition to being aware of time zone differences, individuals must be cognizant of Salaat times in another locality. Awareness of different Salaat times is essential for neighboring Islamic nations conducting business with each other.
In non-Muslim majority countries, Muslims are similarly governed by time in the performance of religious duties. This influences the way they work and do business. Foregoing trade during peak business hours is understood for the pious Muslim if it coincides with Salaat times. This is the case in spite of the reality that potential businesses may be lost because similar provisions are not provided for Salaat in non-Muslim majority nations.
During a regular workday, a simple phone call to another Muslim in a different time zone is more likely to be placed when it is probable that they will not be occupied with Salaat. Although these are mundane examples, they highlight a distinct paradigm for Muslims who live and work in non-Muslim majority countries. Traditionally, the position of the sun, the coloration of the sky, and the appearance of shadows on the Earth guided the approximate time for Salaat. There were no special clocks during the time of the Prophet Muhammad, so Salaat times did not have the same precision as they do today.
Today, precalculated Salaat times are widely available and accepted. Some precalculated Salaat calendars can be produced for years in advance. However, Salaat times still exhibit slightly varied standards, as the madhabs (schools of thought) have different theories on correct Salaat times. Consequently, even the accepted precalculated Salaat times may vary slightly depending on the madhab with which a Muslim aligns.
Salaat timings cycle around a range during the solar year. This range is relative to the passage of time on the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar aligns with the Earth’s revolution around the sun. Salaat timings vary based on an individual’s geographical location on the Earth, the tilt of the Earth, and the point of the Earth’s revolution around the sun. The Salaat time for a particular locality is fairly specific. The geographical location of a locality affects its final Salaat timings. Religiously speaking, the tolerance for Salaat timings is small. Even for two localities in fairly close proximity, Salaat times are still one or two minutes apart.
For these reasons—geographical location and small tolerance for deviations in timing—the performance of Salaat can be described as constrained to inconstant time periods, especially when considering the global community of Muslims during the solar year. This remains the case unless an individual is traveling, in which case the consensus on the practices of Muhammad allows for more flexible performance of Salaat at any time.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, a more recent adaptation to the performance of Salaat emerged, one not described in the practices of Muhammad. Muslims could perform the Friday congregational Salaat virtually, with an imam (religious leader) in a different time zone. As a rule, Salaat is timed based on localities and cannot be changed unless special provisions are made due to circumstances, such as travel or the pandemic.
Timing is so important in Islam that Maghrib, the late evening Salaat, must take place after local sunset—not during sunset and not before the fading light disappears completely, even though only a few minutes separate these phases. Special clocks and apps have to be developed to meet the demand for tracking Salaat times in different localities. These technologies have become especially valuable to Muslims in a world where travel is faster and more common.
Another interesting feature of timekeeping in Islam is the point of transition from one day to the next. Conventionally, a date change is marked by the turn of the clock at midnight. For Muslims, however, the date changes after sunset. For example, Friday begins after the sun has set on Thursday evening. So if the first day of fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is on a Friday, it means Ramadan begins on the preceding Thursday evening after sunset (or Friday according to Islamic timekeeping).
Muslims also need to monitor the phases of darkness during the night to perform special, often optional, acts of worship. The fact that the astronomical transition in the middle of the night may not synchronize with the count of midnight is insignificant to the rest of the world. But it is significant to Muslims because there are optional Salaat performed during specific periods of the night that are guided by the turn of midnight.
Devout Muslims are highly attuned to timing in their daily business due to the great importance placed on attending to religious duties promptly. The traditions of Islam that came with the Prophet Muhammad carved out a distinct culture—one that stands apart for its emphasis on routine in all spheres of life. At the heart of this distinct culture is the religious centrality of timekeeping.
In recognition of this centrality, the Saudis constructed the Royal Mecca Clock Tower in Mecca. This, in turn, led a group of Islamic scholars, including Egyptian cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi, to express hope that the clock would become the symbolic focal point for a new prime meridian. This does not mean that he and other Islamic scholars, including members of the Saudi monarchy, intended only to impose an Islamic lunar system of timekeeping upon the Muslim world; rather, they proposed that Mecca Time (MT) replace Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as the new zero longitude reference point.
The existing meridians that span the globe are drawn in keeping with the principles of timekeeping for the solar Gregorian calendar. These meridians moved in the distant past because of changing agreements in the placement of the prime meridian. Their validity is unquestioned; they remain settled in their current positions. The meridians’ central value today can no longer be attributed to navigation, which was their primary value at first a few hundred years ago. Meridians are a valuable standard for timekeeping and trade. We are now in an era where timeliness is at critical mass. Trade, business, and communications in a fast-paced, internet-based economy are now the incubators for driving growth. In this era, the foundations on which the existing meridians stand remain tested, proven, and indispensable. Meridians aren’t just standard reference points for timekeeping, though; they also act as boundaries.
Stable meridians offer clearly defined boundaries with unwritten but fair rules for orderly business, travel, and trade. Meridians based on an Islamic lunar calendar don’t exist. At least, they’re not supposed to. However, moonsighting by eye, with multiple local horizons as reference points, creates an ecosystem for artificial boundaries or meridians to appear. As long as traditional moonsighting moves the projected dates for the start of lunar months, a new meridian or time boundary appears, affecting all associated timing and trade. These artificial, temporary meridians are aberrant, and they are constantly shifting; the fixture of their prime meridian is undetermined.
The Gregorian calendar is the official calendar for civil affairs and formal business operations in Islamic theocracies. The lunar calendar, however, is a bonafide, powerful, yet unknown and unofficial influence in business and politics. Saudi Arabia, the suggested new home of the prime meridian, uses the Gregorian calendar for civil matters. Their precalculated lunar calendar, Umm al-Qura, is used concurrently, but it is unceremoniously ditched for four months of the Islamic year. They abandon it in favor of moonsighting by eye for the months of Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul Hijjah, and Muharram. This might lead one to assume these months hold greater sanctity than the rest, but that is not the case.
The true sacred months in Islam are Rajab, Dhul Qadah, Dhul Hijjah, and Muharram. The four months in which Saudi Arabia practices moonsighting by eye, however, are arguably the ones with the greatest economic and administrative significance in the Islamic year. There is yet another way in which sudden decisions in monthly transitions have a major impact. The Umm al-Qura is the default Islamic calendar in the Arabic setting for Microsoft computer systems. Updates to the start of months based on traditional moonsighting are an inconvenience to the end user. Changing the start of some lunar months shifts the lunar calendar relative to the Gregorian calendar. Even if you don’t use lunar calendars, this is still pertinent if you do business with people who do use them.
This isn’t the only way timekeeping decisions in the Muslim world impact technology users and even the technology community. On his blog, Code of Matt, Matt Johnson-Pint, a software engineer, elaborated on the disorder created when Morocco suspends Daylight Savings Time (DST) just before Ramadan and restores it right after. Matt continues to elaborate on the problem in Morocco in his blog:
Clocks need to be changed four times in a single calendar year . . . it also means that nobody is fully certain of when the middle two transitions will occur until the government makes an announcement. Part of the reason for this is that the dates for Ramadan are based on the observed sighting of the new moon.
Time zones aren’t managed by a neutral body. Instead, each country has the sovereign right to decide their local time, including the offset from GMT and the rules governing DST. Tardy notifications for local DST changes mean a long wait for the time zone community to update software accordingly. Predictably, this leads to negative repercussions on a country’s economy and poor user perceptions of technology.
Different moonsighting results impose temporary, but distinct, time zones disrupting the ease of doing business. The inherent imprecision of moonsighting by eye makes timekeeping unpredictable for businesses reliant on it, leading to increased instability— particularly for smaller businesses striving to maintain a competitive edge. Additionally, inequitable conditions preclude an unfair market, which becomes more noticeable when conducting cross-border trade. None of these things harbinger well for a prime meridian that passes through Saudi Arabia, given the climate of reliance on traditional moonsighting.
This essay is excerpted from An Elusive Hilal: Muslim Moon Wars in the Modern World.
Mumfee Ori is a Muslim, scientist, and educator.