Chief Kadhi calls for clear guidelines on Ramadhan fast
Chief Kadhi Sheikh Shariff Muhdhar. He has called for the enactment of a law on local moon sighting to serve as a clear guide on the Ramadhan fasting to Kenyan Muslims. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT
What you need to know:
- He says the conflict views among Muslims on the fast are as a result of lack of a clear guideline.
- If local sighting of the moon was legislated, Kenya Muslims would have a clear guideline.
- The Chief Kadhi urged Muslim faithful to rely on the physical sighting of the moon.
- He said moon sighting is more accurate than arithmetic or astronomic calculations.
Chief Kadhi Sheikh Shariff Muhdhar has said that the controversy that normally arises among Muslim faithful on when to start and end the Ramadhan fast could be resolved if there was a clear law guiding it.
The conflicting views, he said, that have in the recent past seen some Muslims marking the end of their fast on separate days came about as a result of lack of a clear guideline.
“Some thoughts rely on international sighting of the moon to determine the days, but every country or every region should rely on its own local sighting of the moon.
"Before starting the fast, some faithful said the moon was sighted in Yemen, but most Arab countries dismissed it,” he said.
MOON SIGHTING ACCURACY
He was speaking during an interview with the Nation in his Mombasa office on Thursday.
“If moon sighting is legislated and enacted into a law either under the Public Holidays Act or Kadhis Act to show that Muslims in Kenya will rely on local sighting of the moon and not international sighting, it will end all the controversies and the divisions among Muslims,” he added.
The Chief Kadhi urged Muslim faithful to rely on the physical sighting of the moon to mark the start and end of their fast as per their Islamic laws.
“Relying on arithmetic or astronomic calculations to mark the day may be misleading and is just 90 per cent accurate and can extend by a day.
"But moon sighting is 100 per cent accurate and it is what the law says: ‘If the moon is born and sighted, you decide the following day is new month’,” he said.
