In Islamic practice, the timing of Eid and Ramadan is determined by the sighting of the new moon. A common question often arises: “If Friday (Jumu’ah) is observed by Muslims worldwide on the same day, why can’t Eid be celebrated globally on a single day?” This article explores the geographical and logical reasons behind this, as explained in response to a query by Brother Umar Farooq from Kuwait.
1. The Starting Point of a “Day”
To understand why days differ, we must first define what a “day” is. A day consists of 24 hours, but these 24 hours do not start simultaneously for everyone on Earth.
- The Standard Shift: In the Gregorian calendar, a day begins at midnight (12:00 AM). In the Islamic calendar, it begins at sunset (Maghrib).
- The Progression: When it becomes midnight for me and Friday begins, it might still be 11:00 AM on Thursday for someone else across the globe. For that person to reach “Friday,” they must wait 13 more hours. Therefore, a day is a cycle that travels around the Earth; it does not “drop” onto the whole planet at once.
2. The Illusion of the “Global Friday”
The argument often used is that everyone prays Jumu’ah on Friday, so the world is united on that day. While it is true that everyone prays on a day named Friday, they are not praying at the same time.
By the time Muslims in New Zealand are finishing their Friday Jumu’ah prayers and entering Saturday, Muslims in New York are just waking up to start their Friday morning. They are separated by nearly an entire day’s cycle. They both call it “Friday,” but their clocks and sun positions are vastly different.
3. The International Date Line (IDL)
The most striking evidence of this time difference is the International Date Line. This is an imaginary line in the Pacific Ocean that separates one calendar day from the next.
- The Micro-Second Reality: There is only one tiny micro-second in the entire 24-hour cycle where the whole world shares the same calendar date. The moment that second passes, the world is split between two different days (e.g., half the world is on Friday while the other half has already moved to Saturday).
- Neighboring Differences: You could have two islands separated by just a few miles, yet one is on Friday and the other is on Saturday.
Striking Examples: Time vs. Date
The speech highlights a few powerful examples to illustrate this phenomenon:
- Honolulu vs. New Zealand: These two locations have a relatively small-time difference in hours (about 2 hours of sun position), but they sit on opposite sides of the Date Line. If it is 8:00 AM Friday in New Zealand, it is 10:00 AM Thursday in Honolulu.
- The Traveler’s Paradox: If you pray the Fajr (dawn) prayer on Thursday in Honolulu and take a short 2-hour flight to New Zealand, you will arrive to find people heading to the Masjid for Jumu’ah (Friday) prayer. You skipped a day simply by crossing a geographical line.
- The Live Broadcast Example: Imagine a cricket match played in New Zealand on a Thursday morning. A viewer in Honolulu watching the “Live” broadcast would actually be watching it on Wednesday morning. The event is happening in real-time, but the “day” assigned to it differs based on location.
Conclusion and Further Reading: “Pirai or Vilakkam”
The logic applied to Jumu’ah is the same logic that must be applied to Eid. Just as the sun reaches its zenith at different times for different cities, the moon becomes visible at different times for different regions. Expecting the whole world to observe Eid at the exact same moment is a geographical impossibility.
For those seeking a deeper dive into this subject, the book “Pirai or Vilakkam” (An Explanation of the Moon) provides an exhaustive look at these concepts. It combines Islamic jurisprudence with scientific data on time zones, the International Date Line, and lunar cycles to clarify why local moon sighting is the most grounded and logical approach.