The American Muslim scholar, Hamza Yusuf in his article Cesarean Moon Births aims to discuss the

debate between physically sighting the moon and scientifically calculating it to mark the beginning of
month in the Islamic lunar calendar.
The author gives a range of premises to support his Main Conclusion that sighting the moon through
naked eye is the practice that is closer to the Holy Prophets teachings and Islamic Law. All of his
arguments reside in the domain of Islamic legal theory and the sources of Islamic Law. Furthermore, the
following main premises and sub-conclusions were identified:
1. PremiseA: Hadith proves that Jews are in error.
PremiseB: Jews abandones physical sighting and accepted calculated lunar calendar
PremiseC: If we follow Jews and Christians, we will be in error.
Sub-Conclusion: Therefore, we should not follow the Jews in their abandonment of physical
sighting of the moon.
2. PremiseA: Modern World requires plans for religious observances to be made in advance.
PremiseB: The Islamic principle of Rukhsah (facilitating dispensation) states that once
hardship has become absent, the original ruling must be restored.
PremiseC: Eyewitness Sighting was the original ruling in Islamic law.
Sub-Conclusion: In Islamic law, the original ruling of Eyewitness sighting must be restored
rather than calculation of new months.
3. PremiseA: An Ambiguous (Mujmal) Hadith of the Prophet permits the use of Calculation if
visibility is obscure.
PremiseB: Another Clarifying (Mubayyin) Hadith states that one must complete the number
of thirty days if visibility is obsure.
PremiseC: In Islamic Law, It is obligatory (Wajib)to interpret the ambiguous one in
accordance with the one that clarifies.
Sub-Conclusion: Hence, the thirty days should be completed rather than calculation if
visibility is obscure.
4. PremiseA: Ancient ritual of moon-sighting profoundly connects us with the heavens and
with Gods power and wisdom.
PremiseB: People feel joy when the moon is sighted and the month is begun.
Sub-Conclusion: Hence, we should practice physical moon sighting for the start of Islamic
months.
Analysis and Evaluation:
Hamza Yusuf correctly explains the hierarchy of Islamic Law in Sunni Islam; namely Quran, Sunnah, Ijmah
and Qiyas. However, the argument he uses to support this hierarchy of sources of law is invalid and
contains incomplete reasoning. He cites a Hadith of Muadh as a premise, which although proves the use
of Quran, Sunnah and Qiyas as sources of legal ruling but does not in any way prove the use of Ijmah

(scholarly consensus. He says that the this Hadith elucidates the methodology while it clearly does
not prove Ijmah in any way. This is the first occurrence of an Invalid Deductive Argument in his article.
Furthermore, in many instances he has committed the Fallacy of Inappropriate Appeal to Authority to
support his sub-conclusions. For example, he has cited Catholic Encyclopedia and Active Bible Church
of God as sources to explain Jewish religious history and sacred beliefs while these sources are actually
credible sources for Roman Catholic and other Christian Beliefs and not Jewish religion. Furthermore in
the same argument, he uses the fallacy of Reductionism when he cites a particular Hadith of the Prophet
and then criticizes Jewish traditions by using phrases like Jewish abandonment of their original
tradition and dereliction among Jews and Christians. In this instance, he fails to incorporate alternate
and different interpretations of those Hadith of the Prophet on Jews and Christians and hence the
reasoning becomes in error.
Lastly, it must be stated that although the Main Conclusion of the author is clear but in his entire article
he fails to incorporate the conflicts that may arise when using Eyewitness Sighting for the beginning of
months. For example, in the context of Pakistan, the conflicts and controversies that arise with moonsighting are immense. Every year, regions like FATA and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa begin
Ramadan and celebrate Eid on different days than other parts of Pakistan. The authors non-inclusion of
these kind of problems and conflicts associated with the use of physical moon-sighting is a major
downside of his whole argument. If he had included the problems with his stance and then countered
them by providing viable, simple solutions his argument would have been much stronger.