“To See or Not

To See”

By Umar Al Mujahid Abdur-Rasheed

A.K.A.
Anthony Navarro

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 ‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Al-Hamdulillahi Rabbil „Aalameen Lam Ashrik bi Rabbi Ahada Was

Salaatu Was Salaamu Ala Habibuna Mustapha Nabi Muhammad
(sallahu alayhi wasallam) ma ba‟ad, Ameen.

First and foremost, I am not a Sheikh, an Imam or a Scholar in Islam. I

am just a Muslim concerned about the way I see things going in my own
religion and Ummah. When I first came into Islam seven years ago, by the
grace of Allah, I was amazed at how simple, but yet precise and effective
Islam was. The scientific facts in the Qur‟an could rival even the most
prestigious and decorated science texts. Yet, as I started to meet more and
more Muslims and saw how they practiced Islam, I soon began to see how
the simplicity of Islam was made difficult and confusing by the “modern”
Muslim and all of his “new” ideas and desires. Many Muslims might
attack my views, but remember… this is just my opinion from what I have
witnessed.

In the Qur‟an, Allah informs

us about the Earth, how He
made it a dwelling place for
us and in it is everything we
could ever need. A perfect
balance of every necessity
needed to sustain a
comfortable life. It contains
fruits, vegetables, herbs,
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 meat, poultry, fish, and natural medicines from plants, trees and even
healing from the foods I mentioned before. It has wood for shelter, fire
for cooking and warmth, water to drink and to purify, the sun and moon
to calculate time and dates and even the stars for navigation and
direction. Any and everything a human could need is here in this
dwelling place created for us by Allah, the creator of all things.

“He it is who created for you all that is in the earth. Then He turned to the
heavens, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.”
(Qur‟an 2:29)
“O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who hath created you and those before
you, so that ye may ward off (evil). Who hath appointed the earth a resting-
place for you and the sky a canopy; and causeth water to pour down from
the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you. And do not set up rivals to
Allah when ye know (better).” (Qur‟an 2:21-22)
“And He it is who hath outstretched the earth, and placed on it the firm
mountains, and rivers: and of every fruit He hath placed on it two kinds:
He causeth the night to enshroud the day. Verily in this are signs for those
who give thought.” (Qur‟an 13:3)

Allah, through His immense mercy, has also given us perfect examples on
how we should live our lives here on Earth and to teach us the functions
and meanings of everything. The last of these examples was our beloved
Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him). The Prophet
Muhammad taught us how to pray and fast, how to give charity, how to
deal with others, whether it be relatives or strangers, how to purify
ourselves, how to protect ourselves from harm and evil. He also taught us
how to calculate each new month using the moon, which is the basis for
this article.

Leading up to every Ramadhan and Hajj, Muslims find themselves in a

heated debate on whether or not the crescent moon has been sighted

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properly. If there is a report of a sighting, then by who and from where?
What is the credibility of these people? Where is the proof of an actual
sighting and have others spotted it, in or around that area? In an era
where technology has taken over “primitive” methods, science and
predetermined calculations have made way for the “lazy” Muslim. A
Muslim that feels no need to go out and take part in any of these traditions
taught by the Prophet Muhammad, but only trusts that the “experts” will
handle it correctly and follows whatever verdict is given regardless of what
it is. This is a dangerous game we play, when we leave OUR deen in the
hands of unknown people.

Narrated by Abu Hurayrah, Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said:

“Whenever you sight the new moon (of the month of Ramadan) observe
fast, and when you sight it (the new moon of Shawwal) break it, and if the
sky is cloudy for you, then complete fasting for thirty days.” (Sahih Muslim
#2378)

In this Hadith, the Prophet

Muhammad clearly says, “Whenever
YOU sight the new moon”, meaning
to me that it is a duty of all
Muslims to physically try to sight
the crescent moon themselves on the
29th night, in order to know when to
fast and when to stop for
Ramadhan. If you do not see the
moon on the 29th night, then
continue fasting and return the next night. If it is still not visible for
whatever reason, then the new month starts anyway, because no month is
more than 30 days. This is a simple way for all of us to figure out when
the new month starts with out the need of others, just look to the sky. In
the rare case of extreme locations, for example, near the north and south
poles, you should follow the nearest country that has had a confirmed
sighting. The sun has a perfect daily cycle for us to follow for our daily
prayers and the moon a perfect monthly cycle for us to follow our months
and to determine our years.
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Abu Huraira reported that Allah's Messenge (SAW) said: “There is for
every Salah, its initial and final time. The initial time for Zuhr is when the
sun declines and its final time is when Asr commences. The initial time of
Asr is when it sets in till when the sun turns yellow. The initial time of
Maghrib is with sunset and its last is when redness on the horizons
disappears. The initial time of Isha is from then and its final time is at
midnight. The initial time of Fajr is from true dawn till sunrise." Hadith #
151

Here is my problem with this situation and with the Muslim world today.
Due to the invention of computers and clocks, we now rely on these rather
than following the accurate way of the Prophet. Clocks can be set at
wrong times and waiting exactly 2 or 3 minutes to call the Adhan is
ridiculous when the sun is already telling you that it‟s time for prayer.
These are all bidah and the Prophet told us not to use calculations.

It was narrated from Ibn Umar (ra)

that RasulAllah (saw) said: “We are
an unlettered nation; we do not
write or calculate. The month is
such-and-such or such-and-such –
meaning sometimes it is twenty-nine
and sometimes it is thirty.” (Bukhari;
Muslim)

Why have we ignored the traditions of the perfect example for mankind for
these new technologies that can be flawed? Don‟t get me wrong,
advancement in communications, healthcare and other fields have help
many, but for something like this, I think it‟s rather unnecessary and is a
cause for much confusion. We have countries that follow the Sunnah of
the Prophet and send groups out at the end of every month to go and spot
the moon. Then we have countries that choose to follow Astronomical
calculations and then you have countries who just do whatever Saudi
Arabia does.

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This past Ramadhan, I was one of those who went out and tried to sight
the crescent moon, but wasn‟t able to on the first night. Many people were
on roof tops and on the beach waiting to see if Ramadhan started the next
day. No one saw anything. I went home to write to some brothers back in
the U.S. and came across a moon sighting website run by Muslims. They
had a list of which countries were trying to spot the crescent moon. It was
a list of 25 different countries, each country having one or more committees
reporting back to this website. 48 committees in 25 different countries
reported NOT seeing the moon, BUT Saudi Arabia made the official
announcement for Ramadhan anyway.

This was funny I thought to myself. How did Saudi Arabia see it when no
one else could see it? The brothers on the website even provided and
Astronomical graph to show where in the world the moon would be visible
and it was impossible for 70% of the Earth, INCLUDING Saudi Arabia
to see it. So my question is… who spotted the moon and where is their
proof? Because afterall, we need proof don‟t we?

Personally I feel that all of these technological advances have just made
things more complicated. If there were no phones or internet to relay
messages across the world in an instance, then we would have to rely on a
physical sighting within our own area and not have to worry about who

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said they saw it in another corner of world. Wouldn‟t it make more sense
to do it the way it was taught to us and not to change it with the times?
This would be the simple route, I would think. Really, there is something a
lot more deeper and darker going on here. The Prophet Muhammad warned
us about things in the future that I really don‟t think we‟re paying any
attention to.

Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri the Prophet said: The Hour (Day of
Judgment) will not be established till the Hajj (to the Ka'ba in Makkah) is
abandoned. Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 26, Number 663:

Now the scary part is that the Saudi royal

family helped over throw the Caliphate in
Turkey during World War II, in exchange
for having control over Hejaz (Western
Arabia) and the rest of the Arabian
Peninsula, which was given to them by the
U.S. and their allies to which they gave
their name (Saud) and turned it into a
“Kingdom”, which the Prophet spoke
negatively about.

'Ali Ibn Abi Taalib reported that The Prophet specified that the period of
the Caliphate was to last for thirty years after his death and then the era of
Kingdoms would begin. (Sahih Muslim)

Abu Ubaidah ibn Al-Jarraah and Mu'aadh ibn Jabal related that the
Prophet said: "Indeed Allah has commenced this matter upon Prophethood
and mercy; it will become Khilaafah and mercy; it will become honor and
sanctity; then it will become Kingdoms, great oppression, and corruption in
the nation - people will deem private parts, alcohol, and silk to be lawful.
(Sahih Muslim)

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If this family would go as far as to help the enemies of Islam get rid of the
Caliphe and turn Makkah and Medinah, the two holiest cities in the
world, into part of a Kingdom, then I can‟t believe that they are Muslim
and care much about the Muslims of the world. I know I‟m going to hear
a lot about that comment right there, but the facts are there if anyone cares
to look. Now, back to the Hajj being abandoned… is it possible that by
proclaiming the month of Hajj (Dhul Hijjah) a day early, that they are
throwing the entire Hajj off? Allah says in the Qur‟an that Hajj is on the
8th, 9th and 10th of Dhul Hijja, so if we start Dhul Hijja a day before the
moon is spotted then really we‟re making Hajj on the 7th, 8th and 9th
missing the most important part of Hajj which is the day of Arafat.

Standing at Arafat is one of the greatest

pillars of Hajj as stated by the prophet
(p.b.u.h.), He said, "Hajj is Arafat." (Ahmad)

Could this be the fulfilment of the prophecy

made by the Prophet Muhammad? If every
year the confusion of the moon being sighted
or not causes us to miss the day of Arafat,
then has not the Hajj been abandoned? Why
aren‟t more Muslims around the world
concerned about something this big? Is it
because they don‟t know, or is it because they
just don‟t care? We live in an age where
people don‟t want to have to work for
anything and to be quite frank, ignorance is
bliss. People want everything hand fed to them. Now if you‟re not feeding
yourself then how do you know what you‟re eating? Muslims need to open
their eyes and see the enemy within. Islam has been infiltrated by people
we have been told to trust and they are turning Islam into the opposite of
what it originally was.

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 The Prophet Muhammad
said nothing should be
higher or taller than the
Kaabah, but yet more and
more hotels and malls are
towering over the entire
masjid, dwarfing it. Not
to mention that this
money is all Ribaa based
money which Allah and
the Prophet declared war
on the users of. The
Saudi royal family has
done business with American oil companies for years. They get paid in
dollars which are then placed in American banks, which gain interest. If
that wasn‟t bad enough, they turn around and use that Ribaa based money
to build up our holy Masjids and cities. If war is declared on them by Allah
and His messenger then why do we follow them as the “authority” on
Islam and Muslim matters? They had kidnapped our religion and made
Muslims blind sheep that just follow any verdict given by their so called
“Sheikhs” and “Scholars.”

When will we wake up and see the wolves in sheep‟s clothing? Allah gave
us the Qur‟an and the example of the Prophet Muhammad for us to follow
ourselves, but yet we run to Sheikh so and so and trust anything he says
because we don‟t believe we are intelligent enough to figure out what it all
means. Even worse are those of us who look for religious verdicts online of
all places. How do you even know that it‟s Muslims operating these sites?
This is dangerous when we have all the knowledge we need in the Qur‟an
and Ahadith. Shirk is not just worshipping someone other than Allah.
Shirk can be living your life for money and materials, it can be following
your bosses commands over Allah‟s, it can be thinking that you have the
ability to do or to stop something yourself, it is also following blindly
people with authority over you.

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Adi B. Hatim who was a Christian, came to visit the Prophet at Medina.
When the Prophet saw Adi wearing a cross he said "The Jews and Christians
worshipped their rabbi‟s and their Priests. Of which Adi retorted and said
that they did not. Rasulullah said indeed they did because whatever Allah
made legal, the priest and rabbi‟s made illegal, and otherwise, hence it
amounted to the worshipping of the other man. (Tirmidhi)

In closing I will say this… we are not fools or an Ummah of unintelligent

people. We are smart enough to know that Allah created us and that Islam
is the way of life He chose for us. Allah has made everything clear, but it is
us who make it difficult. If the Prophet said to spot the moon to know
when the new month starts, then don‟t wait for someone to tell you THEY
saw it and go see it for yourself. Don‟t use clocks and precalculated times to
determine when it‟s time to pray, get up and go look to see where the sun is
to know for sure that it‟s time to pray. In the end times everything will be
opposites, but the one thing that always sends a chill down my spine is
hearing that “the truthful will be ignored while the liars will be believed”,
and then looking at the world we are living in today.

To see or not to see… that is the question. The answer is simple though…
just open your eyes.

As Salaamu Alaykum Alaa mani taba'aalhudaa,

(Peace be upon those who follow the guidance)

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