Organic Light Pan

This is the latest new crescent moon photographed on May 8th, 2024.It is not much different from any of the other moons I have photographed. A thin sliver of light, a lovely gentle gradient of color in the sky, and, oh wait, what are those little white dots? Click on the photo for an enlarged view if you can’t see the white dots.

The new crescent moon of this month was within 2 degrees from the Pleiades star cluster. I wondered while making the photograph if I waited long enough if the stars of Pleiades might become visible. The above photograph was taken at 8:34 pm PDT and as I examined the photo on the camera’s LCD screen, I could not see the stars. So I waited and continued to photograph the moon as it approached the horizon. At around 8:45 pm, as I zoomed in on the LCD, I could see two of the seven stars, so I continued to wait and photograph. As the evening waned, the sky became darker, and somewhat more hazy as well and the same two stars were becoming more prominent on the LCD but not the other five. At the same time, the photograph was starting to show much more digital noise as I needed to raise the ISO setting to higher values to keep the shutter speed fast enough that the moon and stars did not blur due to their motion. Below is the last photo I made at 9:04 pm PDT.

The stars are more evident in this photograph but only because I edited the file to bring them out. I could not see them with my naked eyes in the sky, and further, I still only saw two of the seven stars on the camera’s LCD screen. Yet, all seven were there and the camera did capture them, even in the first photo I made that evening but I did not know that until I returned home and examined the files in detail.

By the time I made the last photo, the ISO setting on the camera had increased to 6400 and the photographs were becoming quite grainy with digital noise. In attempting to remove the noise in post-processing the software also obliterated the stars of Pleiades as well. That is when I decided to go back and look at the first and subsequent photos that were made with lower ISO values when the sky was brighter. So I thought it would be interesting to go through how I processed the first photo to bring out the seven stars in Pleiades.

The image below is the first photo without any additional processing to bring out the stars.

Clicking on the above image might reveal one or two of the stars but faintly. When the view of the image is zoomed in, all seven of the stars are discernable and are found within the red box highlighted in the image below.

Cropping into just the red boxed area and then zooming in to full resolution the seven stars are all there circled in red in the image below, click on it to see it in full resolution.

A careful selection of the tonality of the faint stars was made to create a tonality mask that was then used to raise the contrast and brightness of the stars alone using some repeated curve layers in Photoshop. However, once I had brought out the stars, I started to wonder if what I had captured in the photo was truly the seven stars of Pleiades or was my camera playing tricks on me and it just so happened to produce random noise that “looked” like the Pleiades.

Earlier in the year in February, I had the same camera on an iOptron SkyGuider Pro star tracker and I photographed Pleiades with over an hour of accumulated data and processed that data to make the following image of Pleiades.

I realized that I had used the same lens to photograph the Pleiades alone as well as the current crescent moon and Pleiades. So I thought what if I bring in the night sky photo of Pleiades and overlay it on the crescent photo to see if in fact the “stars” in the crescent photo are the seven stars in the Pleiades? The following image shows this above deep sky photo of Pleiades overlaid onto the crescent photo and properly aligned with the assumed seven stars. If examined closely, one can see that the pinpoint stars in the crescent photo line up perfectly with the deep sky photo of Pleiades. The seven stars in the crescent photo were in fact the seven stars in Pleiades!

Over the last several days the Sun has been very active and producing some incredibly strong geomagnetic storms that have resulted in aurora that have been visible as far south as Arizona in North America. I was unaware that the aurora could be seen so I did not attempt to photograph it. In fact I only really became aware of the visibility of the aurora because I was inundated with the question if I had photographed the aurora. While this geomagnetic storm event was rare, storms of this magnitude only occur about every 20 or so years, this conjunction of the first day waxing crescent moon with Pleiades is something that I have not been able to find a recurrence of in the past nor in the future. The Pleiades is only near the western horizon in May specifically on May 8th, so it would seem that this conjunction is very rare if not unique. If anyone has the means of determining when a first-day new crescent moon is illuminated just over 1% but not more than 2% and is within 2 degrees of Pleiades will occur again or if it has ever occurred prior to 2024 I would greatly appreciate knowing.

Peace.

At first sight, the heart skips a beat.

At that moment, hope and elation meet.

You can’t believe something so subtle can be so sweet

a reminder of the greatness of Allah without deceit.

Now we can celebrate, Remember, Drink and Eat

And be thankful for that our caprice we did defeat.

But now we head out on our own without the helpmeet

of the prison that chained the Whispering Cheat.

Say Bismillah, Subhan Allah and make him retreat.

Remember to pray like the Owner of the Swollen Feet

And take your place in the world, upright and arete.

And give to the poor, the destitute, openly or discreet

and by that your coffers in the next life will be replete.

In one month’s time with you, Oh Moon, I again hope to meet

and by Allah’s Will in twelve you’ll call us to repeat

the cleansing of our souls until complete

with the shield of taqwa to protect us from Hellfire’s heat

and a sound heart which guarantees us a seat

on brocade couches drinking milk and honey from rivers so sweet.

With prayers and blessings on He whom we entreat

to intercede for us on The Day we all will meet

Our Lord the Most High, The Forgiving, Al-Muqeet.

Just over a week ago a video was released by Zaytuna College, where I teach astronomy, mathematics, and Islamic jurisprudence, about sighting the new crescent moon to mark the beginnings of the lunar months of the Islamic calendar.

For years, the start of the Islamic months has been hotly debated between two camps. One camp advocates to adhere to the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing of God be upon him, to go out and actually witness the new crescent moon, and then have the witnesses testify to the sighting to mark its beginning. However, this approach has an inherent variability in it because the new crescent moon will reappear 29 or 30 days after its last appearance. The other camp advocates determining the beginning of the months through an astronomical calculated approach such that the calendar can be predetermined for years in advance.

Both sides have their arguments, and perhaps both have merit, but one cannot feel a calculation. A calculation is abstract. It is lifeless. To most, it means nothing because they cannot apprehend how the resulting conclusive decision to start the month was derived. For most, they would not understand how to go about the calculation itself, they would in essence be calculatedly illiterate.

It baffles me a bit that the camp arguing for the calculation approach always quotes the tradition (Hadith) from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, where He says “We are an unlettered community, we neither write nor calculate, the month consists of 29 (motioning with his hands showing 29 fingers) or 30 (motioning with his hands showing 30 fingers) days“. The camp arguing for calculations cites this hadith and says that modern Muslims are no longer a people that neither write nor calculate so we should use calculations. This tradition, however, should be interpreted as a description of the community at that time not a prescription of how the Muslim community should be. Not all the Muslims from 1400 years ago were unlettered. Some did know how to write and very likely some did know how to perform calculations, as they did have and use an intercalated lunar calendar which does require knowing how to do some calculations. However, I would argue, that most people, Muslim or otherwise are illiterate when it comes to the mathematics and the understanding needed to carry out the calculations needed to determine the start of a lunar month, so the tradition does in fact still describe people today as it did 1400 years ago.

To get a sense of what I mean, the following must be determined for any given time on any given date to determine the position of the moon in the sky:

• The time must be determined in Julian Centuries
• Next, the Moon’s mean longitude is determined
• Then, the Moon’s elongation
• followed by determining the Sun’s anomaly (which has its own set of calculations)
• Next, the Moon’s anomaly is determined.
• A series of Periodic terms need to be summed for the moon’s longitude and distance from the Earth.
• Then the Eccentricity of the orbit of the Earth around the sun is needed
• Finally, the geocentric longitude, geocentric latitude, and geocentric distance of the moon can be calculated.
• The whole process is then repeated over and over for every second until the geocentric longitude position of the moon matches that of the sun, of course, further calculations are needed to obtain the geocentric longitude of the sun as well.

Did I lose any of you with any of the above steps?

So where does that leave the common Muslims today regarding how to determine the start of the lunar Islamic months? There is a principle in problem-solving known as Occam’s Razor. Briefly, it is generally understood that with competing theories or solutions to a problem, the simpler one is to be preferred. To that end, there is another well-known tradition from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, where He says, “Do not start the fast until you see the new crescent moon, and do not break the fast until you see the new crescent moon. If the new crescent moon is obscured from you, then complete a full thirty days”. This approach entails going outside once a lunar month to search for the new crescent moon in the post-sunset sky. It only requires the ability to see and of course, count 29 days from the last time the new crescent was seen. It is clearly the simpler solution to the problem of determining the beginning of the lunar months.

The simpler solution does not exclude the possibility of using astronomy to help one find the moon in the sky, it just does not require a person to learn astrodynamics to complete lengthy calculations in abstraction.

Certainty is a beautiful thing. Nothing brings true certainty better than experience. Experiencing the new crescent moon appearing in the post-sunset sky is something that can’t be explained, it must be felt. This evening, 29 days since the last time we saw the new crescent moon, we went out to search for that elusive sliver of light. It was hard. The new crescent moon this month was incredibly thin. A delight to see. Bringing a filling of the heart with both Joy and Certainty. Here is this month’s moon, with its tips pointing up and to the left, if you watched the video you’ll know what I mean.

With the sighting of this moon, the Blessed month of Ramadan comes to a close and it ushers in the Festival of Breaking Fast. A joyous day where Muslims all over the world celebrate by eating, drinking, and Remembering their Lord, for whom they abstained from food and drink for an entire month during the day.

Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim readers, and as always Peace to all.

On Friday April 1st, 2022 I went out with my family to seek out the new crescent moon that would mark the beginning of Ramadan this year. The probability forecast was not favorable for a naked-eye sighting, but since April 1st was the 29th day of Sha’baan, the month preceding Ramadan, it was obligatory to go out and search. This is what we saw.

We saw nothing and it was not a surprise. What did surprise me was that reports from as far east as Texas and Louisiana were coming in with naked-eye reports. They seemed very incredulous given that the moon was only 0.6% illuminated in that part of the country with an age of 18 to 19 hours, we would have been finding near record breaking sightings. It was highly unlikely.

Then a report from San Diego, CA came in with 10 to 12 individuals sighting the moon but ONLY with binoculars. It was reasonable as that was what the probability maps were suggesting. Since I work with CrescentWatch to field reports and make monthly announcements of crescent moon sightings, we considered the report and inquired if any of the observers were able to see the moon with the naked-eye. The lead sighter reported in the negative. We at CrescentWatch did not accept the report as a valid sighting as CrescentWatch policy for a valid sighting requires a naked-eye sighting in adherence to the the Prophetic tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing of God upon him. The night was fraught with confusion however, because a second organization that CrescentWatch collaborates with, The Central Hilal Committe (CHC) did accept that report and announced the beginning of Ramadan.

Many mosques and organizations questioned the announcement and were surprised to learn that the CHC did accept optical aid sightings, as many thought they adhered to naked-eye sightings as well. Later that night, additional information was obtained from the San Diego group, a very large group numbering between 60 and 100 people, that there was one adult man who saw the crescent “for 1 to 2 seconds” and there were three adult women, one an experienced sighter, and two who were first time sighters, saw the crescent as well, but no details about what they saw was given. This seemed to placate many questioners and for many they fasted on Saturday April 2nd.

That report was fraught with doubt and so CrescentWatch did not accept the report and announced that Ramadan would commence on Sunday April 3rd, placing Saturday April 2nd as the infamous Day of Doubt, which the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing of God be upon him, said it was a day when fasting was not allowed.

I am not blaming anyone for fasting on Saturday, and hope that all efforts and fasts are accepted.

What is important is that every individual has established certainty for themselves before starting to fast. If those who fasted Saturday were certain the month had started then they are fine. And those who did not fast on Saturday because they were not certain, then they are fine as well.

But what prompted me to write this post, is that on Saturday evening after sunset I went out with my family again to sight the moon and this time we did see the moon. Here is what I saw and photographed.

I posted it on social media and quickly people responded. For the most part liking and thanking me for posting it. However, some called it a Second Day Moon, by virtue of how big it is. This is the concern that I am writing about. This is clearly a first day moon and when I compare this moon with several other large first day moons, it makes me wonder what brings someone to make such a statement?

Here are other true first day moons as I either photographed them on the 29th or 30th day, and the day prior no moon was visible in the post sunset sky. Do they look similar?

The following table shows the pertinent data for each of these first day moons

Month and Year	Percent Illumination	Elongation	Age	Lag Time
Ramadan 2022	3.4%	21°	44 hours	94 minutes
Rabi al-Awwal 2021	3.6%	21°	39 hours	64 minutes
Rabi ath-Thaani 2021	1.9%	15.75°	28 hours	48 minutes
Shawwal 2018	2.7%	18°	32.5 hours	68 minutes

How the crescent moon appears depends so much on where a person happens to be on the earth at the time of conjunction and at the sunset following conjunction or the day after that. The moon is not always visible on the day of conjunction, in fact more often than not, it is not visible on the day of conjunction. I also think those people who make such comments simply do not know what they are looking at and unfortunately expose their ignorance by saying things like “that looks like a second day moon”, like they have seen and compared both first day and second day moons. How often does anyone go out to look at a second day crescent moon?

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing of God be upon him, stated in one of his traditions regard the end days, that near the end of time, people would see a first day moon and claim it is a second day moon. This is frightening, as I have been hearing such comments for many years now.

What I recommend is that those who come out of the woodworks once or twice a year to seek out information regarding the start of the month, that they should make it a practice that they go out once a month and seek out the new crescent moon for themselves. Observe with their own eyes what a new crescent moon is and how its appearance changes from month to month. Experience the amazing and fulfilling moment when the crescent moon suddenly appears before their eyes as if it was brought into existence from non-existence by the Creator of all things.

Al-Hakim in his collection of hadith relates that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him said, The best of God’s servants are those who are vigilant in observing the sun, moon, stars, and shadows for determining the times of remembrance of God.

Only then do I think our vocal friends will find the temperance in their comments regarding the effort and struggle that the vigilant moon sighters make in keeping time.

I hope everyone of my Muslim readers, brothers and sisters, find great solace in the month of Ramadan, that they honor Ramadan by following the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and by virtue of their fasting find Forgiveness, Fortitude, and Felicity from God.

Peace to you all.

Well, as I have done for the last three decades, I went out to look for the new crescent moon. This was an important moon to sight as it would mark the start of Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam. The moon never disappoints, and from the photo below, I think you can see what I mean.

Now that is a pretty stark moon, but I must admit, it was not that easy to see. In fact, I did not see this moon with my naked eyes. I tried my hardest, but it was three of my assistants, as I lovingly call them, who have been my companions when I go out to photograph the moon and for that matter almost anytime I go out to photograph the beauty of our world. They saw it first and were able to track its movement in the sky for almost 10 minutes before I could make a photo. I did not deny that they were seeing it, it was just that I could not believe it. This moon is only 24.5 hours old past conjunction. Its probability of being seen was such that optical aids would be needed to see it, in our area. For me in fact, that was the case with my half-century+ old eyes. But thank God for young sharp eyes! they first caught a glimpse of it at around 8:00 pm PDT, and they were unsure at first. It kept coming in and out of view for them, they kept saying that they saw it, but then were not sure and did not want to commit. But by 8:12 pm, when this photo was made, they were 100% certain and their eyes were locked on it and directed me exactly to where I should point the camera, and sure enough, it was right there.

But that photo above is not what they saw. That is what I rendered from the digital capture to show the absolute grandeur of the moon. This is more like what they saw.

This rendition, which has just been touched up for removing dust particles on the sensor and a touch of sharpening for web presentation. Here you can see just how faint that moon was. I could not see this moon, and that made this sighting very exhilarating! For the first time, My kids were able to out-sight their father, and that made me very proud of what they are capable of. I don’t know how many more moons I will be given the blessing of seeing, and holding down this beautiful tradition has been a trying struggle against an onslaught of calculation-based soothsayers bent on dictating their own beginnings of the months, rather than reveling in the patience that comes with starting the months when God wants us to start it by giving us the gift of this amazing sight. Knowing that my children have the ability to keep this tradition alive is very reassuring and renews my excitement about moon sighting. I pray that they will be the standard-bearers once I am gone.

Anyone who goes out to look for the new crescent moon must know the blessing and joy that comes when it is seen. Just a little while ago, a colleague of mine sent me a message that his young five-year-old daughter started to cry because she did not get to see the new moon because of clouds blocking her view. This is how we should all react! In her still pure innocent state, she knows what a blessing it is to see the new crescent moon, and expressed her great displeasure that she was not going to see it on this night.

Why has the Muslim community forgotten this great blessing? Have we become so blinded by our own knowledge to think that an abstract calculation of probabilities of seeing the moon can be a surrogate for actually seeing it? Plato is reported to have said that he takes as quacks those who establish proofs from probabilities. Why did the ancients know what we have forgotten?

I think it is high time that, in spite of our advanced knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, that we humble ourselves enough to go outside once a month and look up into the post-sunset sky and just allow the blessings of the emergence of a new moon to penetrate our heart and soul so that we too can feel the elation that the new moon brings, and the increased longing when its beautiful sight is withheld. Do not let your self rob you of a great blessing. In 29 days, we will go out once more to look for the moon that is to mark the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Breaking Fast. Make it point to feel, no one else can feel it for you and it just cannot be described, you just have to taste it for yourself.

To all my Muslim brothers and sisters, Ramadan Mubarak!

Until next time, Peace to you all.

Tuesday October 9th was the 29th day of the month of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar and the evening of the first moon sighting in the Islamic year of 1440.  I was teaching my astronomy course that evening at Zaytuna College and was planning on taking the class out to search for the new crescent there on the hilltop campus.  By 5 pm that evening, fog had rolled in from the San Francisco bay and completely enveloped the campus.  Sighting the new crescent moon from the campus was not going to happen.

Fellow moonsighter and colleague at Crescent Watch, Zakariyya, sent me a text message, at about the same time the fog had rolled in, indicating to me that we on the west coast might again be the only people to sight the moon.  The probability map for that evening showed that most of the southern half of North America would be in a visibility zone that required perfect atmospheric conditions to see the crescent without an optical aid.  I replied to him and informed him that he alone might be that person as I was fogged in.  He was on his way up to the western face of Mount Tamalpais, north of San Francisco in the Marin Headlands.

I quickly sent messages to my four assistants that they needed to make a concerted effort to meet at our near-home sighting location in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  All four managed to congregate at about 7 pm at our normal viewing location.  At 7:07 pm, I receive a phone call while in the middle of class.  It was my oldest assistant contacting me to let me know that the moon was nowhere to be seen and asked for some additional guidance as to where they can expect to see it.  There was some confusion among the team as to where to look.  At that point in time the sun had already gone below the horizon 30 minutes prior and the moon, although a hand span or so above the horizon at the time of sunset, would now be much closer to the horizon itself.  They had at that point possibly 20 minutes before the moon would drop below the horizon.  I suggested looking about 2 finger widths above the horizon.  No sooner did I finish that instruction to him that he exclaims “Allahu Akbar! There it is!”  The entire astronomy class becomes gleeful as they all heard his exclaim coming through over the phone speaker.  Suddenly two more voices rip out from the phone as the other two assistants saw it, and then voices clamoring as they pointed it out to my youngest assistant and suddenly all four are witnesses!

It was a joyful moment for all of us.  I quickly sent a text message to Zakariyya, who by that time was on Mount Tam, that we had a positive sighting by three adults, 2 male and one female, in the south.  His reply was one of relief as he informed me that Mount Tam was covered by clouds as well.  Within the hour it was clear that no other sightings had been made and my four assistants, to the best of our knowledge, were the sole witnesses in the entire world!  I was very proud of my four assistants for coming together and making the effort to keep this crucial tradition alive.  However, within that same hour, we received word that another crescent sighting organization had announced that the crescent had not been seen and the month of Safar had not commenced.  We quickly had to rally to correct the misinformation by passing along the sighting report to that organization.  We had no doubt that they would want to interview my assistants on the sighting details.  

I called my oldest and informed him that he and the others were about to be the object of scrutiny and to be ready for it and answer honestly.  For the most part the interviews went well and all was done.  However, on the next day my oldest received one more call from an obscure person who was not so interested in the sighting itself but in the character of my son.  He questioned why his name had never come up before as a sighter even though my son claimed to be a veteran of moonsighting with more than a decade of experience.  When my son informed me of this I was taken aback at first.  My son was quite agitated by the man’s line of questioning.  I counseled my son to learn how to grow a thick skin and that if you choose to be a guardian of this tradition that from time to time you will be the object of such behavior towards you.  I will say this now, in my son’s defense, he has been with me at nearly every outing to sight the moon ever since his birth.  When he became an adult, and I made a sighting report, he was my validating witness, even if his name never made it into the records.

But it made me think of the numerous times that we received sighting reports from unknown people and the line of questioning that we had to put them through.  The interesting thing is that even though we did ask about their experience, we never questioned their veracity.  Albeit I suppose someone could be lying about seeing the moon, but for the life of me I can not fathom why a person would do so of their own volition.  Many times what they saw was clearly not the moon and such mistakes are not uncommon, but every time we saw a new name pop up on our radar it brought with it a sense of hope that this tradition is being revived.  If we treated every sighting claim made by a new person with skepticism and questioning the character of that person making the report, we would alienate the community from carrying out this beautiful monthly tradition.

Finally, as I checked in on our social media outlet to see if the announcement of the start of Safar had been made, I came across a comment left by one of the followers of that account.  It started off with “Pff.  Is there a photo…”.  I was shocked and at the same time felt somewhat guilty.  For years I have been reporting the sightings of the new crescent and in almost every case I have always included a photograph of the crescent.  I asked myself, have I created a culture of seekers that will only take as proof a photograph?  The fact is the proof of the sighting comes only by the claim that it was seen by at least two credible male witnesses.  Of course the more witnesses the better and when the sky is clear and the moon could be easily seen, even  more witnesses are expected.  For some, the claim of the sighting is taken without any additional questioning as to the veracity, not of the person, but of the details of the sighting itself, regardless of how incredulous the report could be.  However, in this modern age where many things leave traces in the sky that could be mistaken for the crescent moon, some questioning of what was seen is necessary to corroborate the sighting against scientific data of the moon’s condition at the time of the sighting.  Other than that no additional evidence is needed.  Photographs do help if the sighter has one, but it is not necessary, nor is it proof that the moon was seen.  If I was a deceitful person, I could pull out any of my myriad of crescent moon photos from the last 25+ years of sighting and claim it was the moon of the current month.  How would one know the difference?  Granted, today’s technology makes it a bit harder to falsify such things with the attached meta-data that is tagged with digital images, but nonetheless, it could be done.

We have to learn how to trust one another in an age when lying is believed to be true and truth is believed to be a lie. It is unfortunately a sign of the end of time as the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, foretold us about in his many prophecies of the future.   If nothing else I hope that this tradition of sighting the new crescent moon to establish the starts of months in this living Islamic calendar, will help build trust between us in the Muslim community here in North America and worldwide.

Given all that I have mentioned above the beauty of the new crescent moon still shines through.  And even though I did not have the good fortune of seeing the crescent when it first appeared on the horizon, I went out the next night to capture a photograph of it.  I did not have to go far, as I only had to step out of my front door to see and photograph it as it poked through the redwood trees surrounding our home.

If you have never seen the new crescent moon on the first day when it is visible, then make the intention to go out next month to search for it.  You most likely will not have to travel far at all, probably just out our front door as well.  In case you wish to do so, mark Wednesday November 7th as that day.  It will be the 29th day of the month of Safar and the day that searching for the next new moon will occur.

With that I wish all of you a Safar Mubarak and Peace.

Yesterday, May 15th 2018, was the 29th day of the Islamic month of Sha’baan.  It was the critical day to go out and site the new moon for the month of Ramadan.  Unfortunately, no one saw the crescent moon last evening.  Even more disappointing, was that there was a claim that the moon was seen through a telescope down in Southern California.  The claim was incredulous and by 9 pm last night many organizations had announced that based on no valid sighting reports that Ramadan would start on Thursday May 17th.

Then this evening, after sunset this was the view in the western sky.

Without a doubt what you are seeing in this photo is the first day moon of Ramadan.  And without any doubt I know there will be people who will make the assertion that this is a second day moon.  One only needs to compare this moon too any of the other first day crescent moons on this site like the moon from earlier this year in the article titled Blue Is Peace.  You can compare for yourself and tell me if this evening’s moon is not a first day moon.

What is more phenomenal, is that those who claim it to be a second day moon, probably have never gone out to see a new moon in the first place!  The audacity!

Ramadan has finally started.  We begin fasting tomorrow.  Ramadan Mubarak to all my Muslim readers, and Peace to all.

Today was the 29th day of the Sacred month of Rajab in the Islamic Calendar. It is the the 7th month in the Islamic year and proceeds the Holy month of Ramadan by two months.  Sighting its new crescent is first in line to accurately determining the start of Ramadan as it sets up the correct sighting day for the 8th month known as Shabaan.  Today was that crucial day for sighting Shabaan.

It was a touch and go day if the new moon of Shabaan would be seen at all.  As the afternoon unfolded for us here on the West Coast, I received reports from further east that the sky was clouded over by other moon sighters.  It was looking grim for us as well.  We had on and off rain all day and as I pulled up to our new sighting location in the Santa Cruz mountains, it was not looking good.

My close friend and fellow moonsighter was about 50 or so miles north standing on Mount Tamalpais had much better conditions and I was hoping that at least he would see it.  Here is the sky he had.

My assistants  standing with me on that wind blown ridge started to lose hope as it started to rain on us.  I took off my jacket and covered the camera on the tripod and said, “we wait it out”.  There is always hope.  The rain slowly subsided.  The clouds started to break and I became even more hopeful, while the others not so much.  Slowly the breaks in the clouds became bigger and then smaller.  Gaps would open and our eyes played tricks on us as we thought we saw it and then not.

The all of a sudden at 8:02 pm PDT my phone rang, it was a text from my friend up north.  He saw the moon with 2 other adult males and one adult female for a total of 4 witnesses.  I was both elated and saddened at the same time as it was starting to look grim for us again.  But we pushed on.  The moon was still in the sky and if we needed to we would stay there until moon set.  We kept searching, the clouds kept passing in and out leaving gaps where we needed to look.  Then my oldest assistant cried out, “I think I see it Allahu Akbar,…No…maybe…I don’t know”.  Then one of my other assistants said the same.  I was still “in the clouds”.

Then both of those assistants cry out “There it is, Allahu Akbar! I see it”.  The other two “Where, where?”  There is confusion as I and the other two tried to find it.  Descriptions were not clear as to where to look.  Then all of a sudden, right in a gap between the clouds, I see it. “Allahu Akbar!!!!”.  I quickly point the camera at it, and I snap off one exposure.  Then I try to point it out to my other two assistants.  While I try to get some more exposures.  The moon sank quickly behind the clouds below it, allowing only one good exposure of the new moon of Shabaan.  We sighted it at 8:07 pm PDT with about an azimuth of 280 degrees and an altitude of just 3 fingers above the horizon.  

Not as artistically placed as usually try to do, but this time I caught that moon just in the nick of time.  In the end we were elated.  We went out and fulfilled our Sunnah of seeing the new crescent moon.  We are taking back this sunnah.  We will not let it be lost.  One month from now, that is in 29 days, count them and go out and look for the the moon of Ramadan and take back the sunnah for yourself.  You will not be disappointed.

Until next time, Shabaan Mubarak and Peace to all!

Color is a fascinating subject to study.  Apart from the physics of light itself and the wave lengths of the various colors that we can see, colors have a profound psychological effect on us.  Blue is an interesting color in that it can effect us in many positive ways.  Blue is a color that suggests peace. It’s the color of the calm sea and the clear sky, both of which are linked to inner serenity, calm and clarity. Blue was also shown to slow heart rate and breathing, so it can be a good color to aid in meditation or relaxation. Blue is associated with intelligence. It has been proven that different shades of blue can improve concentration, stimulate thinking and provide mental clarity. It also improves productivity. This is a good color for study and work, as it offers relaxation and stimulation at the same time.  Blue is a color that is linked with confidence. Unlike red, which shows aggressive dominance, blue is related to a calm authority. Blue inspires trust, it is non-threatening and shows persistence.

Blue inspires many of the characteristic qualities of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.  I found it interesting that this month the moon came in with the color of blue, in the Month of the birth of the Prophet.  If there was one thing the Prophet came to spread in this world it was Peace.  If there is one thing that we need more than anything else in our modern world it is peace.  From mass shootings perpetrated by those who have become totally unhinged from reality to sexual assaults on our youth by depraved and debauched individuals to attacks on our security both physically and identity, our world is in chaos and turmoil.  

So in this month of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, Rabi Al-Awwal, let’s honor him by carrying the torch of his mission of spreading peace, by doing the same.  For he, peace be upon him, said, “Spread Peace, Feed people food, and pray in the night while others are sleeping and you will enter into paradise”.  In this next month, Go around and just say “Peace To You” to those you meet and let them know that as a Muslim, you are committed to spreading peace in the world.  Maybe, just maybe, we can succeed in bringing peace to a troubled world.

Til next time, Peace to you all!

On Tuesday August 22, 2017 the new crescent moon, now devoid of the crown it wore just a day before while it was in union with the sun, appeared quietly above the horizon.  It is a special moon, marking the beginning of the Hajj or Pilgrimage to Mecca for the world Muslim community.  As I write, millions of people from all nationalities, races, ages, social and economic status the world round are making their way towards Mecca on foot, on animal, by car, boat or plane.  Seeking one goal.  Heeding the call of the Creator and hoping for His Mercy and Forgiveness.  A spectacle unlike any other in the world.

May all the Pilgrims have a blessed and accepted Pilgrimage.  And if any of you are going and are reading this, please keep me and my family in your prayers!

Peace to you all!