Rajab 1429 Begins
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It was a beautiful afternoon at Russian Ridge Open Space Preseve in the mid-peninsula region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The sun was shinning brightly and the air was crisp and clean.
Even the trees throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains were enjoying the sweet scented air and sunshine.
And as the sun began to set, it was becoming clear that the horizon would pose a threat to seeing the new crescent moon of Rajab. But there was still hope as the sky above was clear.
The sun finally set behind the thick clouds clining to the horizon, and the intense search began. The sky above and to the west of the sunset point was definitely clear, and posed no obstructions to the view at all. At 8:43 pm PDT, I caught the very first glimpse of the new crescent. It was about 5 fingers span above the horizon and about 1 hand span to the left of the sun.
It was amazingly fine, definitely a first day moon. Its upper limb at around 3 O'clock and its lower limb at about 6 O'clock. Just coming out of the blue and into the golden sky. The close up crop of the above image is shown below.
As the evening progressed, the crescent became brighter. By 8:55 pm, my three children could all see it without difficulty, Ibrahim, age 11 was the first to see it, then Yahya, age 6, and finally Zaynab age 9. They were all thrilled as was I.
By 9 pm, the sky had started to get darker, and the horizon clouds now started to look menacing. The moon still hung there in the sky, we bid it farewell and welcomed the blessed month of Rajab into our days.
Congratulations to all on the Blessed month of Rajab 1429 AH.
Peace To You All
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