Issue # 9: Is it licit to use a calendar based on calculations?
Egyptian cadi Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (18) is the spokesman and the theoretician of this school of thought. He is a distinguished jurist of the first half of the 20th century, who was to become President of the Egyptian Supreme Court of the Shariah at the end of his career, and who remains to this day an author of reference in the field of hadith (19). He published, in 1939, a detailed legal opinion on the subject of the Islamic calendar, entitled: “The beginning of arab months… is it licit to determine it using astronomical calculations?” (20) According to him, the Messenger took into account the fact that the Muslim community of his time was « illiterate, not knowing how to write nor how to count. » So, he recommended to its members to observe the new moon to carry out their religious duties at the time of fasting and hajj. But the community evolved considerably over time, and some of its members even became experts in astronomy. According to the principle of Muslim law which states th
Related Questions
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- Issue # 6: Is the lunar calendar based on calculations a satisfactory alternative to the observation of the new moon?
- Issue # 9: Is it licit to use a calendar based on calculations?
