Saudi authorities declared Saturday, Nov 13, 2004 as 1st Shawwal. Was it possible to see the moon on Friday evening anywhere in Saudi Arabia?
The moon was born at about 10 to 30 minutes before Maghrib time in every location in Saudi Arabia. Also moonset was 10 minutes before sunset. Now, it is very clear that they cannot see the moon. What more justification is required to accept that it was a false sighting? They saw something that was not the moon; a thin peice of cloud, a stellite, a jet smoke, an airplane, a planet making crescent, anything can be mistaken as a moon. Nigeria reports to have seen the moon on Thursday, Nov 11, 2004, which was 21 hours before the new moon was born. How did they see the moon? Of course, they saw something else.
