Rabat – Controversy looms as social media is buzzing with videos showing experts agreeing that Saudi Arabia’s moon sighting for Eid Al Fitr this year may have been wrong.
Some videos feature experts denying that the moon for the month of Shawwal, marking the end of Ramadan, was visible on the night of Saturday, when Saudi Arabia announced that the crescent was clearly visible to announce Sunday as Eid Al Fitr.
Grok, an AI chatbot developed by xAI, launched by Elon Musk in 2023, said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia’s “claimed moon’s lighting” on Saturday is “likely incorrect as astronomical data shows the crescent was not visible.”
Many astronomers and experts across the world agreed that the moon was not visible, even with the use of a telescope.
Several astronomers and experts based in the Middle East have agreed on the impossibility of seeing the crescent moon.
British online news outlet My London quoted several astronomers who said it was impossible to have seen the moon announcing the month of Shawwal.
Still, several countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, and many others declared Sunday as Eid Al Fitr.
This took social media by storm, with many urging those who celebrated Eid on Sunday to pay expiation or al-Kaffarah, a term in Islamic law meaning the expiation of sin. There are special sanctions to compensate for a particular violation.
This is not the first incident when people and experts have defined Saudi Arabia’s moon sighting as incorrect.
In 2011, the Eid celebration in the Gulf country was marred by controversy after claims that religious officials announced the feast on the wrong day.
Astronomers said they presented evidence to show that the moon was not visible at the time of the sighting in August of 2011.
In a scandal similar to this year’s ongoing debate, declaring Eid on the wrong date could mean that millions of Muslims would stop fasting on the wrong day.
If the moon is not visible, this means that the start of a lunar month in the Islamic calendar will not start until it is sighted.
Many countries are celebrating Eid today, unlike Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
Morocco sighted the crescent moon on Sunday evening, declaring March 31 as the end of Ramadan and the start of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar.
