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ʿĪ𝗱 𝗮𝗹-𝗔ḍḥā 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 ʿ𝗔𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗮𝗵: 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 ʿ𝗔𝗿𝗮𝗳ā𝘁

Rashid Yahya 9 November 2025

In 1429H (2008), a public controversy arose in Nigeria when the Sultan of Sokoto, as President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, announced that the crescent of Dhūl Ḥijjah had been sighted on Thursday night (28 November 2008). This meant that Saturday would be the Day of ʿArafah (9 Dhū al-Ḥijjah) and Sunday would be ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā in Nigeria. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia declared that ʿArafah would fall on Sunday and ʿĪd on Monday, because their moonsighting was established a day later.

The disagreement provoked strong reactions. Many argued that Nigeria should only celebrate ʿĪd after the pilgrims had stood at ʿArafāt in Saudi Arabia, implying that the global Muslim calendar should be tied to the Saudi timing of ḥajj.

Dr. Ibrahim Jalo Muhammad, in his concise treatise ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā and the Fast of ʿArafah Are Dependent on Crescent Sighting, Not Merely the Standing at ʿArafāt (1429H/2008), clarified that:

ʿ• Īd al-Aḍḥā and the fast of ʿArafah are determined by local moonsighting of Dhūl Ḥijjah in each region, not by the physical act of standing at ʿArafāt in Makkah.

• Just as the times of daily prayers and the length of fasting differ from country to country depending on sunrise and sunset, so too the beginning of lunar months may differ between regions.

• The Islamic calendar is “natural” (ṭabīʿī), based on observable celestial signs, not “numerical” (ʿadadī) like the fixed solar months of other civilizations.

Malam reinforced his argument with vivid, practical examples:

1. Travel and Fasting: A Nigerian flying eastwards from Kano to Jeddah may fast only about ten hours before breaking his fast, while another flying westwards from Jeddah to Kano may fast up to fourteen hours. Each fast is valid according to his own local sunset.

2. Prayer Times: Nigerians watching live television from Makkah may see people performing ẓuhr while their own sun is still mid-morning. Yet no one argues that they must follow Makkah’s prayer time.

3. Japan Analogy: If Japanese Muslims fast the Day of ʿArafah based on their local moonsighting, they may end their fast while pilgrims in Makkah have not yet begun the standing at ʿArafāt; yet their fast remains valid, since each land follows its own dawn and sunset.

Malam drew on the ḥadīth of Kuraib in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, which shows that different regions (like Syria and Madinah) may follow different moonsightings.

He also invoked qiyās and other principles of uṣūlul fiqh to establish that worship dependent on natural signs (like crescent sighting, sunrise, sunset) follows locality, not universal uniformity.

Classical scholars across madhāhib supported the view that every region relies on its own sighting if the horizons differ (ikhtilāf al-maṭāliʿ).

Malam responded to the objection: “How can ʿĪd be observed before the pilgrims even stand at ʿArafāt?”
He clarified that:

• The ḥajj rites are specific to the pilgrims in Makkah.

• Muslims outside Makkah are not obliged to align their calendar with the ḥajj schedule; their duty is to follow their local moonsighting.

• To insist otherwise is to conflate ʿibādāt mawqūfah ʿalā al-ḥiss (acts tied to observable signs) with a singular universal timetable.

Dr. Jalo’s contribution settled an issue that often leads to public confusion: the synchronization of Nigerian Muslims’ ʿĪd with Saudi Arabia’s ḥajj. He demonstrated, through evidence and analogy, that each country follows its moonsighting. Thus, ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā and the fast of ʿArafah are determined by the local crescent, not the physical standing at ʿArafāt.

This overview represents a concise summary of Dr. Ibrahim Jalo Muhammad’s juristic position as understood from his works. Any shortcomings or errors in transmission are solely mine. Allah knows best.
08/11/2025