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EYE OF THE TIGER: NATIONAL MOON SIGHTING COMMITTEE OF BANGLADESH.

“I was honoured to be invited to the central National Moosighting Committee meeting, which takes place ever month in Bangladesh.

There are 64 official locations which are organised by the National Moonsighting committee, and they receive support of an additional 20 or so locations from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Bangladesh has a variety of locations, including coastal locations in Chittagong, mountainous locations in the North, city locations (like the one in my video) and spots in the countryside too. The committee also publish a phone number in the newspapers every month where any member of the public can phone in and inform the committee that they’ve seen the moon.

On the 29th of every Islamic month, the moonsighters go out and attempt to sight the moon. Moonsighting reports from around the country are centrally collated in the capital city, Dhaka, in a central National Moonsighting Committee meeting. This is attended by imams from around the country, Islamic Foundation directors, astronomers, and a representative from the Ministry of Religious Affairs (or, on occasion, the Minister himself). I was delighted to be in attendance for the moonsighting meeting of Shaban 1442.

It was quite an exciting meeting! The system of moonsighting and then reporting is quite simple and easy. The Chair of the meeting had a live video-conference (Zoom) running with the sighters around the country; those who could not use video conference software due to connectivity simply phoned in to call. We were served some delicious snacks and a cup of tea (crucial for any meeting), whilst we awaited the results, and there was a pleasant jovial atmosphere in the room. I noticed some attendees fill in a travel expenses form, as they had come from more distant districts.

In Bangladesh, they only require a single positive sighting to start the month, which is verified by the astronomers and meteorologists who attend this committee meeting. If the moon isn’t seen, the meeting can take a bit longer (about 90 minutes), because they take the effort of waiting to hear from every single location.

What was FASCINATING about my experience was that, despite the astronomers predicting the moon being easily visible, poor weather conditions and haze meant that not a single person saw the moon in Bangladesh! The Secretary for the Minister of Religious Affairs was chairing the meeting, and he had some banter with the astronomers and meteorologists present quipping, “Oh dear…sometimes your science doesn’t quite match our reality!” and the astronomer responded “Yes, but it was hazy...we can’t predict the weather so far in advance.”

What was even more remarkable was the ramifications of not seeing the moon: national holidays (Shabe Barat) which had already been printed last year based on astronomical predictions had to be revised. The Additional Secretary to the Minister told me: “well – this is a bit of a headache, but we don’t do things for convenience - this is the sunnah (tradition and instruction of the Prophet Muhammad) - and we follow the moon!” You can see him deliver a similar message in my video below.

Once the decision was made, they moved over into an adjacent room for a press conference. I saw the news appear on social media articles around 20 minutes later. My uncle later told me that he unexpectedly saw me on TV on a news channel - I was lurking in the background when the decision was announced in front of the media!

There was a bit of additional drama too – after the press conference, someone phoned in and said that they had seen the moon - about two hours after moonset. However, the National Moonsighting Committee verified this quickly by phoning up the local leads, who confirmed total cloud cover in that area. They later told me that this particular gentleman who had phoned in was a frequent ‘fake moon reporter’ and he was well known to them! They also mentioned that they sometimes faced incidents with fake moonsighting in Bangladesh, where people claim that they had seen the moon in Bangladesh – conveniently matching the calendar of Saudi Arabia, but scientifially impossible to sight in Bangladesh.

I was treated with great hospitality, with some of the local staff inviting me to their homes for dinner (I may yet take them up on that offer). They were amazed that a UK born person of Bangladeshi heritage would be interested in their religious moonsighting practices. I assured them that, on the contrary, I was entirely impressed and fascinated at their simple, clean and easy system, and their integrity. I added that I had met several moonsighting committees across the world, and have researched many others – and I was proud that Bangladesh had, by far, one of the best I had ever encountered globally”.

Imad Ahmed
Director, New Crescent Society
29 Rajab / 14 March