Circular Calculus and Elliptical Realities: The Standardization of the Islamic Lunar Calendar in the United States, 1966–2006

Abstract

Looking at the most recent episode in the history of time standardization, this paper focuses on the immigrant American Muslim community's historically intricate transition from the phenomena-based Islamic lunar calendar formally instituted in 1976 toward a standardized calculation-based approach taken in 2006. Using the roles assumed by the Muslim community's two premier organizations during this period, the Muslim Students' Association and the Islamic Society of North America, I attempt to analyze the multiplicity of issues dealing with technology and modernity, cultural unity and diversity, and assimilation. While this paper tracks the community building efforts of America's most diverse religious cohort through an integrated exposition of technology, politics, religion and society, it fundamentally reveals a distinct shift to a modernist epistemology of railroad time based on uniformity and science.

Notes

Robert Poole, “‘Give Us Our Eleven Days!’: Calendar Reform in Eighteenth-Century England”, Past and Present, No. 149, November 1995, pp. 95–139; Mark M. Smith, “Culture, Commerce, and Calendar Reform in Colonial America”, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 4, Third Series, October 1998, pp. 557–584.

The Majestic Qurān: An English Rendition of Its Meanings, 4th ed., Chicago, IL: Nawawi Foundation, 2000.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Islamic years are also called Hijri years because the first year in the Islamic calendar is designated as the year during which Prophet Muhammad's hijra (migration) occurred—from Mecca to Medina.

“Crescent Moon Visibility and the Islamic Calendar”, United States Naval Observatory, http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/islamic.php

David A. King, Astronomy in the Service of Islam, Aldershot, UK: Variorum, 1993.

The issue of using instruments such as telescopes posed a challenge to naked-eye sighting, but this challenge was for more limited and localized than the challenge of pure calculation. While evidence of this debate is limited, it is an area in need of further investigation.

Earle H. Waugh, Baha Abu-Laban, and Regula Qureshi, The Muslim Community in North America, Edmonton, AB, Canada: University of Alberta Press, 1983.

Gerald David Jaynes, Robin Murphy Williams, and National Research Council (US) Committee on the Status of Black Americans, A Common Destiny, 1989, p. 193.

Richard T. Schaefer, Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2008, p. 496.

Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Muslims in the West, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Just among Indian immigrants in the 1990 census, many of whom are Muslims, 10% were medical doctors and 17% were engineers.

“Close-up of the Muslim Students' Associations”, Al-Ittihad, Berkeley, CA: Muslim Students' Association of the United States & Canada, September 1966, p. 2.

The Nation of Islam, already separate from the growing Muslim community based on views of creed and race relations, excluded itself from using the lunar calendar and instead standardized Ramadan, the month before one of the Eid, to December of the Gregorian year. Elijah Muhammed, the Prophet of this movement, felt that his early community would feel left out during the holiday season while fellow Americans celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas.

Ibid., p. 32.

Harry Newton, Newton's Telecom Dictionary, New York: Flatiron Publishing, 2007, p. 52.

“News and Views”, Al-Ittihad, Berkeley, CA: Muslim Students' Association of the United States & Canada, September 1966, p. 36.

“On the Date of Eid-el-Fitr”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, December 1968, p. 3.

“Purposes and Functions”, Al-Ittihad, Berkeley, CA: Muslim Students' Association of the United States & Canada, March 1968, p. 3.

“Eid-ul-Adha”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, January 1970, p. 2.

Yusuf Um, comment on Understanding the Controversies Regarding Moonsighting, entry 18 October 2007, http://muslimmatters.org/2007/09/12/understanding-the-controversies-regarding-moonsighting/ [accessed 3 October 2008].

“Maulana Maududi Answers Questions”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, January 1971, pp. 15–17.

Ibid.

Izhar Ahmed “The Imperative Necessity of Adopting the Hijri Calendar”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, March 1971.

“Eid-ul-Adha”.

A. S. Patel, “Eid Celebrations and Resource Potential for Community Development”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, December 1973.

Ibid.

Anne Keegan, “Muslims Here Pray for ‘Holy War’ Dead”, Chicago Tribune (1963–Current file), 29 October 1973.

Ibid.

Patel, “Eid Celebrations and Resource Potential for Community Development”, op. cit.

Ibid.

MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Fasting Starts September 18”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, September 1974.

Ibid., p. 2.

MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Criteria to Determine the New Moon”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, September 1976, p. 2.

Muslim Community Center, “Survey of Chicago Muslim Community”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, April 1975, p. 3.

“MSA launches Unified Eid Program”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, October 1976, p. 3.

M. Khursheed, “The Moon that Divides”, Islamic Horizons, February 1979.

MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Ramadan Likely on July 14, Eid August 12”, Islamic Horizons, July 1980.

MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Eid ul Fitr Likely on August 12”, Islamic Horizons, August 1980.

“Of Moon-Sighting and Allegations”, Islamic Horizons, July 1983, p. 1.

“Letter to the Editor”, Islamic Horizons, November 1980, p. 6.

Marranne Bernhard, “Confusion over the End of Ramadan Sends Moslems to Mosque Day Late”, The Washington Post, 15 August 1980, sec. Religion.

MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “The Determination of Eid al Adha”, Islamic Horizons, November 1980, p. 6.

“Chronomedia: 1965”, Chronomedia, December 13, 2008, http://www.terramedia.co.uk/Chronomedia/years/1965.htm; Alan Wells, World Broadcasting, 1997, p. 135.

S. Azmathulla Quadri, “A Need for a New Look on the Sighting of Moon”, Islamic Horizons, June 1981, p. 3.

“Sighting Moon Not Even Born”, Islamic Horizons, November 1982.

Umar Afzal, “Ramadan & Eidain”, Islamic Horizons, May 1982; “Sighting Moon Not Even Born”, Islamic Horizons, November 1982. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser is significant in the modern Middle Eastern history for his pan-Arabism, which other Muslims denounced as counter to the cause of religious unity.

“The Controversy over Ramadan and Eidain”, Islamic Horizons, August 1982.

Thomas Brady, “Ramadan in Tunis Faces Test Today”, New York Times, 29 February 1960.

Ibid.

“Seminar on Moon-Sighting Ends without an Agreed Criterion”, Islamic Horizons, December 1982, p. 10.

John Dart, “A Muslim Tradition Gets Updated”, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 1984.

Ibid.

Matt O'Brien, “Islamic Groups Look to the Sky”, Oakland Tribune, 22 September 2006.

Ibid.

United States House of Representatives member, Rep. Eddie Johnson, H.Res. 635: Recognizing the commencement of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal, and expressing respect to Muslims in the United States and throughout the world on this occasion, and for other purposes, 2007.

Jane H. Lii, “Captain Learns the Subtleties of the Moon and Mahantswami”, The New York Times, 30 July 1995, sec. 13.

Debra Nussbaum, “More Districts Closing on Muslim Holidays”, The New York Times, 7 October 2007, sec. New York Region / New York/Region Special, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/07mainnj.html?_r=1&ref=nyregionspecial2&oref=slogin

Maria Newman, “Paterson Will Close Schools for 2 Muslim Holidays”, The New York Times, 30 May 1999, sec. School.

MSA Religious Affairs Committee, “Criteria to Determine the New Moon”, Muslim Students' Association of the United States & Canada, p. 3.

“Muslim Satellite Monitors Moon”, 25 April 2005, http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/04/25/1352797.htm