References
Annotated Bibliography
- The bibliography is divided into primary sources including collection of newspaper articles, and secondary sources. The secondary sources include articles and books I consulted and/or used to contextualize and develop my understanding of the topic
Primary Sources
- Muslim, Students' Association of the United States and Canada. Al-Ittihad. Berkeley, CA: Muslim Students' Association of the U.S. & Canada
- “Close-up of the Muslim Students' Associations”, Al-Ittihad, September 1966
- “News and Views”, Al-Ittihad, September 1966
- “Purposes and Functions”, Al-Ittihad, March 1968
- Targeting a more academic audience, the MSA utilized Al-Ittihad to shed light on issues facing the community as a whole in a more sophisticated manner. I used the broad range of articles to deepen my understanding of the Muslim community's issues and ideas, especially around unity and diversity
- Islamic Society of North America, and Students' Association of the United States and Canada Muslim. Islamic Horizons. Plainfield, Ind: Muslim Students' Association of the United States and Canada
- Umar Afzal, “Ramadan & Eidain”, Islamic Horizons, May 1982
- M. Khursheed, “The Moon that Divides”, Islamic Horizons, February 1979
- “Letter to the Editor”, Islamic Horizons, November 1980
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Ramadan Likely on July 14, Eid August 12”, Islamic Horizons, July 1980
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “The Determination of Eid al Adha”, Islamic Horizons, November 1980
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “The Controversy over Ramadan and Eidain”, Islamic Horizons, August 1982
- “Of Moon-Sighting and Allegations”, Islamic Horizons, July 1983
- S. Azmathulla Quadri, “A Need for a New Look on the Sighting of Moon”, Islamic Horizons, June 1981
- “Seminar on Moon-Sighting Ends without an Agreed Criterion”, Islamic Horizons, December 1982
- “Sighting Moon Not Even Born”, Islamic Horizons, November 1982
- This is the successor to the MSA Newsletter and similarly captures the various stages of the moon sighting debate from 1976 onward. I used this as a primary source document in the same manner I dealt with MSA Newsletter. Beyond what I could find in the MSA Newsletter, Islamic Horizons included a range of advertisements pertinent to the discussion of technology and religion
- Muslim Students' Association of the United States and Canada. Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada. Ann Arbor: Muslim Students' Association of the U.S. & Canada
- “Maulana Maududi Answers Questions”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, January 1971
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Criteria to Determine The New Moon”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, September 1976
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Eid-ul-Adha”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, May 1982
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Eid ul Fitr Likely on August 12”, Islamic Horizons, August 1980
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “Fasting Starts September 18”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, September 1974
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, Muslim Community Center, “Survey of Chicago Muslim Community”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, April 1975
- MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee, “On the Date of Eid-el-Fitr”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, December 1968
- “MSA launches Unified Eid Program”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, October 1976
- A.S. Patel, “Eid Celebrations and Resource Potential for Community Development”, Newsletter of the Muslim Students' Association of US & Canada, December 1973
- Intended for the MSA's growing membership, this primary source document offers a glimpse into the monthly dialogue about issues of concern to the community. Because this newsletter was the mouthpiece of the MSA, it provides a thorough documentation of the public discussion and announcements about the moon sighting issue. Many issues included both announcements from the MSA Fiqh/Religious Affairs Committee and editorials from prominent community members
Newspaper Articles
- Collection of newspaper articles from New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, Oakland Tribune & Chicago Tribune. <http://www.proquest.com>
- Marranne Bernhard, “Confusion over the End of Ramadan Sends Moslems to Mosque Day Late”, The Washington Post, August 15, 1980, sec. Religion
- Thomas Brady, “Ramadan in Tunis Faces Test Today”, New York Times, February 29, 1960
- John Dart, “A Muslim Tradition Gets Updated”, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1984
- Anne Keegan, “Muslims here pray for ‘Holy War’ dead”, Chicago Tribune (1963–Current file), October 29, 1973
- Jane H. Lii, “Captain Learns the Subtleties of the Moon and Mahantswami”, The New York Times, July 30, 1995, sec. 13
- Matt O'Brien “Islamic groups look to the sky”, Oakland Tribune. FindArticles.com. 12 Jan. 2009, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060922/ai_n16743479>
- “Muslim satellite monitors Moon”, Reuters, April 4, 2005, <http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/04/25/1352797.htm>
- Maria Newman, “Paterson Will Close Schools for 2 Muslim Holidays”, The New York Times, May 30, 1999, sec. School
- Debra Nussbaum, “More Districts Closing on Muslim Holidays”, The New York Times, October 7, 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>
- Directed toward a broader audience than the newsletter, these articles helped to place events in the Muslim community in their American context and offered a spectator's viewpoint to the topic as it unfolded. In the later period, as communities decided to push for standardization, these articles framed the issue as one of science and tradition, signifying the way American society understood these happenings. As a primary source, these newspaper articles also confirmed the dates present in other sources I used regarding specific events such as the public Eid celebrations in the 1970s
Secondary Sources
- “Crescent Moon Visibility and the Islamic Calendar”, United States Naval Observatory, 5 Jan 2009, <http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/islamic.php>
- This is a website dedicated specifically to the issue of crescent moon visibility. For further information on the challenges of calculating moon visibility, this serves as a great resource
- David A. King, Astronomy in the Service of Islam, Aldershot, Hampshire, Great Britain: Variorum, 1993
- While the focus of this book is pre-modern, it provided an important foundation for understanding the historical methods for determining sacred times and directions in the Islamic tradition
- Robert Poole, ““Give Us Our Eleven Days!”: Calendar Reform in Eighteenth-Century England”, Past and Present, Vol. 149, 1995, pp. 95–139
- This secondary source paper introduced me to the history of time and how specific shifts in time-telling can be investigated from a social perspective. The paper argues that the decision to switch to the Gregorian calendar served to distance the upper classes from the lower classes due to the disunity in subsequent festival calendars
- Mark M. Smith, “Culture, Commerce, and Calendar Reform in Colonial America”, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 4, 1998, pp. 557–584
- This is another secondary source I used before researching to understand the connection between time and cultural elements. This paper investigates the role of unified time in unifying the colonies, which resembled one of the cultural forces thrusting the issue forward in my research
- Hamza Yusuf, Caesarean Moon Births: Calculations, Moon Sighting, and the Prophetic Way, Berkeley, CA: Zaytuna Institute, 2007
- This is a book written in response to ISNA's decision to standardize and, although arguing against the use of calculation, offers a detailed history of the calendrical tradition useful for understanding the issue today