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A worthy message to keep on Saudi’s phantom impossible sighting last night:
Assalamu Alaikum everyone 🌙
As expected, Saudi Arabia has declared the sighting of the moon on Tuesday evening and announced that 1st Ramadan will be Wednesday 18th February.
Before we all simply accept this, I’d like us to reflect on the facts — not opinions, not preferences — facts.
📊 The Astronomical Data for Tuesday 17th February 2026:
The new moon (conjunction) was born at 12:01 UTC / 3:01 PM Saudi time on Tuesday 17th February. An annular solar eclipse ☀️🌑 also occurred on this same day, confirming the sun and moon were in near-perfect alignment.
Here is the data for Tuesday evening at each key location across Saudi Arabia. Note that Tumair and Hautat Sudair are the two primary locations from which crescent sighting claims originate:
📍 Tumair (where the Al-Barghash family sight the moon with the naked eye):
Sunset: 17:50 AST — Moon age at sunset: 2 hours 49 minutes — Illumination: ~0.01%
📍 Hautat Sudair (Majmaah University observatory — Abdullah Al-Khudairi’s team):
Sunset: 17:53 AST — Moon age at sunset: 2 hours 52 minutes — Illumination: ~0.01%
📍 Riyadh:
Sunset: 17:48 AST — Moon age at sunset: 2 hours 47 minutes — Illumination: ~0.01%
The IAC confirmed the moon’s lower limb set 42 seconds BEFORE sunset. The moon was gone before the sun even set. ❌
📍 Madinah:
Sunset: 18:17 AST — Moon age at sunset: 3 hours 16 minutes — Illumination: ~0.01%
📍 Makkah:
Sunset: 18:19 AST — Moon age at sunset: 3 hours 18 minutes — Illumination: ~0.01%
The moon may have set approximately 1 minute after sunset — but at an altitude of virtually 0 degrees above the horizon, engulfed in the sun’s glare. ❌
Across the entire Arabian Peninsula, the angular separation between the sun and the moon was approximately 1 degree.
⚠️ So let us be clear: in Riyadh, there was literally nothing in the sky to see — the moon had already set. In Tumair and Sudair, conditions were virtually identical. In Makkah, the moon lingered for perhaps 60 seconds after sunset at zero altitude, with ~0.01% illumination, still engulfed in the sun’s glare. And at its oldest, the moon was barely 3 hours and 18 minutes old.
The World Record:
A simple Google search for “naked eye moon sighting world record” tells us that the world record for the youngest crescent moon ever seen with the naked eye is 15 hours and 32 minutes, achieved by Stephen James O’Meara in May 1990 — under exceptional conditions at high altitude with perfectly clear skies. The Royal Astronomical Society puts the reliable scientific limit at approximately 15 hours. Most ordinary observers need 20–24 hours to spot a new crescent without optical aid.
Even the most generous unverified claim in recorded history has never gone below 13.5 hours.
❓ So how did someone see a moon that was 2 hours 49 minutes old in Tumair, or 2 hours 52 minutes old in Sudair, sitting at 0 degrees altitude, with ~0.01% illumination, and an angular separation of 1 degree from the sun, when the moon had already set before sunset just 140km away in Riyadh?
📚 According to the International Astronomical Center, citing the research of Saudi astronomer Mulham Hindi of King Abdulaziz University, even Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah stated that a crescent at an elevation of less than one degree from the horizon cannot be seen.
“But we have witnesses who declared they saw it”
We do not doubt the sincerity of the Al-Barghash family or Abdullah Al-Khudairi’s team. But sincerity is not the same as accuracy. A person can genuinely believe they saw something and still be mistaken.
Consider the following:
- Islamic jurisprudence allows rejection of testimony that contradicts certainty (يقين)
Classical scholars including Imam al-Subki and Ibn Daqiq al-‘Id established that if a sighting claim contradicts what is known with certainty — such as the moon being below the horizon — the testimony is rejected. Not because the witness is a liar, but because they are mistaken. A judge who accepts testimony of something physically impossible is not upholding the Sunnah — he is abandoning reason, which the Sharia never asks us to do.
- What did they actually see?
Saudi astronomer Abdullah Al-Khudairi himself warned ahead of this very evening that Venus would be in close proximity to where the crescent would be expected, and that less experienced observers could mistake the planet for the crescent. He also noted that the crescent being sought would be virtually adjacent to the sun, not elsewhere in the sky. This was reported in The Saudi Times on 12th February 2026. So the Saudi Kingdom’s own lead astronomer publicly cautioned about exactly this kind of error — and then a sighting was declared anyway.
- Where is the independent verification?
The Al-Barghash family have been declaring sightings from Tumair for generations. Al-Khudairi’s team operate from Hautat Sudair with advanced equipment. It is understood that academics — including professors from Majmaah University — are invited to attend sighting sessions. But attendees are reportedly not permitted to photograph or video the process. This raises an obvious question: if the sighting is genuine, why restrict the very evidence that would prove it? Independent verification means open, documented, reproducible observation — not controlled attendance with suppressed records. A sighting that cannot be photographed, filmed, or independently published is not a verified sighting. It is a claim.
- Classical Hanafi jurisprudence itself demands mass corroboration on clear nights
For those of us who follow the Hanafi madhab — and this applies to the majority of Muslims in the UK — this is not a modern scepticism. It is built into our fiqh. Al-Hidayah, one of the most authoritative texts in the Hanafi school (written by Imam al-Marghinani, d. 593 AH), makes a critical distinction:
When the sky is overcast, even one just witness is accepted — because cloud may part briefly for one person. But when the sky is clear, Al-Hidayah states:
“If there is no obstruction in the sky, testimony is not accepted until a large group sees it whose report generates certainty”
(وإذا لم تكن بالسماء علة لم تقبل الشهادة حتى يراه جمع كثير يقع العلم بخبرهم)
The reasoning is explicit: “Because being alone in claiming a sighting under such conditions suggests error (يوهم الغلط), so one must withhold judgment.”
Imaam Abu Yusuf (Rahmatullahi alaihi – the student of Abu Hanifah) set the threshold at 50 men. Others said the people of an entire neighbourhood. Saudi Arabia has clear desert skies — this is not a cloudy night in Manchester. Under those conditions, one family in Tumair and one team in Sudair claiming a sighting while the entire rest of the Arabian Peninsula sees nothing is exactly the scenario Al-Hidayah says must be rejected.
Al-Hidayah goes further. It states that a judge may reject testimony on the basis of تهمة الغلط — “suspicion of error.” This is a Sharia-based reason for rejection, not a modern invention:
“The judge rejected his testimony with a Sharia-based evidence, which is the suspicion of error, and this creates doubt”
(لأن القاضي رد شهادته بدليل شرعي وهو تهمة الغلط فأورث شبهة)
So the classical Hanafi scholars built into the system exactly what we are calling for: that sincerity alone is not sufficient, that isolated claims on clear nights must be corroborated by the masses, and that a witness can be rejected not because he is a liar — but because he is mistaken.
A witness who claims to have seen something that was below the horizon, with ~0.01% illumination, at 0 degrees altitude, 1 degree from the sun, when the world record for youngest sighting is five times older — is not providing testimony. They are providing a claim that contradicts the observable universe.
The Sharia honours testimony. It also honours truth. When the two conflict, we do not abandon truth — we question the testimony.
🕌 “Astronomy has no basis in Sharia”
Some countries and scholars do follow astronomical calculations to determine the start of the month — and that is a legitimate scholarly difference of opinion (Comment from Ummati: we reject this that it is a legitimate schorlarly difference of opinion. Sighting is only with the naked eye and that determines the new month as the Hadith quoted below). But that is not the argument being made here. We are not debating calculation vs sighting. We are saying: if you claim to have seen the moon, then the laws of the universe that Allah created must support that claim. You cannot have seen what was not there to be seen.
The hadith says: “Fast when you see it and break your fast when you see it” (Bukhari 1909, Muslim 1081). This is about seeing — a physical act governed by the natural world Allah created. Astronomy doesn’t replace sighting. It tells us whether sighting is possible.
Every Muslim already relies on astronomy daily. Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha are determined by the sun’s position — that is astronomy. The Qibla direction — astronomy. The Umm al-Qura calendar Saudi Arabia itself uses — astronomy. Allah says: “He is the One Who made the sun a radiant source and the moon a reflected light, with precisely ordained phases, so that you may know the number of years and calculation of time” (Yunus 10:5). If measuring the moon’s phases is un-Islamic, our five daily prayers are in question too.
Even Ibn Taymiyyah used the astronomical knowledge of his time to set limits on valid sightings. The principle is not new. If a man told you he saw the sun rise in the west, would you need a fatwa to doubt him — or would the natural order Allah created be sufficient?
📅 “The moon was clearly visible on Wednesday 18th — so it must have been sighted on Tuesday 17th”
On Wednesday 18th, the moon will indeed be visible. Here are the numbers:
🇸🇦 Makkah — Sunset 18:20 AST. Moon age: 27 hours 19 minutes. Altitude: approximately 8–10 degrees. Illumination: ~2%. A thin crescent, low on the horizon, visible under good conditions.
🇬🇧 London — Sunset 17:19 GMT. Moon age: 29 hours 18 minutes. Altitude: approximately 5–7 degrees. Illumination: ~2%. A thin crescent that can still be obscured by cloud or haze.
Now compare this to Tuesday 17th:
🇸🇦 Makkah — Moon age: 3 hours 18 minutes. Altitude: 0 degrees. Illumination: ~0.01%. Engulfed in the sun’s glare. ❌
The same science that tells you the moon is 27 hours old and 8–10 degrees high on Wednesday is the same science that tells you it was 3 hours old and at 0 degrees on Tuesday. You cannot accept the data when it suits you and reject it when it doesn’t.
Notice that even at 29 hours old in London, the crescent is still thin, low on the horizon, and can easily be obscured by cloud cover or haze — conditions that are common in February. The idea that it was seen at 3 hours old in Tumair — when it was 10 times younger, 10 times closer to the sun, and sitting on the horizon — is not a difference of opinion. It is a difference with reality. No amount of clear skies, sharp eyesight, or elevated terrain changes the fact that a 3-hour-old moon at 0 degrees altitude with ~0.01% illumination does not produce a visible crescent. It is not difficult to see. It is not there.
The moon existed on Tuesday — no one disputes that. But a crescent that reflects ~0.01% illumination at 0 degrees altitude in the sun’s glare is not “difficult to see.” It is not there to be seen. Seeing it clearly on Wednesday is proof that it grew overnight — not that it was visible the day before.
🍼 A newborn baby on Wednesday is not evidence that the baby existed on Tuesday.
🤔 A Humble Suggestion:
If Saudi witnesses are genuinely seeing moons that are under 3 hours old at 0 degrees altitude, they haven’t just broken the world record — they have shattered it by a factor of five. Why not invite the Guinness Book of World Records to verify? Why not invite astronomers and optical scientists from around the world to witness and document this extraordinary ability? It would be a remarkable achievement for the Muslim world to hold such a record. Surely this would be a source of immense pride? 🏅
The fact that no such verification has ever been sought — in decades of making these claims — should tell us everything we need to know.
✅ The Alternative:
Countries like Morocco and South Africa operate structured moon sighting programmes with dozens of official observation points, formal verification procedures, and multiple independent witnesses. Here in the UK, local sighting teams across a number of major towns and cities go out on the 29th of every month to physically sight the moon — and their findings consistently align with what is astronomically possible. Oman has already announced that sighting was impossible on Tuesday and that Ramadan begins on Thursday 19th February.
These are not communities that reject the Sunnah of physical sighting — they uphold it with integrity and rigour.
Following a verified, credible process is following the Sunnah. Accepting claims that contradict what Allah has placed in the natural order is not honouring the tradition — it is undermining it.
🔗 Sources (verify for yourself):
Conjunction time (12:01 UTC): time and date, lunaf, moonsighting (dot com)
Moonset data for Saudi cities: International Astronomical Center (IAC) official statement, reported by Gulf News (13 Feb 2026) and Khaleej Times (13 Feb 2026)
Sunset times: meteotrend, cross-referenced against published Maghrib prayer times (IslamicFinder, MuslimPro, aladhan)
London sunset: sunrisesunset (dot com)
Naked eye sighting world record (15h 32m, O’Meara 1990): Royal Astronomical Society
Ibn Taymiyyah reference: cited by Mulham Hindi, King Abdulaziz University, via Khaleej Times (13 Feb 2026)
Venus/crescent confusion warning by Al-Khudairi: The Saudi Times (12 Feb 2026)
Al-Hidayah (clear sky testimony rules, تهمة الغلط): Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani (d. 593 AH), Kitab al-Hidayah, Kitab al-Sawm, Fasl fi Ru’yat al-Hilal
Oman announcement (Ramadan begins 19th Feb): Gulf News (13 Feb 2026)
Tumair/Hautat Sudair as primary sighting locations: Arab News, Al Arabiya, Moonsighting UK
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 1909, Sahih Muslim 1081
Quran: Surah Yunus 10:5 (Sahih International translation)
May Allah guide us all to the truth. 🤲
