New Crescent Society
@NewCrescentSoc • 9,248 subscribers
Celebrating the relationship between astronomy, faith & Islam. Monthly show at Royal Observatory Greenwich. Working towards a united Islamic calendar in the UK.
Videos
A valiant effort to look for the moon. Well done everyone!! For those following local sighting, Eid will be on Saturday. We will organise and advertise Eid prayers tomorrow! For those doing Eid on Friday, following other countries - be it Saudi or Morocco - Eid Mubarak to you too! Thank you to all of your kind messages. Inshallah we work hard and move forward, and one day pray that we have a solution for everyone in the UK - and the solution is within the sunnah, and within our very eyesight. Whenever you are celebrating, EID MUBARAK!
New Crescent Society110,649 views • 3 months ago
SAUDI ARABIA ANNOUNCE A "FAKE" MOONSIGHTING FOR RAMADAN On Tuesday 17 February 2026, Saudi Arabia claimed to sight the moon even though it was scientifically impossible to see - whether with telescopes or the naked eye. Many have accused Saudi of "faking" their moonsightings month after month. Why they do this remains a mystery. As a result many UK mosques will follow Saudi and fast on Wednesday 18 February. Those following local and reliable moonsightings will be looking on Wednesday 18 February, with the first fast most likely on Thursday inshallah.
New Crescent Society93,122 views • 4 months ago
"YOU DID EID TOO EARLY! MAKE UP YOUR FASTS!!" A group of mosques and ulama have declared to their followers that they should have done Eid on Saturday, and not Friday due to some issues they have with Morocco’s moonsighting this year. From a scientific perspective we will say that Morocco’s moonsighting was possible but very challenging - but when you outsource your moon to another country’s government, how do you expect to be able to check and scrutinise that decision from here in the UK? We should add though Morocco has a strong reputation in moonsighting. Nevertheless we cannot expect a foreign government to comply with our demands of scrutiny. This is another benefit of homegrown local sunnah moonsighting ! Your sighters are here, in your community.
New Crescent Society34,431 views • 3 months ago
SECOND DAY SAUDI MOON PICS? Saudi Arabia produced a scientifically impossible moonsighting report on Tuesday 17 February. Pictures of the moon emerged the next day (Wed 18 Feb) to justify this report - but where are the pictures from Tuesday? How can pictures from Wednesday be used to justify a moonsighting on Tuesday? Does that make any sense?
New Crescent Society32,742 views • 4 months ago
WHY HAVE WE NEVER AGREED ON ISLAMIC DATES IN THE UK- THE PROBLEM AND SOLUTION. The UK has a long standing issue with split dates for important religious events that rely on the Islamic Calendar. Two mosques in the same town or even the same road may mark Ramadan or celebrate Eid on separate days... Families may be divided according to which Mosque they attend. What is the cause of this divide? And what is the solution? Here we discuss the options the pros and cons of each opinion and what we believe is the solution that everyone in the UK can support. **NB This video was filmed in 2021- we now have nearly 7 years of records demonstrating a local Islamic calendar, based on sighting the Hilal, works in the UK!
New Crescent Society105,736 views • 2 years ago
OPTICAL AIDS CAUSE 28 DAY MONTHS? NCS does not recommend that we use optical aids for a moonsighting system in Britain for many reasons. The primary reason is that we are seeking a unified solution, and unity is in the sunnah - local, naked eye sightings. Not everybody believes that optical aids are permissible, but naked eye sightings are wholly uncontroversial. Another issue is that optical aids would lead to more and more examples of the moon being “seen” a day early, and out of phase, on the 28th of a lunar month. This has ALREADY HAPPENED to those who use optical aids in the UK - yet has never happened to naked eye moonsighters for over 100 months. Whilst there are procedures from the sunnah of what to do if you were to see a moon on the 28th, we cannot really justify asking people to end their fast a day early on the 28th because of a moon which is invisible to the eye and only visible through optical aids. Hence our stance. Remember - we ourselves use optical aids - and had them on our livestream. We are experienced in them, and it is from our experience we share with you that we have found that it would leave to problems. In any case why are you in a rush to end Ramadan, using technology, and away from the sunnah?
New Crescent Society18,343 views • 3 months ago
SECOND DAY MOON A quick video explaining why today’s Ramadan crescent isn’t a “second day moon” - with actual images of what the moon looked like yesterday! SECOND DAY MOON - WHY NO MUSLIM SHOULD USE THIS PHRASE. Many Muslims throw around the term “second day moon”; but this is a very poor term. The second someone uses it, it exposes that they are neither experienced in the science nor Islamic understanding of the moon or lunar calendar. Here you can find also a basic description of why this is a poor term: In summary: the Islamic calendar begins based on moonsighting, not (as inexperienced people sometimes say) based on guesses - attempting to correlate moon thickness to the day of visibility. There is no standard correlation and this is a scientifically poor method. Please see the above video & article. Perhaps more concerningly is the Islamic angle. It appears that the use of such a phrase was heavily warned against by the Prophet (SAW). It was said that people using the phrase “second day moon” was a sign of the end of times. Indeed, the use of this phrase does indicate a disconnect from nature, the moon and its rhythms, combined with a false surety that is so unnatural, it almost seems apocalyptic. The Islamic sources for this could be found here: Abu'l-Bakhtari reported: We went out to perform Umra and when we encamped in the valley of Nakhla, we tried to see the new moon. Some of the people said: It was three nights old, and others (said) that it was two nights old. We then met Ibn 'Abbas and told him we had seen the new moon, but that some of the people said it was three nights old and others that it was two nights old. He asked on which night we had seen it; and when we told him we had seen it on such and such night, he said the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) had said: Verily Allah deferred it till the time it is seen, so it is to be reckoned from the night you saw it. حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ فُضَيْلٍ، عَنْ حُصَيْنٍ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ، مُرَّةَ عَنْ أَبِي الْبَخْتَرِيِّ، قَالَ خَرَجْنَا لِلْعُمْرَةِ فَلَمَّا نَزَلْنَا بِبَطْنِ نَخْلَةَ - قَالَ - تَرَاءَيْنَا الْهِلاَلَ فَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ ثَلاَثٍ . وَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ لَيْلَتَيْنِ قَالَ فَلَقِينَا ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ فَقُلْنَا إِنَّا رَأَيْنَا الْهِلاَلَ فَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ ثَلاَثٍ وَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ لَيْلَتَيْنِ . فَقَالَ أَىَّ لَيْلَةٍ رَأَيْتُمُوهُ قَالَ فَقُلْنَا لَيْلَةَ كَذَا وَكَذَا . فَقَالَ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَدَّهُ لِلرُّؤْيَةِ فَهُوَ لِلَيْلَةِ رَأَيْتُمُوهُ " . Reference : Sahih Muslim 1088a In-book reference : Book 13, Hadith 35 عن أنس بن مالك يرفعه إلى النبى قال : ان من أمارات الساعة أن يرى الهلال لليلة ، فيقال لليلتين. {مجمع الزوائد لإبن أبى بكر الهيثمى جلد7 ص325} انظر – البانى : صحيح الجامع الصغير (5/214 ح5775) اشراط الساعة (ص194) Sayyidina Anas bin Malik (رضي الله عنه) related that the Prophet (ﷺ) stated: ‘Verily, a sign of Qiyamah is that the crescent wikl be seen on the 1st night, yet people people will say: ‘This is the moon of the 2nd night.’ (Majma'uz-Zawa'id, vol 7, p325) In summary: MUSLIMS SHOULD NOT USE THE PHRASE “SECOND DAY MOON”, for both scientific reasons and Islamic reasons. Anyone with any experience of moonsighting will never use this phrase.
New Crescent Society26,430 views • 1 year ago
*NEW CRESCENT SOCIETY: USE OF OPTICAL AIDS??* Please watch our video which explains our position - and which has always been our position! NOTES from video: There are a range of opinions about this topic. We accept all these as valid. NCS takes the most traditional method of using naked eye sightings only. Whilst we use technology to help us sight the moon, the months only begin when a human sees the crescent with their naked eye. Why? CLOSEST TO SUNNAH AND MOST UNIFYING: - NCS are working for a united calendar. - Naked eye sightings is the closest position to the sunnah, and the one that everybody will agree on. - Many will not accept telescopes or astrocameras or CCDs or other forms of optical aids. Yet everyone accepts sunnah of naked eye. Thus adhering closely to the sunnah brings unity insha allah. MOST HARMONIOUS WITH NATURE AND THE PAST: - If you use technology, you will move the calendar a day earlier than nature. It would mean you are bringing the invisible moon into visible. - For example, imagine the moon at the time of the Prophet SAW was seen on a given month on a Tuesday; but telescopes would move the moon to a Monday. Optical aids mean that the calendar out of phase with how the Prophet SAW and all subsequent generations saw the moon MOVES CALENDAR AWAY FROM COMMUNITY: - The spirit of the calendar is one of simplicity and community. - The Introduction of expensive tech would move the calendar away from the hands of the whole community into the hands of specialist astronomers - In certain countries, for example, it appears that NO ONE on the country sees the moon except for the 2-3 same astronomers every year. You deprive the community of the moon. - The spirit of the calendar is that EVERYONE should see the moon. Indeed in many law schools hence some islamic books talk of “large crowds” should see the moon with their eyes for a month to commence. Whenever you are starting - ramadan mubarak. May it be a month of blessing, forgiveness and compassion.
New Crescent Society16,069 views • 1 year ago
No more content to load