Adopt scientific methods to determine Eid: UAE daily

Abu Dhabi, Aug 9 (IANS/WAM) Muslims should adopt scientific methods to determine the date of Eid in advance, as is scientifically possible in today's world, a UAE daily has suggested.

It is time for Muslims all over the world to wake up and accept the 21st century with all its magnificent human achievements, the Gulf News said in an editorial Thursday.

Muslims should no longer live in a past which was defined thousands of years ago. "Localised visual sighting had a point during Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) times, when he used the pre-existing knowledge of the time to use the naked eye to see the crescent," the daily reported.

It said at that time "there were no means to travel other than on horse or camel back. They had no means to communicate other than letters that were sent through messengers who travelled on horseback. The letter would take days, weeks or months to reach the recipient."

But the world has changed and Muslims today are reaping the fruits of science and the 21st century. "We travel by cars, planes, ships. We communicate by mobile phones, e-mail and instant messaging. We have the Internet.

"We have state of the art hospitals, research facilities, academic institutions, massive business houses and some of the most modern cities in the world", it added.

"So we can know exactly when the crescent moon will rise and we can communicate this to the whole world in an instant. This would not make us any less Muslim. It would simply stop the unnecessary disruption to our lives, which affects businesses and even holiday plans," the daily said.

It noted that using such scientific methods would also unify Eid throughout the Muslim world.

--IANS/WAM

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