Explanation of
ISNA's Current Position on Eid-al-Adha
Muzammil H. Siddiqi,
President of ISNA (
For the last several years ISNA held the position that
Eidul Adha is to be celebrated according to the announcement of Hajj and not
according to our local moonsighting as we do for Ramadan and Eidul Fitr. But
there were many scholars who criticized this position. They said that this
position was not according to the Sunnah. Eidul Adha is to be on the 10th of
Dhul Hijjah according to the moonsighting. Muslims in distant lands such as
India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Central Asia, etc., have
always been celebrating Eidul Adha according to their own moon sighting. There
is no report that Muslims waited for the announcement of Hajj or made special
effort of find out about the Day of Hajj in order to make their own
announcements.
We checked the books of Fiqh, we did not find any support
for this assertion that Eidul Adha decision should be made on the basis of Hajj
decision. The Hadith of the Prophet -peace be upon him- that "al-Hajj
yauma yahujju al-nas" is for those who make Hajj. Ibn Taymiyah's fatwa is
about Hajj. Of course those who go to Hajj they must go to 'Arafah
according to the decision of the authorities there, even if that is
contrary to someone's own moon sighting. But people in far away lands are not
making Hajj. They have to make Eid prayer and make Qurbani. They cannot have
Eid on 9th of Dhul Hijjah, if the moon was not sighted in their location and
sighted in
ISNA's position was under strong criticism from the
scholars. No Fiqh Scholar from any country came to the defense of ISNA's
position. We have the North American Shura that brings major organizations
together. ICNA and Imam Jamil al-Amin's group separated from us last Eidul Adha
because of this position. We asked the 'Ulama in
ISNA invited a conference on this subject on the weekend of
November 18, 2000. Many scholars presented their papers and after long
discussions we came to the decision to change our earlier position. This issue
is purely religious and 'ibadah issue and is based on the understanding of
Fiqh. If some trustworthy 'Ulama and Fuqaha' prove from the authentic sources
of Shari'ah that our earlier position was correct, we shall go back to that
position. We must follow what is right and should change ourselves when know
better.
May Allah bless all of us to follow the rules of Allah. Wassalam.
Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi
President of ISNA