“If you’re part of a community that follows #moonsighting (in the traditional manner), then go with the community in starting your fast; if your community follows #calculation, then go with it.” Sh. Ahmad Kutty – Interview #fasting #RamadanCountdown #ramadanjurisprudence pic.twitter.com/lb4kKzLDs0
— IIT (@IIT1630) May 11, 2018
Tuesday evening, I prayed my sunset prayers in the small Musallah behind 888 Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver.
The plan was to walk across the Cambie Bridge, search for the new moon during the walk, as it provided unobstructed view of the horizon.
I searched for the moon, knowing full well it was impossible to see it from Vancouver.
I found free WiFi, courtesy of Canadian Tire on Cambie Street at 7th Ave.
Yep, Canadian Tire helps out 30Masjids, again!
I emailed my report to moonsighting.com which is now posted :
Canada:
Not Seen: MCW member Mr HiMY SYeD from Vancouver, British Columbia reported:
On Tuesday evening May 15 2018, after praying Maghrib in Granville Street Musallah in Downtown, Vancouver, I decided to walk the length of the Cambie Bridge to search for the moon.
It has been cloudless all evening.
There is a slight haze above the horizon.
I searched the sky for about 12 minutes, the length of time to walk the bridge. I did not see the moon.
I also found myself delaying making my intention to fast tomorrow…. Which would be Wednesday May 16 2018.
Jamia Masjid Vancouver was nearby. I fully expected them to not be organizing Taraweeh tonight, but just in case, I walked over and found my Malaysian friend Nasir on his smartphone chatting it up standing out front.
The masjid was quiet. Only one other person was there.
Brother Nasir and I caught each other up how we were personally deciding when Ramadan would begin.
I essentially re-capped what I first wrote about all the way back in Ramadan 2011, Moonsighting not Moonfighting.
Change the month and date and year, and that blog post holds up pretty well for the starting of Ramadan 2018.
I was all set to go pray the first Taraweeh extra night prayers at MAC Vancouver last night, with intention to fast today–Wednesday– yet found myself unable to hop onto the express bus which would begin my public transit journey.
Yeah, I wasn’t feeling it.
I walked back from the bus stop and prayed Isha at Masjid Al Jamia Vancouver.
What followed was both kinda weird and normal. It was “unusual” for me to say the least.
After we had completed the Isha prayer, Brother Badri, a non-Pakistani regular at this masjid run by the Pakistan-Canada Association, asked for shurah, consultation.
Are we starting Ramadan on Wednesday?
Will we begin praying Taraweeh right now, in a few minutes?
I gave my opinion, that I often file Moonsighting.com reports, that knowing it was impossible to see the moon tonight, from Vancouver, I still looked.
I shared how I almost always follow calculations, even though I personally look for the new moon.
Yet this one time, with only a little bit of South America being the only spot where an optical-aided moonsighting was possible, I was not “feeling” I should go with calculation to determine start of Ramadan.
At Isha Time last night, the vast majority of countries and localities globally as far as I could see online via my blackberry, were starting Ramadan on Thursday.
That, and no one from the Board itself nor the Taraweeh Leader being present at the Jamia Masjid Vancouver, helped seal the deal, as it were.
So in that masjid, with that combination of people, we decided to start fasting on Thursday.
No Taraweeh.
All that to say, I am not fasting today, Wednesday, though the Muslims I usually hang out with at Ajyal Islamic Centre, have started today.
#MoonSighting update: The @AjyalBC have declared the first fasting day to be Wednesday May 16th in sha'Allah. #hilalwatch #Ramadan2018
— BCMuslims.com (@bcmuslims) May 16, 2018
I also wasn’t feeling Ramadan had started last night after Maghrib.
Every year, right at sunset, there is light switch flipped on inside me, and the Ramadan feeling is there.
Not last night.
Brother Badri wrote the following on the Masjid’s Whiteboard:
Beside the manually just updated whiteboard, a printed BCMA Ramadan 2018 Prayer timetable was pinned.
There is an asterisk* beside May 16.
For the better part of my adult life, I have chosen to accept Calculations to determine when I personally begin and end observing Ramadan.
Since starting this annual 30Masjids.ca blogging project, I have always witnessed this Holy Month of Ramadan using Calculated dates.
That was my perspective.
I would write about people I met, and Masjids I broke my fast in, who determined their Ramadan’s Start and End by confirmed Local or Hemispheric or Global visual moonsighting.
This year, I swam across that river and joined them.
Mentally, I was looking forward to this day for weeks, if not months.
I fully expected to be fasting today, Wednesday.
Instead, I went with my heart.
I will begin Fasting on Thursday May 17 2018.
This is a complete surprise to myself.
Perhaps the first of many, this time around.
Ramadan Mubarak Everyone!
~ HiMY SYeD! ~
