Asking for the moon
May 17, 2021
Discussions about what to do with ‘Eid moonsighting’ have been going on for years. It seems little ever changed. As Israeli fighter jets bombarded Gaza Strip and Palestinian families buried and mourned their dead, Pakistaniswerebusyaskingfor the moon. By then, over 50 Muslim countries in the world had decided aboutthemoon–butnotus. Over 225 million people of Pakistan went through entirely unnecessary anxiety and frustration when the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee (RHC) – the officialmoon-sightingbody–lingered on for hours, deliberating upon whether to announce the sighting of the moon for Eid. Most mosques had completed their taraveeh prayers in anticipation of the roza on Thursday. All scientific explanations had predicted that the moon would not be sighted on Wednesday evening hence noEidonThursdaycouldpossiblybe observed.Mostofthecountryhadnot sighted the moon, apart from some scatteredwitnesses. TheformerheadoftheRHC,Mufti Muneebur Rahman – under whose commandthecommitteehadnotperformed any better – drove some schadenfreude while disputing the RHC decision. He categorically disagreed with the conclusion the RHC had drawn from witnesses who, accordingtohim,werenotreliable.The government supporters and advisers on the other side were congratulating the nation for the government being abletoofferanunprecededsingleEid, and claimed credit for ‘uniting the nation as never before’. No other country in the Muslim world goes through thisrigmarolenearlyeveryyear. ‘Asking for the moon’ is an English expression which means making an unreasonable demand or requesting the unattainable. It seems that when we expect the RHC to behave rationally we ask for the moon. What seems reasonabletomostrationalpeopleappears irrational to the RHC. Fawad Chaudhry is perhaps the only PTI leader and minister who has shown some guts in this matter. You may disagree with him on so many other issues, but at least here he deserves someappreciation.Hehasbeencalling aspadeaspadeatthecostofenraging thereligiouslobbyinthecountry. These recurring episodes need some dissection as the moon-sighting fiasco is not an isolated phenomenon in our country. Though it has become a manifestation of the clash of logic and otherwise in Pakistan, it is just oneofthemanysuchparallelpatterns that have been overlapping the national fabric. Essentially, it is about the question of what symbols from our past should be reconsidered or discarded. The moon-sighting story also demands a more complete and honestretelling,asitisabouthowwe shouldteachhistory,religion,andsciencetoouradultsandchildrenalike.