When The Moon Split

Ibn Mas’ud narrates that during the lifetime of The Prophet ﷺ: the moon was split into two parts. Upon which the Prophet ﷺ said, “Bear witness (to the splitting of the moon)” [Bukhari]. The splitting of the moon was one of the great signs of his prophecy, a miracle granted to him by Allah to reinforce the certainty and tranquillity of faith already present in the hearts of the believers. It was also a clear warning of the truth of the message to those who had chosen disbelief. Unfortunately, over the recent years there has been a different kind of splitting attached to the moon; a split of opinion which has oftentimes led to a split within our communities and amongst our ranks – literally!

Differences of opinion have existed within our Ummah since the time of the companions, and the existence of such differences of opinion itself is not an issue; in fact, there is a famous statement often repeated by the scholars of Islam: ‘The differences of opinion (amongst the scholars) is a form of mercy’. The reason being, they lead to an ease of practice and an adaptability of the rulings of Islam regarding different contexts and circumstances (for the scholars to decide). An example of the scope and validity of differences can famously be found in the narration of Ibn ‘Umar, as collected by Imam al-Bukhari: On the day of Al-Ahzab, the Prophet ﷺ said, “None of you should pray the `Asr prayer until you reach the place of Banu Quraiza.” The `Asr prayer time came in whilst they were on the way. Some of them said, “We will not pray it until we reach the place of Banu Quraiza,” while some others said, “No, we will pray at this spot, as the Prophet ﷺ did not mean that for us.” Later on the difference of interpretation of his words was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ and he did not berate any of the two groups. This narration shows us there is room for a difference of opinion in issues of jurisprudence (determined by the scholars based upon the known principles of Islamic Law etc). These differences though were once confined to the scholars of Islam and their students without a general need for such to be publicly expressed, and in fact scholars were often rebuked for going against the school of jurisprudence practised by their masses in their region or country. Why? As it would lead to confusion and open the door to some of the problems we are experiencing today such as disunity and partisanship. The school of the layperson was simply considered to be the school of his local sheikh.

So what has changed? During the age of high-speed information and instant social connections, a matter which may have previously been confined to the discussions of a few (and usually) qualified individuals quickly engulfs the social spaces of hundreds of thousands, if not millions across the globe. This is perhaps the crux of the matter. With the advent of the printing press and the introduction of books to the masses which were previously accessible only to the few (and perhaps privileged in some societies), knowledge and its discussions became accessible to most, but still remained limited to those who took an interest in the technicalities of particular fields and sciences as it would mean searching for books, teachers, and the circles within which these could be accessed. Due to this, public conversation and opinion could be channelled and (for the greater good) controlled. With the invention of the internet, e-books, and more recently over the last ten years or so, social media, knowledge, books, and scholarly discourse which was once limited to the few is now being presented to millions who are – in the politest way possible – not qualified to receive such knowledge. Oftentimes, those who are presenting such knowledge, resources and discourses are themselves unqualified to do so; ultimately leaving us with a morass of confusion, misdirection, and division.

We would not accept, nor would we take medical advice from unqualified, untrained individuals simply because they have garnered a large online following, or are able to articulate themselves eloquently; so why do we accept such an approach with Islam? Is this not what the Prophet ﷺ warned us about? ‘Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars, so that when He leaves no learned person, people turn to the ignorant as their leaders; then they are asked to deliver religious verdicts and they deliver them without knowledge, they go astray, and lead others astray.’ [Muslim]

The most recent example of this was the split within our communities regarding whether the moon was sighted to signal the end of Ramadan, and a matter more complex than this: whether calculations can be used in place of actual moon sighting to determine the end of the month. The purpose of this short article is not to discuss any of these matters, but to briefly address some of the issues that surround such discussions. It seems we now have annual debates and events of division that have been scheduled into our calendar; the Mawlid debate, issues around Hajj, whether or not there are ritual practices during the middle of Sha’ban, issues around Zakat, or charity, and other such issues. Moreover, just so that there are no intervals in between these annual and divisive debates, we are treated to online debates, arguments, and debacles by individuals who have been accepted as community leaders online but offline don’t seem to be attached to any particular community. This is not to say that these issues are being discussed only by those who are unqualified to do so, but rather that the voices of the qualified are being drowned out by the incessant noise of the unqualified.

This takes place whilst we sit and watch our brothers and sisters being brutally slaughtered, the lands of Islam once again being treated like an open-table buffet. Many of those who are engaged in these annual debates are also engaged in – or opinionated about – the struggle faced by our brothers and sisters in Palestine. Many point fingers toward Israel, the UK government, America, and other external bodies, but seem reluctant to acknowledge that perhaps the way we are treating ourselves is as great a reason for the situation we find ourselves in today as any other external reason. How are we to aid our Ummah in any practical way if we are divided so easily on matters which are jurisprudential in their nature and have room and scope for scholarly disagreement?

We ignore the clear obligation of unity (which does not mean uniformity) in the face of such discussions, with many debates often becoming heated and volatile, within which, general Islamic character is lost, and animosity and enmity is developed. Allah says, {Hold fast, all of you, to the cord of Allah, and be not divided…} [al-Imran]. In the same Surat of The Quran, Allah also says, {Do not be like those who became divided and fell into disputes after the clear signs had come to them. Those are the ones for whom there is a grave punishment}. The late sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy upon him, famously said, ‘in order to aid your enemy you do not need to be an agent, it is sufficient that you are unintelligent.’ By dividing our communities and allowing room for animosity to enter our ranks we are often doing the bidding of Shaytan and his allies.

The public arena is a dangerous one, especially in the day of social media, previously a misplaced word would be heard (and perhaps repeated) by a few, today a misplaced word can reach millions within a few moments. The existence of disunity is perhaps a symptom of other underlying issues, especially within the ranks of our scholarly classes: envy, love of fame, love of status, love of leadership etc. All of which if left unchecked will leave us unable to address the problems our Ummah face today, whether big or small, external or internal.

To conclude, Unity is core to the message of Islam, we find it present in the three ritual acts of worship that form part of the five pillars of Islam; The prayer: men must pray in congregation, fasting: we are instructed to observe our fast and break it collectively, and Hajj: the Ummah comes together in all its variety to turn to Allah in worship. Allah says in The Quran, a book revealed to be acted upon and not just recited beautifully, {Obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not quarrel with each other, lest you should lose courage, and your prowess should evaporate; and be patient. Surely, Allah is with the patient.} [al-Anfal], a clear instruction toward unity and a warning against quarrelling and disuniting. Allah also says, {Keep yourself content with those who call their Lord morning and evening, seeking His pleasure, and let not your eyes overlook them, seeking the splendour of the worldly life. And do not obey the one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, and who has followed his desire and whose behaviour has exceeded the limits.} [al-Kahf] an instruction toward being patient with each other and not allowing our attachment to this life (the dunya) to lead us astray from our collective unity and obligations to one another.