New moon determination

Determination of the New Moon by Prof. ABU ZAFAR translated by SHAHID AZIZ, M.Sc., ENGLAND They ask you concerning the new moon. Say: They are times appointed for (the benefit of) men, and (for) the pilgrimage; [Quran 2: 189] "An astronomer, and any one who has faith in such computation, can rely on a statement (of the appearance of the new moon)." Al-Fiqh `ala al-madhahib al-arba` "In a writing of his, Imam Subki Shafi'i has also inclined to relying on astronomers because computation is definite..." 'lbn Arabi has quoted Ibn Suraij's statement that “faqduru lahu" (estimate it) is for those who have knowledge of astronomy..." Determination of the times of starting and ending daily fast is a religious matter and yet we find that these time-tables are published months in advance. (Traditionally. the commencement of a Muslim month, which begins with the appearance of the new moon, has been determined by observation by eye. For some years now a debate has been going on in the Muslim world about the use of scienti­fic computations to determine the moon. We produce on authoritative article below which shows conclusively that there is nothing "un-Islamic" in the use of such modern methods. - Editor) In dealing with this topic it is wrong to call those having a different point of view from one's own as insincere, or to issue some kind of a religious decree against them. All the contending parties may be sincere. I am not hinting at any person or group in writing this article but want only to bring to the public's notice some academic research I have carried out. The Holy Prophet had this to say about observing the moon to determine the beginning or end of the month of Ramadan: (1) "We are an unlettered people; we neither write nor keep account. Some times a month is this much and some­times that much, so that it is some­times twenty-nine and sometimes thirty days" (Bukhari). (2) "Ibn Umar related the Holy Pro­phet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as saying: When you see it (the moon) start the fast, and when you see it (again) end it (i.e.Ramadan) ; if it is cloudy then estimate it" (Bukhari) (3) "The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Look for the moon to start the fast and look for it to end it (i.e., Ramadan). and if it is cloudy then complete thirty days" (Bukhari). Meaning of Ru'yat ("Seeing") and Fuqduru ("Estimate") The issue becomes clear if the words ru 'yat and faqduru Iahu meaning "seeing" and "estimate it" are explained. Literally, ru'yat means to see with one's eyes or sense or heart. All lexicons of Arabic (al-Munjid, Aqrab al- Muwarid, aI-Qamus, Lisan aI-Arab, Mantaha al-Arab) contain all of these alternative meanings. Further, Imam Raghib in the Mufradat gives examples of the various meanings in which the Quran has used this word: "Ru'yat (or to see) is of many different kinds in accordance with human faculties. First, as perception e.g., "you will surely see hell". Second "if only you as imagination, e.g., if only you ould see him when he was taking the unbelievers’ soul". Third, an intellect, e.g., "you do not see what I am seeing". Fourth, as understanding, e.g., "there was no shadow of doubt in what the heart saw" (Mufradat, Letter ra followed by ya, p. 208). Therefore, ru'yat includes seeing by eye, by imagination by intellect, or by understanding. So, ru'yat means to gain knowledge of a thing by any of the methods described above. The Holy Quran uses ru'yat (to see) thirty or forty different times in such a way that it cannot possibly mean "to see with the eye". For example (1) "Did you not see how your Lord dealt with Aad" (89 :6). (2) "Did you not see him who argued with Abraham” (2:258) In neither of these verses can one take "to see” to mean "to see with the eye", for none of those who witnessed these events were alive at the time of the revelation of the Holy Quran. Therefore, in these verses; "to see" means to gain knowledge from historical or technical sources. So when the Holy Prophet said, even when you see the moon” it means when you determine that the moon Is new, by seeing It with the eye, or by some other method, then start and end the month of fasting. Similarly, the other phrase or the tradition, faqduru lahu, literally means "estimate it". Since the early days of Islam the elders of religion have been interpreting this phrase in two ways: 1. Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ali of Baghdad (d. 370 A.H.) famous as Imam Jasaas, writes in Ahkam aI-Quran (vol. i p.236): "Some people say that this tradition means to rely on stages of the moon. Therefore, if the location ; such that, had there not been cloud or dust, the new moon would have been visible, then both (or the beginning and end of the month of Ramadan, the order of "seeing with the eye" would be applicable otherwise not. Others contend that if it is cloudy then thirty days of Shabaan (month preceding Ramadan) should be completed." We. are not concerned in here with discussion of the correctness or otherwise of either of these interpretation. However, it is clear from this that from the very inception there were at least some people who felt that astronomical calculations could be relied upon. In fact both interpretations are correct because the two different traditions (nos. 2 and 3 above) deal with two different situations. One relates to completion of thirty days for those places where astronomers or astronomical data are not available. The other to where such ex­perts or data is available, so that the day and the time of the new moon can be determined by computation. 2. Hadrat Matarrif ibn Abdullah of Basra (d. 87 A.H.), a leading personage from the generation after the Companions, gave the same interpretation (Hadaita al Mujtahid lil-Qurtabi, p. 275): "When the new moon is hidden by clouds then the knowledge of the movement of the sun and the moon shall be referred to." 3. Some members of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence also agree with this. Al-Fiqh 'ala l-madhahib al-arba' (vol.1, p.551) states: "An astronomer, and any one who has faith in such computation, can rely on a statement (of the appearance of the new moon)." 4. Imam Subki Shafi'i considered computation to be more reliable than the evidence of two eye-witnesses. In Rad al-Mukhtar (vol ii, p. 100, publish­ed in Egypt) it is said: "In a writing of his, Imam Subki Shafi'i has also inclined to relying on astronomers because computation is definite..." 5. Qazi Abdul Jabbar and the author of Jam' aI-UIum also adopted this position. In vol. ii (p.100) of the above mentioned book we also find: "Qazi Abdul Jabbar and the author of Jam,' al-Ulum have already been quoted as saying that there is no harm in relying on astronomers." 6. In the same place the author of Quniya is quoted as giving the view-point of Ibn Muqatil as follows "He used to consult astronomers, and when a group of them concurred he used to accept their advice." 7. Allama Subhi Mamsani quotes Ahmad Shakir's Awail al-Shahur in falsifatu al-Tashri as saying that it is a unanimously agreed principle of juris­prudence that an effect remains only for the duration of its cause, and then it ends. He then goes on: "And it is on the basis of this principle that some jurist: declared the use of astronomical computation to be, lawful in determining Muslim months, particularly the month of Ramadan. The explanation Is that the tradition which commands that only "seeing with the eye" of a new moon can he relied on, was related to a special reason. That was that the nation being addressed was unlettered and could not com­pute. Now that this nation has come out of its state of illiteracy and is literate and can compute with certainty, it now becomes incum­bent that they should refer to certainty (computation) to determine the new moon, and only on the previous method where astronomical computation is not known." 8. According to Muwahib al. Din, a commentary or the Hadith collection Muwatta of Imam Malik, (vol ii, p.85): 'lbn Arabi has quoted Ibn Suraij's statement that “faqduru lahu" (estimate it) is for those who have knowledge of astronomy, and fakmilu aI-'Iddah: ("complete the term" of thirty days) is addressed to the ordinary people." There is nothing in Islam which makes the use of knowledge for religious purposes illegal. Here four examples are quoted. Firstly, law of heritage is a religious matter. However, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) himself used tile science of physiognomy to determine lineage. Secondly, punishment of a thief is a religious matter in Islam. However, if a thief is apprehended by the use of fingerprints or tracker dogs this would not be unlawful. Thirdly, determining times of daily prayers is a religious matter. Scholars of the past had decreed that the use of computation was unlawful even for this. Yet, today we find such timetables in every mosque and every home. And, fourthly. determination of the times of starting and ending daily fast is a religious matter and yet we find that these time-tables are published months in advance. What makes these lawful? Indeed, the scholars should direct themselves more to declaring the computed timetable for prayers unlawful, rather than the determination of the new moon by computation. For prayer has a higher place in Islam than fasting and it is said that after death one will be questioned about prayer first! In this day and age, astronomical computations are as certain as two plus two makes four, and experts can compute times of all events related to heavenly bodies so that there is not a hair's breadth of difference between the occurrence and the computation. The Lord, did not create these bodies to deceive us, or so that we may ignore them. On the con­trary, they were created so that we may make use of them to determine the calen­dar. “Allah has ordained stages for the moon so that you may be able to compute the calendar from them" (10 5). These stages are predestined so that there can be no deviation and this leaves no doubt in computation. That is why the Holy Quran exhorts us to use rather than ignore them. Time is the best dispenser of religious decrees. When the loud-speaker was invented its use was declared unlawful for sermons, but now it is used even for prayers. Paper currency was also declared unlawful, yet there is not a single Mus­lim country without it now. Of course, there are differences of opinion on all matters of jurisprudence; if these are going to make us unacceptable to each other then we will have to wash our hands of all of these. Indeed, as As­tronomy and astronomical computation have reached a pinnacle, and the time when. as they improve in scholarship, all Muslims accept them is not far, these problems will, in fact, find their own solution automatically and the world will bow its head to the commandments of Islam. It is a sad commentary on our intellectual state that at a time when men are landing on the moon we are involved in heated debates on whether it is lawful to determine a new lunar month by computation. May' Allah grant us the wisdom to understand and act upon the Holy Quran and the tradi­tions of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The question was whether ru'yat can be applied to determine the new moon by astronomical knowledge. In the light of the Holy Quran, traditions of the Holy Prophet, and the views of the elders of religion, our honest opinion is that, because knowledge of astrono­my has reached such a level of certainty. there is no danger to our faith to do so. If you disagree with us, then wait a few years, and you will find, insha Allah, that all Muslim countries will begin to have confidence in these calcula­tions.

തുടങ്ങട്ടെ വീണ്ഢും

കുറെ കാലത്തിന് ശേഷം വീണ്ഢും ബേളാഗാൻ തുടങ്ങുന്നു.

Gazals

GAZALS

While selecting a topic for my presentation in the forum, what at once surfaced onto my conscious mind is gazal, an art form deeply rooted in Persian literature. It is perhaps my special liking for this genre of poetry in Persian tradition or I would like to bring in to your mind something that would appeal to the aesthetic as well as the musical domain of the all gathered here and fill in your heart something I cannot express by mere words.
Gazals are poems. The word gazal derived from Arabic that means ‘taking to women’. Love is assumed to be the permanent state of gazal and from this background the lovers of gazals might have opted this word that has ‘talking to the beloved’ as its meaning. It also takes many other meanings from various other backgrounds. One such a meaning is evolved from the early Persian Muslim tradition in which the veil system was in strict observance that restricted the free movement and the liberty of young women as well as the opportunity of men to see and exchange words with them. In such conditions the declaration of love were lower tone and even not heard each other. All these take the lover and the beloved into a stressed state of affairs and turns out to be more of a manifestation of frustration than of consummation of love. Most of the times their love can not be reciprocated. So is the gazal has mysterious and highly symbolic undertone and etymologically gazal means ‘anguish of an arrowed deer’.
Gazal sailed to India in the 12th century with Mogul Emperors who not only brought the Persian culture but also the inevitable part of their arts, poetry and music. It was from this cross cultural mix the Urdu gazal came into being in India. It is believed that Ameer Kusru(1253-1395) was the first Persian poet who tried his hand first in Indian Gazals. It was Mohammed Khuli Kuthb, a sultan of Deccan who wrote gazals in Urdu for the first time and his visit in Delhi in 1700 marked the successful unification of the two schools of gazals.
In the later periods, the history of Urdu gazals in India received honour and publicity through Delhi and Luknow School of thoughts. In this Delhi school of thought comprise great poets such as Amarelle Khan Glib, Mere Take Mere, Bahadursha Safar, Mohammed Rafi Sauda, Momin Khan, Mohammed Ibrahim Souk etc and in Laknow Insha Alla Khan Insha, Khwajja Hyder Ali Athish, Juradh, Rangeen etc. In both of these, Delhi was par excellent.

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Classical Definition of Ghazal
===============================

Ghazal in short, is a collection of Sher's which follow the rules of
'Matla', 'Maqta', 'Beher', 'Kaafiyaa' and 'Radif'. So to know what
Ghazal is, it's necessary to know what these terms mean.

To understand these terms easily , we will take an example.

1. koi ummid bar nahin aati
koi surat nazar nahin aati
2. aage aati thi haale dil par hasi
ab kisi baat par nahin aati
3. hum wahan hain, jahan se humko bhi
kucch hamaari khabar nahin aati
4. kaabaa kis muh se jaaoge 'Ghalib'
sharm tumko magar nahin aati

What is a Sher ?
It's a poem of two lines. This definition is deceptively simple.
Please note that, every Sher is a poem in itself ! A Sher does not
need, anything around it, to convey the message.
All the 4 stanzas in our example are independent poems, Sher's.

So Ghazal is necessarily a collection of two-line-poems called Sher.
[ So the Rafi solo "rang aur noor ki baaraat kise pesh karu" is NOT
a Ghazal, as every stanza is of 3 lines, and not 2. ]

What are other restrictions ? Many, and important ones.
[ Any collection of Sher's is not Ghazal. Some good examples are ; the
famous Mukesh song from Yehoodi, "yeh mera deewaanaapan hai" ; and the
title song of "dil apana aur preet parayi". Each stanza in these songs
can be considered as an independent Sher, but they are NOT Ghazal's.
To understand, why, we have to wait till 'Kaafiyaa, 'Radif'. ]

What is 'Beher' ?
'Beher' is the 'meter' of the Sher's. It can be considered as the
length of the Sher. Both the lines in the Sher *MUST* be of
same 'Beher'. And all the Sher's in one Ghazal *MUST* be of the
same 'Beher'. There are 19 (!!) kinds of 'Beher'. But in simple terms,
'Beher' is categorized in 3 classes. Short, medium, long.
[ The examples in [] are my additions, from Hindi Films. ]

Small :
ahale dairo-haram reh gaye
tere deewane kam reh gaye
[ Also Talat song, "dil-e-nadan tuze hua kya hai" ]

Medium :
umr jalwo me basar ho, ye zaruri to nahin
har shab-e-gam ki seher ho, ye zaruri to nahin
[ And by Gulzar, "ruke ruke se kadam, ruk ke baar baar chale" ]

Long :
ai mere humnashin, chal kahin aur chal, is chaman me ab apanaa guzaaraa nahin
baat hoti gulon ki, to seh lete hum, ab to kaaton pe bhi haq hamaaraa nahin
[ The filmfare winner, "Manzile apani jagah hai" !! Yes ! It IS a Ghazal.
And the Shayar is Prakash Mehra !! surprise , surprise !! ]

So Ghazal is a collection of Sher's of SAME 'Beher'.

What is 'Radif' ?
In a Ghazal, second line of all the Sher's *MUST* end with the *SAME*
word/s. This repeating common words is the 'Radif' of the Ghazal.

In our example, the 'Radif' is "nahin aati".

[ Sometimes, the Ghazal becomes known by its 'Radif'. eg. "jaraa
aahista chal" sung by Pankaj Udhas. On RMIM we all know one Ghazal by
the 'Radif' as "aahista aahista", don't we ? or is it 2 or 3 ? :-) ]

What is 'Kaafiyaa' ?
'Kaafiyaa' is the rhyming pattern which all the words before 'Radif'
*MUST* have.

In our example the 'Kaafiyaa' is "bar", "nazar", "par", "magar" etc.
This is a necessary requirement. Something which is followed even in
the exceptions to all these rules.

So Ghazal is a collection of Sher's of same 'Beher', ending in same
'Radif' and having same 'Kaafiyaa'.
[ That's the reason, why "yeh mera diwanapan hai" etc. are NOT Ghazals.
There is no common thing which can be called 'Kaafiyaa' and 'Radif'. ]

What is 'Matla' ?
The first Sher in the Ghazal *MUST* have 'Radif' in its both lines.
This Sher is called 'Matla' of the Ghazal and the Ghazal is usually
known after its 'Matla'. There can be more than one 'Matla' in a
Ghazal. In such a case the second one is called 'Matla-e-saani' or
'Husn-e-matla'.
In our example, the first Sher is the 'Matla'.

What is 'Maqta' ?
A Shayar usually has an alias ie. 'takhallus' eg. Mirza Asadullakhan
used 'Ghalib' as his 'takhallus' and is known by that. Other examples
are 'Daag' Dehlvi, 'Mir' Taqi Mir, Said 'Rahi', Ahmed 'Faraz' etc.
There is a Sher in a Ghazal, the last one, which has the Shayar's
'takhallus' in it.
[ A Shayar, can use the 'Maqta' very intelligently. He can "talk to
himself" like one in our example. I have lots of favourite Sher's
which are 'Maqta' of some Ghazal. Some gems are
koi nam-o-nishan puchhe to ai kaasid bataa denaa,
takhallus 'Daag' hai, aur aahiqon ke dil me rehte hai
and
jab bhi milte hain, to kehte hain, "kaise ho 'Shakil'",
iske aage to koi baat nahin hoti hai
The first one uses the meaning of the 'takhallus' to create the
magic, and the second one is just simple, simply beautiful. ]

To summarize, Ghazal is a collection of Sher's (independent two-line
poems), in which there is atleast one 'Matla', one 'Maqta' and all
the Sher's are of same 'Beher' and have the same 'Kaafiyaa' and
'Radif'.

EXCEPTIONS AND IMP. POINTS TO NOTE
==================================

1. Ghazal is just a form. It is independent of any language.
eg. in Marathi also, there can be (and there are) good Ghazals.

2. Some Ghazal's do NOT have any 'Radif'. Rarely. Such Ghazal's
are called "gair-muraddaf" Ghazal.

3. Although, every Sher, should be an independent poem in itself,
it is possible, that all the Sher's are on the same theme. What
famous example can be other than "chupke chupke raat din aasun
bahaanaa yaad hai".

4. In modern Urdu poetry, there are lots of Ghazal's which do
NOT follow the restriction of same 'Beher' on both the lines
of Sher. [ My example in 'Maqta', the Sher by Shakil, is one. ]
But even in these Ghazal's, 'Kaafiyaa' and 'Radif' are present.

5. The restriction of 'Maqta' is really very loose. Many many
Ghazal's do NOT have any 'Maqta'. [ I think 'Maqta' was used in
the earlier times, as a way to keep the credit. But since this is
traditional, many Ghazal's do have a 'Maqta' just for the sake of it.
Sometimes the name of the Shayar comes unnaturally in the last
Sher of the Ghazal. ]

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So that's my long essay on Ghazal :-)
I hope it helps in clearing some doubts, and I also hope
that atleast for some, the information was interesting and new.

- Abhay.
Ghazal rudaad hai naakaamiyon ki,
Ghazal mehrumiyon ki daastaan hai |
Ghazal riste hue zakhmon ka marham,
Ghazal ek chaaraa-e-dard-e-nihan hai |
Ghazal ka husn hi hai, husn-e-aalam,
Ghazal ka noor hi noor-e-jahan hai |
- Jagdish Bhatnagar 'Hayaat'

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