Hamza Yusuf – Moon Sighting

Hamza YusufAugust 21, 20070 comments

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Ramadan Sunnah Islamic Astronomy Fiqh Shawwal Fasting Moon Sighting Unity of the Muslim Community

About this lecture

In this lecture recorded atop Mount Diablo in Northern California, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf addresses the longstanding controversy of Islamic moon sighting for determining the start and end of Ramadan. Speaking moments after witnessing the new crescent moon of Shawwal, he explains why that evening's sighting confirmed it was impossible to have seen the moon the previous night in North America, drawing on astronomy, classical scholarship, and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. He calls for a unified North American moon-sighting standard that combines scientific calculation with naked-eye verification, and introduces CrescentWatch.org as a resource toward that goal.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is one of the most influential Islamic scholars in the Western world. Born Mark Hanson in Washington State in 1958, he embraced Islam in 1977 and spent over a decade studying the traditional Islamic sciences in the UAE, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, most notably under the Mauritanian sage Murabit al-Hajj. He is the co-founder and president of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California — the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States — and has translated numerous classical texts, including "The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi" and "Purification of the Heart." His lectures on spirituality, classical scholarship, and the crisis of modernity have shaped a generation of Western Muslims.

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