This Tuesday, March 21, 2023 is organized the lunar observation of the “Night of Doubt”, at the Great Mosque of Paris. A crucial moment in determining the dates of the month of Ramadan.
A night of doubt is organized this Tuesday, March 21 at the Grande Paris Mosque : at the end of a meeting, the Muslim organizations must announce, around 7 p.m., the official date of the start of Ramadan in France.
The theological commission mobilized during the “Night of Doubt” includes members of the Great Mosque, but also of several Muslim federations, 4 of which split with the CFCM (main representative body of Islam in France) in 2021. CFCM (French Council of Muslim Worship) relies on astronomical calculations only to communicate the dates of Ramadan, which allows it to do so several months in advance.
The Muslim federations gathered around that of the Great Mosque of Paris have already set two dates:
- the first date is that of the night of doubt 2023 in France: it therefore takes place this Tuesday, March 21.
- the second advanced date is that of the beginning of Ramadan: the Great Mosque of Paris indicates that according to the astronomical calculations already made, “Thursday, March 23, 2023 would be the first day of the month of Ramadan”. The Night of Doubt must therefore confirm this date.
Concretely, the “Night of Doubt” proposes to verify, in addition to astronomical calculations, when a new lunar month enters. During Ramadan, one of the pillars of Islam, believers are asked to abstain from drinking, eating, smoking and having sexual relations, from dawn until dusk. sunset. Muslims are also invited to pay an alms of seven euros per person for the poor, the “zakât el-Fitr”.
Like its start date, the end date of Ramadan is, as a reminder, defined on the basis of the lunar cycle governing the Muslim calendar (aka Hijri calendar). However, a lunar month lasts 29 or 30 days there. A one-day shift is possible at the end of the different months of the moon calendar on which Islam is based: if the crescent moon is observed on the 29th day of the month, the month lasts 29 days; otherwise, it is extended by one day.
I’Eid al-Fitr is the feast of breaking the fast marking the end of the month of Ramadan. It takes place the day after the last day of the ninth Hijri month. To determine its date well in advance, astronomical calculations can be made. On the eve or two days before the date, the day of Eid el-Fitr is officially announced by a theological commission following the lunar observation (complementary, estimates the Great Mosque of Paris) of the “Night of doubt”.
The “Night of Doubt” organized at the Great Mosque of Paris, is on the 29th day of the current lunar month in the Hijri calendar, and makes it possible to determine the beginning and the end of a month. The events of the Night of Doubt at the start and the Night of Doubt at the end of Ramadan for believers in Islam are generally broadcast via the official website of the Grand Mosque of Paris.
The “Night of Doubt” tradition refers to the “hadith”, an oral statement of the Prophet in which he notes: “Fast only when you see the lunar crescent and break the fast when you also see it”. In the Muslim calendar, the “night of doubt” marks the end of a lunar month, and the beginning of the following lunar month. It therefore plays a role both in formalizing the start date of the Ramadan fast, but also in confirming the end date of this “holy month”.