The date of the next Night of Doubt, which will consist of observing the sky to determine the end of Ramadan, has been set for Thursday April 20 by the Grand Mosque of Paris. The ceremony will confirm the date of Eid, already announced for its part for Friday, April 21.
[Mis à jour le 18 avril 2023 à 17h35] Ramadan, followed by millions of Muslims in France since March 23, entered its home stretch this week. The Grand Mosque of Paris announced in a communicated that the Night of Doubt, determining the end of the month of Ramadan for believers, would be held this Thursday, April 20, from 6 p.m. Muslims who cling to tradition expect the crescent of moon be visible in the sky to end the month and therefore the fast. According to the rites, this observation can only be done, at the beginning as well as at the end of Ramadan, during the Night of Doubt. A tradition that today brings together the country’s Muslim federations and commissions.
The Mosque of Paris has thus delivered details on the course of the Night of Doubt Thursday evening. She specifies that the Muslim federations of France will meet, “with their religious commission and imams of the National Council of Imams (CNI)”, to decide on “the end of the blessed month of Ramadan 2023-1444 / H”. Concretely, the religious commission will take into account the “results of the work on the adoption of scientific calculation and universal astronomical data for the determination of the beginning and end of the blessed month of Ramadan” as the “result of the observation of the moon , in France and throughout the world”.
A Night of Doubt Synonymous with Confirmation
Scientific data will therefore not be discarded during the Night of Doubt 2023, the Paris Mosque even specifying, in the conditional, a date for Eid el-Fitr, the end of Ramadan celebration. This “would” be fixed on Friday April 21, 2023, we can read. “Muslim federations invite the Muslim faithful to multiply good works during the last ten days of the blessed month of Ramadan and to make the necessary arrangements to celebrate Eid El Fitr with joy and sharing,” the statement said.
More than an announcement, the Night of Doubt 2023 will therefore actually correspond to a “confirmation” of the date of breaking the fast. The CFCM (French Council for Muslim Worship), which is based on astronomical calculations, has also indicated that Ramadan 2023 will end on 20 evening and that the date of Eid al-Fitr would be set for the following day, Friday 21 April. Among thehe theological commission mobilized during the Night of Doubt, some religious are members of the Great Mosque, others are part of the four Muslim federations which split with the CFCM (main representative body of Islam in France) in 2021.
What is the date of the night of doubt 2023?
On Thursday April 20, the Night of Doubt is organized at the Grand Mosque of Paris. The religious institution must, from 6 p.m., observe the sky to confirm the presence of the crescent moon, a sign of the end of the month of Ramadan. The official announcement of the youngster’s breakup date should follow in the early evening.
Concretely, the “Night of Doubt” proposes to verify, in addition to astronomical calculations, when a new lunar month enters. This therefore applies to the beginning of Ramadan as well as to the end of the “blessed” month.
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.
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”.