When I was premature I thought that it was only Pakistan where people quarrel on sighting moon before beginning of a Ramadan or Eid, but after becoming more mature and aware of the world it appeared that even in other parts; Muslim masses are engraved in this controversy, for instance those living in UK hold different views and start Ramadan with their respective nationalities. The Pakistani based UK citizens prefer to start Ramadan with Pakistan whilst any Muslim living in UK belonging to the Arab country will start Ramadan with the Arab world.
The main question in the global controversy of moon sighting is that whether Islam has limited acceptability of the witness of a Muslim with respect to certain boundary or not. If Islam has limited the witness of sighting moon with respect to region then what is the status of the boundaries set by International Boundary Commission? How come the legislative sources of Islam would allow any international commission established in 21st century to limit moon sighting on the basis of the boundaries it set? Before Bangladesh was parted from Pakistan, a witness of Bengali Muslim was acceptable but however after the partition the Bengali Muslims’ witness turned out to be unacceptable.
Christmas Day, Rosh Hashanah and other religious festivals of different other religions are celebrated on the same day all over the world, so why the Islamic months are distributed with regions of different countries based on the boundaries set by International Boundary Commission? Is it what Islam says? Or Is Islamic sources silent on this issue?
In-fact the Islamic sources were never silent on this issue; Muslims had long been observing Ramadan and celebrating Eid together as one Ummah under the Ottoman Caliphate, a couple of centuries before. The renowned Islamic Jurist the great Imam Abu Hanifa was of the opinion of first global moon sighting[i] and rejected any difference in moon sighting on the basis of region. The famous Bralevi and Deoband Scholars, Imam Raza Ahmed Khan Bralevi[ii] and Maulana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi [iii]respectively, asserted the opinion of beginning a new Islamic month with the witness of first global moon sighting. There were several other outstanding Islamic scholars, who were of the opinion of global moon sighting, and in-fact it wasn’t controversial centuries back before the destruction of Caliphate.