Vital to the success of any community is a fixed method to calculate time. Without a fixed method to calculate time, it is impossible to use a calendar to schedule daily tasks and meetings. Imagine the scenario where you agree to meet your brother at 7:30pm on the 1st of Shawwal, when neither of you are sure when the 1st of Shawwal will occur. You would certainly have trouble pre-scheduling a doctor's appointment that day or the next. An even worse scenario occurs when you and your brother cannot agree on when the 1st of Shawwal will actually occur. The result is that Muslims are forced to use an alternative calendar system on a day-to-day basis and revert to the system ordained by Allah for ceremonial purposes.
It has long been verified that the phases of the moon operate like clockwork and can be accurately calculated many years into the future. The moon, among its other functions, is a celestial clock provided to us by Allah. Whether or not we can see this clock from any altitude, latitude and longitude while considering factors such as sky condition and viewing technology has no bearing on the moon's actual position. It will be positioned according to Allah's will for us to mark fixed periods of time for our affairs.
In a utopian society our watches would be synchronized to lunar timing with daily reference to a unifying geographical location, such as Mecca. We would begin our day by waking up early and praying Fajr. We would go about our business until Isha, when we would then pray and go to sleep.
To progress in the direction of a unified or universal Muslim Time we calculate astronomical twilight in Mecca to signify a new day and we calculate the new moonlunar phase to signify the start of a new month. A new month occurs during a new moon at the start of the new day, or Fajr in Mecca.
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