Dear Chapman Community,
Many of you know the Chapman Muslim community has been fasting during Ramadan, the 9th month of the Islamic calendar. Also, you know we fast for 29 days, the default number of days in an Islamic calendar, which is lunar, or 30 days if there is no crescent moon visualization. Every lunar month requires seeing the new crescent moon. The 10th month is “Shawwal.” The first day of Shawwal is “Eid-al-Fitr,” signifying the end of our obligatory fast. Muslims around the world will celebrate with prayer, a sermon, and plenty of festive activities, such as, you guessed it, eating.
Since our months are lunar, the days begin at sunset. Thus, Eid-al-Fitr may officially start the sunset on Thursday evening, April 20, or Friday evening, April 21. If it is the former, celebrations will commence on Friday; if it is the latter, it will be on Saturday. The difference affects our Chapman Muslim community members’ work and educational schedules; many of us will not come to Chapman if celebrations are on Friday. I ask all supervisors and deans to continue your enthusiastic support and cooperation with our Muslim students, faculty and staff.
An interesting article by Forbes discusses this year’s crescent moon situation.
Shaykh Jibreel Speight, ’20, LLMDirector of Muslim Life and University ChaplainFish Interfaith CenterChapman University
