Unity in Muslim World in sighting Moon

OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) decided in its multiple meetings in 1974, 1978 and 1984 upon the issue of moon sighting and starting of Islamic months. All member countries (including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) agreed that an Islamic month will start on the "earliest possible calculated sighting of moon anywhere in the whole world."

Germany:

Last year 4 Muslim organizations in Germany came together to decide on a common starting date for Ramadan. These organizations then announced agreed upon dates and about 200 mosques followed them. This is the start of the unity in Muslims (at least in Germany) that has been awaited for decades.

This year, they have again agreed upon a common date for Ramazan to begin on Friday 21 August 2009. There are four Muslim organizations including Turks, Arabs, etc, which have formed KRM (Coordination Council for Muslims, in Germany). The criteria for their decision making is the 1978 decision of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) on Ramadan and Eid.

To my inquirey, www.islam.de gave a clarification of their announcement for starting Ramadan on Friday 21-08-09 (http://islam.de/13704.php). It is better to read their clarification, however, for non-German-speaking Muslims, here are some imp points they mentioned:

- the OIC decided in 1978 that an Islamic month will start on the "earliest possible calculated sighting of moon anywhere in the whole world."
- about 57 member countries agree to this decision and thus removed the doubt in physically seeing the moon. However, most of these countries are not acting on their promise.
- Turkey is one of the few countries that has been following this decision for many years now. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=month-of-fasting-commences-2009-08-19. (the issue was resolved in three conferences ... of OIC, in 1974, 1978 and 1984)
- The majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish descend. So their opinion carries a big weight in meetings for issues related to Muslims in Germany.
- European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) decided upon this matter in 2007 in Sarajewo.
- Because of the lack of unity, the issue of a holiday for Muslim children in German schools on Eid day is unresolved.

Eid-ul-Fitr

Hence, according to them, Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on 20-09-09 inshAllah.

What to do:

Please try to convince your local mosques and Islamic centers to follow this decision of OIC so as to unite us. I know it is difficult, but not impossible. Last year we also put some pressure on our mosque and they did it. However, please don't be harsh and fight. If they don't accept it this time, maybe they'll accept it next year, or the next year. Just keep on trying in the best way and keep changing public opinion.

You can see the announcement here (German): http://islam.de/13657.php

Jazak Allah khayran

Lahore Light Rail Proposal Phase 2

It was a while ago that I posted a proposal for a Light Rail project in Lahore until LRMTS project is developed. So here is the second phase of this proposal. This phase also makes use of the existing railway line in Lahore and makes some stations on it. This will use two existing stations and add four new stations. Additionally, it proposes extending the railway line just a few kilometers to reach the airport which is visited by a large chunk of population and is an important part of travel. This new line would be 6.5 kms and include 3-4 new stations.


View Lahore Light Rail Phase-2 in a larger map

Afraid of flying? Well, you should be...

... when they are making three planes take-off at once!!!

This is Frankfurt airport with 3 planes taking off (along with their shadows):



I don't know how long will they keep this current view of Frankfurt airport on google maps, as I have been seeing it for an year or so. So enjoy...


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Lahore Light Rail Proposal

The Lahore Rapid Mass Transit project has been on the table for many decades now, but is as far from implementation as ever. Probably, the government could try a much cheaper and faster solution first. By using the existing rail line running through Lahore, a light rail project could be started, where small (and thus fast) trains could run frequently on the existing train lines providing commuter service to the huge population. This project can teach valuable lessons and its success could trigger more support of the Rapid Mass Transit project. Using Google maps, I created a rough sketch of such a project. This would use 6 existing stations (blue markers) and require 7 new stations (green markers) to be constructed. So here is the proposal:


View Lahore Light Rail in a larger map

Lahore Tram Project

The detailed google map of Lahore enabled me to create a route of the first tram line (Green line) of the long planned Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System. The route maps available around the internet are not very clear and differ from each other. So I just created a combined route map to get an idea of the first line. So here is my attempt:

Green Tram Line of Lahore



View Lahore Rapid Mass Transit in a larger map

Pakistan detailed maps on Google Maps

Today when I opened Google maps, I was pleasantly surprised to see the detailed map of Lahore. Not only Lahore, it has all the major roads of Pakistan and also many large cities like Gujranwala, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and of course, Karachi. At least, I have been waiting for this for a long time and it was at time frustrating. But now this is excellent development. What is more amazing is that it shows bus-stops in Lahore. Also it shows mosques, schools, hospitals, markets, etc.


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My daughter

On Saturday, I did an Aqeeqah party for my daughter. She was born on 14th of January 2009 at 2:55 pm. We named her Hadia Yasir. She is a real cuty. At the time of birth, she weighed about 2885 grams and had a length of 49 cm. Actually I inquired about her weight and height only after I met my friends who have children. They started asking me such questions making me realize that I am supposed to know such stuff.

The city hospital was really nice and took great care of us.