{"id":25,"date":"2008-09-13T10:59:06","date_gmt":"2008-09-13T10:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2008\/09\/in-motion-the-believers-reflec.html"},"modified":"2008-09-13T10:59:06","modified_gmt":"2008-09-13T10:59:06","slug":"in-motion-the-believers-reflec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/09\/in-motion-the-believers-reflec.html","title":{"rendered":"in motion, the believers reflect the heavens"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you think about it, the question of time and date is central to the
\ndaily religious routine of a muslim. We need to know when to pray five
\ntimes a day, we need to know what time to start and begin our fasts, we
\nneed to know what days to start and end fasting. To know what direction
\nto pray, we need to know the shape of the earth itself. Even our
\nprayers are in a sense the reflection of the cosmic clockwork, with
\npredictable cycles, rising, and setting. It’s not by accident that the
\nsymbol of Islam is the crescent moon. <\/p>\n

Despite the rich
\nheritage of mathematics and science that we as muslims can lay equal
\nclaim to, however, there is an anti-intellectual strain in the modern
\nIslamic polity that says that calculations, astronomy, and math are
\ndeveloped in a “western” context and that these ideas need to be
\npurified somehow before muslims may make use of them. There’s talk of
\nIslamic science as if science is not something universal, but reduced
\nto a mere ethnic trait. It’s incumbent on muslims in the modern age to
\nreject this way of thinking and embrace the tools that let us complete
\nour Deen. <\/p>\n

In these modern times, the definitive resource on astronomical calculations is actually the military – the US Naval Observatory<\/a> and its counterpart in the UK, HM Nautical  Almanac Office<\/a>. 
\nThese are fantastic resources for a muslim – since I am more familiar
\nwith the USNO, I’ll give examples from there, but most of the same kind
\nof data can be found across the pond. Here are just a smattering of
\nuseful links from the USNO’s Astronomical Applications department<\/a>:<\/p>\n