🕌 Why Do Muslims Around the World Celebrate Eid on Different Days?

Have you ever wondered…
Sometimes our Muslim friends from other countries, or even people in some Thai provinces,
don’t perform the Eid prayer at the same time?

👧🏻 Some people celebrate Eid today
👦🏼 Some people celebrate Eid tomorrow
Why don’t they match?

Today, let’s learn about this together 😊

📜 Did You Know? When Did the Islamic Calendar Begin?

Before Islam spread, the Arabs already had a 12-month lunar calendar in use.
But… they still did not number the years to say “this is year such-and-such.”

📌 Some called a year “the Year of the Elephant” (the year the elephant army invaded Makkah)
📌 Or “the Year of Heavy Rain”

Until, in the time of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (R.A.)
it was decided to begin counting “Year 1 of the Hijrah” from the event when
the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ migrated from Makkah to Madinah

🎯 This calendar is called the Hijri Calendar
and it uses the “moon” as the basis for determining a new day,
which is still used today, such as for the month of Ramadan, Eid, and Hajj.

1. 🌙 What Determines the Day of Eid?

The Eid days for Muslims are, for example:

• Eid al-Fitr (after the month of Ramadan)
• Eid al-Adha (during the month of Hajj)

It’s not determined by looking at a wall calendar!
It has to be determined by sighting “the first crescent moon”, called “hilal” 🌙

If, on the night of the 29th of the month, someone sees the moon,
👉 The next day is the new month
👉 And that’s it… Eid arrives! 🎉

But if the moon has not been sighted
👉 Then you must wait one more day
👉 So the current month reaches a full 30 days first

2. 🕰️ The Muslim Calendar Uses the Moon, Not the Sun

The calendar we normally use at school or at home uses the sun
but the Muslim Hijri calendar uses the moon 🌙 as its basis.

Every new month begins when the small first crescent moon is seen in the sky,
and the same applies to Eid — it depends on actually sighting the moon.

3. 🔭 Different Methods of Moon Sighting

Today there are 2 main methods for determining the day of Eid:

① The group that uses “moon calculation” (Hisab)

Uses computers + astronomy to calculate
when the moon will rise and from where it can be seen.

📅 Can determine the day of Eid in advance
🎯 Very accurate and convenient
🕌 Countries that commonly use this: Turkey, Egypt, the United States (some communities)

But some people feel that…
🧐 “We haven’t actually seen it with our own eyes — does this really match the teachings of the Prophet?”

② The group that “sights the moon with the naked eye” (Moon Sighting)

Goes out to actually look at the sky in the evening of the 29th day

👀 If the moon is seen → the new month begins
😶 If not seen → the current month is completed at 30 days

Within this group, there are also 3 sub-approaches:

🟡 Approach 1: Looking from one’s own country (Local Moon Sighting)

• Thai people look from Thailand 🇹🇭
• Indonesian people look from Indonesia 🇮🇩

Based on the belief that each country has its own horizon
so there’s no need to follow another country.

🟢 Approach 2: Following Saudi Arabia (Saudi-Based)

Some communities follow Saudi Arabia’s announcement so that Eid al-Adha
coincides with the Hajj rites in Makkah 🕋

Even without going on Hajj themselves, they feel united with Makkah.

🔵 Approach 3: Whoever sees it first, everyone is considered to have seen it (Global Moon Sighting)

Based on the belief that “if any country in the world has sighted the moon,”
🌍 every country should consider it sighted as well,
so that Muslims around the world celebrate Eid together.

4. 🌏 Different Countries → Different Times of Moon Sighting

Imagine this simply:

🕰️ In Thailand it’s 6 p.m.
but in Saudi Arabia it’s still 2 p.m.

Some places are very cloudy, some places have clear skies.
Some countries use telescopes/cameras, some use the naked eye.

All of this means that the time the moon is sighted differs
👉 so it’s completely normal for Eid to fall on different days.

5. 💛 So What Should We Do?

Some people celebrate Eid today, some tomorrow.
Some countries use calculation, some use direct sighting.

What matters most is…

✅ Respect one another
✅ Don’t criticize one another
✅ Understand that the religion allows room for diversity
✅ Because in the end… we are all brothers and sisters in the same faith 🕌💛

6. 🕌 So Which Day Does ARAYA NIKAH Celebrate Eid?

At  ARAYA Nikah  we follow Eid according to the announcement of the Chularajmontri (Sheikhul Islam of Thailand)

and wish to be part of the unity of the Thai Muslim community

✨ A Short Summary  on Determining the Day of Eid

🌙 No matter which day we celebrate Eid… don’t forget to send the message
“Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum”
which means: May Allah accept (the good deeds) of us and of you 🤲🏼

#วันอีด #ดูดวงจันทร์ #IslamForKids #HijriCalendar #อารยานิกะห์ #เราคืออุมมะฮ์เดียวกัน #เรียนรู้อิสลามแบบง่ายๆ

🔖 References (Thai Academic Format)

1. Islamcal.com. (2023). History of the Hijri Calendar. Retrieved from https://www.islamcal.com [accessed March 22, 2025]
2. Islammore.com. (2022). What Is Hilal and How Is It Observed? Retrieved from https://www.islammore.com [accessed March 22, 2025]
3. Masjidhidayah.com. (2023). Evidence of Moon Sighting in Islam. Retrieved from https://www.masjidhidayah.com [accessed March 22, 2025]
4. IslamQA.info. (2023). Moon Sighting vs Astronomical Calculations. Retrieved from https://islamqa.info/en/answers/ [accessed March 22, 2025]
5. Bangkok Biznews. (2023). The Chularajmontri Announces the Eid al-Fitr Date 2023. Retrieved from https://www.bangkokbiznews.com [accessed March 22, 2025]
6. Wikipedia. (2023). Islamic Calendar – Turkey’s Astronomical Criteria. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar [accessed March 22, 2025]
7. Alhakam.org. (2021). Why Ramadan Does Not Begin on the Same Day Everywhere. Retrieved from https://www.alhakam.org [accessed March 22, 2025]
8. Islam.stackexchange.com. (2023). Can Global Moon Sighting Be Valid? Retrieved from https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/ [accessed March 22, 2025]
9. Instagram.com. (2024). Eid Date Announcement from the Office of the Chularajmontri. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/chularatchamontri [accessed March 22, 2025]
10. IslamQA.info. (2023). Fasting with the Local Community Based on Hadith. Retrieved from https://islamqa.info/en/answers/ [accessed March 22, 2025]

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