The Grand Mufti of Yorubaland, Sheikh Abdulrazak Abdulazeez Ishola, has said the League of Imams and Alfas of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta, were right to have announced March 1 as the start date for the 2025 Ramadan fasting period.

The announcement generated a lot of controversy on social media after some quarters saw it as a deviation from the tradition that sees the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar III, as the one solely responsible for making such an announcement.

Another quarter also believes that the announcement could only be made upon sighting of the crescent moon.

When MyNigeria contacted the Grand Mufti, he revealed how the Imams and Alfas came about the date for the 2025 Ramadan and why they announced it in a press release earlier than usual.

He said, "The release was after consultation with various scholars, experts, jurist scholars who have knowledge of jurisprudence in Islam, and also Muslim astronomers. After we met, we discussed the situation of the moon and the birth of the moon, which they call ANM, Astronomical New Moon.

"The ANM shall occur at 12:45 Universal Time. You know, we are plus one to Universal Time. So in Nigerian time, it will be 1:45am by the sunset of the 28th of February, which is Friday. The sun will set around 655, or 654, and the age of the moon will be 17 hours, which means it is enough for any naked eyes, binoculars and site equipment to see the moon of that age on the evening of the 28th of February, 2025. This is what prompted the release that Ramadan will start on the 1st of March, 2025, which is the Tarawi, a Nafl, a non-compulsory Nafl that Muslims normally observe a day before the commencement of Ramadan. We call it Ashari in our mother tongue."

The Grand Mufti disagreed with the notion that the declaration of Ramadan by the Imams and Alfas deviates from the tradition that empowers the Sultan of Sokoto as solely responsible for such an announcement.

"I disagree with you. I disagree with you because the League of Imams and Alfas in Yorubaland has been in existence since August 1964, By August this year, it will be 61 years of It is existence. It has been the culture of the league to announce as far back as four decades before the emergence of social media. I think that is where people get confused," he said.

Ishola also dismissed the notion that the league is creating confusion with its announcement of the date for the commencement of Ramadan.

He said, "We have three ways to start Ramadan and terminate Ramadan. One of them is the sighting of the moon. The second is the calculation. So what the League of Imams and Alfas adopted as their criteria to start Ramadan and to terminate Ramadan is the second Sunnah of the Prophet, which is calculation. So the announcement is based on calculation, it is not based on sighting. So I want you to get it right very well. It is not confusion at all. We are celebrating. We are doing the unity in diversity. "

- Science and Technology have taken over -

The Grand Mufti also revealed that the sighting and calculations on the appearance of the new moon are now aided by science and technology, adding that the results align with the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammed.

He said, "If a group of Muslims can choose that is only sighting that we use as a criterion to start Ramadan, fine and good, and if other Muslims say that, no, I don't need it... We are in the 21st century where science and technology have taken over everywhere. There are scholars of mathematics, astronomy, and physics, who know these calculations. They can calculate accurately the movement of the moon and the movement of the sun. We don't need to waste our time on that. And also it does not contradict what the Prophet said that it's either you go for sighting or you go for the calculations which is the second criterion that our fathers in the League of Imams and Alfas adopted to announce the beginning of Ramadan at the end of it. It is not new. There we have almost 30 years of release of Ramadan, as far back as 30 years.

"It is because we are in the era of social media, that is why it goes viral. In the early days, they used to announce in each state. The imam in Lagos State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Oyo State and Ekiti State used to announce when to start Ramadan on radio and TV stations in their locality. We are not bringing any new things at all. It is not new."

The Grand Mufti concluded by stating that the National Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the League of Imams and Alfas of Yorubaland are different but both of the same Ummah.

He said, "There is a difference between the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and the League of Imams and Alfas. The League is purely for Imams and Alfas. No kings, no royals affiliated to the league. It is a purely a set up of scholars. But we are the same in that we are all Muslims. But when it comes to what Allah says in the Quran, what the Prophet Muhammad says in the Quran, it is the scholars, the Imams and Alfas that are eligible to tell the masses."