Islamic satellite will track the moon's tricky phases April 25, 2005Riyadh - Muslim countries are to use satellite technology to help in moon sightings, used to determine Islamic holidays.The 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest Muslim body, plans to launch an $8-million satellite within two years to take pictures of the moon to calculate lunar calendar dates.It says religious scholars will have access to accurate pictures of the shape of the moon instead of having to rely on naked-eye sightings, which have in the past created discrepancies between Muslim countries or mistakes."Hopefully the satellite will stop the problems associated with lunar sightings," OIC spokesperson Ahmed Imigene said yesterday.A moon-sighting committee in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, frustrated millions of worshippers when it said it got the date wrong by a day for the peak of this year's hajj pilgrimage in January.The OIC will fund the project, which was conceived by Cairo University's Space Science Centre.But there is already some criticism of the idea from religious officials in Saudi Arabia."The shape of the moon has to be seen from the ground," reckons Osama al-Bar, the dean of the Institute for Hajj Research in Saudi Arabia. - Reuters //en.yabiladi.com/topics/islamic-satellite-will-track-moon-s-44-562507-562507.html#msg-562507 Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:48:13 +0200 Phorum 5.2.15