There’s a widely circulated video of Mallam Musa Lukuwa a cleric in Sokoto, who claimed to have received positive sighting claims of the Shawwal 1443H crescent on the 29th of Ramadan 1443H/30th of April 2022G.
He claimed in the video that members of the National moonsighting committee visited him and requested to give a lecture on Moonsighting in his mosque in the year 2018, he further claimed that he denied the delegation the permission to give the lecture,
Instead, he said he will only allow a debate in his mosque on moonsighting. He further claimed in the video that members of the committee agreed to return for the debate the following day but never did.
The fact of the matter and what actually transpired is as follows: Two members of the National moonsighting committee Mallam Salihu Muhammad Yakub and Mallam Ja’afar Abubakar were in Sokoto to monitor the Shawwal 1439 H crescent sighting exercise at the end of Ramadan 1439H/2018
The members decided to pay Mallam Musa Lukuwa a visit to dialogue with him because he had instructed his followers to start Ramadan a day before the official start of Ramadan in the year 2018.
Officially we completed 30 days in Ramadan 2018 but Mallam Musa claimed his people sighted the crescent on the 29th of Ramadan that year. Mallam Musa came up with three conditions:
- Members of the National moonsighting committee should return on the 29th of Shawwal (his date, while it was the 28th Shawwal official date in Nigeria).
- The location for the search for the crescent must be at a location agreed upon by Mallam Musa and his team.
- If the crescent is sighted on the 29th of Shawwal based on Mallam Musa’s date (which is the 28th of Shawwal official date declared by H.E the Sultan), the National moonsighting committee will have to publish a public apology and adjust the official date to his date.
The National moonsighting sighting committee members agreed to the conditions but Mal Ja’afar Abubakar (member National moonsighting committee) added one condition:
That if the crescent is not sighted on the 29th Shawwal (Mal Musa’s date), and it’s sighted the next day which is the official 29th of Shawwal, Mal Musa will have to publish a public apology too and adjust his count to the official date.
On the 29th of Shawwal Mallam Musa’s date (28th Shawwal official date), Members of the National moonsighting committee Simwal Jibril, Mal Salihu Muhammad Yakub, Mal Ja’afar Abubakar, and Mal Usman Mahmud set out to the agreed location, a hill along Sokoto – Wamako way with Mallam Musa Lukuwa’s team, Headed by one Mallam Aminu Shugaba and three others. The weather was very clear, we searched for the crescent but we couldn’t sight it.
We met again at the same location the next day the 30th of Shawwal Mallam Musa Lukuwa’s date (29th of Shawwal’s official date declared by H.E The Sultan). The atmospheric conditions were perfect but we still couldn’t sight the crescent, so we agreed to still return the next day.
On the 30th of Shawwal Sultan’s official date (31st of Shawwal Mallam Musa’s date), atmospheric conditions were perfect and the crescent was sighted by all of us.
The following day, we went to meet Mallam Musa Lukuwa at home to discuss the outcome of the three-nights attempts to sight the crescent but we were told that he was not home and that he had gone to the farm and won’t return until after isha’ prayer.
Since our mission in Sokoto for that year has been accomplished, we departed the following day to our various locations and we never had any communication with Mallam Musa again.
This is what really happened between the National Moon Sighting Committee and Malam Musa Lukuwa. It is rather sad that in spite of that, he has still continued to disregard the Official announcements and accept questionable moon sighting claims.
May Almighty Allah guide him and us to what is right. Ameen.
- Simwal Usman Jibril is a member National Moonsighting Committee 5th Shawwal 1443H / 6th May 2022G
