The Islamic Education Board of the World Federation convened a meeting on Sunday 10 October 2004 to discuss issues related to the sighting of the Crescent. The meeting was attended by respected Scholars of the community and was held at its headquarters at Dar al Tableegh, London. Amongst the scholars in attendance were:

Maulana Zaffar Abbas Malik

Maulana Kalbe Abbas

Dr Mohammad Jafar Elmi

Sheikh Mustafa Jaffer

Sheikh Yusuf Abdullah

Scholars from overseas also participated in this meeting via conference call. These included:

Syed Muhammad Rizvi - Toronto

Sheikh Murtadha Allidina - Qum

Maulana Rizwani – Minnessotta

Jafferbhai Dharamsi - Qum

The President of the World Federation Dr Ahmed Hassam and the Chairman of IEB Sheikh Safder Jaffer were also amongst the participants.

IEB Chairman stated that the Office Bearers have requested the IEB to advise the community on the sighting of the crescent both for the Holy month of Ramadhan and for future months and as a result requested guidance from the Ulama. He mentioned the concerns in the community and the need to provide clear specific guidelines to the community.

There was a presentation by Sheikh Mustafa Jaffer who elaborated on the rulings of Ayatullah Seestani on the Fiqhi aspect including latest ‘Istiftat' received from Agha’s office in Qum. Later there was also a presentation by Jafferbhai Dharamsi on the astronomical data and detailed explanation of derivation of data and predictability of the sighting of the crescent.

Syed Muhammad Rizvi from Toronto also joined the conference call for a brief period and stated the position of communities in Toronto regarding the sighting of the crescent for the month of Ramadhan.

The discussion varied from the Fiqhi criteria of determining the start of the month to the astronomical data variations and interpretations. There were some elaborate and interesting discussions.

It was finally agreed that IEB needs to provide strong leadership on this issue and a Hilal Committee under the auspices of World Federation be established. It was also agreed, as a longer-term objective that once the committee was well established it would start communicating with other Shia organisations as well.

The committee comprises of:

Syed Mohamed Naqvi

Sheikh Mustafa Jaffer

Jafferbhai Dharamsi and Syed Muhammad Rizvi would be consulted to advise the committee in converging into concrete conclusions. It was also agreed that if need be, a representation be made to the Marja'. The committee would decide on this.

The committee will convene on Thursday night 14 October 2004 when a statement will be issued regarding the sighting of the moon. Please check out the website for details.