Ask Ali: Does a moon-sighting committee set the start of every month in the UAE?

Cultural adviser Ali Al Saloom on the Islamic and Lunar calendars, and their significance.

Dear Ali: I know that a committee meets to confirm the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Shawwal, but do they meet to do so for other months too? Could the lengths of other months be ­affected by the Moon? A R, Abu Dhabi

Dear A R: Good question. The answer is a bit complicated, but I will try to simplify it. First of all, most of the Muslim countries use the Islamic calendar, linked to the lunar calendar, which is not the same as the Gregorian calendar, which we refer to as the "English calendar".

The lunar calendar is based on highly scientific and astronomical calculations of the position of the Moon. Each lunar month begins at the time when the moon is located along a straight line between the Earth and the Sun.

The Islamic calendar, however, is based on visual observation of the Moon from the Earth on the 29th day of the month. The beginning of the new month starts when a new crescent moon appears immediately after the sunset. If such a crescent moon is not seen, then it is considered to be the 30th day of the month.

Do we observe the Moon every month? Well, yes and no, as some Arabian and Muslim countries do practise this method and some go with the general scientific process. So it depends from one country to another but, in general, most Arabian countries would go with Saudi Arabia on this matter for most of the year. However, prior to Ramadan some would consider taking a solo decision. Every Muslim country, city or even community has someone to watch the Moon.

The determination of the beginning of every month is certainly important for us, but wide publicity of it happens only for sacred months during the year, such as Ramadan.

Dear Ali: The weather in the UAE is so hot during the summer – how did people survive here before air conditioning was invented, especially at times like these when Ramadan falls during summer, and eating or drinking is not allowed during the daytime? B O, Dubai

Dear B O: Believe it or not, keeping yourself cool was not the main issue, because weather history shows that it used to be much cooler previously, before global warming and so on.

Of course that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hot. However, our ancestors had developed and discovered many techniques to stay cool. For example, during the summer most Bedouin and other nomads would get closer to the sea instead of staying in the middle of the desert. And due to the pearl-fishing industry and from cultural exchange with India and Persia, they adopted a new invention of cooling the air. That’s the “barjeel”, which is the wind tower that cools the air and circulates it inside palm-frond houses.

Water came from various wells and the underground water extraction and irrigation system called “falaj” – but people’s biological systems also functioned differently. They were capable of adapting to the heat better as they lived in that environment and they performed their necessary duties not during the heat of the day but always early in the morning, from dawn till 8am or 9am, and moved and travelled in the evening.

Also, henna patterns are put on the hands and feet as it is believed they cool the body.

Besides all of this, as Muslims there is always the belief that “every era would have what takes to make you live through it by the blessing of Allah”, so no matter how difficult we imagine life used to be, rest assured that they also managed to live just fine considering the circumstances of their lives at the time.

Ali Al Saloom is a cultural adviser and public speaker from the UAE. Follow @AskAli on Twitter, and visit www.ask-ali.com to ask him a question