The Islamic Calendar in the UK: Between Contestation and Consensus

英国的伊斯兰历法：争论与共识之间

• 批准号: 2609925
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2609925
• 关键词: Islamic; Calendar; UK; Between; Contestation

This research will explore how British Muslims, from migrants through to successive generations, have conceptualisd, contested and constructed the Islamic calender, and what this reveals about a distinct British Muslim experience. The Islamic lunar calendar is a central part of Muslim ritual life, demarcating the dates of religious festivals. Yet as it stands, there is no concensus on how the calendar should be constructed in the UK. Instead, diverse Muslim communities across the British Isles conduct their own version of the Islamic calendar, using a range of scientific, theological and cultural conceptual approaches to determine the beginning of each month. Muslims regard the proper construction of the calender as a theological, even moral, issue as it relates to ritual practice. From my preliminary research in my role at the Royal Observatory, I know of at least thirteen different position operational in the UK. Some of these positions are unique to the British Isles. For example, the Deobandi demonination in Pakistan conduct their calendar based on local lunar observations. Yet, their UK diaspora satellite groups abandoned this position in 1986, and have now innovated at least two new position for the UK. Another faultline is Saudi Arabia's influence on the UK calendar. With the injection of Saudi-based funding from the 1980s onward, an increasing number of UK Muslim institutions discarded their own calendar, and instead chose to follow Saudi Arabia's calendar. What makes this this all the more remarkable is that, year on year, astronomers have decred Saudi Arabia's calendar as fraudalent, claiming that Saudi regulary 'fake' their lunar crescent observations. With such a multiplicity of approaches, British Muslims have, almost annually, disagreed on which date to celebrate religious holidays, such as Ramadan or Eid. This has led to fiery debates across generations, with incidents including Imams being sacked and physical fights in mosques, and requent cases of family members disagreeing on the calendar, and refusing to celebrate religious festivals together on the same date. Most recently a group has emerged seeking calendar consensus. Led entirely by non-clergy members, they have collaborated with the Royal Observatory Greenwich to form a 'national moonsighting community', collecting lunar datea to aid discussion about the calendar. With over 300 mosque congregations represented in the inaugural meeting in 2019, they may well achieve their aim in the next few years. Despite its significance to British Muslim life, nothing has been written about the Islamic Calendar in the UK. I proprose an historical and anthropological study for two reasons: firstly, I can study a distinct lived, British Muslim experience, shedding light on shifting ethnic, cultural and civic ties forged by Muslims across generations; emerging power dynamics between UK mosques and tensions with their congregations; the intersection between transnational ulama networks and successive commonwealth migration cohorts; British Muslim attitudes to science across generations; the impact of social media and technology and soft power strategies employed by foreign governments; secondly this research will be of practical use to Muslims.

这项研究将探讨英国穆斯林，从移民到后代，如何概念化，有争议的，并构建了伊斯兰教的，以及这揭示了一个独特的英国穆斯林的经验。伊斯兰阴历是穆斯林仪式生活的一个核心部分，划分宗教节日的日期。然而，就目前而言，在英国应该如何构建日历方面没有达成共识。相反，不列颠群岛各地不同的穆斯林社区使用自己版本的伊斯兰日历，使用一系列科学，神学和文化概念方法来确定每个月的开始。穆斯林认为正确的建筑作为一个神学，甚至道德，问题，因为它涉及到仪式的做法。从我在皇家天文台的初步研究中，我知道在英国至少有十三个不同的职位在运作。其中一些职位是不列颠群岛所独有的。例如，巴基斯坦的Deobandi恶魔根据当地的月球观测进行日历。然而，他们的英国侨民卫星团体在1986年放弃了这一立场，现在已经为英国创造了至少两个新的立场。另一个断层线是沙特阿拉伯对英国日历的影响。随着20世纪80年代以来沙特资金的注入，越来越多的英国穆斯林机构放弃了自己的日历，而是选择遵循沙特阿拉伯的日历。更值得注意的是，年复一年，天文学家们谴责沙特阿拉伯的历法是欺诈性的，声称沙特经常“伪造”他们的新月观测结果。由于方法的多样性，英国穆斯林几乎每年都对庆祝宗教节日的日期产生分歧，如斋月或开斋节。这导致了几代人之间的激烈争论，包括伊玛目被解雇和清真寺内的肢体冲突，以及家庭成员不同意日历，并拒绝在同一天一起庆祝宗教节日的事件。最近出现了一个寻求日历共识的团体。他们完全由非神职人员领导，与皇家天文台格林威治合作，成立了一个“全国月球观测社区”，收集月球日期，以帮助讨论日历。在2019年的成立大会上，有超过300个清真寺会众的代表，他们很可能在未来几年内实现他们的目标。尽管它对英国穆斯林生活的重要性，但在英国没有关于伊斯兰日历的记载。我赞成历史和人类学的研究有两个原因：首先，我可以研究一个独特的生活，英国穆斯林的经验，阐明了穆斯林跨代锻造的民族，文化和公民关系的变化;英国清真寺之间的新兴权力动态和与他们的教会的紧张关系;跨国乌里玛网络和连续的英联邦移民群体之间的交叉点;英国穆斯林对科学的态度跨代;社交媒体和技术的影响以及外国政府采用的软实力战略;其次，这项研究将对穆斯林有实际用途。