Many of us are familiar with finding the qibla in a hotel when visiting Muslim countries. Even more of us are familiar with using a pocket compass to find the direction of prayer in our homes and offices. Now, with an internet connection, you can find the Qibla via QiblaLocator.com.

This service will be a practical tool for travelers or anyone needing to find the qibla in a new, unfamiliar region. In other words, no more excuses.

This reminds me of Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi’s advice on finding the direction towards the right path using Islam as a guide: “Turn right, go straight”.

Thanks to Ijtema for the reminder, ibn Mas’ud for developing QiblaLocator.com and to Kevin McGill for the photo.

A flood of emails poured into our inboxes today regarding the love/hate question “When is ‘Eid?” Well, to add our input on the moonfighting issue, here is a wonderful resource to see the Next New Moon. CrescentWatch.org was initiated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf to encourage Muslim communities to engage in the blessed Sunnah act of moonsighting. On the Next New Moon page, you will see 3 graphs for October 11, 12 and 13. Here is a summary of the graphs presented:

• Thursday, Oct. 11 = impossible to sight new moon (’Eid on Friday? Umm…)
• Friday, Oct. 12 = ‘maybe’ able to sight the new moon
• Saturday, Oct. 13 = definitely able to sight the new moon, if not sighted on Friday.

To read more about sighting the new moon, take a look at Shaykh Hamza’s moon article: Caesarean Moon Births part 1 [PDF] and Caesarean Moon Births part 2 [PDF] from Sidi Mas’ud Khan’s site. That article has been released by Zaytuna Institute as a full book publication, found here:

With ‘Eid il Fitr, approaching we would like to remind everyone (actually a reminder for ourselves) that fasting 6 days in Shawwal is highly recommended. Another reminder is that it is usually ‘easier’ to continue the additional fasting immediately or soon after ‘Eid. To read more about the 6 days of fasting, click here: Reward of fasting six days in Shawwal (Shafi’i fiqh) and here: Fasting Six Days of Shawwal after Ramadan: ‘Like Fasting the Entire Year’ (Hanafi fiqh)

Lastly, its time for the first ever official ‘Eid Crunch from all of us:

Please keep the IslamCrunch staff in your prayers during these last hours of Ramadan.

The Lighthouse Mosque is a new organization initiated by Imam Zaid Shakir. When the former Masjid Al-Iman in Oakland, California relocated to Berkeley, Imam Zaid had the foresight to keep and maintain the property. Thus, the Lighthouse Mosque began.

From the Facebook Lighthouse Mosque Group page:

“The Lighthouse Mosque is a community-based, grassroots Islamic effort to create a space for the unencumbered worship of Allah. It is not affiliated with any organization, nor is it reserved to advance the program of any specific group. It is funded by members of the local community and is dedicated to facilitating the basic teaching of Islam, the Arabic language, and a program of services that will benefit the people of the local community. Our desire is to create a space where people can come together to reinforce their faith, share the love, sisterhood and brotherhood of Islam, and work together to find creative solutions to problems plaguing both the Muslim and the greater community. At the Lighthouse Mosque we say that all are welcome, your insights, input, and income (a small fraction).”

The photo above shows Imam Zaid with Sidi Yusuf OConnell holding up the new sign for the mosque.

Photo credit: Khadija OConnell / Barakah Life

(Disclaimer: Lighthouse Mosque Logo designed by Susanah Ishak, IslamCrunch Creative Director)

UPDATE: We have received a lot of traffic from people searching ‘lighthouse mosque’ on various search engines. If you are looking for the address: 4606 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, CA.

Fajr prayers are held regularly and more services (like classes, etc.) will be added as the Lighthouse Mosque evolves.

Unity has been established amongst Sunni Muslim scholars from across the globe! Imam Suhaib Webb announced on his blog about the Sunni Muslim Unity Pledge. The official pledge name is Pledge of Mutual Respect and Cooperation Between Sunni Muslim Scholars, Organizations, and Students of Sacred Knowledge.

IslamCrunch fully endorses this pledge and we seek the assistance of Allah s.w.t. to uphold this pledge. To see a list of other bloggers who endorse this pledge, please visit our friend Mujahideen Ryder’s post: The Sunni Unity Pledge.

Several of our teachers and friends from the Zaytuna Seminary Program have signed the pledge. Additionally,  we sincerely endorse this pledge to assist in establishing goodness and removing the evil from within our communities. Also, please visit Shaykh Yasir Qadhi’s post and Abu Eesa’s post with background information. 

Join the Facebook group here:

The Madinat Al-Muslimeen forum is hosting a series of Ramadan diary entries. The idea behind the diaries is to encourage people to

“sign up for one day in the month of Ramadan to write a ‘journal entry’ type thing about their day, reflections and thoughts, their experiences…

This is an interesting means of exploring the diverse experience of Muslims during the sacred month of Ramadan. Imagine reading entries from around the world showcasing a day of purification and sacrifice… An important note from the moderator of the forum:

Again, like last year if everyone signs up and all the days are taken we can make the diaries public. Otherwise they will be in the Ramadan Tent Forum and only those who signed up can read other people’s diaries!

At the time of this posting, there are some slots available during the last 10 days of Ramadan. So, if you are an established or aspiring author, blogger or writer, use the link below to sign up.

Ramadan DIARIES 2007 — SIGN UP here thread!!

Click the links below to read diary entries from previous years:

Ramadan Diaries 2005
Ramadan Diaries 2004
Ramadan Diaries 2002

And while visiting the forum, don’t forget to crunch this thread.