Dear brothers and sisters,

I have been living in the Middle East for a long time and have recently re-located to London. This Ramadan was the first Ramadan and first Eid for me in the UK.

I was shocked and surprised to see that people from the city of London celebrated Eid on two different days. In fact in certain parts of London, some streets were filled with people greeting each other and distributing sweets, where as our muslim brothers and sisters from neighbouring streets (just a few yards away) were observing fast. I have never come across such a division amongst muslims. Apparently the logic was that some mosques followed Saudi Arabia and declared Eid accordingly and some of them followed Morocco. Each one had their own logic for celebrating Eid on different days.

This has resulted in the division of families. In a same family some of them observed Eid, while others were fasting, which I feel is really ridiculous, living in the same area, in the same city.

It is just a clash of ego amongst the various committies of mosques in London area. Why can't all the islamic leaders of London area join together and agree on a common date for the Eid clelbration?

Is it islamicaly right to have Eid celebration on different days, in the same city. I will be most grateful if our muslim brothers and sisters could throw some light on this and also would like to know if there is any other city in the world which follows such a system that divides families at the time of Eid celebration.

Jazakallah

Ahmed