Astronomy is a priority area in Islam. Starting from the last Khutba of Prophet Muhammad (s) at Arafah in 632 CE until well into the 19th century, it received continuous State patronage but colonization impacted Islamic astronomy with absolute confusion for almost 150 years.
Imam Ahmed Skaka, of Albanian origins, at Adelaide Mosque recognised the modern urgency to revitalise Islamic Astronomy.
I arrived in August 1971 on Australian International Competitive Fellowship at Adelaide University’s Physics Department for a PhD program. Aged 21, I felt greatly honoured as the youngest theoretical physicist to join rocket and satellite based atmospheric research group at the campus.
I met Imam Skaka soon after, at the historic Adelaide mosque build by Afghan cameleers, the only one in the city at the time, that I attended for my prayers. Regular Friday Prayers at Adelaide Mosque started late in 1971.
Halal food, specially meat was hardly available anywhere in the city. Finally after my arrival the same year, an abattoir was persuaded for regular supply of Halal meat in Adelaide for the first time.
While involved in the Inter-faith discussions and being a co-editor of a student magazine, Reflections brough me close to Imam Skaka.
One of the ‘first’ Main-Frame computers in Australia was installed at Adelaide University. With my early love with mathematics and theoretical physics, I found learning computer use handy for astronomical research.
Research with high altitude rockets required learning positional astronomy.
Once in a serious discussion Imam Skaka said, “Ilyas, if you are doing high sounding science, can’t you do something about the moon sighting problem that we face in Australia and elsewhere?”
I realised the responsibility, this beingfarde-kifayah, an obligation on the Muslim community.
The passion in poet Behzad’s couplets immortalized by Nayyara Noor (Ae Jazbae dil gar men chahoon…) followed:
Oh passionate heart, if I wish, everything will be possible
I need walk but a few steps and there my destination will be!
…Is it not possible that in the ensuing storm, a new shore flows in.
By 1976, I wrote on prayer times calculations in a journal Salam, produced by the Australian Federation of Muslim Students’ Associations,.
I prepared the First Adelaide Prayer Time Table and later wrote on the sciencific aspects of prayer times and Islamic calenda in Impact International, UK and Journal of Rabeta al Alam al Islami.
I also advised Australian Imam’s conference in August 1976 and pointed out that more needed to be done.
Later I resigned from my Adelaide University physics teaching position for an appointment in Malaysia to establish new atmospheric programme at the Science University in Penang.
The exclusive balloon-borne ozone layer study put me in the elite global research group and by the age of 34, I was recognised as a global expert in the field With memberships to a dozen international bodies and UNEP Panels receiving a number of awards.
I hosted an international UNEP Ozone conference Officiated by the then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Addressed Prime Minister Thatcher’s London Ozone Conference Plenary.
It kept me very much focussed and engaged with my Islamic astronomy mission together with building an observatory and publishing my book establishing modern Islamic Astronomy on a global level.
I received encouragement and support from a number of governments, OIC, COMSTECH, Rabita, ICTP, Nuffield Foundation, UK, London University Observatory and many individuals in academia as well from the community.
Fifty years on, the global institutionalization has progressed well overcoming the chaos thanks to my mentor Imam Skaka’s initiative and can do again attitude.
In appreciation, I quote Poet Fazli’s couplet popularized by Chitra (Aap ko bhool jaen ham, itne to bewafa nahin):
That we forget you, we are not that disloyal.
Author’s rocket borne atmospheric project which contributed greatly to his astronomical research: A Cockatoo rocket ready for launch that included an instrumented payload incorporated in the central scientific payload to measure UV radiation and transmit it to a ground receiver.
Author’s book, “A Modern Guide to Astronomical Calculations of Islamic Calendar, Times & Qibla”
My book, Author’s book, “A Modern Guide to Astronomical Calculations of Islamic Calendar, Times & Qibla” was well received by the scientific community”
“After a lapse of nearly a millennium, a guide book has been published…”. (Science & Technology in the Islamic World)
“… Ilyas has brought closer the day when a Universal Islamic Calendar will come about.” (Royal Astronomical Society, Canada)
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