The Saudi Hajj authority declared 12 January 2005, would be the beginning of the Dhul-Hajj (12th month of the Hijra calendar), and accordingly, Eid-ul-Adha would be celebrated on Friday 21 January 2005.
On 14 January, however, the Saudi authority surprised everyone by announcing that the Day of Arafat would be 19 January and the Eid-ul-Adha on 20 January. The Saudi authority reportedly advanced the Eid celebration by one day based on moon sighting claims by two persons on 10 January. But astronomical data make their claims clearly incorrect.
Mohammad Auwal, associate professor of Communication Studies at California State University, Los Angeles quoted www.Moonsighting.com, on 10 January it was impossible for anyone to see the new moon anywhere on earth except possibly in Chile and Polynesian islands. The new moon was born at 12:03 Universal Time on that day and was barely 3 hours old in Saudi Arabia where it set 3 minutes before the sunset.
Nobody has reported sighting the moon on 10 January 10, 2005 anywhere on earth. So, many Muslim countries have found the Saudi moon sighting report erroneous and stuck to their earlier decision to celebrate the Eid on 21 January. Muslims in North America and Middle-East are divided on the date while Muslims in South-East Asia and China including Hong Kong celebrated on 21 January.
