32. Expansion of the Crescent (Hilaal)

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “One of the signs of the Day of Judgment is that the crescent will be bloated.” This does not necessarily mean that the crescent will literally grow; it will just appear that way.  The crescent will look bigger than before. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “To the extent that it will be one night old, but people will say it looks two days old.”

Allahu ‘Alam [Allah knows best] why this happens, but if you look at the moon when it’s close to the horizon, it looks larger than when it’s up in the sky. If you look at the moon in San Diego, it looks almost as big as the sun. When it’s in the centre of the sky, it looks smaller. This isn’t because the moon is getting farther away. When the moon is down in the horizon, there’s more nitrogen, more carbon dioxide – more pollution. The atmosphere of the earth makes it look larger than it is. Maybe, Allahu ‘Alam, it will look larger in the future.