Those who saw the news last night would have seen images of Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks trading punches at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Old Jerusalem. The scenes brought to mind an incident, in which two mullahs exchanged slaps, I witnessed in the late 80s.
The point at issue was the vexed question of whether fasting should start the next day or not. As many people know, this is a difficult issue because it depends on the sighting of the new, thin crescent moon. The fact that the date of the new moon can now be scientifically calculated seems irrelevant, as does the fact that the new moon may have been sighted in other countries.
Anyway, this brawl that I remember started when one of the clerics rather naively suggested that the mosque just follow the decision of the majority. The other cleric was having none of this pragmatism. And so slaps ensued.
I am unable to empathise with those who take part in these petty disputes. What drives them? I just cannot get into their mind to see what is behind it. Take the issue of the sighting of the moon. Clerics in the UK are willing to say their prayers at precise times, such as 5:33 or 7:47. Where does this precision come from? It does so from the Met Office. Yet why not rely on the Met Office for the sighting of the new moon? What, in principle, is the difference between the two?
The former Pakistani Prime Minister, Z A Bhutto, talking about the mullahs once said “I have no time for those who argue as to which nostril to clean first”. That is one statement with which, in this day and age, one can easily empathise.
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