5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

7 - The fast that is harâm. It is harâm to fast on the first day
of the ’Iyd of Fitra and on any of all four days of the ’Iyd of
Qurbân.
8 - The fast that is makrûh: to fast only on the tenth day of
Muharram, only on Saturdays, on the days of Nawruz and
Mihrijan, [which are the twentieth days of March and
September], to fast every day throughout the year, and to fast
without talking at all.
In a hadîth-i-sherîf quoted in Marâqil-falâh, it is declared,
“When you see the Moon start fasting! When you see her
again, stop fasting.” According to this order, the month of
Ramadân begins when the waxing moon (the new crescent) is
first sighted. In Ibnî Âbidîn’s discussion of the qibla and in the
books Ashî’at-ul-lama’ât and Ni’mat-i islâm, the authors
(rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în) note that starting to fast by
means of a calendar and calculation before seeing the new
crescent is not permissible. It is wâjib-i-kifâya for every Muslim
to look for the new crescent on the thirtieth of the month of
Sha’bân after the sunset and to go to the Qâdi and inform him
as soon as he sees the new moon.
[Islamic knowledge consists of two parts: religious
knowledge (’Ulûm-i-dîniyya) and scientific knowledge (’Ulûm-ihikamiyya).
The source of religious knowledge is adilla-i
shar’iyya-i erbaa. This knowledge has been handed down in its
complete and perfect form from the original source. It is beyond
the capacity and scope of human intelligence. Calculation and
other rational theories are not valid in this respect. That is to
say, this transferred knowledge cannot be refuted or changed
through one’s mind or by calculation. Those who try to change
this information through mental exercises are called
philosophers. Philosophy has no place in religious knowledge.
’Ulûm-i hikamiyya means scientific knowledge. The basis of
scientific knowledge is calculation and experimentation.
Rasûlullah (sallallâhu alaihi wa sallam) advised us not to try to
change religious knowledge through calculation and
experiment; on the other hand, he advised us to use calculation
and experimentation in scientific research and to learn science
from all sorts of sources, even if they are disbelievers.]
Scholars of the four Madhhabs unanimously said that fasting
starts at the beginning of whiteness at one point of the horizon,
which is called fajr-i sâdiq. It is said in the book Multaqâ,
- 55 -