Resolutions-of-Islamic-Fiqh-Council-1

sighted it on the eve of Friday. Then, he asked: did youpersonally sight it? I said: Yes, people sighted it as well. Theyobserved their Ramadhan fasting and Mu’awiyah too observedhis fasting. He said: But we sighted it on the eve of Saturday, sowe are observing the fast till we sight it or complete the 30 daysof fasting. I said: Is it not sufficient that we depend onMu’awiyah’s sighting and fasting. He said: No, this is the wayour Prophet has commanded to follow. (This Hadith has beenreported by Muslim)Imam Al-Nawawi, while explaining this Hadith of SahihMuslim, put the chapter this way: “Chapter of stating that peopleof each region have to see the crescent and if they sighted it inone region, their sighting would not be recognized for those whoare far from them. This method of interpretation has beenfollowed by all those who have reported this Hadith from thefamous six books of Hadith. ”In the Islamic Shari’ah, observing and breaking the fast areassociated with the crescent-sighting through the eye-sight as IbnOmar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported ProphetMuhammad (peace be upon him) as saying: Don’t observe thefast until you sight the crescent (of Ramadhan) and don’t breakthe fast until you sight the crescent (of Shawwal) and if you havea cloudy sky, then you have to count it. (This Hadith has beenreported in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim)In this Hadith, the ruling depended on the means, which isthe crescent-sighting. This may be found in a place like Makkahand Madinah and it may not be found in another place, becausewhen the crescent is sighted in one place, there may be a daytimein another place. So how is it possible to command allpeople to observe or break the fast? This Hadith, in a way,explains how the crescent-sighting would be legally acceptable?108