English
Abu Al-Bakhtari reported: We went out for Umrah, and when we stopped at Batn Nakhlah, we tried to sight the crescent moon. Some of the people said, "It is three nights old," while others said, "It is two nights old." We met Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) and said, "We saw the crescent moon." Some of the people said, "It is three nights old," while others said, "It is two nights old." He asked, "On which night did you see it?" We said, "On such-and-such night." He said, "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) extended the time for sighting it, so the night you saw it is the night." In another narration, he said, "We began Ramadan while we were at Dhat ‘Irq. We sent a man to Ibn Abbas to ask him, and Ibn Abbas said, 'The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah has extended the time for sighting it, so if it is obscured from you, complete the count as thirty days."'"
Possible references (unverified, pending editorial review)
- Candidate: Sahih Muslim 1088a (unverified) 97% confidence
- Candidate: Sahih Muslim 1088b (unverified) 92% confidence
Confidence and text similarity are not editorial verification.
Commentary and footnotes (2)
Note 1
(1) The statement: "We tried to sight the crescent moon." This means we gathered to sight the crescent moon due to its full visibility, or some of us showed others the difficulty in seeing it or the lack of knowledge about its position. Ibn Al-Humam said: "Pointing to the crescent moon is disliked because it was a practice of the people of pre-Islamic ignorance. However, pointing may be necessary when showing it to others, so the dislike applies when there is no necessity." This is mentioned in Al-Mirqat.
Note 1
(۱) قوله: تراءينا الهلال: أي اجتمعنا لرؤيته الهلال لكمال ظهوره، أو أرى بعضنا بعضا الخفاء نظره أو عدم علمه بمسقط قمره. قال ابن الهمام: الإشارة إلى الهلال تكره؛ لأنه فعل أهل الجاهلية، فيه أنه يحتاج إلى الإشارة عند الإراءة، فتحمل الكراهة على وقت عدم الضرورة. قاله في «المرقاة».