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THE SIGHT OF THE CRESCENT One of the pillars of Islam is fasting in the month of Ramadan. It was the ninth month of the lunar calendar where the Qur’an was revealed. Allah said in the Qur’an: ُ تش ِمم َنش لاْلُهم َد ىش م َولاْلفُْرم َقناِنش م َفم َمْنش م َشِهم َدش ٍ سش م َوم َبنِّيم َننا َ م َشْهُرش م َرم َم م ِ ضنام َنش لالِّذ يش أْنِزم َلش ِفيِهش لاْلقُْرنآُنش ُهًد ىش ِلنلّننا (185: ش )لالبقرةش...صْمه ُ ِمْنُكُمش لالّشْهم َرش م َفْنلم َي ,The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’an a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So, whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadan, i.e., is present (at his home), he must observe fast that month… (Q. 2: 185 The word م َشِهم َدmeans, “to see, to witness” either with eyesight or with insight. The word لالّشْهرmeans “the month” not “the crescent” which is ( ْلالِهاللal-hilāl) in Arabic. Therefore, the verse means, if we just stop here, lit. “Whoever witness the month (of Ramadan) with his insight” and in a better expression “whosoever is present in this month.” This is the most common classical interpretation of this verse, such as صصصم ُ “ش فمنش دخلش عنليهش رمضنانش وهصصوش مقيصصمش فصصيش أهنلصصهش فنليWhoever is present in Ramadan, while he is staying with his family-- i.e., not raveling--, he must fast”, صمه ُ “ش ش منش كنانش مقيًمناش فنليWhoever is in town,--not travelling-- he has to fast”). However, in pre-Islamic poetry, the word ( م َشْهرmonth) could also mean ( ِهاللcrescent). An unidentified poet says: أم َم َخصم َولاِنش ِمْنش م َنْجص ٍدش م َعصنلم َىش ِثم َقص ٍةش ش ش *ش ش ش ش م َوش لالّشْهصُرش ِمُثُلش ُقالم َمصِةش لالّظُفصِر ْ م َحصّتىش م َتم َكنام َمصم َلش ِفيش لاْسصِتم َدلام َرِتصِهش ش ش *ش ش ش ش ِفيش أم َْرم َب ٍص عش م َزلام َد تش م َعصنلم َىش م َعم َشِصر "The coming of two brothers from Najd is certain when the crescent [lit. ‘the month’] is like the cutting of the nail until it becomes completely round at the 14th (of the month)".
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In this line of poetry the word shahr which literally means “month” has to be translated as hilāl (crescent), because in the beginning it is like the cutting of the nail and becomes completely round at its 14th night, as explained in the lines of poetry. The late Shaykh Muhammad Abu Zahrah (1315-1394/18981974) in his book سْير ِ ة الّتَفا ُ هَر ْ َزexplains the above verse, that what Allah means with shahr (month) in this verse is the crescent of Ramadan, and the expression “( ش ش م َشِهم َدُهhe witnessed it”) means “he was present and saw it”. The ancient Arabs used the term “the month” metaphorically to mean “the crescent,” namely, mentioning the effect (the month) to mean the cause (the crescent). The crescent is the cause of the existence and the beginning of the month. Sometimes, the cause is mentioned to mean metaphorically the effect in Arabic language, such as the following line of poetry: ضنابنا َ ش م َرم َعْيم َنناُهش م َوإِْنش م َكناُنولاش ِغ م... ضش م َق ْو ٍمش ِ ِإذلاش م َسم َقم َطش لالّسم َمناُءش ِبأ م َْر If [the rain caused by] the cloud falls on the land of a tribe we shall take care of [the plants that grow because of] it, although they are angry [for our cultivating their land]. Here the cause (the cloud) is mentioned to mean the effect of it, namely, the rain. Then they take care of the effect of the rain, namely, the plants caused by the rain. Here the cause is mentioned to mean the effect. This metaphor belongs to the category of جاز َ َم سل َ ( ُمْرunrestrained metaphor). In English language we say “the kettle boils” when we mean “the water in the kettle boils.” The Prophet s.a.w. explained this Qur’anic verse when he said on the authority of Abdullah ibn ‘Umar: َ ش م َو م، صوُمولاش م َحّتىش م َتم َرُولاش لاْلِهم َالم َل َ م ش م َفإِْنش، لش ُتْفِطُرولاش م َحّتىش م َتم َر ْوُه ُ لش م َت (ُغّمش م َعم َنلْيُكْمش م َفناْقُدُرولاش م َلُه )رواه البخاري ومسلم
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Do not fast until you see the crescent, and do not break your fast until you see it; but if it is cloudy, then calculate it. (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim) َ ش م َف م، لالّشْهُرش ِتْسٌ عش م َوِعْشُروم َنش م َلْيم َنلًة ش م َفإِْنش ُغّمش، صوُمولاش م َحّتىش م َتم َر ْوُه ُ الش م َت (م َعم َنلْيُكْمش م َفأ م َْكِمُنلولاش لالِعّدم َةش م َثالم َِثيم َنش )رولاهش لالبخنار ي The month is twenty-nine nights, so do not fast until you see it [i.e., the crescent], but if it is cloudy, then complete it to thirty [nights]. (Reported by Bukhari) To be precise one lunar month is 29.530589 days, so that one month in the lunar calendar is made 29 and 30 days alternately. Ikhtilāf al-Maṭāli‘ One of the controversial issues among the fuqahā’ (Muslim jurists) is regarding the beginning and the end of fasting in Ramadan called طاِلع َ م َ ف ال ُ خِتل ْ ( إikhtilāf al-maṭali‘), namely, the difference of time of the rise of the hilāl (crescent) with the difference of the location. This is important to decide the beginning and the end of the month of Ramadan. There are two different views, among the fuqahā’ with their arguments which we briefly with them here, as follows: Shāfi‘ī school (madhhab). If the hilāl has been seen in a country, people living near this county have to apply its ruling, either start fasting or break their fasting, on condition that the distance is not more than 24 farsakhs. (24 x 5544m = 133.056 km), which is minimum the distance where ikhtilāf al-maṭali‘ does not take place. So, based on this view, if the hilāl is seen in Canberra, for example, Muslims in Cooma, Batesman Bay, and Ulladulla have to apply its ruling, start or ending fasting, because the distance is less than 133.56 km. Not so with Muslims in Nowra, as the a.
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distance between this city and Canberra is more than 133.056 km), and therefore its people have to refer to their own sighting of the hilāl. We could understand this position, as the distance factor was taken into consideration. The argument of this school is that a man called Kurayb who went from Madinah to Syria. He and other people there saw the hilāl on Thursday night for the beginning of Ramadan. So the ruler Mu‘āwiyah and the people of Syria started fasting. At the end of Ramadan Kurayb returned to Madinah. When he told about it to ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās, he said: “But we saw the hilāl on Friday night and we kept fasting until we complete it thirty day unless we saw the hilāl.” “Is it not sufficient with the sight of the hilāl approved by Mu‘āwiyah and his fasting?” asked Kurayb. ‘No, this is what the Messenger of Allah had told us,” said Ibn ‘Abbās. In a ḥadīth on the authority of Ibn ‘Umar, the Prophet s.a.w. said: ش م َوم َلش ُتْفِطُرولاش، صوُمولاش م َحّتىش م َتم َرُولاش لاْلِهم َالم َل ُ ش م َفم َالش م َت، لالّشْهُرش ِتْسٌ عش م َوِعْشُروم َن (ش م َفإِْنش ُغّمش م َعم َنلْيُكْمش م َفناْقُدُرولاش م َلُهش ش )رولامش مسنلمش وش أحمد، م َحّتىش م َتم َر ْوُه The month is 29 days, so do no fast until you see the hilāl and do not break your fast until you see [It, but if it is cloudy then calculate it [i.e. 30 days ( شReported by Muslim and Ahmad) In fact, there are many ḥadīths stating that the Prophet s.a.w. told us to complete the month 30 days in case of the presence of clouds preventing us to see the hilāl.
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Based on analogy, the discrepancy of prayer times is due to the discrepancy of the rising of the sun in different places, and so is with that of the fasting time with the discrepancy of the rising of the hilāl. The majority of fuqahā’: Despite the ikhtilāf al-maṭali‘, the whole Muslims, whether in near or distant places, except if they are too far away, such as: Andalusia (Muslim Spain), Hejaz, Morocco, and Indonesia. b.
The argument of the majority of the fiqahā’ (Muslim jurists) is that the above ḥadīth means that the Prophet’s did not address to the Muslims of a particular area, but to the whole Muslims in other parts of the Muslim land. The positions of the three madhhabs (schools of Islamic law) are as follows: Hanafi school: People in the East have to accept when people in the West have seen the hilāl with certainty, such as the witness of two people, or they witness the decision of the judge, or the news of it has been so widespread, not just hearsay news. 1.
Maliki school: Whenever the news of the sight of the hilāl, witnessed by two people, or it has been widely spread, those who heard this news have to accept it, whether in near or distant places. 2.
Hanbali school: If the sight of the hilāl has been established in one place, either near or distant, all people have to accept it; its ruling is as if they themselves have seen it. 3.
According to the contemporary scholar Dr. Wahbah al-Zuhaylī, if someone in the Muslim world has seen the hilāl indicating the first
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of Ramadan, the whole Muslims have to start fasting, because the maximum difference of time is 9 hours only. If someone has seen the hilāl in Morocco at 6.00 pm, for example, it is still 3.00 a.m. at other extreme distant places, such as Indonesia. So, they will still share some parts of night, and have time to make their suḥūr (meal before dawn). On the other hand, when the hilāl has been seen there indicating the first of Shawwāl, if they have already taken their suḥūr, they are not allowed to fast any longer. We hope that in this era of sophisticated technology in the 21 st century we Muslim could be united in at least in starting and ending the fast of Ramadan. Moreover, it is unlikely that not a single person in the Muslim world extending from Jakarta (in Indonesia) to Tangier (in Morocco) is unable to see the hilāl at the appointed night due to the clouds in these areas. With regard of deciding the start and end of Ramadan based on calculation (ḥisāb), practiced by the Muhammadiyah organization in Indonesia, even if most of the time it is correct, the Ḥanafi, Mālikī, and Ḥanbalī schools, and probably also Shāfi‘ī schools, do not accept it, because, عا ً شْر َ عَلْيه َ ل ُ عْو ُ ما َي َ ه ِل ِ سِتَناِد ْ ما ِ عَد َ “ ِلit is not based on what has been decided in religious law”, namely, sighting the hilāl with eye-sight. This Muhammadiyah organization has its own Majlis Tarjīḥ (Preponderance Council) which chooses the more acceptable view. Muslims in Indonesia, although they claim to have followed the Shāfi‘ī school law, they no longer follow this madhhab in limiting the distance to 24 farsakhs (133.056 km) to be one and the same time of maṭla‘ (the rising of the hilāl). Whenever the hilāl is seen in any part of the Indonesian archipelago, indicating the beginning or the end of Ramadan, with the approval and authority of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the whole Muslims there will start or stop fasting. The exception is the followers of the Muhammadiyah organization
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which has already known the beginning and the end of Ramadan based on their own calculation. It is hoped that eventually the Muslims in Indonesia would follow the view of the majority of fuqahā’ and other schools, and go beyond its geographical boundary, so that they would accept the sight of the hilāl in any part of the Muslim world. It is really embarrassing that the Muslims themselves cannot settle their difference in deciding the beginning and the end of the fasting month. Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328) who was considered by some scholars a mujaddid (reformer) in his time divided certainty (yaqīn) into three levels: a. م اْلَيِقْين ُ عْل ِ (certainty through knowledge), such as fire burns; the sight of the hilāl based on calculation belongs to this category; b. ن اْلَيِقْين ُ ( عَْيcertainty through sight), such as if you see fire burning; the sight of the hilāl with eye-sight belongs to this category, so that we start fasting and stop fasting with certainty; c. ق اْلَيِقْين ّ ح َ (absolute truth), such as if your finger is being burned by fire. This is the highest level of truth that fire burns. You feel the pain of burning. (CIVIC, 28.06.13) المصدر: المكتبة الشاملة , 2006|1427 , دار الفكر: دمشق, الفقه السلمي وأدلته. وهبة الزهيلي.د .1662-1651 ص3 ج تفسير الطبري ش73 زهرة التفاسير للشيخ محمد أبو زهرة( تفسيرش منش أولش لالقرنآنش لالكريمش حتىش لاليةش )منش سورةش لالنمل http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar