Moonsighting (3)

1. Seeing / visual aid / astronomy (cont.)

In the previous blog, we looked at the relevant Qur’anic verses. In this blog, we will look at the relevant narrations on the topic – based on how the first of the month can be determined:

• Sight: e.g. sahih of Halabi from the 6^th Imam (AS) “If you see the moon, then fast; and if you see it, then break your fast”¹;
• Others from sahih / narrations e.g. what is known widely (شياع), being told about a sighting, 30 days completion of the previous month²
• Others e.g. when the moon is in an hug shape (تطوّق) [I think this means when the crescent first starts]; if the moon is hidden before twilight, then it is the first night; if it is hidden after twilight, then it is the second night; if you do not see the crescent on the night in the previous month, then it is a sign that the next month starts on the next night; the fifth day from Ramadan in the previous year; 60^th day after the first of Rajab; seeing the crescent after noon.³

“Sight”, “what is known widely” – these narrations can be acted upon because they lead to knowledge / near certainty.

“Being told about a sighting” does not normally lead to certainty but in usul al-fiqh, there is a lot of discussion explaining how this is allowed by Allah based on the same reasoning as why solitary narrations can be acted upon (khabar al-wahid)⁴.

The others all have issues with them in terms of whether we can act based on them – some in terms of their content and others in terms of their chain of narration. This resolves the contradiction with the first two types of narrations.

However, some scholars e.g. Sabzwari⁵ try to resolve the apparent contradiction by noting that these other signs of the first of the month are not by themselves indicators of the next month – rather they may lead to itmi’nan, in which case they can be relied upon. This resolves the apparent contradiction amongst the narrations.

In the next blog, we will look at how the scholars deal with these narrations.

(1) Wasa`il by Hur al-Amili, book of fasting, chapter 3 in the rules of Ramadan, hadith 7 (also hadith 3; chapter 4, hadith 1) – all 3 are categorised as sahih

(2) Wasa`il by Hur al-Amili, book of fasting, chapter 11, hadith 1, 4, 13, 14; chapter 5, hadith 11; chapter 3, hadith 17, chapter 8, hadith 1

(3) Wasa`il by Hur al-Amili, book of fasting, chapter 8, hadith 5, 6; chapter 9, hadith 2-4; chapter 10, 1, 2, 7

(4) In http://miqdaad.blogspot.co.uk/2010_03_01_archive.html, I explain this in more detail.

(5) Muhadhib al-Ahkam by Abd al-A’la Sabzwari, vol 10, 268  (from Thubut al-Hilal by Muhammad al-Husayni, P46)