Moonsighting is after sunset

Why wait till sunset for Moonsighting?

(Qari) Muhammad Shoyaib Nurgat

(Maulana) Yousuf Baig

Ques­tion: Why does Wifaqul Ula­ma try to sight the Moon after sun­set? Why can’t you sight it dur­ing the day?

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salā­mu ‘alaykum wa-rah­mat­ul­lāhi wa-barakātuh

We would like to begin by extend­ing our grat­i­tude to you for ask­ing this ques­tion. May Allah (SWT) give you the best of rewards (Ameen).

In a nut­shell and accord­ing to the prin­ci­ples of Islam, it is a com­mu­nal oblig­a­tion to sight the the Cres­cent. Sight­ing of the new Moon is only pos­si­ble (with the naked eye and/or con­ven­tion­al opti­cal Aids) after sun­set. It is not pos­si­ble before the sun­set because the sun is too bright. Moon­sight­ing dur­ing the day has no basis or foun­da­tions in Islam­ic Law and it is to be dis­re­gard­ed and reject­ed for the estab­lish­ment of Ramad­han, Shaww­al etc. 

The dis­cus­sions in the books of Fiqh per­tain to the cir­cum­stances when and if the Moon is sight­ed before sun­set. It should not be twist­ed and tak­en out of con­text to mean that Moon should be sight­ed before sun­set or delib­er­ate attempts to be made to sight the Moon before sunset.

Practise of the Sahabah (RA):

عَنْ أَبِي وَائِلٍ ، قَالَ : ” أَتَانَا كِتَابُ عُمَرَ وَنَحْنُ بِخَانقِينَ ؛ أَنَّ الأَهِلَّةَ بَعْضُهَا أَكْبَرُ مِنْ بَعْضٍ ، فَإِذَا رَأَيْتُمَ الْهِلاَلَ نَهَارًا فَلاَ تُفْطِرُوا ، حَتَّى يَشْهَدَ رَجُلاَنِ مُسْلِمَانِ أَنَّهُمَا رَأَيَاهُ بِالأَمْسِ

Sayyiduna Abu Waa’il (RA) said: A let­ter came to us from Sayyiduna ‘Umar (RA) when we were in Khaaniqeen, say­ing: Some new moons are big­ger than oth­ers, so if you see the new moon dur­ing the day, do not break the fast, unless two Mus­lim men tes­ti­fy that they had seen it the night before [Mus­nad Ibn Abi Shaybah]

عن سالم بن عبد الله بن عُمَرَ: ” أَنَّ نَاسًا رَأَوْا هِلَالَ الْفِطْرِ نَهَارًا ، فَأَتَمَّ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا صِيَامَهُ إلَى اللَّيْلِ ، وَقَالَ: “لاَ ، حَتَّى يُرَى مِنْ حَيْثُ يُرَى بِاللَّيْلِ”

Sayyiduna Saal­im ibn ‘Abdul­lah ibn ‘Umar (RA) nar­rates that some peo­ple saw the new moon of (Eid) al-Fitr dur­ing the day, but Sayyiduna ‘Abdul­lah ibn ‘Umar (RA) con­tin­ued his fast until the night, and he said: No, not until it is seen when it is usu­al­ly seen, at night. [Bay­haqi]

Hanafi Madhab:

Allamah Ibn Abideen (RA) writes in Radd al-Muhtar ala ad-Dur al-Mukhtar:

وَلَيْسَ كَوْنُهُ لِلْمُسْتَقْبَلَةِ ثَابِتًا بِرُؤْيَتِهِ نَهَارًا ؛ لِأَنَّهُ لَا عِبْرَةَ عِنْدَهُمَا [أبو حنيفة وصاحبه محمد بن الحسن] بِرُؤْيَتِهِ نَهَارًا ، وَإِنَّمَا ثَبَتَ بِإِكْمَالِ الْعِدَّةِ ؛ لِأَنَّ الْخِلَافَ ـ عَلَى مَا صَرَّحَ بِهِ فِي الْبَدَائِعِ وَالْفَتْحِ ـ إنَّمَا هُوَ فِي رُؤْيَتِهِ يَوْمَ الشَّكِّ ، وَهُوَ يَوْمُ الثَّلَاثِينَ مِنْ شَعْبَانَ أَوْ مِنْ رَمَضَانَ.
فَإِذَا كَانَ يَوْمُ الْجُمُعَةِ الْمَذْكُورِ يَوْمَ الثَّلَاثِينَ مِنْ الشَّهْرِ ، وَرُئِيَ فِيهِ الْهِلَالُ نَهَارًا ، فَعِنْدَ أَبِي يُوسُفَ : ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمُ أَوَّلُ الشَّهْرِ ، وَعِنْدَهُمَا : لَا عِبْرَةَ بِهَذِهِ الرُّؤْيَةِ ، وَيَكُونُ أَوَّلُ الشَّهْرِ يَوْمَ السَّبْتِ ، سَوَاءٌ وُجِدَتْ هَذِهِ الرُّؤْيَةُ ، أَوْ لَا؛ لِأَنَّ الشَّهْرَ لَا يَزِيدُ عَلَى الثَّلَاثِينَ ، فَلَمْ تُفِدْ هَذِهِ الرُّؤْيَةُ شَيْئًا .
وَحِينَئِذٍ ؛ فَقَوْلُهُمْ : هُوَ لِلَّيْلَةِ الْمُسْتَقْبَلَةِ ؛ عِنْدَهُمَا : بَيَانٌ لِلْوَاقِعِ، وَتَصْرِيحٌ بِمُخَالَفَةِ الْقَوْلِ بِأَنَّهُ لِلْمَاضِيَةِ، فَلَا مُنَافَاةَ حِينَئِذٍ بَيْنَ قَوْلِهِمْ هُوَ لِلْمُسْتَقْبَلَةِ عِنْدَهُمَا ، وَقَوْلِهِمْ لَا عِبْرَةَ بِرُؤْيَتِهِ نَهَارًا عِنْدَهُمَا ، وَإِنَّمَا كَانَ الْخِلَافُ فِي رُؤْيَتِهِ يَوْمَ الشَّكِّ، وَهُوَ يَوْمُ الثَّلَاثِينَ؛ لِأَنَّ رُؤْيَتَهُ يَوْمَ التَّاسِعِ وَالْعِشْرِينَ : لَمْ يَقُلْ أَحَدٌ فِيهَا إنَّهُ لِلْمَاضِيَةِ ، لِئَلَّا يَلْزَمَ أَنْ يَكُونَ الشَّهْرُ ثَمَانِيَةً وَعِشْرِينَ ، كَمَا نَصَّ عَلَيْهِ بَعْضُ الْمُحَقِّقِينَ

The fact that it is sight­ed dur­ing the day does not def­i­nite­ly mean that it belongs to the com­ing night, because sight­ing of the new moon dur­ing the day does not count in their view [name­ly Abu Haneefah (RA) and his com­pan­ion Muham­mad ibn al-Hasan (RA)]. Rather it is proven by the com­ple­tion of the num­ber of days (of the month), because the dif­fer­ence of opin­ion – accord­ing to what is clear­ly stat­ed in al-Badaa’i‘ and al-Fath – has to do only with sight­ing of the new moon on the day of doubt, which is the thir­ti­eth day of Sha‘baan or Ramadan. If the Fri­day men­tioned was the thir­ti­eth day of the month, and the new moon was sight­ed dur­ing the day, then accord­ing to Abu Yusuf (RA) that day is the first of the month, but accord­ing to them [Abu Haneefah (RA) and his com­pan­ion Muham­mad ibn al-Hasan (RA)] this sight­ing is of no sig­nif­i­cance, and the first day of the month is Sat­ur­day, whether the new moon is sight­ed dur­ing the day or not, because the month can­not be more than thir­ty days. So this sight­ing does not affect any­thing. In that case, their say­ing that this sight­ing belongs to the com­ing night, in their view, is sim­ply stat­ing the obvi­ous real­i­ty and is a state­ment on their part that they dif­fer with the view that it belongs to the pre­vi­ous night. In that case, there is no con­tra­dic­tion between their state­ment that it belongs to the com­ing night and their state­ment that sight­ing it dur­ing the day is of no sig­nif­i­cance. Rather the dif­fer­ence of opin­ion has to do with sight­ing it on the day of doubt, which is the thir­ti­eth day of the month, because if it is sight­ed on the twen­ty-ninth, no one says that it belongs to the pre­vi­ous night, because that would imply that the month has twen­ty-eight days, as was stat­ed by some of the scholars.

وما نقلناه من هذه النصوص دال على ما قلناه من أن قولهم أنه للليلة المقبلة بمعنى أنه ليس للليلة الماضية لا بمعنى أنا نثبت دخول الشهر بهذه الرؤية وإلا ناقض قولهم لا أثر لرؤيته نهارا على أن الكلام فى رؤيته يوم الثلاثين من شعبان أو رمضان ولا شك أن الليلة التى بعده تكون من الشهر الآخر سواء رؤى نهارا أو لا وَإِذَا رَأَوْا الْهِلَالَ قَبْلَ الزَّوَالِ أَوْ بَعْدَهُ : لَا يُصَامُ بِهِ وَلَا يُفْطَرُ

Allamah Ibn Abideen (RA) states, “The texts we have quot­ed indi­cate what we have stat­ed that their state­ment ‘It (the moon) belongs to the fol­low­ing night’ means it does not belong to the pre­vi­ous night. It does not mean we estab­lish the start­ing of the month with this sight­ing (of the moon i.e. before sun­set) except that we oppose their view as no athar regard­ing it’s vis­i­bil­i­ty dur­ing the day exists as the issue regard­ing it’s vis­i­bil­i­ty is for the 30th day of Sha’ban and/or Ramad­han. And there is no doubt that the night after it is from the fol­low­ing month whether the (moon) was seen dur­ing the day or not”

It is stat­ed in Fatawa Alam­giri “If they see the new moon before or after the merid­i­an, they should not fast or break the fast on that basis”

وقد صرحت أئمة المذاهب الأربعة : بأن الصحيح أنه لا عبرة بروية الهلال نهاراً ، وإنما المعتبر برويته ليلاً

Maulana Abdul Hayy Luck­nawi (RA) states that The imams of the four mad­hhabs clear­ly stat­ed that the cor­rect view is that sight­ing of the new moon dur­ing the day does not count; rather what counts is sight­ing it at night.

هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ ذَلِكَ إِلا بِالْحَقِّ

قال أبو الحسنات اللكنوي : ” فدل ذلك على أن القمر إنما هو آية الليل لا آية النهار ، فلا عبرة برؤيته بالنهار، وأن كونه مواقيت للناس والحج والصيام وغيرها ، وعلم عدد السنين والحساب وغيرها إنما هو إذا طلع في الليلة ، لا في غيرها

Maulana Abdul Hayy Luck­nawi (RA) states:

[10:5] It is He who made the sun a shin­ing light and the moon a derived light and deter­mined for it phas­es — that you may know the num­ber of years and account [of time]. Allah has not cre­at­ed this except in truth. He details the signs for a peo­ple who know

This indi­cates that the moon is indeed the sign of the night, and not the sign of the day, so sight­ing it dur­ing the day is of no sig­nif­i­cance. It also indi­cates that the new moons are signs to mark fixed peri­ods of time for mankind and for the pil­grim­age, fast­ing and so on, and to know the num­ber of years and the reck­on­ing and the like. But this is only when it ris­es dur­ing the night, and not otherwise.

Maliki Madhab:

حكم التماس الهلال
يفترض على المسلمين فرض كفاية أن يلتمسوا الهلال في غروب اليوم التاسع والعشرين من شعبان ورمضان حتى يتبينوا أمر صومهم وإفطارهم، ولم يخالف في هذا سوى الحنابلة فقالوا: إن التماس الهلال مندوب لا واجب؛ ولا يخفى أن رأي غيرهم هو المعقول، لأن صيام رمضان من أركان الدين؛ وقد علق على رؤية الهلال فكيف يكون طلب الهلال مندوباً فقط، وإذا رئي الهلال نهاراً قبل الزوال أو بعده وجب صوم اليوم الذي يليه إذا كانت الرؤية في آخر شعبان، ووجب إفطار اليوم الذي يليه إن كان آخر رمضان، ولا يجب عند رؤية الهلال الإمساك في الصورة الأولى، ولا الإفطار في الثانية، وهذا الحكم عند المالكية، والحنفية، وخالف الشافعية، والحنابلة؛ فانظر مذهبهم تحت الخط

Abd al-Raĥmān Ibn Muĥam­mad ‘Awađ al-Jazīrī (RA) writes in Al-Fiqh ‘Alā al-Mad­hāhib al-Arba‘ah:

Injunc­tion of seek­ing the Crescent:

It is tak­en that it is Fard­hal-Kifaayah (com­mu­nal oblig­a­tion) upon the believ­ers that they make arrange­ments to seek the cres­cent at the sun­set on the 29th of Sha’baan and Ramad­han until the mat­ter of fast­ing and the ces­sa­tion of fast­ing (i.e. Eidul-Fit’r) becomes clear to them. Nobody has dis­agreed with (this posi­tion) except the Han­abli­ah (i.e. the Han­balees). They say that the seek­ing of the cres­cent is praise­wor­thy and not an oblig­a­tion. It is clear that the opin­ion of oth­ers (non-Han­balees) makes much more sense. It is because fast­ing (dur­ing Ramad­han) is from the pil­lar of the reli­gion and (the fast­ing) is depen­dent upon the sight­ing of the cres­cent so how can it be praise­wor­thy (only)? And if they (Mus­lims) were to sight the cres­cent dur­ing the day (before the Zaw­al or after the Zaw­al) then it would become com­pul­so­ry for them to fast on the day linked to it if the sight­ing was on the last day of Sha’baan. Like­wise if the cres­cent was sight­ed (dur­ing the day) on the last day of Ramad­han then it will be oblig­at­ed to end the fast (i.e. cel­e­brate Eidul-Fitr). It will not be an oblig­a­tion to start fast­ing in the first set of cir­cum­stances nor will it be bind­ing to end fast­ing in the sec­ond set of cir­cum­stances and it is the rul­ing accord­ing to the Mali­kees and the Hanafees while the Shaf’aes and the Han­ba­less oppose it.

الشافعية، والحنابلة قالوا: إن رؤية الهلال نهاراً لا عبرة بها، وإنما المعتبر رؤيته بعد الغروب

Abd al-Raĥmān Ibn Muĥam­mad ‘Awađ al-Jazīrī (RA) writes in Al-Fiqh ‘Alā al-Mad­hāhib al-Arba‘ah, “The Shafaes and the Han­balees say that sight­ing of the cres­cent dur­ing the day has no con­se­quence and the con­se­quan­tial sight­ing is only after the sunset.

Shaf’ae Madhab:

وَأَمَّا إذَا رُئِيَ يَوْمَ التَّاسِعِ وَالْعِشْرِينَ وَلَمْ يُرَ لَيْلًا : فَلَا قَائِلَ بِأَنَّهُ يَتَرَتَّبُ عَلَى رُؤْيَتِهِ أَثَرُهَا ، فَبَانَ أَنَّهُ لَا أَثَرَ لِرُؤْيَتِهِ نَهَارًا

Imam Sham­sud-Deen Ram­li Ash-Shaf’ae (RA) states, “If it is seen on the day of the twen­ty-ninth, but it was not seen at night, then there is no schol­ar who says that see­ing it dur­ing the day is of any sig­nif­i­cance. There­fore it is clear that sight­ing it dur­ing the day has no consequences.”

إذا رئي ‑الهلال- نهاراً فهو لليلة المستقبلة، فإن كان ذلك يوم الثلاثين من شعبان لم يصوموا، وإن كان يوم الثلاثين من رمضان لم يفطروا، وسواء كان ذلك قبل الزوال أو بعده هذا هو المشهور في المذاهب الأربعة، وحكي عن عمر وابن مسعود وابن عمر وأنس والأوزاعي والليث بن سعد وإسحاق بن راهويه. وذهب سفيان الثوري وأبو يوسف وبعض المالكية إلى أنه إن رئي قبل الزوال فهو لليلة الماضية وهو رواية عن أحمد وبه قال ابن حزم الظاهري

Hafidh Al-Iraqi (RA) states, “If the Moon is sight­ed dur­ing the day then it it is of the com­ing night. If it is the 30th of Shabaan, they will not fast. If it is of the 30th of Ramadan, they will not break their fast whether this (takes place) before or after zaw­al. This is the wide­ly accept­ed opin­ion in the four Mad­habs and has been nar­rat­ed from Umar (RA), Ibn Masood (RA), Ibn Umar (RA), Anas (RA), Auzai (RA), Layth bin Sad (RA) and Ishaq bin Rahwai(RA). Sufyan Thawri (RA), Abu Yusuf (RA) and Some of the Malikiyya have tak­en the stance that if it (the moon) is sight­ed before zaw­al then it belongs to the pre­vi­ous night. Such an opin­ion has been trans­mit­ted from Imam Ahmed (RA)and is the opin­ion of Ibn Hazm Dhahiri (RA)”

قال النووي: ” وَلَوْ بَدَأَ خُسُوفُهُ بَعْدَ طُلُوعِ الشَّمْسِ : لَمْ يُصَلِّ ، بِلَا خِلَافٍ [يعني : في المذهب]

Imam Nawawi (RA) states, “If the lunar eclipse begins after sun­rise, then (the eclipse prayer) should not be offered, and there is no dif­fer­ence of opin­ion con­cern­ing that (in our madhhab)”

وقال أبو إسحاق الشيرازي : ” لا يتعلق الصوم والفطر إلا بما نراه بعد الغروب

Imam Shi­razi (RA) states, “Fast­ing and break­ing the fast are not con­nect­ed to any­thing except what we see after sunset.”

وقال شمس الدين الرملي : “وَأَمَّا إذَا رُئِيَ يَوْمَ التَّاسِعِ وَالْعِشْرِينَ وَلَمْ يُرَ لَيْلًا : فَلَا قَائِلَ بِأَنَّهُ يَتَرَتَّبُ عَلَى رُؤْيَتِهِ أَثَرُهَا ، فَبَانَ أَنَّهُ لَا أَثَرَ لِرُؤْيَتِهِ نَهَارًا

Imam Sham­sud­deen Ram­li (RA) states, “If it is seen on the day of the twen­ty-ninth, but it was not seen at night, then there is no schol­ar who says that see­ing it dur­ing the day is of any sig­nif­i­cance. There­fore it is clear that sight­ing it dur­ing the day has no consequences.”

الشافعية، والحنابلة قالوا: إن رؤية الهلال نهاراً لا عبرة بها، وإنما المعتبر رؤيته بعد الغروب

Abd al-Raĥmān Ibn Muĥam­mad ‘Awađ al-Jazīrī (RA) writes in Al-Fiqh ‘Alā al-Mad­hāhib al-Arba‘ah, “The Shafaes and the Han­balees say that sight­ing of the cres­cent dur­ing the day has no con­se­quence and the con­se­quan­tial sight­ing is only after the sunset.

Hanbali Madhab:

Imam Ibn Qudamah (RA) writes in Al-Mughni

مَسْأَلَةٌ : قَالَ : ( وَإِذَا رُئِيَ الْهِلَالُ نَهَارًا ، قَبْلَ الزَّوَالِ أَوْ بَعْدَهُ ، فَهُوَ لِلَّيْلَةِ الْمُقْبِلَةِ ) وَجُمْلَةُ ذَلِكَ أَنَّ الْمَشْهُورَ عَنْ أَحْمَدَ ، أَنَّ الْهِلَالَ إذَا رُئِيَ نَهَارًا قَبْلَ الزَّوَالِ أَوْ بَعْدَهُ ، وَكَانَ ذَلِكَ فِي آخِرِ رَمَضَان ، لَمْ يُفْطِرُوا بِرُؤْيَتِهِ . وَهَذَا قَوْلُ عُمَرَ ، وَابْنِ مَسْعُودٍ ، وَابْنِ عُمَرَ ، وَأَنَسٍ ، وَالْأَوْزَاعِيِّ ، وَمَالِكٍ ، وَاللَّيْثِ ، وَالشَّافِعِيِّ ، وَإِسْحَاقَ ، وَأَبِي حَنِيفَةَ

 

And when the cres­cent is sight­ed dur­ing the day, before or after the merid­i­an, it belongs to the pre­vi­ous night. There is a famous state­ment from (Imam) Ahmed (RA) that when the cres­cent is sight­ed dur­ing the day, before or after the merid­i­an and this occurs towards the end of Ramad­han then don’t dis­con­tin­ue fast­ing (i.e. end Ramad­han) due to it and this is the state­ment of Sayyiduna Umar (RA), Sayyiduna Ibn Masud (RA), Sayyiduna Anas (RA), (Imam) Auzai (RA), (Imam) Malik (RA), (Imam) Laith (RA), (Imam) Shaf’ae (RA), (Imam) Ishaq (RA) and (Imam) Abu Haneefa (RA).

الشافعية، والحنابلة قالوا: إن رؤية الهلال نهاراً لا عبرة بها، وإنما المعتبر رؤيته بعد الغروب

Abd al-Raĥmān Ibn Muĥam­mad ‘Awađ al-Jazīrī (RA) writes in Al-Fiqh ‘Alā al-Mad­hāhib al-Arba‘ah, “The Shafaes and the Han­balees say that sight­ing of the cres­cent dur­ing the day has no con­se­quence and the con­se­quan­tial sight­ing is only after the sunset.

وقال الشيخ ابن عثيمين : ” دخول الشهر لا يكون إلا حيث يرى الهلال بعد غروب الشمس متأخراً عنها

Shaykh Uthaymeen (RA) states, “The begin­ning of the month can only be when the new moon is seen after sun­set, fol­low­ing it.”

(New) Crescent Visibility:

Abdur­rah­man ÖZLEM (2014) states, “The ear­li­est vis­i­bil­i­ty of a wax­ing cres­cent occurs just after sun­set, where­as the lat­est vis­i­bil­i­ty of a van­ing cres­cent is observed just before sunrise.”

Acknowl­edge­ment: Some of the Ara­bic text and Eng­lish trans­la­tion has been tak­en from islamqa.info and modified.

جزاك اللهُ خيرًا