When Does Ramadan Actually Begin?
Moon Sighting for Ramadan: Classical Principles and Modern Application
Summary
This lecture discusses the Islamic jurisprudential principles for determining the beginning and end of Ramadan based on moon sighting (hilal). The speaker explains that the crescent itself is not the month, but rather an indicator that signals when the month officially commences. Drawing from hadith sources, particularly narrations from Umar and Abd al-Rahman ibn Umar, the lecture establishes that Ramadan begins with the sighting of one trustworthy person while it ends with the sighting of two trustworthy people. The speaker addresses how these classical principles applied historically when communities were localized, and discusses how modern communication has changed the practical application of these rules while maintaining the underlying jurisprudential framework.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
One night.
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You Alhamdulillah.
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Continuing in A summary of authored by Ramadan. The question now and the issue that the author now takes us into is how does a month Ramadan specifically any of the 12 lunar Islamic months generally how does the month officially what marks the month's official commencement. How do we know that the month begins? How do we affirm that the month has begun? And thus it can become common knowledge as we mentioned. So we mentioned before a couple of principles. In order to understand this chapter, we have to take these two principles. Number one, the crescent itself is not the month. The crescent is an indicator of the month. The month is the time in which the majority of the people and particularly the people that are in charge of these things, the leadership acknowledge that a month has commenced. That is when it becomes the month. That is the month itself. The crescent is an indicator of the month. That's number one. Number two, he began the author began this entire research here on the narration of where he says in which he says Bkari Muslim fast for fast at its sighting meaning in the crescent and end your fast at its sighting. And if you are unable to see if you're if you're if you are obstructed from seeing the moon then we fall back on the principle and that is that shaan will be 30 days or whatever month we happen to be in is 30 days. So the new month does not commence until clear evidence either by way of a clear sighting of the crescent or by way of deduction that it could physically not be more than 30 days. These are the only two ways if we take this narration and this principle that I've mentioned to you that the crescent itself is not the month. It is an indication of the month. We will now understand the rest of what he mentions. He says,.
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Who can.
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Suam?
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He says the month of Ramadan, again specifically Ramadan, the month of Ramadan commences once it is cited by one trustworthy person. If one trustworthy person who is capable and trustworthy cites the moon and informs that he cited the moon, then this is an indication to go ahead and affirm the month or that Shaan has been completed to 30 days. One of the two. Then he cites an narration collected by Abu Dhen on the authority of Omar. He says the people were looking to see the moon. They were expecting it. And so I mentioned to the messenger of Allaham that I saw the moon. And so he fasted and he commanded that the month be fasted that it commence. And we know that this was at least the third year after Hij and Omar he was 15 in the third year after hij. So he was considered a youngster amongst the rest of the companions.
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He says, "And if the crescent of Ramadan is obstructed, then we complete 30 days for Shaaban." As was mentioned previously in the narration of Abira, he says, "And as for the month of Sha Shaw," so this is the end of Ramadan, the beginning of the 10th month. Then the end of Sha is only affirmed. It's sighting needs two people to cite it. So to start the month, it's one person because it's likely. To end the month, we have to have two trustworthy people to have cited, whether they be together or separately.
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Ramadan.
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Muslim. So he then cites a narration on the authority of Abdman a much lesserk known companion. We all know well he has a brother and his brother was Muslim as well. His name was Z. And so his son Abdul Rahman, so we're speaking about the time of the he was a governor and he as it was customary the governance and the religious authority were one. And so the governor of any place would be the one that would give the and lead salah and so forth. and he addressed the people and gavebah on the day in which people were unsure. Unsure of what? Unsure of the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Sha. So it was the 29th either the 29th of Shabb or the 29th of Ramadan. And he said, "Indeed, I have sat in the company of the companions of the messenger of Allah sallall.aii wasallam and I asked them about this issue and they informed me more than one that the messenger of Allah sallall.aii wasallam said clearly fast to the sighting and break your fast to its sighting." meaning for sha at the end of Ramadan and slaughter to its sighting meaning the commencement of he says and if it is cloudy and the sighting is obstructed then if two trustworthy Muslims inform that they have cited the moon then fast and also So break your fast. Meaning affirm by that sighting the beginning of Ramadan and affirm by that sighting the end of Ramadan. When we take this narration and the narration of Omar together, we come to this conclusion that the author came to and that is that the month of Ramadan begins with the sighting of one and ends with the sighting of two. And it could be understood that in the time of Ibin Omar that he had received word of the sighting from someone else other than Ibar. And so some scholars view that the sighting of everyone is affirmed by two not just one. Now obviously in our times today we're not dealing with this kind of issue anymore in this way and that is that we have communication at breakneck speed and we have connectivity to the ends and corners of the earth. We can speak to people in New Zealand and Australia. We can speak to people at the far ends of the Pacific all the way to the far ends of the Atlantic. And so because of this, it becomes much bigger than just one or two people. This kind of connectivity was not around at that time. And so every group of people in every town, village, etc., They would receive word, they would site the moon locally, right? And they would begin to fast and maybe in major cities the Khalifa or the governor would send word out and would send messengers out to the neighboring villages. But for the most part, it was likely and it did happen that people in the far east did not see the moon and people in the far west did see the moon. Why? Because it's going that direction, right? And so if a person in the west doesn't see it and a if a person in the far east does not see it, it doesn't mean that a person in the far west will not. However, if a person in the far west sees it, right? And excuse me, in the far east sees it, anyone that follows should be able to see it at that point, right? And because of this connectivity, now we have the ability to, you know, to have what we now know this phenomenon of the international sighting. Otherwise, it was always localized. And there are instances where Mecca and Medina would be fasting at different days because one is further east than the other. And there are instances where those in North Africa would be fasting and those in far east and in North Asia and South Asia would not be fasting. They would fast the following day and so forth. And in that instance, a person goes with their local. But this all goes back to what fasting is when you all fast and breaking your fast is when you all break your fast. This topic we're debating it now. And if you notice, I didn't mention these things when before Ramadan because at that point everybody is thinks that they have to figure this out on their own. That's not how it works. This is a debate and a discussion for leadership. They may discuss it with each other. Should we go with international? Should we go with more localized sighting? And then once they agree on something, they all go on that. But the average Muslim, the average community member, this is not an independent topic to research. This is something that they fast when it is announced and they break their fast when it is announced. So easy. If we can't agree on the moon, we've got a big problem as Muslim. If we can't agree on the moon, I mean, there's only one. Could you imagine if there were two? What would happen? Right? And so the point here is that debating this topic or discussing it, I went out of my way not to open this topic until we've already started fasting. The first day or two is already worn off. Because if you're speaking to people at that time, you're speaking to emotion. And logic and emotion are on two completely different wavelengths. One is AM, the other is FM. Just a reminder of our fundraiser after JMA. Make sure that you come with your hands where the deepest pockets that you have so that we can get the projects of the masjid and get the masid funding done this year. And please come with that intention. Michelle That's a very nice.