The method of moon sighting (hilal), Shaykh Ahmed Bermejo

They say that prevention is better than cure, so as we are only a few days away from the arrival of the month of Ramadan, we are going to try to clear the doubts that exist on a matter that really should not have too much importance, but unfortunately it does.
It is the matter of the arrival of the month, of seeing the moon or not seeing it, of why some start one day and others start a different day, when we are supposed to be one Ummah in which we all pray five times a day in the same direction.
Does this mean that we are divided?
That we Muslims are not “brothers”?
That we are not one Ummah?
Of course we are one Ummah, but, let’s go by parts.
To try to explain this difference we have to enter the wonderful world of Fiqh, a world that as we have said so many times is, in reality, a protection for us.
But before we do so, let’s see if there is any reference to this matter in the Qur’an and in the Sunnah of the Messenger Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam.
In the Qur’an, we find that in verse 185 of Surat al Baqara, Allah says this whose translation is: “In the month of Ramadan the Qur’an was sent down, guidance for men and clear proofs of Guidance and Discernment; so whoever among you sees the month, let him fast.”“Whoever among you sees the month, let him fast.” In this noble ayah there is an exhortation to look at the moon, to lift our faces to the sky, see the greatness of Allah’s creation and look for the moon of the new month.
This is wonderful because the act of looking for the moon, of going out to look at the sky, connects us to the creation and to its Creator.
We find this same exhortation in the well-known Hadith collected by Imam al Bukhari and transmitted by Ibn ‘Umar in which he says: “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah give him His grace and peace, say: ‘When you see it fast, and when you see it break the fast; and if it is cloudy, stipulate (the days, completing thirty).'”
Referring to the crescent(hilal) moon of Ramadan.”
Based on both this ayah and this hadith, we state that to announce the arrival of a new month it is necessary to see the moon, and that if it is not seen, then the thirty days of the month are completed.
So far so good, right?
Now, we have spoken of seeing the moon, of what in Arabic is called ruyatul hilal.
How does one see the new moon?
The truth is that there is discrepancy among the different schools about the necessary requirements to affirm that the moon has been sighted.
Let us focus on our madhhab, the madhhab of Imam Malik Ibn Anas.
The affirmation of the sighting can be by one of two options and both are accepted and binding:

• That the new moon was seen by such a group of people that it is inconceivable that they could have agreed to lie about it.
• That it has been seen by two ‘adlain, by two people who possess the degree of ‘udul, of ‘adl, of righteous.
  And who is an ‘adl according to the madhhab al Maliki?
  He is an honest and upright person, a male, Muslim, free, adult and known to be just, righteous and who applies in his life is attached to the Din of Allah.
  That is to say, it is not worth the sighting of any person, it must be two people with the qualities we have mentioned, who are sent with that mission by the person of authority among the Muslims.

Once these two ‘adlain have seen the hilal of the new moon, they communicate it to the person in authority who is the one who makes public, by the means at his disposal, the beginning of the month of Ramadan.
And here we see once again how important it is for Muslims to unite, get together and appoint people of authority to pronounce and make decisions in cases like this, because if this is not done, we end up falling into chaos, individualism and anarchy.
If you have not seen the new moon by either of these two ways, then what do you do?
Very simple, you complete the thirty days of the previous month; in the case of the beginning of Ramadan, you would complete the thirty days of the month of Sha’bân.
So far I think the matter is easy to understand.
Now the issue gets a little more complicated, since the astronomical component comes into play, which in Arabic is called al hisab al falaki.
To what extent is it valid to use the astronomical component to determine the arrival of a new month without having seen the moon?
This is another aspect in which there are certain differences among the madhahib, but as we have said previously, we are going to base ourselves on the most recognized and widespread opinion within the madhhab al-Maliki.
The truth is that those who base their opinion that the astronomical component, i.e. mathematics, can be applied to affirm the new moon, do so based on the hadith we have mentioned previously, and claim that when the Prophet, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, said: “stipulate” can also be translated as “count”; according to them this is what he means, to use mathematics to affirm the arrival of the month.
But this opinion is an opinion that we can say is weak, and although it is an accepted opinion in the madhahib, especially in the Shafi’i, the strongest opinion, recognized and accepted by all, is that no, it only comes into play to complete the thirty days of the previous month.
And that even if science tells us that the moon is present, if it cannot be “seen”, it cannot be said that the month has entered.
What does this mean?
That the most correct thing is that if science affirms that you can see it, then you go out to see it and if you see it, you fast, there is no problem because we base on science as support.
Now, if astronomical science says that it cannot be seen, that it is impossible, no matter how much two “righteous” witnesses say they have seen it, it would never be binding on the rest of Muslims, although it would be binding on the two of them.
Why?
For a very subtle yet revealing reason.
And once again we are going to see the protection that exists in Fiqh knowledge.
And that is that astronomy, science, has the degree of qat’i, of being “accurate”; it may not be 100 percent, though it is 99 percent; and the sighting is dhanni, it is plausible or possible, and its degree of veracity is below astronomical science, and never something that is plausible can be above “accurate”.
And having said all this, and in order to curl it even more, we also have to talk about what in Arabic is called ijtilaf al matali’, the difference in horizons, the difference between regions and distances.
In today’s terms: To globalize or not to globalize? This point is perhaps the most important of all, since we are going to put the case that, following what has been said so far, on the night of the 29th of Sha’bân, based on astronomy to know if the crescent quarter of the moon is present, and having seen it by a group of people that it is inconceivable that they have agreed to lie, or by two fair witnesses, we receive the information that the moon has been sighted in Chile for example.
Is this sighting, which has been done correctly, binding for all Muslims in the world?
Here we enter again in a field where there are differences among the madhahib and to clarify it in a simple way, we can say that there are three opinions.

• Complete globalization: i.e., that if the moon has been seen in a correct way at some point on earth, it is binding on all.
  This is the most widely recognized view in both the Hanafi madhhab and the Hanbali madhhab .
• Semi-globalization: partial globalization, with distances not too great, always giving priority to those closest to your place of residence; and this is the preferred view in the Maliki madhhab .
• Regional: it is only binding if it has been seen in the same “region”, the region being understood as the distance that makes it permissible to shorten the prayer on the journey, i.e. about 80 kilometers and this is the most recognized opinion of the Shafi’i madhhab.

In fact there is a very enlightening story in this regard, reported by Imam Muslim, in which Kuraib narrated from Umm al Fadl bint al Hariz that he sent him to Mu’awiyya, who was in Syria, and said: “I came to Syria and finished the business I had to do; and Ramadan met me while I was in Syria, where I saw the hilal.
Then I went to Medina in the last days of the month, and then ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, asked me about when I had sighted the hilal: When did you see the hilal of the beginning of Ramadan?
I said: We saw it on Friday night.
He said: Did you see it (with your own eyes)?
I said: Yes, and the people who started fasting also saw it; and Mu’awiya also started fasting.
He said: But we have seen it on Saturday night, so we are still fasting until we complete the thirty days or see the hilal.
I said: Is it not enough for you that Mu’awiya has seen it and started fasting?
He said: No.
This is the way given to us by the Prophet, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam. So we have three aspects: sighting, astronomy and globalization; these are the three aspects that we should always keep in mind with the matter of the moon.
As you can see, if we base it on knowledge it is not a complicated issue, I would even dare to say that it is not an issue that should cause division among Muslims, and perhaps what we should understand better than anything else, is that starting Ramadan on different days is not a reason for separation in the Ummah of Islam.
It is a reason for knowledge, understanding, mercy and the difference that exists in Allah’s creation.
As you may have noticed we have not at any time discussed the politics behind this whole issue, which is certainly a lot.
The debate that usually originates here in Spain is, but do you follow Saudi Arabia or Morocco?
The answer I give to this answer is: I do not follow the countries, I follow the knowledge of our Din.
I follow the madhhab of Imam Malik, as it is also followed in Morocco.
I follow the sighting, Morocco being the country in the world where the method of sighting is best done since dozens of people are sent to certain points to look at the moon; and I follow the semi-globalization, considering that the closest Muslim country to me is Morocco.
So, do I follow Morocco as a political kingdom?
No; I follow it as the place where the knowledge of the madhhab al-Maliki is best preserved.
And so I know, without a doubt, that in this case following Morocco is following the knowledge and putting it into practice, being the most correct and preferred for me.
And Allah knows best. Shaykh AhmedBermejo www.ahmedbermejo.com