Whoever alone sees the crescent of Ramadan and whose testimony is rejected, or sees the crescent of Shawwal, must fast …

His statement: “Whoever alone sees the crescent of Ramadan and whose testimony is rejected, or sees the crescent of Shawwal, must fast.” “Alone” means apart from other people, whether he is alone in a location or alone in having seen it.

An example of being alone in a location is when a person is in the open desert with no one else present, sees the crescent, and goes to the judge, who rejects his testimony—either because the judge does not know his circumstances or for some other reason.

An example of being alone in sighting it is when people gather to look for the crescent, and he sees it while no one else does; yet his testimony is rejected. He is nevertheless required to fast, due to the saying of Allah, Most High:

“Whoever among you witnesses the month must fast it.” [al-Baqarah 2:185]

And due to the Prophet’s saying: “Fast when you see it, and end the fast when you see it.” (1) This man has seen it, so fasting is obligatory for him, as is everything that follows from the commencement of the month, because he has seen it.

Some scholars said: If he alone sees the crescent of Ramadan, fasting is not obligatory for him, because the crescent is that which appears and becomes widely known, not merely that which is seen.

His statement: “Or sees the crescent of Shawwal, must fast,” means that he must do so obligatorily. The author thus distinguishes between one who alone sees the crescent of Ramadan and whose testimony is rejected—such that he fasts despite being at variance with the community—and one who alone sees the crescent of Shawwal: he must fast and may not end the fast on the basis of his own sighting. The reason is that the crescent of Shawwal is not legally established except by the testimony of two witnesses. Here, only one person has testified to it, so the beginning of Shawwal has not been legally established; consequently, he must fast even though he has seen it.