4. Al-Marwazi reports from Ahmad that the “night of doubt” is the night of the thirtieth of Shaʿbān whenever the new crescent is concealed by clouds.

This is the position of the vast majority of scholars, the four Imams, and many others; Shaykh al-Islām and other authorities considered it definitive.

The proofs for this view are exceedingly numerous, among them the report recorded by al-Bukhārī (1810) and Muslim (1081) from Abū Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared: “Begin the fast when you sight it and end the fast when you sight it; but if the sky is overcast, then complete the count of Shaʿbān as thirty days.”