542 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: “The people went out to look for the crescent, and I told the Prophet ﷺ that I had seen it. He therefore fasted and ordered the people to fast.” Reported by Abū Dāwūd; al-Ḥākim and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it sound.⦗1⦘

• Status of the ḥadīth
The report is authentic. In al-Talkhīṣ it is noted that Abū Dāwūd, al-Dāraquṭnī, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim, and al-Bayhaqī all transmitted it, while Ibn Ḥazm graded it sound. All of them narrated it through the chain of Abū Bakr ibn Nāfiʿ. Al-Dāraquṭnī and al-Ṭabarānī also recorded it through the route of Ṭāwūs. Al-Ḥākim said it meets Muslim’s criteria, and al-Dhahabī agreed.

• Vocabulary
– tarāʾā: a reciprocal form of “seeing,” implying an action shared by at least two people—some saying, “I see it,” others saying, “No, I see it,” as they gather or set out together to sight it.
– hilāl (crescent): pronounced with a kasrah on the hāʾ and a light lām; plural ahillah. The term applies to the moon during the first three nights of the month; afterwards it is called qamar (moon). It is named hilāl because people raise their voices in remembrance of Allah when they see it.