leave a day of Ramadan unfasted.”
As for the report from Ibn ‘Umar, the book of ‘Abd al-Razzāq (1) contains the following: Ma‘mar informed us, from Ayyūb, from Ibn ‘Umar, who said: “He would (2) begin the day fasting when it was cloudy, and begin the day without fasting when it was not cloudy.”
In the two Sahīh collections (3), he narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “When you sight the crescent, begin fasting, and when you sight it, end the fast. If it is obscured from you, reckon its duration.”
Imam Ahmad (4) added, with an authentic chain of transmission, that Nāfi‘ said: When twenty-nine days of Sha‘bān had passed, ‘Abd Allāh would send someone to look for the crescent. If it was sighted, that settled the matter. If it was not sighted and neither clouds nor dust haze obstructed the view, he would begin the day without fasting; but if clouds or dust haze obstructed the view, he would begin the day fasting.
As for the report from Anas, Ahmad said: Ismā‘īl ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us (5): Yahyā ibn Abī Ishāq narrated to us, saying: I sighted the crescent either at noon or close to it, and some people broke their fasts. We went to Anas ibn Mālik and told him that we had sighted the crescent and that some people had broken their fasts. He said: “Today completes thirty-one days of fasting for me, because al-Hakam ibn Ayyūb