and Majestic—

“Allah has set a measure for everything.” [al-Talāq: 3]

That is, a point of completion. We have explained this meaning further in the Book of Miscellany.

Section

There are two kinds of crescent sighting: widespread and limited. A widespread sighting is one reported by so great a multitude that collusion or mutual coordination among them is inconceivable. They need not meet the conditions required of a witness, namely freedom, maturity, and uprightness. A limited sighting is one reported by a small number of people.

Section

When a small number sight it, this must occur either under clear skies or under cloud cover. Under cloud cover, there is no disagreement that the testimony of two witnesses is admissible. Under clear skies, however, some hold that the testimony of two witnesses is admissible, which is the apparent position in al-Mudawwana. Others hold that it is inadmissible. This is the position of Abū Hanīfa, the purport of the passage in Īsā’s transmission in the Book of Endowments, and the position of Sahnūn, who is reported to have said: “What sighting could be more widespread than this?!”

Section

This limited sighting falls specifically within the jurisdiction of the authorities. Once the sighting of the crescent has been established before the ruler through the testimony of two upright witnesses, he commands the people to begin or end the fast and requires them to comply.

Section

If one witness testifies before him to sighting the crescent of Shaʿbān, and another to sighting the crescent of Ramadan, Yahyā ibn Umar said that the testimony is inadmissible, while other scholars said that it is admissible. This concerns a case in which the witness to the crescent of Ramadan testifies that he sighted it thirty days after the other witness sighted the crescent of Shaʿbān, since the second witness’s testimony does not corroborate that of the first. If, however, it were sighted by the witness