The Book of Fasting

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

“Is fasting on a cloudy day obligatory? Is it a ‘day of doubt’ on which fasting is prohibited?”

He replied:

Section

As for fasting on a cloudy day, when clouds or dust haze prevent sighting the crescent, scholars hold several views, all represented within the school of Ahmad and elsewhere.

The first view is that fasting on that day is prohibited. There are then two opinions as to whether this prohibition means that it is unlawful or merely disliked. This is the well-known position in the schools of Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī, and is one of the positions reported from Ahmad. A group of his followers adopted this view, including Abū al-Khattāb