alone, then this is like his sighting the crescent while among them: according to the well-known position in our school, he would not end his fast alone. Yet if he fasts with them, he will have fasted thirty-one days. The more likely conclusion is that two positions can be derived within our school on this question, as in the case of someone who alone sights the crescent marking the end of fasting. For the objection in both cases is to a man ending his fast on his own. A sighting by the people of one town, but not others, is like a sighting by him and a group with him, but not others.

As for the crescent marking the end of fasting, if its sighting is established during the day, they act upon it. If this happens afterwards, it serves no purpose—for Eid is the day the people celebrate as Eid—but the date was transmitted (1).

The governing principle is that this matter depends on whether the report reaches people, in accordance with the Prophet’s words:

“Fast when you sight it.”

Whoever receives news that it has been sighted is bound by that sighting, with no distance limit whatsoever. This accords with what Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr mentioned: news between the two extremities of the inhabited world arrives only after a month, so it serves no purpose. This differs from places where the news arrives before the month ends, for there it is taken into account.

Reflect, then, on these four matters: the obligation to fast, abstention from what breaks the fast, the obligation to make up missed days, and the obligation to base Eid on that sighting; and on a distant sighting and the arrival of news after the act of worship has ended.

For this reason they said: if all the people err and stand at ‘Arafah on a day other than the Day of ‘Arafah