that suffices for them, since account is taken of whether the information reaches them. But if a group among them mistake the day, their standing does not suffice, since the information could have reached them. Thus, what matters is whether the report reaches people, whether the issue is distance or small numbers. What I have stated agrees with what our fellow scholars have stated, except regarding the obligation to make up missed days when the report could not have reached them.

The evidence for this is that we know with certainty that, throughout the time of the Companions and their Successors, the crescent was sighted in some Muslim towns later than in others. This is an ordinary occurrence that does not change, and news of the sighting must have reached them during the month. Had they been obliged to make up missed days, they would have been as intent on investigating sightings throughout the Muslim lands as they were on investigating sightings in their own town. Making up missed days would also have been frequent in most Ramadans. Had this occurred, it would have been transmitted. Since it was not transmitted, this indicates that it has no basis. The hadith of Ibn ‘Abbās also supports this.

Our fellow scholars have answered that he refrained from ending his fast only because the sighting had been established for him through the testimony of just one person, on whose testimony he would not end his fast.

Nor can it be objected on behalf of our fellow scholars: “Likewise, it has not been transmitted that, when news of the crescent reached them during the month, they based their ending the fast upon it.”

We reply: This is not a matter people are intent on investigating, because it involves forgoing