for the obligation arises only when the crescent is announced and sighted, not when it rises. Moreover, the consensus reported by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr supports this: in the case he describes, if the report arrives only after the month has passed, its only practical consequence would be the obligation to make up missed fasts. It is therefore clear that a distant sighting does not oblige anyone to make up missed fasts at all.

To summarize: anyone who receives news of a crescent sighting in time to act upon it in fasting, ending the fast, or performing pilgrimage rites must unquestionably take it into account. The scriptural texts and reports from the early generations support this. Whoever restricts this to the distance permitting the shortening of prayers, or to a particular region, holds a position contrary to both reason and the Sharia.

If the news reaches someone only after an observance has been performed, and that observance cannot be made up—as with an Eid already celebrated or pilgrimage rites—then it has no effect. This is the subject of the consensus reported by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr.

But if the news reaches someone during the period in question, does it affect the obligation to make up missed fasts, or the determination of when to end fasting on that basis? Likewise, does it affect other rulings, such as when a debt falls due, the period prescribed for an oath of abstinence from marital relations, the expiry of a woman’s waiting period, and similar matters? It appears to me that making up missed fasts is not obligatory; determining the end of fasting on that basis, however, requires further consideration.

This is a middle position on the issue; every other position entails abhorrent implications.