Thus hilāl (crescent) is the name for that which is announced aloud. Such an announcement can only follow awareness of it through sight or hearing. This is illustrated by the poet’s words:

Its riders hail al-Farqad,
As does the mounted pilgrim performing the lesser pilgrimage.

That is, they call out at al-Farqad. He thus describes them as making an announcement concerning it; hence the crescent is called hilāl. The same usage occurs in His words:

“And that which has been dedicated to other than Allah.”

That is, something over which an invocation has been uttered. Whether the voice is raised or lowered, it remains something spoken, declared and uttered for other than Allah.

Second: He made them measurements of time for people. They can only serve this purpose if people become aware of them through sight or hearing. Without such awareness, there is no determination of time, and so they are not crescent moons. This is the utmost that can be ascertained through sensory perception, since the place of their rising cannot be accurately determined by calculation at all. I have written something on this subject.

This question also rests on that point, for human beings cannot establish a precisely defined time and place for sighting the crescent. They can ascertain only what they perceive with their eyes or hear with their ears. Thus, if the obligation must depend on sighting for someone who sees it, it must depend on hearing the report for someone who does not. For someone who neither sees it nor hears of it, there is no proclamation of the crescent.

It is Allah whom we ask to perfect His favour upon us and upon the Muslims.