, and if it was sighted, that settled the matter. If it was not sighted and neither clouds nor dust haze obstructed the view, he would not fast the following morning. But if clouds or dust haze obstructed the view, he would fast the following morning.

We have also related it from the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd through Hammād ibn Zayd, who said: Ayyūb informed us—with precisely the same wording. Its wording is:

“The month is twenty-nine days.”

At the end, he said: When twenty-nine days of Sha‘bān had passed, someone would look for the crescent on Ibn ‘Umar’s behalf. If it was sighted, that settled the matter. If it was not sighted and neither clouds nor dust haze obstructed the view, he would not fast the following morning. But if clouds or dust haze obstructed the view, he would fast the following morning. He said: Ibn ‘Umar would end his fasting with the people and would not follow this reckoning.

‘Abd al-Razzāq also narrated it with the first wording in his Musannaf, from Ma‘mar, from Ayyūb, from Nāfi‘, from Ibn ‘Umar, from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“The month is only twenty-nine days.”

Through the same chain, he related that Ibn ‘Umar would fast the following morning if there were clouds, but would not fast if there were no clouds.

He said: Ma‘mar also informed us, from Ibn Tāwūs, from his father, of the same practice.

‘Ubayd Allāh ibn ‘Umar likewise narrated it from Nāfi‘, as we have related through the previously mentioned chain to Ahmad: Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd narrated to us, from ‘Ubayd Allāh: Nāfi‘ narrated to me, from Ibn ‘Umar, that when it was the twenty-ninth night and there were clouds or dust haze in the sky, he would fast the following morning.

Al-Nasā’ī narrated it from ‘Amr ibn ‘Alī, from Yahyā. His wording is:

“Do not begin fasting until you see the crescent, and do not end your fasting until you see it,