was a month, for neither they nor anyone else doubted that a month is the interval between two new moons and that the numerical count is the criterion. But because the oath was taken during the month, they thought that thirty days had to be completed. Gabriel therefore informed him that the month of his oath was complete after twenty-nine days. He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told his Companions:

“The month is twenty-nine days”—meaning the month of his oath—“and a month may have twenty-nine days.”

There is also the statement of ‘Ā’isha, may Allah be pleased with her: “I was counting them.” Had the oath begun at the first appearance of the crescent, she would not have needed to count them, just as the days of Ramadan were not counted when they began fasting on the basis of sighting the crescent.

Indeed, Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās narrated from him a report whose wording appears to limit the month to that length. Through the previously mentioned chain leading to Ahmad:

Muhammad ibn Bishr narrated to us: Ismā‘īl ibn Abī Khālid narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās, from his father, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came out to us, striking one hand against the other and saying, ‘The month is like this and like this,’ then folding down one finger on the third gesture.”

Ahmad also said: Mu‘āwiya ibn ‘Umar narrated to us: Zā’ida narrated to us, from Ismā‘īl ibn Muhammad ibn Sa‘d, from his father, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“The month is like this and like this: ten twice, and nine once.”

Al-Nasā’ī narrated it through Muhammad ibn Bishr, as we have mentioned. Both he and Ahmad also narrated it through Ibn al-Mubārak, from Ismā‘īl, with a connected chain back to the Prophet, as noted earlier.