Some of them rely on the assumption that the first of Ramadan falls on the same weekday as the fourth of Rajab, or as the fifth of Ramadan in the preceding year.

Some of them attribute to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, a hadith unknown in any of the books of Islam and never transmitted by any scholar, claiming that he said:

“The weekday on which you begin fasting is the weekday on which you offer the sacrifice.”

Most of these people insist that Ramadan must be a full thirty days and rule out its having twenty-nine days.

Some rely on sighting the moon in the east before it disappears from view. They insist that it must remain hidden for two nights and say: “The first day, at whose beginning it is seen, belongs to the preceding month. The day in question is the day at neither end of which it is seen. Then the day at whose end it is seen is the first day of the next month.” They thus place the beginning of the month before the sighting of the crescent, despite knowing that the crescent sometimes remains hidden for one night, sometimes for two, and may remain hidden for three nights.

As for those who rely on calculating and adjusting the months, they use the preceding Ramadan or Rajab as their reference, or draw up a table on which they rely. Although they contradict his words, peace and blessings be upon him,

“We neither write nor calculate,”

their sole basis is