to others by the testimony of two upright witnesses, fasting becomes obligatory for them and it is not permissible for them to eat. ʿAbd al-Malik gave the same ruling when the sighting itself is unmistakable, but regarding testimony he said: it binds only the inhabitants of the town in which the testimony is established by the judgment of their local judge, unless that testimony is confirmed before the supreme Imam, in which case fasting is incumbent upon everyone. This is the distilled position of the Baghdad Mālikīs.

Another opinion states: every locality relies upon the sighting of its own people and is not required to follow anyone else.

A further view holds that in far-flung regions, if the testimony is confirmed during the day, people must at once abstain from eating and then make up that day later; but if the testimony concerns the Shawwāl crescent, breaking the fast immediately is obligatory and both ʿĪd prayers are performed before noon. The crescent may be seen before or after the meridian—either way it belongs to the coming night. For that reason, one who sees the Shawwāl crescent during the day does not break the fast, whereas whoever sees the Ramadan crescent during the day must fast.

Whoever alone sights the Ramadan crescent must fast; if he then eats intentionally he is liable to make up the day and to expiate. Conversely, one who alone sights the Shawwāl crescent breaks the fast privately, out of fear of accusation and as a safeguard against the innovators.

The fast of Ramadan is not valid unless one frames the intention for it during the night, between sunset and the break of dawn. The same applies to every obligatory or voluntary fast, for “actions are only by intentions”; neither an obligatory nor a supererogatory fast is valid without an intention formed before dawn. Mālik, however, did not deem it preferable to oblige people to renew the intention every night of Ramadan. He maintained that the intention made on the first night suffices, for it encompasses the fasting of the entire month from its first day—except that if a traveller, a menstruating woman, or a sick person breaks the fast on account of travel, menstruation, or illness and thereafter wishes to resume fasting, the intention he had earlier no longer suffices.