The reason for relying on the sighting of the crescent moon rather than astronomical calculations
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, why do we accept the statements of astronomers regarding the times of prayer, but reject them regarding the sighting of the crescent moon of Ramadan?
Answer:
Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) set a clear limit for us regarding the crescent of Ramadan, saying: "Fast when you see it, and break your fast when you see it," because the sighting does not err, as it is a sighting with the eye, unlike astronomical calculation, which errs and hits the mark. Also, astronomical calculation is available to all people, all Muslims in every time, unlike the sighting, which is available, praise be to Allah. And the religion is ease, and if people were to rely on calculation, it would lead them to a matter that is not known except by the specialists among people. And the religion of Islam is a religion of ease,[Al-Hajj 22:78].
So the sighting of the crescent moon is not hidden in most cases, because it is seen with the eye, unlike calculation, which is a human effort that errs and hits the mark.
Honorable Shaykh, why do we accept the statements of astronomers regarding the times of prayer, but reject them regarding the sighting of the crescent moon of Ramadan?
Answer:
Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) set a clear limit for us regarding the crescent of Ramadan, saying: "Fast when you see it, and break your fast when you see it," because the sighting does not err, as it is a sighting with the eye, unlike astronomical calculation, which errs and hits the mark. Also, astronomical calculation is available to all people, all Muslims in every time, unlike the sighting, which is available, praise be to Allah. And the religion is ease, and if people were to rely on calculation, it would lead them to a matter that is not known except by the specialists among people. And the religion of Islam is a religion of ease,
and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty
وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍSo the sighting of the crescent moon is not hidden in most cases, because it is seen with the eye, unlike calculation, which is a human effort that errs and hits the mark.
Source
رفض أقوال علماء الفلك في رؤية هلال رمضان — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.