The ruling on the fasting of one who sees the crescent of Ramadan alone

The questioner:
Tell me, Shaykh (may Allah preserve you), what is the stronger of the two opinions regarding the issue of one who sees the crescent of Ramadan alone and his testimony is accepted: does he fast or does he not fast?

The Shaykh:
If he sees it during Ramadan alone and his testimony is accepted, then fasting is obligatory for him personally, because his testimony is accepted that it is from Ramadan. However, he does not display the fasting; he does not display a difference from the people. He fasts in secret. For example, in the Saudi state, in Najran or...

The questioner:
the Eastern Province.

The Shaykh:
...that he says, "I do not act except by my own sighting." The one who is aware of this location, and what is the distance in which the sighting locations differ? The distance in which the sighting locations differ is not known by the astronomers; it requires study. But those in Saudi Arabia, all of them, are obligated to follow the sighting, because they are under one Imam. It is not permissible for them to differ, and they are under one Imam. This was the case when there were no means of communication in the early period; there were no means to convey the sighting of the crescent, such as radio, such as newspapers, such as... It was only on mounts at that time, yes, because they could not be in a position to see the sighting of Riyadh due to the disconnection of means. But now, when the means of conveying the news of the crescent have occurred, it is obligatory for all the people of the Kingdom to fast; because they are under one command, under one Imam, and the news has reached them, and it is the general rule that the sighting location does not differ for them. The Kingdom is close together.