The Ruling on the Discrepancy in Lunar Sighting Between Countries

The Shaykh:
May Allah greet you and bless you.

The questioner:
We begin with a message from the questioner, Salim, from Riyadh. He says: Honorable Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, what is your view on the discrepancy in the lunar sighting for the month of Ramadan between countries? What is the correct position on this? And what is your view on unifying it? May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. Allah the Exalted said: These are the times for acts of worship and for transactions, by which they know these times. As for Muslims agreeing on a single sighting in all parts of the earth, some scholars have held this view, but the correct position is that this is not obligatory, and that each group relies on the sighting in their own land, because the moonrise times differ, as the Shaykh al-Islam said. The moonrise times differ, by the consensus of the knowledgeable, so it is not possible for the sighting to be the same in all countries. The difference in moonrise times is due to the moon’s movement from one region to another, and from one direction to another. So each group fasts according to their own sighting. His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): “Fast when you see it, and break your fast when you see it. If it is obscured from you, then complete the count for it,” contains facilitation for the people.
In the era of the Companions, when the people of Sham fasted during the caliphate of Mu'awiyah based on the sighting, a man came to Madinah and informed Ibn Abbas of this. He said, “But we do not fast until we see it,” meaning in Madinah. This indicates the difference in moonrise times, and that they do not fast unless they see it, if the moonrise times differ. However, if the moonrise times do not differ due to the proximity of distances, because they are in nearby lands, then they fast based on a single sighting, because the moonrise times do not differ in this country or this kingdom. Yes.