What is the ruling on relying on the European months to determine the astronomical timings?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Regarding the European months, now, Shaykh, regarding the timings of al-Suhail, al-Shatb, and al-Murbi'aniyyah, the timings known to people, these are not known precisely in America, except by the European months.
The Shaykh : This is not a religious or worldly matter; knowing whether winter has entered or not, or whether it has exited or not, is not an issue. Yes.
The questioner : Yes, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And the people of agriculture know them by observation. Do you think these are mere illusions? The days of the stars are not mere illusions; the stars are known, and the people of expertise know them, just as we know the sun and the moon; they are not illusions.
The questioner : But, Shaykh, their current use is for regulation.
The Shaykh : Their use, instead of the European months, if they want to regulate these stars, is to use these constellations, which are fixed and do not change.
The Shaykh : This is not a religious or worldly matter; knowing whether winter has entered or not, or whether it has exited or not, is not an issue. Yes.
The questioner : Yes, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And the people of agriculture know them by observation. Do you think these are mere illusions? The days of the stars are not mere illusions; the stars are known, and the people of expertise know them, just as we know the sun and the moon; they are not illusions.
The questioner : But, Shaykh, their current use is for regulation.
The Shaykh : Their use, instead of the European months, if they want to regulate these stars, is to use these constellations, which are fixed and do not change.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 2395 - 4600 هل المواقيت التي يستخدمها أهل الزراعة والبادية كسهيل والمربعانية لا تعرف...؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.