What is the ruling for one who sees the crescent of Ramadan alone?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : What is the ruling on one who sees the crescent moon alone and the people do not fast with him?
The Shaykh : If he sees it alone, he must report it to the Sharia court and testify to it. The entry of the month of Ramadan is established by the testimony of one person if the judge accepts it and rules based on his testimony. If his testimony is rejected, some scholars said that he is required to fast because he is certain that he saw the crescent, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and he has seen it. Some scholars of knowledge said that he is not required to fast, because fasting is on the day the people fast, and breaking the fast is on the day the people break their fast, and conforming to the community is better than his isolation and deviation. Others made a distinction and said that he is required to fast in secret. He is required to fast because he saw the crescent, and it is to be done in secret so that he does not appear to be opposing the community. Yes.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : If he sees it alone, he must report it to the Sharia court and testify to it. The entry of the month of Ramadan is established by the testimony of one person if the judge accepts it and rules based on his testimony. If his testimony is rejected, some scholars said that he is required to fast because he is certain that he saw the crescent, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Fast upon seeing it,
صوموا لرؤيته،The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
Source
ابن العثيمين - فتاوى الصيام — archive.org (57:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.