Commentary on the Companions' Question About the New Moons

Your Eminence! May Allah preserve you and bless the Muslim community with your knowledge and life, I read an article published in the Bayan magazine, issue number seventy-nine, and it distressed me, even though my view on this matter is limited, and I wanted to refute this in the Friday prayer tomorrow, so I thought it best to consult you and take a brief excerpt from the article, four lines, regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted: [al-Baqarah: 189] .

So he said: One of the interpretations of this noble verse states that the people asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about the new moons and the stars! Why does the moon appear as a small crescent and then, after a short time, begin to increase, brighten, and become full?Then he said: In any case, it is a naive question that indicates superficiality in thinking, primitiveness in observation, limitation in contemplative approach, and simplicity in seeking important intellectual knowledge appropriate to the place and time, and the response could have been given to the surface of their frivolous question.
Then he took from these words, so what is your opinion, Your Eminence?

First: May Allah reward you. The statement that the Companions asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about the sizes of the new moons: why do they appear small and then large? This has no evidence; rather, it is transmitted by scholars of rhetoric, and there is nothing in the verse indicating this.The Companions asked about the new moons: What is the wisdom in the existence of the new moons? Allah the Exalted explained that they are fixed times for people and for Hajj.As in the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Yunus: 5] Allah did not create that except with truth. This is what the question was about, and it matches the answer exactly.But the rhetoricians say: This is from the category of wise style, as if Allah turned away from answering their question to what is more important and more beneficial.And based on that, we say: It is obligatory for the one who spoke these words about the Companions to verify the facts.First: Is it true that they asked: Why does the crescent appear small and then grow large, or did they ask about the wisdom in creating these new moons? As for attacking the Companions in this manner without looking into the authenticity of the story, there is no doubt that this is an error from the scientific and methodological standpoint and an insult to the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).And the meaning of the verse is: They asked the Messenger about the wisdom in these new moons, and they were answered with an explanation of the wisdom.

The questioner: So this phrase that he mentioned.

The Shaykh: is a methodological error and a mistake in disparaging the Companions. The Companions did not ask this question that he intended.