The issue of the sighting of the Ramadan crescent in one country and its absence in a neighboring country
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Your Eminence, when the Ramadan crescent is sighted, the situation varies in most of the countries of Africa; we are unable to see the crescent on the first day, and you find some people listening, for example, to reports from Islamic countries that they have seen the crescent, and they fast with them.And some of them say: Our moonrise times differ from those of those countries, and you find that people differ greatly.And some of them say: You follow the Wahhabi state, and some of them say something other than this. What is the correct opinion in this matter?
The correct opinion: They should look to what their scholars and judges there determine; because fasting is on the day the people fast, and breaking the fast is on the day the people break their fast. And their following such-and-such a state or such-and-such a state, while their rulers, who have the authority in this matter, do not see that they should follow them, is an error on their part, in our view. We see that they should follow their judges. If they rule that the month has begun, then what is obligatory for them regarding breaking the fast on the festival or fasting upon the entry of the month of Ramadan becomes obligatory for them. The people follow their imam: if he fasts, they fast, and if he breaks his fast, they break their fast.
The correct opinion: They should look to what their scholars and judges there determine; because fasting is on the day the people fast, and breaking the fast is on the day the people break their fast. And their following such-and-such a state or such-and-such a state, while their rulers, who have the authority in this matter, do not see that they should follow them, is an error on their part, in our view. We see that they should follow their judges. If they rule that the month has begun, then what is obligatory for them regarding breaking the fast on the festival or fasting upon the entry of the month of Ramadan becomes obligatory for them. The people follow their imam: if he fasts, they fast, and if he breaks his fast, they break their fast.