The Imam Ibn Hajar cites a third hadith here, and it appears that these hadiths are closely interconnected. We have mentioned that the first hadith

The Shaykh : The Imam Ibn Hajar cites a third hadith here, and it appears that these hadiths are closely interconnected. We have mentioned that the first hadith encompasses the second, and that it consequently indicates the prohibition of fasting on the Day of Doubt, as it precedes Ramadan. Now, he brings a hadith that clarifies when it is prescribed for Muslims to fast Ramadan. He says: "And from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: , meaning the crescent moon , agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim. This is one of the authentic hadiths that al-Bukhari extracted from the first section, and his companion, the Imam Muslim, also followed him in extracting it. It is thus one of the authentic hadiths relied upon as evidence. It is a hadith indicating that entering the month of Ramadan does not occur except by sighting the crescent moon, provided there is a possibility of sighting it. This is the first case. It is not permissible to enter or establish the month of Ramadan except by sighting its crescent.
The traditional question arises: What if there are clouds, dust, or the like that prevent people from seeing the crescent? In that case, the second ruling in this hadith applies. He says: . This phrase must be interpreted by other hadiths that explicitly state: . This is the estimation mentioned in this hadith, which is not clear except by the explanation of other hadiths that explicitly state that if the crescent of Ramadan is obscured from us, we must complete the thirtieth day of Sha'ban, considering the thirty-first day as the first of Ramadan. There is another narration that serves to clarify this phrase: . The author states that al-Bukhari, in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, has: .

The questioner : If it is obscured in Ramadan.

The Shaykh : This will come later. So, entering the month of Ramadan is by sighting the crescent, and if it is obscured, by completing the month of Sha'ban to thirty days. But this necessitates an important matter. I do not know if the authorities in the so-called Islamic states today, in the Shari'ah courts, take this matter into account?
It is reported in Sunan Abu Dawud and others, from the hadith of the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was cautious about the month of Sha'ban in a way he was not cautious about the month of Ramadan." This means that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had a special concern for establishing the crescent of Sha'ban more than the crescent of Ramadan, because establishing the crescent of Ramadan, in some cases when it is obscured from us, is connected to establishing the crescent of Sha'ban. Because he says: . Now, how do we know that the day we are in is the thirtieth day of Sha'ban if we have not established the crescent of Sha'ban? Therefore, a group of Muslims should concern themselves with establishing the crescent of Sha'ban just as they concern themselves with establishing the crescent of Ramadan. Because if the crescent of Ramadan is obscured from us, we complete Sha'ban to thirty days, and this requires that we have established the first of Sha'ban so that we can say the thirtieth day is the completion of the month of Sha'ban, and tomorrow will be the first of the month of fasting, the month of Ramadan.

The questioner : In this beautiful collection.