The ruling on the difference in fasting between two neighboring countries

Question:
So, even if the countries are adjacent, and their fasting differs, does that have no effect?

Answer:
Yes, it has no effect. They have their sighting, and the others have their sighting. Because each adjacent country—for example, Saudi Arabia is adjacent to Jordan, for instance, at the borders of the Levant—and if Jordan or Egypt becomes independent in their sighting for reasons that necessitated that for them and their scholars, or if Saudi Arabia becomes independent for that reason, there is no harm in that, as the Council of Senior Scholars has established, and as the scholars have established.
And the basis for this is what is established from Ibn Abbas; this is the basis. It is established in Sahih Muslim from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) through Kuraib that he arrived in Madinah, having come from the Levant. He said: "I went to Ibn Abbas and he asked me about the sighting of the people of the Levant? I said: Yes, we saw it on the night of Friday, and we fasted on Friday in the Levant, and Mu'awiyah fasted and the people fasted. So Ibn Abbas said: We saw it on Saturday, so we will continue to fast until we see the crescent or we complete the number. Then Kuraib said: Do you not suffice with the sighting of Mu'awiyah and the people? He said: No, thus our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us."
Meaning, by his saying: , so Ibn Abbas interpreted it as not encompassing all people, but rather specifying each state and each country with itself if it is distant from the other country, like the distance between Madinah and the Levant and the like. This is the jurisprudence of Ibn Abbas and his opinion, and a group of the people of knowledge acted upon it, and they said: for every people of a country is their sighting if the countries are distant, some degree of distance. This is the basis in this issue. Yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.