How do we reconcile the hadith: “Two months do not decrease: the two months of Eid, Ramadan and Dhu al-Hijjah,” with the hadiths that indicate that the Arab lunar month is

The questioner: My Shaykh, is it possible ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: Someone sent me a message from Egypt containing some questions ... answer.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner: Is it all right if I read it exactly as he wrote it?

The Shaykh: He says, “May your eminenceThe Shaykh : the revered, the remnant of the Salaf, the raiser of the banner of hadith, the one who holds the methodology of purification and education, the supporter of the Sunnah and the conqueror of innovation, Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani ...

The Shaykh: May Allah forgive me for what they do not know.

The questioner: We consider you to be so, and we do not declare anyone pure before Allah. And he says: “May your eminenceThe Shaykh : I read in *Al-Lu'lu' wa al-Marjan* (The Pearls and the Coral) regarding what was agreed upon byThe Shaykh : that there are hadiths indicating that the Arab lunar month is twenty-nine days.

The Shaykh: What does it become?

The questioner: Twenty-nine.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner: And thirty days, except that there is a hadith in the same chapter, indeed in the same chapter, indeed in the same book, which appears to contradict it, and Allah knows best. It is the hadith of Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: This is how it was written . I hope that you will shower us with knowledge from what Allah has showered upon you.

The Shaykh: Where is the contradiction? I do not see any contradiction. The month may be twenty-nine days and it may be thirty. Did the first hadith deny the two months occurring consecutively as complete months? So where is the contradiction?

The questioner : There is no contradiction.

The Shaykh : There is no contradiction.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: But the truth is that the second hadith is problematic in itself, but it is a problem that has been raised.
Al-Halabi: Is it not correct in this regard? This is not the aspect that was raised as a problem.

The Shaykh: He set up a contradiction between the first hadith and the hadith . There is no contradiction because the first hadith does not deny what the other affirmed. This is one of the ways of reconciling hadiths where a contradiction may appear to some between them. What the other affirmed, the first did not deny. The first affirmed the principle that the month may be thirty and may be twenty-nine. The other specified the two months and that they may be complete. There is no contradiction. But the other hadith itself is problematic in itself, and I still do not have an answer to this problem in my mind. If any of the attendees, number one, two, three, etc., has something in this regard that we can benefit from, please speak.
Al-Halabi: My Shaykh, I mean, I have certainly seen it, but let us see what your opinion is of this statement: some scholars said that the two months of Eid do not decrease together. The meaning of “together” is that they do not both become twenty-nine. One must be thirty and the other twenty-nine, or both must be thirty. But both being twenty-nine, no. This is a statement mentioned by some scholars.

The Shaykh: I did not grasp it.
Al-Halabi: I mean, the maximum for the month, my Shaykh, is thirty.

The Shaykh : Okay.
Al-Halabi: In the month, and its minimum or decrease is twenty-nine.

The Shaykh : Yes.
Al-Halabi: They do not decrease from the maximum to twenty-nine together. One of them may decrease and the other may not, or both may be complete. But they do not both become incomplete, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, and Allah knows best.

The Shaykh: All right, if we accept this interpretation for the sake of argument.
Al-Halabi: Yes.

The Shaykh: Is it so in reality?
Al-Halabi: Allah knows best. You have to follow up on this.

The Shaykh: Because, my brother, how do we establish the month by sighting? It may be that, regarding the lunar mansions throughout the year, it is possible that, for example, our current month is twenty-nine days. Let us assume the matter is like this. Then, on the last night of this month, there was darkness or fog or clouds in the sky that prevented us from seeing the crescent of the new month.
Al-Halabi: Yes.

The Shaykh: How many days would this month be in that case? It would be thirty.
Al-Halabi: Correct, complete it.

The Shaykh: And the assumed and expected in our current example is that it must be twenty-nine. The new month has entered. It is also assumed that this month will be either thirty in reality or twenty-nine. If the first assumption is the case, then there are two complete, matching months: this one is thirty.
Al-Halabi: And this one is thirty.

The Shaykh: So they have come together.
Al-Halabi: They have come together without decrease.

The Shaykh: In the increase.
Al-Halabi: In the increase, yes.

The Shaykh: All right, let us move to the decrease.
Al-Halabi : Yes.
The student: I ate.

The Shaykh: What do you mean by “I ate”? I am not ill ... one or two bites, eat like the young people.
The student : May Allah reward you with good.
The student: Eat, you young people, you are young too.

The Shaykh: Come on, Abu Anas.
The student: Abu Anas.
Another student : Abu Anas. Abu Anas : ... our food, my master, we are better than this ...

The Shaykh: They say about us in Syria.
The student: From this fruit.

The Shaykh: They say about us in Syria, “Everything is delicious.”
The student: Allahu Akbar. Abu Anas : By Allah, my Shaykh, there is nothing more delicious than your fruit.

The Shaykh: It appears that he conceived the decrease in the two consecutive months. I am not able to conceive it, but the first matter is not applicable to the interpretation you mentioned.
Al-Halabi: The picture you mentioned, my Shaykh, is the complete one.

The Shaykh: It is the complete one.
Al-Halabi: The complete one is not applicable because the discussion is about the decrease.

The Shaykh : .
Al-Halabi: Yes, if my memory does not fail me, my Shaykh, this is a statement by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, if my memory does not fail me.

The Shaykh: Yes, what does he have?
The student: Be decisive, Abu al-Harith. I was asking you to be decisive a moment ago.
Al-Halabi: I was decisive about the statement, not about the one who said it now.
The student: The month is established by the sighting of the crescent.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: And it ends by the sighting of the crescent for the second month. So if the crescent is seen first, and then the crescent is seen second, the preceding month is complete, whether it was twenty-nine or thirty. So how can it be incomplete? I mean, perhaps the decrease is not in the number of days, unless there is evidence ...

The Shaykh: Do you remember the hadith that was raised?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: Let us hear the hadith, brother.
The student: The brother Abu Yahya, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Abu Yahya, the second hadith, the second hadith, two months.
The student : .
The student: I do not know. I mean, is there a text stating that the intended decrease is in the number of days? Perhaps the decrease is in something else.
The student : What is it?

The Shaykh: You have now left your first statement.
The student: No, I am still on the same point.

The Shaykh : How?
The student: That the month, when the crescent of the following month is seen.

The Shaykh: This is well known.
The student: Then it is complete, whether it was twenty-nine or thirty.

The Shaykh: My brother, this is well known, known to everyone. But what is your answer to the hadith?
The student: I think that, and Allah knows best, the decrease may not be a decrease in the number of days.

The Shaykh : Or otherwise.
The student: Perhaps it is a decrease, and Allah knows best, my Shaykh. We need to try to find a way out of the issue of how they do not become incomplete?
The student: The Shaykh needs to go to the mosque for the adhan.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.