What is the ruling on one who breaks his fast on the last day of Ramadan thinking that it is the day of Eid?

The questioner : Dozens of brothers come to me and are in the situation of breaking the fast on this day. Does it mean they have to make it up, or do they not have to make it up?

The Shaykh : Why did they break their fast?

The questioner : He told me that dozens came to him having broken their fast.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Yes, they were awake in the morning and broke their fast on the assumption that it was Eid, and they broke their fast. Yes, so he said that perhaps as soon as it comes...The Shaykh ...The Shaykh : You open up for us a line so that we can answer the youth.

The questioner : That is, some brothers come to me—sugar, sugar, the door—and ask about the fasting that is now being implemented by our brothers here in Jordan, or the Jordanian government, which naturally differed from the other countries in fasting. Some of the brothers fasted and some of them broke their fast.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : We want from you, our Shaykh, the truth in this matter, if Allah wills, in detail, because now many of the brothers come to me and ask me. Have you moved to the recording of your question so that we can hear it? We will hear it for these brothers, and the answer will be instead of them calling you, and through this door, so to speak.

The Shaykh : Allah is the Helper.

The questioner : May Allah bless you, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : This question was asked of us today and last night more than once, so my answer is: The scholars differed regarding His saying—Blessed and Exalted is He—: , and His saying—peace and blessings be upon him—: . They differed on whether this Quranic command and that Prophetic command, if established, include the entire Islamic world, or more precisely, include everyone who received the news of the sighting of the crescent moon for Ramadan or for breaking the fast from Ramadan. There are two opinions: one says: Yes, it includes everyone who received the news of one who witnessed the crescent of the month, whether the moonrise locations were the same or different. And some say: No, the command is not this general; rather, it includes those who are in a specific, limited area. The scholars who differed on this issue discussed it at length, and the opinion and independent legal reasoning I have arrived at is the first opinion, due to the generality of his saying—peace and blessings be upon him—: , and so on. Because the original rule for every address is generality and inclusiveness, except for what is specified by evidence. In our case, there is no evidence that specifies this general text except for one thing: the failure of the news of the sighting to reach an obligated person among the obligated ones, as was the case in the old times. That is because in that time, there was nothing to help convey the news to every near and far person, as is the reality now in this strange time with its means and its strange lack of benefit from them. But today, I say we must remain with the generality of the Messenger’s—peace and blessings be upon him—hadith within the limits of capacity and ability, where He said—Exalted is He—: . However, the issue, with the strength of its evidence, especially in our time, concerns not the individual nor a group of groups, but rather the Muslim ruler who imposes on the community a matter that, if it were only permissible, he sees that the public benefit of the community requires adopting that matter as obligatory. In this case, the command of this Muslim ruler becomes obligatory, and the community is obligated to obey him in that, because the matter is as he said—peace and blessings be upon him—: . I say this if there were one ruler and a ruler who rules by the Shari'ah of Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He. But since that is not the case, rather there are many states and rulers, some of whom do not commit to ruling by Islam, at least with all the rulings and legislation in Islam. This is from one side. And from another side, they differ among themselves with a difference greater than their difference in what we are currently discussing. A ruler or one of these states announces the entry of the month or the exit of the month, and the other state announces the opposite or remains silent, such that the people are forced to apply the saying of their Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—: . I say, as long as these rulers who rule the people living in their states, as long as these rulers do not respond to this general command , and I think that one of the greatest reasons for their non-response to this command is the political differences existing between them. Otherwise, I also think that if politics were unified, they would unify the ruling, even if the Shari'ah does not unify a ruling between them. The example is clear to us here when they unified the adhan, which is multiple, especially in our country where the land differs from place to place. They found that politics, they claimed, unified this adhan. If the matter were so between the states in fasting, they would have unified it. And even if the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—counted it, but although the Messenger—peace be upon him—unified fasting in the hadith mentioned earlier, in my belief, international politics is what separates them. And here, every people falls into a state of confusion, as came in your question. For this reason, I say, until these states return to the Shari'ah of their Lord and commit to ruling with every ruling of its rulings, every people must commit to fasting with the announcement made by their ruler in that people. And I say this not to negate the generality of his saying—peace be upon him—: , but rather, first, expressing regret for their non-implementation of this Prophetic command, and second, averting the greater harm with the lesser harm. I mean by the lesser and the greater what follows: the lesser harm is that they did not adopt the school of thought that is stronger, which is taking the generality of the hadith. This is a harm without doubt. And I have mentioned to you that the reason returns to two things: first, the difference of the Ummah, the difference of the scholars of the Ummah, in whether this command is general and includes the entire Ummah or not?
And the second matter: the difference existing between the Islamic governments today. This is the lesser harm. It should have been avoided by following the first announcement made by any Arab state, rather, by any Islamic state. But since this did not happen, here it is necessary to avoid falling into another harm. There are states that differ between one state and another; some states may agree, as happened on this day. For example, Syria and Saudi Arabia, and I do not know which other state may be with them, Egypt. They celebrated today, and other states are still fasting with us. This is a division, and this is a harm. But the greater harm is that one people, for example, the Jordanian people, differ on two opinions, on two schools of thought. Some of the people are fasting today following the announcement of the ruler here that today is the completion of thirty days, and some are breaking their fast following the Saudi announcement. This is a difference worse than the difference of one people with another people, because this is a difference within the same people. And the matter in this difference is not limited to what I mentioned, but what is worse than that has occurred in some past years, and history, as they say, repeats itself. One house is divided into two parts, into two schools of thought: the husband is fasting and the wife is breaking her fast, or they are both fasting and the children are breaking their fast, or the opposite. This difference, without doubt, as is clear and evident, is more severe than the difference of one people with another people, because this has a face in jurisprudence that I mentioned earlier, where some of the scholars say it is permissible, meaning that every state and every people has its own moonrise. So, to avert this division and this separation that will occur in one people, rather, in one family, we are forced, by necessity, to say that it is not permissible for a Muslim to deviate from the state of the people in which he lives, whether fasting or breaking the fast, from the perspective of averting the greater harm with the lesser harm. This is what I see in this issue. And Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He—we ask that He guide the rulers of the Muslims to act with the Shari'ah of the Lord of the Worlds in everything He revealed in His Noble Book and explained to us by our Messenger, may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him and upon all his Companions. And all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

The questioner : May Allah preserve you, our Shaykh, what Allah willed.