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The Rules on Prayer & Fasting 2023

  • Prayer
  • Fasting
    • Conditions and Requirements of Obligatory Fast
    • Obligatory Acts of Fasting
    • Makrūh Acts during a Fast
    • Cases in which Qaḍā’ and Intentional kaffārah Are Obligatory
    • The Kaffārah of Breaking Fast Intentionally
    • Cases in which Only Qaḍā’ of Fasting Is Obligatory
    • Rulings of Qaḍā’ Fast
    • Kaffārah of Delay
    • The Rulings on Qaḍā’ of One's Parent's Missed Prayers/Fasts
    • Rulings on a Traveler's Fast
    • People for Whom Fast Is not Obligatory
    • Way of Ascertaining the First of a Lunar Month
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      Way of Ascertaining the First of a Lunar Month

       

      961. The first of the month is confirmed in five ways:
      1. The fact that the moon is seen by the very mukallaf;
      2. The testimony of two just people unless a large number of people deny the sighting of the crescent and the probability that these two persons have made a mistake is not strengthened;
      3. Being maintained by many people so that it brings about knowledge or certainty;
      4. Passage of 30 days from the beginning of the last month;
      5. The verdict of the ḥākim of shar‘.
      962. Seeing the crescent in the evening proves the arrival of the lunar month, and the night after the sighting of the crescent is considered as the first night of the month.
      963. To see the crescent, there is no difference between the armed and the unarmed eye. So, when the moon is seen with a normal eye, it is the first of the month, and similarly if it is seen with glasses, a camera, or telescope, then the first of the month is confirmed, but it is problematic to say the first of the month is proved by seeing the image of the crescent reflected to a computer while it is not known that people call it sighting the crescent.
      964. The fact that the moon is small and low, big and high, wide or narrow, etc., is not a shar‘ī reason for the first or second night of the moon, but if the person becomes certain through this method, he must act according to his knowledge in this field.
      965. The first of the month is not determined by calendars and scientific calculations of astronomers unless one becomes certain due to their words.
      966. If it is proved in a city that it is the first of the month, it is sufficient for other cities that are on the same horizon. It means the places that are the same in terms of the possibility and impossibility of seeing the crescent moon.
      967. Mere confirmation of the crescent for the ḥākim of shar‘ is not enough for others to follow him unless he issues a verdict to this effect or they get confident regarding the crescent sighting.
      968. If the ḥākim of shar‘ issues a verdict that tomorrow is the first of the month and this decree covers the whole country, by shar‘ his decree is valid for all the cities of that country.
      969. If the announcement of the sighting of the crescent moon by a non-Islamic and oppressive or wrongdoing government makes the mukallaf certain that it is the first of the month, it is sufficient.
      970. If the moon crescent is not visible in a city, but the radio and television announce the first of the month, if their news makes a person certain or confident about it, it is sufficient and there is no need to investigate.
      971. If the first of Ramadan is not confirmed, fasting is not obligatory, but if it is later confirmed that it was the first of the month, then the fast of that day must be made up.
      972. If the first of Shawwāl is not confirmed by sighting the crescent even in the neighboring cities with the same horizon, by the testimony of two just people, or by the ruling of the ḥākim of shar‘, then one should fast that day.
      973. A person should fast on the day he doubts whether it is the end of Ramadan or the first of Shawwāl, but if it is confirmed during the day that it is the first of Shawwāl, he must break his fast, even if it is close to maghrib.
    • Types of Fasting
    • Conclusion: Fasting Etiquettes and these of the Holy Month of Ramadan
    • I‘tikāf
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