The Book of Fasting
كتاب الصيام
Chapter 1: The Virtues of the month of Ramadan
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: When it is the month of Ramadan, the gates of mercy are opened, and the gates of Hell are locked and the devils are chained.
Chapter 2: The obligation to fast Ramadan when the crescent is sighted, and to break the fast when the crescent is sighted, and that if it is cloudy at the beginning or end of the month, then the month should be completed as thirty days.
Do not fast till you see the new moon, and do not break fast till you see it; but if the weather is cloudy calculate about it.
The month may consist of twenty-nine nights. So do not fast till you have sighted it (the new moon) and do not break it till you have sighted it, except when the sky is cloudy for you, and if it is so, then calculate it.
The month may consist of twenty-nine days.
This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Aswad b. Qais with the same chain of transmitters, but herein no mention has been made of the other month (consisting of) thirty days.
This night is the midnight (of the month). Upon this he said to him: How do you know that it is the midnight (of the month), for I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: The month is thus and thus (and he pointed with his ten fingers twice) and thus (i. e. at the third time he pointed with all his fingers but withdrew or folded his thumb)?
Whenever you sight the new moon (of the month of Ramadan) observe fast. and when you sight it (the new moon of Shawwal) break it, and if the sky is cloudy for you, then observe fast for thirty days.
Observe fast on sighting it (the new moon) and break it on sighting it. But if (due to clouds) the actual position of the month is concealed from you, you should then count thirty (days).
Chapter 4: The month may be twenty-nine days
When twenty-nine nights were over, which I had counted, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to me (he came to me first of all). I said: Messenger of Allah, you had taken an oath that you would not come to us for a month, whereas you have come after twenty nine days which I have counted. Whereupon he said: The month may also consist of twenty-nine days.
Tho month is thus and thus, and thus, i. e. ten, ten and nine.
Chapter 6: Clarifying that it does not matter whether the crescent is large or small, for Allah, the Most High, causes it to appear for long enough that people can see it, and if it is cloudy then thirty days should be completed
We went out to perform Umra and when we encamped in the valley of Nakhla, we tried to see the new moon. Some of the people said: It was three nights old, and others (said) that it was two nights old. We then met Ibn 'Abbas and told him we had seen the new moon, but that some of the people said it was three nights old and others that it was two nights old. He asked on which night we had seen it; and when we told him we had seen it on such and such night, he said the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) had said: Verily Allah deferred it till the time it is seen, so it is to be reckoned from the night you saw it.
Chapter 7: The meaning of the Prophet's words: "The two months of 'Id cannot both be incomplete"
The months of 'Id are not incomplete. And in the hadith narrated by Khalid (the words are):" The months, of 'Id are Ramadan and Dhu'l-Hijja."
Chapter 8: Clarifying that fasting begins at dawn, and a person may eat and other than that until dawn begins; And clarifying the dawn which has to do with the rulings concerning the beginning of fasting and the beginning of the time for the Subh Prayer, and other than that, which is the Second Dawn, which is called the True Dawn. The First Dawn, which is the False Dawn, has nothing to do with the rulings
" Until the white streak of the dawn becomes distinct from the dark streak" (ii. 187) Adi b. Hatim said: Messenger of Allah, verily I keep underneath my pillow two strings, one white and the other black, by which I distinguish night from dawn. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Your pillow seems to be very large. For the word khait implies the blackness of the night and the whiteness of the dawn.
A hadith like this has been narrated on the authority of 'Ubaidullah on the two chains of transmitters.
Neither the call of Bilal should mislead you nor this whiteness (of false dawn) till (the true) dawn appears (or he said) till the dawn breaks.
A hadith like this has been narrated on the authority of Samura b. Jundub.
Chapter 9: The virtue of sahur, which is recommended. It is recommended to delay it and to hasten the breaking of the fast
Take meal a little before dawn, for there is a blessing in taking meal at that time.
A hadith like this has been transmitted by Sahl b. Sa'd.
Chapter 10: Clarifying the time for ending the fast and the end of the day
When the night approaches and the day retreates and the sun sinks down, then the observer of the fast should break it. Ibn Numair made no mention of the word" then".