Abstract

The sighting of the crescent is one of the most important topics that Islamic jurists are looking for. Many legal rulings such as: fasting, Hajj, increasing the blood money in the forbidden months, etc. depend on the sighting of the crescent. Our goal in this article is to search for the ruling of the ruler in proving the sighting of the crescent. Undoubtedly, the disagreement that has emerged in recent years with regard to announcing the beginning of the lunar months is due to the difference in the premises of the jurists. This is inevitable in the age of occultation. The main question here is whether the sighting of the crescent is proven by the ruling of the ruler.

This article attempts to address this issue with a descriptive and analytical approach, based on the fatwas of the Imamiyyah jurists and the opinions of the jurists of the four schools of thought. After examination and research, it became clear that the famous Imami jurists went to the establishment of the crescent by the ruling of the ruler, and some of the ancients and contemporaries disagreed with them. And the jurists of the four madhhabs are of the view that witnessing the sighting of the crescent is from the matter of news, but if the ruling is issued to establish the crescent, it is obligatory for every person to fast, and the Sunnis agreed on this matter, except for the jurists of Shafi’i.