Details of the letter of one qadi to another in sighting the new moon

Question

On 29 Ramadan al-Mubarak 69 AH, a Sunday, the horizon of Khairabad was completely covered with cloud, so the moon could not be seen, and no testimony came from the surrounding areas either. In Lucknow, however, since the sighting of the new moon (ru'yat al-hilal) had been established there, Eid was announced at 12 o'clock at night. The responsible persons of Sitapur (which is the district town for Khairabad and lies five miles from here)

Answer

Nowadays there is no Shari'a qadi here, and the difference between a mufti and a qadi is obvious: the former informs of the ruling, while the latter makes it binding. Where there is no ruler with binding authority, the fatwa of the mufti stands, for the common person, in the place of the ruling of a ruler.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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