The Meaning of “Ummi” and the View of the Timekeepers on Sighting the New Moon

Question

Zayd says that the people of learning among the Arabs were unacquainted with the motion of the stars, and that is why the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded that the beginning of the months be reckoned by sighting the new moon. Thus the words of the hadith are: [ar]نَحْنُ أُمَّةٌ أُمِّيَّةٌ، لَا نَكْتُبُ وَلَا نَحْسُبُ، الشَّهْرُ هَكَذَا وَهَكَذَا، يَعْنِي مَرَّةً تِسْعَةً وَعِشْرِينَ وَمَرَّةً ثَلَاثِينَ[/ar] “We are an unlettered community (umma ummiyya): we neither write nor calculate.

Answer

[ar]ولا عبرة بقول الموقتين ولو عدولًا على المذهب[/ar] “The statement of the timekeepers (muwaqqits, experts in astronomical time-reckoning) is not taken into account, even if they are upright, according to the school” (“al-Durr al-Mukhtar”). [ar]أي في وجوب الصوم على الناس، بل في المعراج: لا يعتبر قولهم بالإجماع، ولا يجوز للمنجم أن يعمل بحساب نفسه.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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