Establishing the new moon of Fitr

Question

On 29 Ramadan there was very heavy cloud cover; despite every effort the moon was not seen, and so tarawih was prayed in all the mosques. Then it also became known from the radio that the moon had not been seen anywhere in India. After that, when half the night had passed, four persons made statements before the city qadi. One young man, mastur al-hal (a person of concealed condition, of whose sinfulness nothing is known)

Answer

For the new moon of 'Id, Shari'a testimony is required. The statements quoted in the question do not, taken together, have the status of Shari'a testimony. Only the first young man — the mastur al-hal who saw the moon for just one second — is such that in some rulings his statement deserves to be called testimony; but since the required number (nisab)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.