Whether news and testimony about the new moon from Pakistan are valid

Question

This year too there was great confusion over the moon of Eid. Because of cloud cover the moon of the 29th was not seen, but after eight o’clock at night news of the moon was received from Radio Pakistan (Bombay and Ahmadabad) from Hyderabad. The respected scholar there, in view of your fatwa, accepted the news of Radio Pakistan and announced the moon, and the Eid prayer was performed on Thursday. We have fatwas from three places, and looking at them we are troubled as to which to follow.

Answer

In the fatwa of Dar al-‘Ulum written on 27/3/86 AH it was stated at the very beginning that when, nowadays, news generally comes on the radio in this way, it is not correct to break the fast on that news; and the basis of the quoted fatwas of Farangi Mahal (Lucknow) and Miftah al-‘Ulum (Mau) is also this very point.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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