Global Moon sighting and Hanafi Madhab

البحر الرائق شرح كنز الدقائق

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قَوْلُهُ : وَلَا عِبْرَةَ بِاخْتِلَافِ الْمَطَالِعِ ) فَإِذَا رَآهُ أَهْلُ بَلْدَةٍ ، وَلَمْ يَرَهُ أَهْلُ بَلْدَةٍ أُخْرَى وَجَبَ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنْ يَصُومُوا بِرُؤْيَةِ أُولَئِكَ إذَا ثَبَتَ عِنْدَهُمْ بِطَرِيقٍ مُوجِبٍ ، وَيَلْزَمُ أَهْلَ الْمَشْرِقِ بِرُؤْيَةِ أَهْلِ الْمَغْرِبِ ، وَقِيلَ : يُعْتَبَرُ فَلَا يَلْزَمُهُمْ بِرُؤْيَةِ غَيْرِهِمْ إذَا اخْتَلَفَ الْمَطْلِعُ ، وَهُوَ الْأَشْبَهُ كَذَا فِي التَّبْيِينِ ، وَالْأَوَّلُ ظَاهِرُ الرَّاوِيَةِ ، وَهُوَ الْأَحْوَطُ كَذَا فِي فَتْحِ الْقَدِيرِ ، وَهُوَ ظَاهِرُ الْمَذْهَبِ ، وَعَلَيْهِ الْفَتْوَى كَذَا فِي الْخُلَاصَةِ أَطْلَقَهُ فَشَمِلَ مَا إذَا كَانَ بَيْنَهُمَا تَفَاوُتٌ بِحَيْثُ يَخْتَلِفُ الْمَطْلِعُ أَوَّلًا وَقَيَّدْنَا بِالثُّبُوتِ الْمَذْكُورِ ; لِأَنَّهُ لَوْ شَهِدَ [ ص: 291 ] جَمَاعَةٌ أَنَّ أَهْلَ بَلَدِ كَذَا رَأَوْا هِلَالَ رَمَضَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ بِيَوْمٍ فَصَامُوا ، وَهَذَا الْيَوْمُ ثَلَاثُونَ بِحِسَابِهِمْ ، وَلَمْ يَرَوْا هَؤُلَاءِ الْهِلَالَ لَا يُبَاحُ فِطْرُ غَدٍ ، وَلَا تُتْرَكُ التَّرَاوِيحُ هَذِهِ اللَّيْلَةَ ; لِأَنَّ هَذِهِ الْجَمَاعَةَ لَمْ يَشْهَدُوا بِالرُّؤْيَةِ ، وَلَا عَلَى شَهَادَةِ غَيْرِهِمْ ، وَإِنَّمَا حَكَوْا رُؤْيَةَ غَيْرِهِمْ ، وَلَوْ شَهِدُوا أَنَّ قَاضِيَ بَلَدِ كَذَا شَهِدَ عِنْدَهُ اثْنَانِ بِرُؤْيَةِ الْهِلَالِ فِي لَيْلَةِ كَذَا وَقَضَى بِشَهَادَتِهِمَا جَازَ لِهَذَا الْقَاضِي أَنْ يَحْكُمَ بِشَهَادَتِهِمَا ; لِأَنَّ قَضَاءَ الْقَاضِي حُجَّةٌ ، وَقَدْ شَهِدُوا بِهِ ، وَأَمَّا مَا اسْتَدَلَّ بِهِ الشَّارِحُ عَلَى اعْتِبَارِ اخْتِلَافِ الْمَطَالِعِ مِنْ وَاقِعَةِ الْفَضْلِ مَعَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبَّاسٍ حِينَ أَخْبَرَهُ أَنَّهُ رَأَى الْهِلَالَ بِالشَّامِ لَيْلَةَ الْجُمُعَةِ وَرَآهُ النَّاسُ وَصَامُوا وَصَامَ مُعَاوِيَةُ فَلَمْ يَعْتَبِرْهُ ، وَإِنَّمَا اعْتَبَرَ مَا رَآهُ أَهْلُ الْمَدِينَةِ لَيْلَةَ السَّبْتِ فَلَا دَلِيلَ فِيهِ ; لِأَنَّهُ لَمْ يَشْهَدْ عَلَى شَهَادَةِ غَيْرِهِ ، وَلَا عَلَى حُكْمِ الْحَاكِمِ وَلَئِنْ سَلِمَ فَلِأَنَّهُ لَمْ يَأْتِ بِلَفْظِ الشَّهَادَةِ وَلَئِنْ سَلِمَ فَهُوَ وَاحِدٌ لَا يَثْبُتُ بِشَهَادَتِهِ وُجُوبُ الْقَضَاءِ عَلَى الْقَاضِي ،  .

…And they have said that the differences of horizons are not to be regarded. Therefore if the (Moon) is sighted according to people of one city then it is necessary for people (of other) city to also fast according to the sighting of the first city, provided that the sighting is proven to be correct and authentic according to the (people of second city) according to principles and the testimony is authentically conveyed. According to others fasting will not be necessary when the horizons differ and this is better as it is mentioned in Tabayyan. The first opinion is closer to caution as it is mentioned in Fathul-Qadeer and it is Zaahir Riwayah and Fatwa is given upon it as it is mentioned in Khulasa. We have kept it unconditional so both scenarios i.e. due to distance horizons change or the horizon does not change are included. But we have placed a condition of “Tareeq Maujab” because let’s say a group testifies that inhabitants of such and such city sighted the moon (a day before) and fasted so it will not be correct for people of second city to abandon Taraweeh and have Eid (the next day) because the group didn’t testify to the (actual) sighting, they didn’t testify to the testimony of others (who sighted the Moon themselves), they have merely transmitted the new. (It would be different) if they would have testified that two people  testified in front of the Qadhi (judge) and the Qadhi (judge) made a decision based on the testimony because the judgement of the Qadhi (judge) is binding and they are testifying upon the judgement. In any case, the deduction of Sharih that differences of horizon is considered due to the incident between Ibn Abbas (RA) and Fadhal (RA) when he informed Ibn Abbas (RA) that Moon was sighted in Syria on Friday night and people fasted and Muawiyya (RA) also fasted, and Ibn Abbas (RA) didn’t regard (this) testimony and considered the testimony of people of Madina who had sighted on Saturday, there is no evidence of consideration to differences of horizon in this incident because Fadhal (RA) did not give testimony to the sighting of others, nor did he testify upon the judgement of the Haakim (ruler) because he didn’t use the words “I testify”. Even if we accept that he did testify, Fadhal (RA) was only one and it is not necessary for Qadhi (judge) to issue a judgement on a (single) testimony.

Question:

Please provide a reference that Global Moon Sighting is Zaahir-Riwayah in the Hanafi Madhab?

Legal categorisation in the Hanafi Madhab

Hanafi legal rulings are divided into distinct categories which are utilized by jurists (fuqaha’) when issuing rulings and identifying superior opinions in case of apparent contradiction. Ibn ‘Abidin mentions three categories of rulings in his Sharh ‘Uqud Rasm al-Mufti and the introduction to his Radd al-Muhtar. (Sharh ‘Uqud Rasm al-Mufti 46, Radd al-Muhtar 1:37, both from Misbah 1:297 1)

Note that the following division is in accordance with well-known categorization of Hanafi legal rulings that was relied upon by ‘Allamah Ibn ‘Abidin. Other categorizations, such as those of ‘Abd al-Hayy al-Laknawi and Shah Waliullah al-Dihlawi, are not mentioned here and have been reserved for another article.

The three categories, according to Ibn ‘Abidin, are as follows:

1.      Zahir al-Riwayah: Also called the Usul or Masa’il al-Usul, this collection of the rulings of the imams of the madhhab is contained in six books of Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani. Ibn ‘Abidin gives them as:

1.      Jami‘ Kabir

2.      Jami‘ Saghir

3.      Siyar Kabir

4.      Siyar Saghir

5.      Mabsut (also called the Asl)

6.      Ziyadat

Some scholars of the madhhab did not include the two Siyar collections amongst the books of the Zahir al-Riwayah. The details of this exclusion as well as the contents of the six books form the content of a future article, in sha Allah.

2.      Nawadir: The rulings of this category are those that are not transmitted in the above-mentioned six books of the Zahir al-Riwayah but, like the rulings in them, are also attributed to the early imams of the madhhab. They are either found in the other books of Imam Muhammad, such as the Kaysaniyyat, Haruniyyat, Jurjaniyyat, and Raqqiyyat, or in the books of other imams besides Imam Muhammad, including Al-Hasan ibn al-Ziyad’s Mujarrad and the Amali of Abu Yusuf. The Nawadir also include the singular, scattered legal opinions of the early imams that were recorded by the likes of Ibn Sama‘ah, Mu‘alla ibn Mansur, Hisham, Ibn Rustum, and others.

These books are called Nawadir because they are transmitted through singular rather than mass-transmitted or well-known chains.

3.      Fatawa: Also called Nawazil or Waqi‘at, these legal rulings are those that were derived by later Hanafi mujtahids based on enquiries for which no rulings existed in the first two categories. (Sharh ‘Uqud Rasm al-Mufti 9, Tabaqat Saniyyah 1:35)

Amongst these later mujtahids (muta’akhkhirun) were ‘Isam ibn Yusuf (d 210AH), Ibn Rustum, Muhammad ibn Sama‘ah, Abu Sulayman al-Juzjani, and Abu Hafs al-Bukhari, who were all from the second/third century.

After them came Muhammad ibn Salamah (192-278AH), Muhammad ibn Muqatil, Nusayr ibn Yahya, and Abu Nasr Muhammad Qasim ibn Salam[1], all of whom occasionally differed with the Ashab al-Madhhab (Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad) on the basis of various factors or evidences that became apparent to them.

The first collection of these fatawa, according to our limited knowledge and study, is Abu ‘l-Layth al-Samarqandi’s Nawazil. Later jurists added to this category of legal literature, including Kashshi in his Majmu‘ al-Nawazil and Natifi and Sadr al-Shahid both in books entitled the Waqi‘at.

Most of the legal rulings of these three categories are mentioned in the common fiqh texts but are not discernable from one another. Very few later jurists differentiated between the three categories when compiling their legal compendiums. A few works, however, relate the rulings of the madhhab according to their category, amongst them is the still rare but oft-quoted Muhit of Radi al-Din al-Sarakhsi. In this Muhit – to be differentiated from Bukhari’s Muhit Burhani – Sarakhsi first lists the Zahir al-Riwayah, then the Nawadir, and lastly the Fatawa.

Scholar 1:

1. Global Moonsighting is not Zaahir Riwayah in the Hanafi Madhab
2. Even it it was Zaahir Riwayah, distance must be taken into account as to how far news would have travelled in those days

Scholar 2:

1. It seems to be a slip of the pen
2. It is not uncommon to see positions being referenced as Zaahir Riwayah when they are actually not
3. Having said that, there are positions narrated by Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad that indicate global sighting

Scholar 3:

1. When there is Khilaaf (difference between) big Ulama of the (Hanafi) School, it is unlikely for the matter to be Zaahir Riwayah