Session 1 (Part 2) – ʿUmdatul Aḥkām – Ustādh Abdul Hakeem Mitchell – Book of Fasting: Sighting the Crescent

ʿUmdatul Aḥkām by al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī (raḥimahullāh): the Book of Fasting, a Ramaḍān three-day workshop shared between several teachers (session 1 of 10, part 2), taught by Ustādh Abdul Hakeem Mitchell (hafidhahullāh)

• The second ḥadīth of the sitting, from Ibn ʿUmar: "When you see it, fast, and when you see it, break your fast; and if it is hidden from you, complete the count"

• The narrator ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar: a Companion son of a Companion, one of those who narrated the most, too young for Badr and Uḥud, present at al-Khandaq

• A principle: a command indicates obligation and a prohibition indicates ḥarām, unless another text shows otherwise

• One trustworthy witness is enough to begin Ramaḍān, while ending it needs two, because one is leaving an act of worship

• When the sky is overcast, completing thirty days of Shaʿbān or of Ramaḍān; fasting on the day of ʿĪd is ḥarām

• The months are established by sighting, not by astronomical calculation

• Questions and answers: a sighting from far away, and following trustworthy reports

Streamed LIVE at The Salafi Centre of Manchester on 21/2/25