Assalam alaykum wa rahmatullah,

I already read many fatwas from your website regarding moon sighting for the start and end of Ramadan. My question is: what is the definition of "local" when we talk about local moon sighting? Does "local" mean your town, city, state or country? In our local masjid (Hamden, CT, USA), our imam follows the local moon sighting, but he does not believe in country-wide moon sighting. This year, we had two Eids in our town (Hamden). Both followed a local moon sighting. The imam of our masjid believes in following criteria for local moon sighting (described below), but the other group of people said more than thirty scholars from the USA have agreed (according to www.crescentwatch.org, www.islamicmoon.com and others) to follow country-wide moon sighting. That's why we can take the testimony of a Florida moon sighting, even though we did not see the moon (weather was too cloudy) locally in Hamden, CT.

The following is the criteria of our local imam in Hamden Masjid:

-  He has the scientific data to confirm and to reject (reject if it is impossible to see) the moon sighting evidence.

-  If moon data coincides with the local moon sighting (the sky is clear), then it is definitely acceptable.

-  If someone claims to see the moon and many others say they did not see the moon (locally in Hamden/New Haven county), then he checks that claim in the light of moon data. If moon data says it's impossible (or very, very difficult) to see the moon that day, then that person's testimony is rejected. If moon data tells you that the moon is visible here in Hamden/New Haven for sure, but it's cloudy, then testimony could be taken from other places as well. "Other places" does not mean any other place. "Other places" are only those places where the moon would be visible according to the moon data (according to graphs from www.moonsighting.com by Khalid Shaukat) for that particular day. Once again, if it is cloudy, but you are sure that the moon is there in your locality, then you can take testimony from other places, "other places" being previously defined.

The only logical problem I see with our imam's criteria is the following:

He always quotes the hadith, "Do not fast and do not stop fasting unless and until you see the moon…" (the whole text you know). So, according to this, if we really want to follow this, we should complete thirty days when its cloudy in our locality (Hamden, CT), and we should not take testimony from any other place. His answer is: People are already putting a lot of pressure on him, and if he does what I said, then the month could be 28 days, as well as the next month. In short, because of these confusions, I think our scholars and muftis need to reconsider and re-evaluate things once again. I am sure they can find the answer which will satisfy scientists and common people both, insha'Allah.

In most of the masajid here in the USA, where the people claim to follow the local moon sighting, they go by country-wide moon sighting (that the moon is seen anywhere in America), while some go by the whole of North America. As I mentioned earlier, we had two Eids on two different days here in Hamden, CT. Both claimed to follow the local moon sighting as per their definition of "local." Because of this, there is a lot of confusion even within a single family. Two brothers prayed the Eid on Wednesday and others prayed it on Thursday. Kindly consider this, and let us know in detail what is the definition of "local moon sighting," and what exactly do we need to follow? Can we go by country-wide moon sighting (the whole USA) even if we don't see the moon in Hamden, CT (and if we are sure that the moon cannot be seen in Hamden, CT according to scientific data)? Or we should go by the criteria of the imam of our masjid? Just to let you know, the imam of our masjid is a doctor with a Ph.D., he studied Islam on his own using several resources, and, masha'Allah, he is a good person. He did not study Islam at any school or madrasa. He does not claim to be a mufti or scholar, but he is quite sure that he can convince scholars about the moon sighting criteria (the one he follows). We don't doubt his intention at all. We respect him a lot, even though we have a few differences. All we want is clear answer to our questions. We need you to advise us and also our imam if he needs it, so that we can resolve this issue and have Eid in this city on one day.

However, those who adopt the local sighting go with a national one (within the U.S., for instance), not a city-wide one.