The Moon and Ramadaan

In The Name of Allah The Most Gracious The Most Merciful

NARRATOR Abdullah ibn Abbas SAHIH MUSLIM HADITH No 2391Kurayb said:

Umm Fadl, daughter of Harith, sent him (Fadl, i.e. her son) to Mu'awiyah in Syria. I (Fadl) arrived in Syria, and did the needful for her. It was there in Syria that the month of Ramadan commenced. I saw the new moon (of Ramadan) on Friday. I then came back to Medina at the end of the month. Abdullah ibn Abbas asked me (about the new moon of Ramadan) and said: When did you see it?
I said: We saw it on Friday night.
He said: (Did) you see it yourself?
I said: Yes, and the people also saw it so they observed fast and Mu'awiyah also observed fast. Thereupon he said: But we saw it on Saturday night. So we shall continue to observe the fast until we complete thirty (fasts) or we see it (the new moon of Shawwal).
I said: Is the sighting of the moon by Mu'awiyah not valid for you?
He said: No; this is how the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has commanded us. Yahya ibn Yahya was in doubt (whether the word used in the narration by Kurayb) was Naktafi or Taktafi.

NARRATOR Abdullah ibn Abbas SAHIH MUSLIM HADITH No 2392 Abul Bakhtari reported:

We went out to perform Umrah and when we encamped in the valley of Nakhlah, we tried to see the new moon.
Some of the people said: It was three nights old, and others (said) that it was two nights old. We then met Ibn Abbas and told him we had seen the new moon, but that some of the people said it was three nights old and others that it was two nights old. He asked on which night we had seen it; and when we told him we had seen it on such and such night, he said the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) had said Verily Allah deferred it till the time it is seen, so it is to be reckoned from the night you saw it.

NARRATOR Abdullah ibn Abbas AL-MUWATTA HADITH No 18.1.3:

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, once mentioned Ramadan and said, "Do not start the fast or break it until you see the new moon. If the new moon is obscured from you, then complete a full thirty days."

The advocates who use the sighting of the moon in Makkah to begin Ramadan anywhere on earth argue that a sighting in one area is binding on Muslims in other areas as well.
However, as can be seen in the preceding hadiths narrated by Muslim, and others they reject and argue against a sighting being binding on distant places. It states clearly that the Sahaba, who traveled to Syria encountered the start of Ramadan there on a Friday, upon his return to Medina, he informed Ibn Abbas that he had seen the crescent-moon on the night of Friday, and that the people in Syria, including Muawiyah the governor, had fasted on Friday. Ibn Abbas replied that they (in Medina) had seen the crescent-moon on Saturday, and that they would not stop fasting until they either saw it again, or had completed thirty days. The Sahaba said, "Will you not suffice with the sighting of Muawiyah?” Ibn Abbas replied, "No, that is how the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) commanded us.”
Also, we need to consider that just as Muslims around the world will not pray simultaneously, rather each area will pray based on the movement of the sun in their area. Thus, how could they start and end fasting simultaneously. The presence of numerous hadith on this issue only indicates that even the Companions and their later contemporaries differed about the start and end of Ramadan, such difference did not cause disunity among them, and so there is no reason why it should for us.