If a person travels from one country to another where the new crescent of Shawwal has been sighted, should he follow them and break his fast?
Q. 394. If a fasting person travels from one Islamic country to another and it was announced in the first country that the new crescent of Shawwal has been sighted, should he follow them and break his fast, bearing in mind that the new crescent of Shawwal has not yet been sighted in the second country?
A. If a person travels from one Islamic country to another, and the breaking of the fast in the country to which he has travelled was delayed, then he should remain (fasting) with them until they break their fast, because fasting is when the people fast and breaking the fast is when the people break their fast and ( ‘Eid) Al-Adha ( Sacrifice) is on the day when the people sacrifice their animals, even if it means that he increases a day or more. It is the same as if he travelled to a country where the sunset is late for his usual day might be lengthened by two or three hours, or more if he travelled to another country. The new crescent has not been seen there, and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) ordered us to not fast unless we see the new crescent, and he also said: “Break your fast when you see it.”
As for the opposite, such as when he travels from a country in which confirmation of the start of the month is delayed to a country in which the start of the month has been confirmed, then he should break his fast with them and make up for what he has missed of Ramadan later. If he missed a day, he must make up for a day and if he missed two days, he must make up for two days.
We say that he makes it up in the second case, because it is not possible for the month to be less than twenty-nine days, nor for it to be more than thirty days. And we say to him: Break your fast, even if you have not completed twenty-nine days, because the new crescent has been seen, and once it has been seen, you must break your fast. And since you have fasted less than twenty-nine, because it is not possible for the month to be less than twenty-nine, so you must complete twenty-nine days, as opposed to the first situation, for you should not break your fast until the new crescent has been seen, and if it has not been seen, then you are still in Ramadan. So, how can you break your fast, for you must fast, even if the month was increased for you, it is only like the increase in the hours of the day .
Posted from : Fatawa Arkanul-Islam : Islamic Verdicts on the Pillars of Islam (Volume2)
By the Honorable Shaikh Muhammad bin Salih Al- ‘Uthaimeen
Collected and Arranged by Fahd bin Nasir bin Ibrahim As-Sulaiman
Published by dar-us-salam
AbdurRahman.Org 