2320 — Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-ʿAtakī narrated to us: Ḥammād narrated to us: Ayyūb narrated to us, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The month is twenty-nine [days]. Do not fast until you see it [the crescent], and do not break your fast until you see it. If it is obscured from you, then complete [the count of] thirty days for it."

He said: When Shaʿbān was twenty-nine days, Ibn ʿUmar would have someone look out for it. If it was seen, then that was that. If it was not seen, and no cloud or haze obstructed the view of it, he would wake up not fasting. But if a cloud or haze obstructed the view of it, he would wake up fasting. He said: Ibn ʿUmar would break the fast with the people and would not act upon this calculation.

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It was also recorded by al-Bukhārī (1913), Muslim (1080), and al-Nasāʾī in al-Kubrā (2462), (2463), and (2464) in abridged form, and (5853), via the path of Shuʿbah; and by Muslim (1080) and al-Nasāʾī (2461) via the path of Sufyān al-Thawrī — both of them from al-Aswad ibn Qays, with this chain of transmission.

It was also recorded in abridged and complete form by al-Bukhārī (1908) and (5302), Muslim (1080), and al-Nasāʾī (2460) via multiple paths from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, with it.

It is also found in Musnad Aḥmad (4611), (4815), and (5017), and in Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (3449), (3454), and (3455).

His statement: "We are an illiterate community" — Ibn al-Athīr said: He meant that they were upon the original nature of their mother's birth, having not learned writing or calculation, so they remained upon their innate disposition. It is also said: al-ummī is one who does not write. From it comes the ḥadīth: "I was sent to an illiterate community." The Arabs were called al-ummiyyūn because writing was rare or nonexistent among them. From it is the saying of Allah the Exalted: {It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from among themselves} [al-Jumuʿah: 2].

His statement: "We do not calculate" — with a ḍammah on the sīn, meaning: we do not know how to count.

His statement: "he bent his finger" — al-Khaṭṭābī said: i.e., he laid it down and moved it back from the position of its fellow fingers. It is said of a man who, while with his companions on a journey or expedition, lags behind them: he has khanasa from his companions.

(1) Its chain of transmission is sound. Ḥammād: he is Ibn Zayd. Ayyūb: he is Ibn Abī Tamīmah al-Sakhtiyānī. Nāfiʿ: he is the freed slave of Ibn ʿUmar.

It was also recorded by al-Bukhārī (1906), Muslim (1080), and al-Nasāʾī in al-Kubrā (2442) and (2443) via multiple paths from Nāfiʿ, with it. Some of them do not mention in it his statement: "The month is twenty-nine [days]."