13/2. Chapter:
Sahih Muslim 1080n — Unlettered Ummah and Month Count
The obligation to fast Ramadan when the crescent is sighted, and to break the fast when the crescent is sighted, and that if it is cloudy at the beginning or end of the month, then the month should be completed as thirty days.
We Are an Unlettered People Hadith on Month Count
Sahih Muslim : 1080n
Sahih MuslimHadith Number 1080n
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا غُنْدَرٌ، عَنْ شُعْبَةَ، ح وَحَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، وَابْنُ بَشَّارٍ قَالَ ابْنُ الْمُثَنَّى حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنِ الأَسْوَدِ بْنِ قَيْسٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ سَعِيدَ بْنَ عَمْرِو بْنِ سَعِيدٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ ابْنَ عُمَرَ، - رضى الله عنهما - يُحَدِّثُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " إِنَّا أُمَّةٌ أُمِّيَّةٌ لاَ نَكْتُبُ وَلاَ نَحْسُبُ الشَّهْرُ هَكَذَا وَهَكَذَا وَهَكَذَا - وَعَقَدَ الإِبْهَامَ فِي الثَّالِثَةِ - وَالشَّهْرُ هَكَذَا وَهَكَذَا وَهَكَذَا " . يَعْنِي تَمَامَ ثَلاَثِينَ .
Ibn 'Umar Narrated from:
Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported Allah's Apostle as saying: We are an unlettered people who can neither write nor count. The month is thus, and thus. folding his thumb when he said it the third time.
Reference : Sahih Muslim 1080nIn-book reference : Book 13, Hadith 17USC-MSA web (English) reference : Book 6, Hadith 2376
Summary of Sahih Muslim Hadith 1080n
This narration adds an important wording: “We are an unlettered people who can neither write nor count.” Then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم showed the month as “thus, thus, and thus,” folding the thumb on the third time, and also showed the complete thirty. The main idea in this Islamic lunar month hadith is that the month can be known in a simple, visible way. The text points to twenty-nine and thirty as possible month counts. It does not give a long discussion of methods. It speaks in plain terms about how the month was taught to people. This helps readers see why the month should not be assumed to have one fixed number every time.
What we learn from this hadith
- The month may be twenty-nine or thirty days.
- The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم taught the count in a simple way.
- The report warns against assuming one fixed month length.
