Q. A person traveled to India a few days before the end of Ramadan. Considering that India started fasting two days later than Saudi Arabia, how should he treat the days at the end of the month when he has completed 30 days of fasting. Should he continue fasting according to the Indian calendar, taking his fast over one month, or should he follow the Saudi date, finishing his fast before the local people?
A. Noorulla
A. We have two rules to consider: One must conform to the practice of the community where he happens to be, and a lunar month cannot be more than 30 days. Normally the differences in the beginning and end of lunar months do not exceed one day throughout the world.
If all countries of the world make accurate sightings of the new moon, which is the mark of the start of a new month, there will be no more than a difference of one day between all countries. The fact that we are often faced with two days’ difference between two countries means that there is a mistake by either one of them. Last Ramadan, most countries that started the fast on Oct. 4 were perhaps mistaken, as the new moon was either impossible or extremely difficult to sight the night before. Yet mistakes of this type are accepted by God as correct. The fast is valid and no blame is placed on anyone.
Travelers between such countries are faced with the dilemma of following either the country where they started the fast, or the one where they are finishing it.
In the case the reader mentions, traveling from Saudi Arabia to India with the latter starting two days later, the best thing a traveler does is not to fast on the day of travel. He should follow India with regard to the end of Ramadan. If this brings his fasting days to 31, he has one of two options: Either he stops fasting after completing 30 days and he will have finished his fast, or he joins the local people, fasting with them and ending his fast with them. In this latter case, he considers that there was a mistake at the beginning of the month and the first day he fasted would be counted as a Sunnah or voluntary fasting. My preference is the second option, unless he is able to determine by proper research that the mistake is at the other end, in which case he should take the first option.
In the reverse case with a traveler going in the opposite direction, he will not have completed 29 days when Saudi Arabia has finished 30. Nevertheless, he should follow Saudi Arabia and end his fasting with its people. He then completes his fast at a later time to bring his fasting days to 29 or 30, as the case may be for that year.