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Hilal (the crescent and the lunar month for the law)

هِلال

Hilal in the lexical sense is the moon in a particular state; technically it is the first sighting of the lit part of the moon on the first night. 1 The law made the crescents times for people: the deferred dealings and the rites (the pilgrimage, fasting, the breaking of the fast) and the matters with legal effects, such as the waiting period, the period of nursing and the period of the oath of abstention. 1 2 Jurists hold that only the lawgiver fixes the times of worship, while the times of transactions are agreed by the parties; an unqualified month is taken as a lunar month. 2 3 The size of the crescent is no guide to the start of the month; what counts is the night of sighting. 3

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Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Arabia
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Sacred timeWorship and the pillarsAfterlife and eschatology

Summary

Hilal in the lexical sense is the moon in a particular state; technically it is the first sighting of the lit part of the moon on the first night. 1

The crescents as times

The lawgiver made the crescents times for people: deferred dealings, the rites (the pilgrimage, fasting and its breaking), and matters with legal effects such as the waiting period, the nursing period and the period of the oath of abstention. 1 2

Worship and transactions

Only the lawgiver fixes the times of worship; the times of transactions are agreed by the parties, and an unqualified month is taken as a lunar month. 2 3

The size of the crescent

The size of the crescent is no guide to the start of the month; what counts is the night of sighting. 3

People and things also explored

Adhan (the call to prayer: its ruling, wording, conditions, recommended features and the muezzin)· The last ten nights of Ramadan· The first ten days of Dhu al-Hijja· The most beautiful names of God (asma' Allah al-husna)· Delaying the noon prayer to the cool (ibrad)· I'tikaf (retreat)· The ruling on one who abandons prayer· Ada' (performance of an obligation within its time)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16552
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16553
  3. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16554
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Hilal (the crescent and the lunar month for the law)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/hilal-fiqh/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Adhan (the call to prayer: its ruling, wording, conditions, recommended features and the muezzin)

In law, the adhan is announcing the time of an obligatory prayer in set, transmitted words. The jurists differ on its ruling, between a communal obligation and a strongly recommended practice, and on its wording, tarjia, tathwib, the conditions of order, continuity and raised voice, and the qualities of the muezzin: Islam, manhood, sanity and discernment.