Sahih Muslim Book - 13, Hadith - 2529

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِى شَيْبَةَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ فُضَيْلٍ عَنْ حُصَيْنٍ عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ مُرَّةَ عَنْ أَبِى الْبَخْتَرِىِّ قَالَ خَرَجْنَا لِلْعُمْرَةِ فَلَمَّا نَزَلْنَا بِبَطْنِ نَخْلَةَ - قَالَ - تَرَاءَيْنَا الْهِلاَلَ فَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ ثَلاَثٍ. وَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ لَيْلَتَيْنِ قَالَ فَلَقِينَا ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ فَقُلْنَا إِنَّا رَأَيْنَا الْهِلاَلَ فَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ ثَلاَثٍ وَقَالَ بَعْضُ الْقَوْمِ هُوَ ابْنُ لَيْلَتَيْنِ. فَقَالَ أَىَّ لَيْلَةٍ رَأَيْتُمُوهُ قَالَ فَقُلْنَا لَيْلَةَ كَذَا وَكَذَا. فَقَالَ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- قَالَ « إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَدَّهُ لِلرُّؤْيَةِ فَهُوَ لِلَيْلَةِ رَأَيْتُمُوهُ ».

It was narrated that Abu Al-Bakhtari said: “We went for our Umrah, and when we stopped in Batn Nakhlah, we looked for the crescent and saw it. Some of the people said: ‘It is three nights old.’ And some of them said: ‘it is two nights old.’ Then we met Ibn Abbas and we said: ‘We have spotted the crescent; some of the people said that it is three nights old, and some of the said that it was two nights old.’ He said: ‘On what night did you see it?’ we said: ‘on such-and-such a night.’ He said: ‘The Messenger of Allah (SAW) [said: Indeed Allah] causes it to appear for long enough that it can be seen, so on the night that you saw it, that was when it appeared.’”