from the judgment, awaiting evidence. For this reason, if their uprightness were to be established after that, judgment would be passed accordingly. However, if neither of them knows the uprightness of the other, it is not permissible for him to break his fast unless the ruler rules on it, so that he does not break his fast based on his own sighting alone.

517 - Issue: He said: "If the months are confused for a captive, and he fasts a month intending it to be the month of Ramadan, and it coincides with it, or what follows it, it suffices him. But if it coincides with what precedes it, it does not suffice him."

The totality of this is that whoever is imprisoned, buried, or in remote areas far from the cities, such that he cannot determine the months through reports, and the months are confused for him, he must exercise independent reasoning (taharri) and perform ijtihad. When it becomes overwhelmingly likely to him, based on signs that arise within himself, that the month of Ramadan has begun, he shall fast it. This situation involves four possibilities: First, that the reality does not become clear to him; in this case, his fasting is valid and it suffices him, because he performed his obligation through his ijtihad, so it suffices him, just as if he had prayed on a cloudy day based on ijtihad. Second, that it becomes clear to him that he coincided with the month or what follows it; in this case, it suffices him, according to the opinion of the majority of jurists. It has been narrated from al-Hasan ibn Salih that it does not suffice him in these two cases because he fasted based on doubt, so it does not suffice him, just as if he had fasted the day of doubt (yawm al-shakk) and it turned out to be part of Ramadan. This is not correct, because he performed his obligation through ijtihad in its proper place. Thus, if he is correct or if the reality remains unknown to him, it suffices him, like the Qibla if it becomes confused, or prayer on a cloudy day if the time becomes confused. This differs from the day of doubt, for it is not a place for ijtihad, as the Shari'a has commanded fasting it only upon a specific sign it has designated; therefore, as long as that is not found, fasting is not permissible. The third case: he coincides with the period before the month; this does not suffice him, according to the opinion of the majority of jurists. Some Shafi'is said: it suffices him according to one of the two views, as if...