<![CDATA[Classical Shāfiʿī jurisprudence restricts formal testimony in lunar-sighting cases to male witnesses, while contemporary Muslim societies increasingly rely on scientifically trained women in astronomical observation. This tension raises an important question concerning whether gender should remain a determinative criterion in evaluating epistemic credibility within modern religious governance. Drawing on qualitative textual analysis of al-Shāfiʿī’s al-Umm, this study combines Emilio Betti’s historical hermeneutics with Najm al-Dīn al-Ṭūfī’s theory of maṣlaḥah to reassess the legal status of women’s testimony in rukyat al-hilāl. The analysis argues that al-Shāfiʿī’s evidentiary restriction should be interpreted within the gendered social and epistemic conditions of his historical milieu rather than as an explicit judgment on women’s inherent intellectual capacity. It further distinguishes between the immutable ritual objective of determining the beginning of religious observances and the empirical means (wasīlah) through which lunar visibility is established. In contemporary Indonesia, where women increasingly participate in formal astronomical education, scientific institutions, and crescent observation, this historical shift provides grounds for reconsidering categorical gender exclusion in testimony. The study therefore proposes a competence-based evidentiary framework in which scientifically verifiable testimony by qualified women may be recognized without altering the normative substance of ritual worship. The article contributes to contemporary Islamic legal theory by demonstrating how historical hermeneutics and maṣlaḥah can jointly address gendered epistemic authority while preserving the objectives of justice, public benefit, and religious certainty.]]>
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