Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar announced that the\ngovernment has determined the start of Ramadan 1447 H\/2026 to fall on\nThursday, 19 February 2026. The reason is that the position of the\ncrescent moon (hilal) across Indonesian territory on Tuesday, 17\nFebruary 2026 did not meet the MABIMS criteria.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been agreed that 1 Ramadan 1447 H falls on Thursday, 19\nFebruary 2026,\u201d he said after conducting an isbat session at Hotel\nBorobudur, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, 17 February 2026.<\/p>\n
He explained that the government uses the MABIMS criteria to\ndetermine the start of Ramadan. MABIMS \u2014 an acronym for the Ministers of\nReligious Affairs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore \u2014 is a\ncrescent moon visibility standard that stipulates a minimum hilal\naltitude of 3 degrees above the horizon and a minimum elongation angle\n(the angular distance between the moon and the sun) of 6.4 degrees at\nsunset.<\/p>\n
On 17 February 2026, the hilal altitude across Indonesian territory\nranged from minus 2.41 degrees to minus 0.93 degrees, whilst the\nelongation angle ranged from 0.94 degrees to 1.89 degrees. Nasaruddin\nstated that neither the hilal position nor the elongation in Indonesia\nreached the minimum threshold.<\/p>\n
Cecep Nurwendaya, a member of the Ministry of Religious Affairs\u2019\nHisab Rukyat (astronomical calculation and observation) Team, had\npreviously stated that the start of Ramadan 1447 H\/2026 would coincide\nwith Thursday Pahing, 19 February 2026. He noted that the hilal position\nacross Indonesian territory on Tuesday, 17 February 2026 did not meet\nthe MABIMS criteria for determining the start of Ramadan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on the MABIMS criteria, on 29 Sha\u2019ban 1447 H\/17 February 2026,\nthe hilal position across Indonesian territory did not meet the altitude\ncriteria anywhere. Therefore, 1 Ramadan 1447 H by astronomical\ncalculation falls on Thursday Pahing, 19 February 2026,\u201d he said during\na seminar on hilal positioning at Hotel Borobudur, Central Jakarta, on\nTuesday, 17 February 2026.<\/p>\n
Data from the previous day, 16 February 2026, showed that the moon\u2019s\naltitude was even lower, at minus 11.93 degrees. Meanwhile, on 17\nFebruary 2026, the hilal altitude ranged from minus 2 degrees 24 minutes\n43 seconds in Jayapura to minus 0.93 degrees in the Mentawai Islands.\nThe elongation ranged from 0.94 degrees to 1.89 degrees.<\/p>\n
Conversely, on 18 February 2026, the moon\u2019s altitude is projected to\nreach 8.76 degrees with an illumination fraction of 0.94 per cent. Under\nthese conditions, Cecep said the moon would already have the potential\nto be visible as a young crescent tilting northward, as the moon\u2019s\nposition would be to the north of the sun.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-determines-start-of-ramadan-as-thursday-19-february-2026-1771424211", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }