Eid Amidst War and the Lobster
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, Eid al-Fitr 1447 Hijriah has once again arrived with the familiar dynamics for Indonesian society, namely the difference in date determination. Muhammadiyah, using the Single Global Hijri Calendar (KHGT) officially implemented since 2025, will celebrate Eid on Friday, 20 March 2026. Meanwhile, the government, through the isbat session, has set 1 Syawal on Saturday, 21 March 2026, after the crescent moon was deemed not to meet visibility criteria on the previous night.
This one-day difference is not about who is right or wrong. As I wrote in this Lentera column some time ago, both parties start from the same goal, namely determining when the new Hijri month begins, with differences in thinking frameworks and basic assumptions used.
Eid al-Fitr 1447 Hijriah this time also arrives amid a world that is not faring well. For a full month, Muslims have observed Ramadan under the shadow of war news, rockets flying in the skies over Tehran, radars destroyed, schools demolished by missiles, and videos whose authenticity can no longer be trusted. The echoes of takbir resounding everywhere feel in stark contrast to the roar of conflicts that have yet to subside in West Asia.
Nevertheless, it is precisely here that Eid al-Fitr always finds its deepest relevance. Eid al-Fitr serves as a reminder to every human being that, no matter how complicated the world outside is, there is always an opportunity to return, renew intentions, and continue steps forward.
Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr this year also bear witness to two seemingly opposing yet interconnected things. On one side, the war between Iran and the United States and Israel continues to show the darkest face of human civilisation. On the other side, in the same digital spaces where war videos circulate, a technological phenomenon is changing the way millions of people work, learn, and live their daily lives.
In early 2026, an Austrian software developer named Peter Steinberger launched a simple project. An AI assistant that can be conversed with via WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord, capable of performing real tasks on the computer, from managing files, scheduling work, to automatically browsing the web, even while the user is sleeping.
The project is named OpenClaw, which in the first 72 hours since its public launch garnered 60,000 stars on the GitHub platform. By March 2026, the number exceeded 250,000 stars, surpassing React, one of the most influential software projects in Internet history. OpenClaw has become the fastest-growing open-source project in history. What sets OpenClaw apart from previous AI assistants is its agentic nature; besides answering questions, it can also take actions.
More than 100 modular skills or capabilities are available and continue to grow from contributions by the global community. In China, enthusiasm for OpenClaw is so great that thousands queued in front of Tencent’s office in Shenzhen to request installation help. This phenomenon is jokingly termed by the local community as “raising a lobster,” referring to the project’s red crab logo.
However, the emergence of OpenClaw is not without critical notes. Security researchers have found thousands of OpenClaw instances exposed on the public Internet with serious security vulnerabilities. This reminds us of the message I have repeatedly conveyed in this Lentera column: extraordinary capabilities always come hand in hand with equal risks.
Amid the war of disinformation using AI to produce fake videos, and amid AI assistants now capable of taking real autonomous actions, literacy regarding this technology is no longer a choice but a fundamental need for every citizen.
It is in this context that the meaning of Eid al-Fitr finds a new dimension. Fitrah means returning to the origin, renewing oneself, and setting clearer intentions to move forward. Returning does not mean rejecting change, but ensuring that amid the pace of change that nearly exceeds our ability to comprehend, human values remain the compass. An AI assistant can work without sleep, but it can never replace the depth of intention, honesty, and responsibility that form the core of every human deed.
As an academic at Amikom Yogyakarta University, the Eid moment is always a time for reflection on the never-ending journey of learning. Amikom Yogyakarta University, with study programmes from D3 to S3 levels based on Informatics, serves as a space to build competencies in a structured and responsible manner, in an era where autonomous AI assistants like OpenClaw and disinformation wars based on Generative AI appear together on the same screen.
Differences in holiday determination, ongoing wars in Persian lands, and astonishing yet alarming technological leaps—all present in this year’s Eid. Eid al-Fitr still arrives on time, always reminding that amid all the noise, something far more important must be preserved: a clean heart, upright intentions, and the resolve to continue learning and contributing. Allah SWT says: “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (QS. Ar-Ra’d: 11). Happy Eid al-Fitr 1447 Hijriah. Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum. Wallāhu a’lam.