Government Determines 1 Syawal 1447 H to Fall on 21 March 2026
The government has determined that 1 Syawal 1447 Hijriah falls on Saturday, 21 March 2026. This decision was made during the sidang isbat chaired by Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar on Thursday, 19 March 2026.
Nasaruddin stated that the results of hilal monitoring across all regions of Indonesia showed that the position of the young crescent moon did not meet the criteria set by MABIMS, particularly in terms of elongation.
“The height of the hilal above the horizon ranged from 0 degrees 54 minutes 27 seconds to about 3 degrees, with elongation starting from 4 degrees 32 minutes 40 seconds,” he said during a press conference at the Ministry of Religious Affairs office.
He added that based on the rukyatul hilal results from various areas, there were no reports of the hilal being sighted. Therefore, the government decided to complete the month of Ramadan as 30 days (istikmal), so 1 Syawal falls on Saturday.
Previously, the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Rukyatul Hilal Team had predicted the potential for differences in determining the start of Syawal this year.
Member of the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Rukyatul Hilal Team, Cecep Nurwendaya, explained that in some regions such as Aceh, the hilal height had indeed reached 3 degrees—meeting the MABIMS threshold.
However, the elongation parameter did not meet the minimum requirement of 6.4 degrees.
“Thus, 1 Syawal by calculation falls on Saturday, 21 March 2026 because the hilal does not meet the elongation criteria,” said Cecep at the Hilal Position Seminar in the HM Rasjidi Auditorium.
In general, the hilal height in Indonesia ranged from 0.91 degrees to 3.13 degrees, with elongation between 4.54 degrees and 6.10 degrees. This condition theoretically makes the hilal difficult to sight.
The same view was expressed by the Chairman of the Inter-Institutional Relations Division of the Al Jam’iyatul Washliyah Central Board, Julian Lukman. He stated that calculations at several points also showed the hilal did not meet visibility criteria.
In Jayapura, the hilal height was recorded at 1° 0’ 58.04’‘; in Pelabuhan Ratu 1° 39’ 0.57’‘; in Medan 2° 36’ 40.78’‘; and in Lhoknga, Aceh 2° 50’ 27.33’’, with elongation around 6.01 degrees.
With these conditions, Ramadan is expected to be completed as 30 days because it does not meet the MABIMS imkan rukyah criteria, namely a minimum hilal height of 3 degrees and elongation of 6.4 degrees.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Islamic Community Guidance at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Abu Rokhmad, explained that astronomically (by calculation), the ijtimak preceding Syawal occurred on 19 March 2026 at 08.23 WIB.
On the day of sighting, the hilal height in Indonesia was above the horizon ranging from 0°54’27’’ to 3°7’52’’, while elongation was between 4°32’40’’ and 6°06’11’’.
Nevertheless, the determination of the start of Syawal still refers to the rukyatul hilal results conducted in various regions.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs conducted hilal monitoring at 117 points across Indonesia, involving regional offices, religious courts, Islamic community organisations, and various related agencies.
The sidang isbat was also attended by representatives of friendly country ambassadors, Commission VIII of the DPR, the Supreme Court, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG), the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), as well as falak and astronomy experts from various institutions.