Ministry of Religious Affairs: 1 Shawwal Crescent Not Visible in Maluku

Ambon (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) Provincial Office in Maluku states that the 1 Shawwal 1445 H crescent moon has not been sighted in the Maluku region based on observations carried out in Wakasihu Village, Leihitu Barat Subdistrict, Central Maluku Regency, on Thursday.

“The rukyatul hilal results indicate that the crescent’s altitude remains below the criteria set by the Ministers of Religious Affairs from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore (MABIMS),” said the Head of the Maluku Regional Office (Kanwil) of Kemenag, Yamin, in Ambon on Thursday.

He explained that the observations recorded a crescent height of about 1.528 degrees with an elongation of 4.26 degrees. These figures are still far below the MABIMS criteria, which require a minimum height of 3 degrees and elongation of 6.4 degrees for the crescent to be visible.

Based on these conditions, he continued, the crescent in the Maluku region is assessed as impossible to see.

“If viewed from the existing crescent altitude and elongation, it can be concluded that the crescent cannot be seen in Maluku at this time,” he stated.

The crescent observation was conducted by the Maluku Kanwil Kemenag together with the Ambon BMKG Geophysics Station in the area of Masjid Cakmarussalam, Wakasihu Village, from 16:00 WIT until sunset.

“With an altitude of around 1.5 degrees, elongation of about 4 degrees, and moon age of around 8 hours, the potential for visibility is very small, even nearly impossible,” he said.

In addition to the crescent’s position factors, he noted, the partly cloudy weather conditions at the observation site also affected visibility.

The observation results will subsequently be submitted to the central government as material for consideration in the Sidang Isbat for determining 1 Shawwal 1445 H.

The Maluku Kanwil Kemenag states that the final decision on setting Eid al-Fitr will await the outcome of the Sidang Isbat held by the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs this evening.