Ministry of Religious Affairs: Hilal of 1 Syawal Does Not Meet MABIMS Criteria in Merauke

Jayapura (ANTARA) - The Regional Office (Kanwil) of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) of Papua Province stated that the hilal as the marker for the beginning of the month of Syawal 1447 Hijriah did not meet the visibility criteria during monitoring at the Moon Observation Post (POB) in Merauke, South Papua. Head of the Papua Kanwil Kemenag, Klemens Taran, in a press release in Jayapura on Thursday, said that the determination of the start of the Hijriah month, including Syawal, refers to the criteria set by the Ministers of Religious Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore (MABIMS). “Those criteria stipulate that the hilal can be declared visible if it has a minimum height of three degrees and a minimum elongation of 6.4 degrees,” he said. “Nevertheless, the rukyatul hilal activity was still carried out as part of field verification of astronomical calculations, as well as material for consideration in the Sidang Isbat held by the central government,” he stated. He also explained the differences in methods for determining the start of the Hijriah month that often occur among the community. Based on BMKG data, he said, the height of the hilal at sunset was recorded at around 0.91 degrees with an elongation of 4.04 degrees, so according to the imkanur rukyat criteria, the hilal is considered difficult to see. “Therefore, all Muslims in the Land of Papua are asked to wait for the results of the Sidang Isbat from the centre,” he said.