Ministry of Religious Affairs Holds Isbat Session for Eid al-Fitr: Moon Sighting Monitoring for 1 Syawal in Yogyakarta Special Region Centralised in Bantul

The Regional Office (Kanwil) of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) states that the monitoring of the crescent moon for determining 1 Syawal 1447 Hijriah is centralised at the Syekh Bela Belu Moon Observation Post (POB) in Bantul on Thursday afternoon (19/3). The Ministry of Religious Affairs will hold the Isbat session this afternoon.

“Across Indonesia, there are 117 points for conducting rukyatul hilal to determine the start of the month of Syawal,” said the Head of the Islamic Religious Information Division, Zakat Empowerment, and Waqf of Kanwil Kemenag DIY, Nurhuda, on Thursday (19/3).

He explained that moon sighting is part of the process for determining the start of the month of Syawal, which will be reported in the Kemenag Isbat Session.

Moon sighting is supported by hisab data or astronomical calculations as an initial indication of the moon’s position. Based on that, the estimated height of the crescent in the DIY region is in the range of 0 to 3 degrees, with an elongation angle of around 6 degrees.

Furthermore, according to him, this position of the crescent does not yet meet the MABIMS (Ministers of Religious Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore) criteria for determining 1 Syawal, namely a minimum height of 3 degrees and elongation of 6.4 degrees.

With this condition, he continued, Ramadan has the potential to be completed to 30 days, so 1 Syawal is estimated to fall on Saturday (21/3).

“The possibility is Saturday. However, we will wait for the decision of the Isbat Session led by the Minister of Religious Affairs,” he said.