Prabowo kisses the hand of the Al-Falah Islamic boarding school head at the Merdeka Palace

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - President Prabowo Subianto was seen kissing the hand of KH Nurul Huda Djazuli, the head of Al-Falah Islamic Boarding School, Ploso Mojo Kediri, as he gathered ulama at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday evening, 5 March 2026. The moment was captured in a video distributed by the President’s Secretariat. According to the video, the head of state went around greeting each invited guest individually, accompanied by a kasidah. The event took place after he broke the fast with a number of leaders of religious organisations at the Merdeka Palace that Thursday. As the distance between him and KH Nurul Huda Djazuli narrowed, Prabowo hurried forward. He then bowed deeply, around 90 degrees, and saluted the pesantren leader. It is noted that other pesantren heads also attended the gathering. They included KH Hasan Abdullah Sahal, head of Ponpes Gontor; KH Kafabihi Ali Mahrus, head of Ponpes Lirboyo Kediri; and Miftah Maulana Habiburrohman (Gus Miftah), leader of Ora Aji Pesantren in Sleman. For information, a number of ulama, preachers, and pesantren heads were seen arriving at the Jakarta Presidential Palace on Thursday evening from around 7:00 pm local time. Earlier that afternoon, leaders of Islamic mass organisations began arriving at the Jakarta Presidential Palace, following an invitation from President Prabowo Subianto to break the fast together at the palace that evening. The General Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Anwar Iskandar arrived at 15:54 WIB, accompanied by the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Nusron Wahid. Subsequently, the General Chairman of PP Muhammadiyah Haedar Nashir arrived, accompanied by Muhammadiyah cadres and the Coordinating Minister for Food Security Zulkifli Hasan. At exactly 16:00 WIB, Rais Aam PBNU Miftachul Akhyar arrived at the Presidential Palace; he was seen wearing a suit with a sarong and a black peci. “We will break the fast together. Later, all the general chairs of Islamic mass organisations, along with preachers and pesantren heads; the large, well-networked pesantrens,” he said on Thursday.