Ramadhan may start differently

SURABAYA: Muslims may not begin the holy fasting month of Ramadhan on the same day this month as Indonesia's largest Islamic organizations will likely set different dates.

Leaders of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the nation's biggest Muslim group, said in East Java on Thursday that Ramadhan will likely start on Nov. 17, while Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim group, will start the holy month one day earlier, referring to the general calender.

The difference takes place due to the two groups' distinctive traditional ways of determining the date of Ramadhan. NU uses rukyah (determination by sighting of the moon), while Muhammadiyah uses hisab (determination by calender calculation).

The NU's East Java chapter recently issued a special calender, setting the start of Ramadhan on Nov. 17. It said the moon would not appear on Nov. 15, so the Islamic month of Sya'ban would end on Nov. 16, a day after which, it added, Ramadhan must begin.

However, Sholeh Hayat, a NU leader who is also a member of the group's rukyah team in East Java, said it would conduct rukyah on the evening of Nov. 15 at beaches across the country to determine whether the moon appeared or not on that day.

"If the moon can been seen with naked eyes on Nov. 15, we will begin fasting a day after that day. If not, we will complete Sya'ban into 30 days and we will start Ramadhan on Nov. 17," he said.

Meanwhile, the consultative council of Muhammadiyah in East Java said Ramadhan begins on Nov. 16. It argued that based on hisab conducted by its team, the moon will have to appear at 01:41 p.m. on that day.

Almost every year in recent times, NU and Muhammadiyah members began Ramadhan or celebrated Idul Fitri, the post-fasting month festivities, on different days. However, such a difference was dubbed as normal by Muslims. --JP