Idul Fitri comes early for several sects

Syofiardi Bachyul and Andi Hajramurni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Padang, Makassar   |  Tue, 09/30/2008 10:20 AM  |  The Archipelago

Although the government has predetermined that the Idul Fitri holiday falls on Wednesday, several Islamic sects have already celebrated the holiday earlier, on Monday and Tuesday.

Members of the Tariqah Naqsyabandiyah Tariqah in West Sumatra performed their Ied mass prayer Monday while those of the An-Nadzir in South Sulawesi are set to perform the prayer on Tuesday.

More than one thousand Tariqah Naqsyabandiyah members performed the Ied prayer Monday morning at various surau or small mosques across West Sumatra including those in the provincial capital Padang, Padang Pariaman, Pesisir Selatan, Solok and Pasaman regencies.

On the eve of Idul Fitri, group members performed the takbiran ritual in which members chanted God's greatness.

After performing the Ied prayer for an hour, the devotees listened to a sermon delivered in Arabic.

After all the rituals ended, they enjoyed snacks brought by some of the followers, mostly women and men aged more than 55 years old.

A Naqsyabandiyah leader, Syahbadar, said the congregation members celebrated Idul Fitri on Monday because they had already performed the fasting for 30 days, the most number of days in a month in the Islamic calendar.

They started fasting on Aug. 30, two days earlier than other Muslims.

"We have calculated traditionally the coming of Ramadan and Syawal based on our own hisab (astronomical calculations) and rukyah (visual observations) that always come two days earlier than other calculations," said Syahbadar after leading the prayer.

He said that the Naqsyabandiyah sect followed the teaching of one of the Prophet Muhammad's students, Imam Syafei. The teaching was brought to West Sumatra by Buya Muhammad Tayib in 1885 and was spread first at Pauh and Lubuk Kilangan districts in Padang.

Separately, followers of Jamaah An-Nadzir in Bonto Marannu district, Gowa regency, South Sulawesi had broken and ended their fast Monday at 3 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Jakarta time) as they believed it was already Syawal 1.

The An-Nadzir devotees are set to hold Ied prayer Tuesday morning.

An Nadzir leader, Lukman, said that they decided to break and stop the fast Monday because they had seen the signs through the hisab and rukyah methods.

They said they had seen hilal or the new moon in the west on Monday about 5:50 a.m., therefore, they were sure that the Ramadan month had ended and the Syawal month had begun.

To confirm their decision, they then observed the waves on Galesong beach in Takalar regency, South Sulawesi.

An-Nadzir followers believe that the end of Ramadan is indicated by the highest mark of high tide, influenced by the sun and moon's gravitation when in a straight line, in which earth was in between along the same line.

"Later, the low tide comes when the sun and moon separate and that's when the month changes," said Lukman.

On Monday, between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., the tide at Galesong beach reached its highest level and was already receding at 3 p.m. Therefore, An Nadzir followers decided Syawal 1 had arrived.

Currently it is said that there are more than 1,000 An-Nadzir followers spread across the country.

The largest group of them, 150 families, or some 800 people, reside at their compound in Bonto Marannu.

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