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Muhammadiyah: Idul Fitri falls on July 28

Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has announced that according to the Islamic calendar, the first day of Syawal 1435, or Idul Fitri, will fall on Monday,July 28

Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post)
Yogyakarta
Sat, July 19, 2014

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Muhammadiyah: Idul Fitri falls on July 28

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ndonesia'€™s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has announced that according to the Islamic calendar, the first day of Syawal 1435, or Idul Fitri, will fall on Monday,July 28.

With the announcement, Muhammadiyah followers will celebrate the Idul Fitri holiday marking the end of the Ramadhan fasting month on July 28.

'€œWe call on Muhammadiyah followers to get prepared for the Idul Fitri mass prayers at fields in their respective locations on Monday, July 28,'€ the organization deputy chairman overseeing Islamic thought issues, Yunahar Ilyas, told the press on Friday.

He said that the organization'€™s decision to mark the first day of the month in accordance with the Islamic calendar was made using three criteria grounded in the concept of hisab hakiki wujudul-hilal (calculation of the moon).

The criteria included itjimak (conjunction between the moon and the sun), which occurs before the sunset when the moon is still above the horizon.

Yunahar also called on Muslims in Indonesia to take advantage of the Idul Fitri spirit to maintain friendships.

He also called on the Religious Affairs Ministry to conduct the isbat meeting '€” which is when the government officially decides the start-date for the Idul Fitri holiday '€” behind closed doors, saying that doing so was preferable to conducting such a discussion openly.

He said if the public were allowed to monitor the meeting, then prolonged and unnecessary debates would emerge, adding that it was undesirable for Muslims to see a divided leadership.

Yunahar also asked the ministry to act fairly if it decided Idul Fitri would fall on a different date by allowing Muslims celebrating on July 28 to do so freely.

Although the government calendar states that Idul Fitri begins on July 28, the ministry usually conducts the isbat meeting openly with representatives of Muslim organizations to make an official announcement.

The country'€™s largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has not yet announced the start-date for Idul Fitri, as it applies rukyatul hilal (watching the moon) on the day before Idul Fitri to make its final decision.

Separately, Muhammadiyah'€™s deputy chairman overseeing science and technology, Oman Fathurohman, said that when the sun sets on July 27 in Yogyakarta, the moon would remain above the horizon at a height of 3 degrees, 37 minutes and 48 seconds, meaning that the hilal (new moon) would be present.

'€œWith this [finding], all the wujudul hilal criteria has been met so that when the sun sets on Sunday, July 27, we will enter the first day of Syawal 1435 H and leave Ramadhan behind,'€ Oman said.

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