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Govt aims to synchronize start of this year's Ramadhan

Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin says that he aims to synchronize the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan between Indonesia’s two biggest Muslim groups, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Sat, May 23, 2015

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Govt aims to synchronize start of this year's Ramadhan

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eligious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin says that he aims to synchronize the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan between Indonesia'€™s two biggest Muslim groups, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

Muhammadiyah and NU often set different dates for when Ramadan begins and ends, as Muhammadiyah relies on hisab or astronomical calculations to establish the start date, while NU follows rukyah or the sighting of the new moon.

The minister will discuss the matter in a meeting with the organizations slated to be held soon.

'€œWe will try to make the start of Ramadhan the same for both Muhammadiyah and NU. We will have a meeting to discuss this matter,'€ said Lukman in Palopo, South Sulawesi, on Saturday as quoted by tempo.co.

The ministry plans to conduct an isbat (confirmation) meeting with the ulemas, all of the Muslim organizations and religious figures.

Muhammadiyah recently announced the start of Ramadhan to be on June 18 while the end of Ramadan, or the start of Idul Fitri, would fall on July 17.

'€œWe will see if it'€™s going to be rounded to 30 days or just 29 days, but we will still aim for conformity,'€ he concluded. (fsu) (++++)

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