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View all search resultsIdul Fitri falls on Saturday, says govt
The government has declared that Idul Fitri will fall on Saturday, following an isbat (moon sighting confirmation) meeting on Thursday night.
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Officials use a telescope to observe the position of the moon on March 19, 2026, ahead of Idul Fitri, marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jakarta. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
T
he government has declared that Idul Fitri, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, will fall on Saturday, following an isbat (moon sighting confirmation) meeting on Thursday night.
The government combines the old-fashioned sighting of the moon with astronomical calculations called hisab to determine when the Idul Fitri holiday falls.
“Based on astronomical calculations and the moon sighting process, we decided that Idul Fitri falls on Saturday,” Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar told a press briefing after the moon sighting confirmation meeting on Thursday in Jakarta.
The meeting concluded with a decision on the Idul Fitri date after the hilal (first crescent moon marking a new month in the Islamic lunar calendar) was not visible at sunset on Thursday from nearly 100 observation points across the country.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Islamic organizations including the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), as well as officials from the House of Representatives and other relevant institutions.
The date is one day later than the date determined by Muhammadiyah, the country’s second-largest Muslim organization, which had earlier calculated using hisab that Idul Fitri holiday would fall on Friday.
Discrepancies in the dates set for Idul Fitri and other Islamic festivities are common between the government and Muslim organizations because of the different methods used to determine the start of the 12 Islamic months.
