Idul Fitri of This Year Will Fall on Wednesday

 

Jakarta | badilag.net (29/08/2011)

Surya Dharma Ali, the Minister of the Religious Affairs Ministry finally stipulated that Idul Fitri fell on Wednesday, August 31, not Tuesday as designated on the calendar.

He delivered the announcement after an isbat meeting attended by representatives from Muslim organizations and Muslim scholars on Monday evening.

There are two methods how to determine the new moon Islamic calendar, namely hisab, which is based on mathematical calculations, and rukyat or direct observations of the lunar cycle.

For this year, both methods show two different conclusions. According to rukyat , Idul Fitri will fall on August 30. Meanwhile, based on hisab, Idul Fitri will fall on Wednesday, August 31.
. At the time, the altitude of hilal is between 0058’ and 2020’ and it is very difficult to see. Therefore, the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs uses istikmal (by completing fasting of Ramadan for 30 days) and Idul Fitril will fall on Wednesday.

This unseen hilal has been predicted by Wahyu Widiana, an expert from the Directorate of the Religious Courts when he explained why the difference always emerged every year in Indonesia at the Secretariat Building of the Supreme Court, (24/08/).

In a running text of a TV, a researcher from ITB also said that according to the science, hilal is very difficult to see therefore Idul Fitri will fall on Wednesday, August 31.

(Arijaya)