Idul Fitri or not…Only God knows?

By: Emma Kwee

Fantastic, by the time I finished editing our article for Idul Fitri, confusion broke out on twitter and Facebook. Apparently the end of Ramadan, calculated by the position of the moon, will now fall on wednesday the 31st instead of the 30th of August.

As the Jakarta Globe stated:

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has announced that Idul Fitri will fall on Wednesday, Aug. 31, not Tuesday as most calendars assume. The decision was taken following a session at the ministry on Monday afternoon and was announced by Religion Minister Suryadharma Ali.

The result was not far from previous predictions, but was taken because the moon’s position is still less than two degrees above the horizon. The start of idul fitri is determined by the position of the moon.

Unfortunately, this means another day of fasting and working, and rearranging travel plans. To add to the confusion, some muezzin’s already started singing the takbiran prayers signifying the end of the Ramadan. Some funny reactions on Facebook:

‘Indonesia, Indonesia…Saudi Arabia celebrates Lebaran tomorrow. Really in Indonesia on the 31st? That doesn’t make any sense, the sun rises earlier in Indonesia than in the Middle East…so automatically  we should celebrate lebaran tomorrow the 3oth!’

‘Huh? Earlier I heard the sounds of takbiran from the mosque close to my home and now it’s gone…what happened?’

‘Just celebrate lebaran tomorrow…I already made ketupat’ (a traditional snack of steamed rice)!

‘Let’s hope lebaran is tomorrow, so my teeth can heal!’

‘Since there is no agreement, some say Idul Fitri is on wednesday, others say it’s on tuesday, the government has decided that we will start the Ramadan all over again’!

So in conclusion, hang in there, one more day, while I hang on to the Idul Fitri article;-)