February 18, 2026 | 07:05 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has set the start of Ramadan 1447 H/2026 CE on Thursday, February 19, 2026. Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar stated that the determination of the start of Ramadan was based on deliberation during an isbat (confirmation) meeting at the Borobudur Hotel, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, February 17, 2026.
"We consulted with experts, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), and Islamic community organizations," he said.
The isbat meeting was attended by leaders of Islamic organizations, astronomy and astronomy experts from universities, as well as representatives from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the Geospatial Information Agency, the Jakarta Planetarium, and members of the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Hisab Rukyat Team.
The determination of the start of Ramadan is based on the visibility of the crescent moon (hilal) as determined by MABIMS (the Ministers of Religious Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore). The MABIMS criteria include a minimum crescent moon height of 3 degrees and a minimum elongation angle of 6.4 degrees.
The deliberation, he said, was based on the results of the hisab and rukyat (seeking of the crescent moon) conducted by the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Hisab Rukyat Team and Islamic organizations. Based on the altitude of the crescent moon throughout the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, it is still below the horizon, with a range between minus 2 degrees 24' 43" (minus 2.41 degrees) and minus 0 degrees 55' 41" (-0.93 degrees). Meanwhile, the elongation angle ranges from 0 degrees 56' 23" (0.94 degrees) to 1 degree 53' 36" (1.89 degrees).
Nasaruddin said these results do not meet the criteria for rukyat. "In fact, astronomically, the crescent moon is not yet visible, so based on hisab, today's crescent moon data does not meet the MABIMS crescent visibility criteria," he said.
These results were also confirmed by reports from the rukyat (seeking of the crescent moon) sent by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. This year, rukyat was conducted at 96 observation points across all provinces in Indonesia. "There were no reports of the crescent moon being sighted from any observation point," he said.
The imam of the Istiqlal Mosque also stated that no Islamic countries have yet met the criteria for rukyat imkan. The Turkish version of the Global Hijri calendar also does not start Ramadan tomorrow.
Read: Indonesia Confirms Start of Ramadan on February 19
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