Mahfud MD: We Must Build Harmony Even Though It's A Time Difference

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD during a meeting with Commission III on Wednesday, March 29. (Screenshot-VOI)

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD invites all parties to always build harmony in the midst of the potential difference in Eid Al-Fitr 1444 Hijri time.

Therefore, Mahfud emphasized the appeal for local governments (Pemda) to accommodate the use of public facilities for the implementation of the Eid al-Fitr prayer 1444 Hijri or 2023 AD this week.

"The government urges public facilities such as fields managed by local governments to be opened and allowed for Eid prayers if there are mass organizations or groups of people who want to use them. Local governments are asked to accommodate. We must build harmony even though the holidays are different," Mahfud said on his Twitter account, @mohmahfudmd, Tuesday 18 April.

Mahfud continued his tweet by emphasizing that despite differences, the determination of Eid al-Fitr 1444 H was both carried out based on the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad SAW.

He quoted hadiths as saying "Blessing yourself if you look at the hilal (month) and for days at the highway if you look at the hilal," adding that the process of determining the hilal can be done in two ways, namely rukyat and reckoning.

"It means that after seeing the hilal on the 1st of the Hijriyah month, seeing the hilal can be done with rukyat, it can be done with history," he tweeted.

Mahfud explained that rukyat is the process of seeing hilal with naked eyes assisted by binoculars such as the practice that was carried out during the Prophet Muhammad's time.

Meanwhile, the reckoning is the process of seeing the hilal with astronomical calculations while adding that the rukyat process is always preceded by the reckoning before being subjected to physical checks.

"NU (Nahdlatul Ulama, ed.) and Muhammadiyah are both for days on the 1st of Syawal. The difference is only in seeing the height of the hilal," Mahfud tweeted.

The government appealed to public facilities such as field managed by local governments to open and permit the location of Eid prayers if there were mass organizations or community groups who wanted to use them. The village government was also asked to accommodate. The series of Mahfud's tweets emerged after a polemic related to the reluctance of a number of local governments to issue permits for the use of public facilities in the form of public fields for Eid al-Fitr 1444 H prayers from Muhammadiyah pilgrims on Friday, April 21.