MABIMS State Meets to Set Eid al-Fitr 21 March 2026

Director General of Islamic Affairs Abu Rokhmad said Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore generally made the same decision in determining the beginning of this year's Syawal. (IST)

JAKARTA - MABIMS member countries compactly determine that 1 Syawal 1447 Hijriah falls on Saturday, March 21, 2026. The similarity is considered to be born from the same calculation basis, namely the MABIMS crescent visibility criteria.

Director General of Islamic Affairs Abu Rokhmad said Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore generally made the same decision in determining the beginning of this year's Syawal.

"The MABIMS countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, generally set Idulfitri 1447 H to fall on the same date, namely Saturday, March 21, 2026," said Abu after the press conference for the 1 Syawal 1447 H session in Jakarta, Thursday, March 19, 2026.

According to Abu, as reported by the kemenag website, the similarities did not come suddenly. All of them are based on the MABIMS criteria, namely the minimum hilal height of 3 degrees and an elongation of 6.4 degrees. From the exposure of hisab data, the position of the crescent moon on 29 Ramadan 1447 H in Indonesia is at an altitude of 0.91 degrees to 3.13 degrees, with an elongation of 4.54 degrees to 6.1 degrees.

This means that even though in some high areas the crescent has touched the minimum limit, the overall requirement has not been met because the elongation is still below the threshold set. In that condition, the crescent is considered not possible to be observed.

The astronomical findings are in line with the results of the rukyat in the field. From all monitoring points, there were no reports of the crescent being visible. Therefore, the beginning of Syawal was determined by istikmal or completing Ramadan to 30 days.

"Because the hilal does not meet the visibility criteria and was not successfully observed, the initial determination of Shawwal was carried out with istikmal, so it fell on March 21, 2026," said Abu.

He added that the results of observations in MABIMS countries also strengthened the decision. Malaysia set Idulfitri on March 21 after monitoring the crescent moon and the approval of the Council of Rulers. Brunei made a similar decision after the crescent was not visible. Singapore also set the same date.