Jakarta - Millions of Muslims in Indonesia - the world's
most populous Muslim country - on Monday begin fasting for the holy
month of Ramadan, local media reported.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs announced the government's
decision on Sunday evening that Monday is start of the fasting month
of Ramadan after a meeting with leaders of Islamic organizations in
the country, including the two largest ones, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
and Muhammadiyah.
But at least two small groups of Muslims in east Java district of
Jember and in Gowa of South Sulawesi, began their fast on Sunday, The
Jakarta Post reported.
In most years, Muslims in Indonesia start fasting on different
days according to their own lunar observations.
Religious Minister Maftuh Basyuni said that based on data from 27
monitoring posts across the country, only four reported to have seen
a small crescent of the moon, while the majority of the posts, due to
bad weather, said they had difficulty to see hilal (the moon), which
marks the start of the month in the Islamic lunar calendar.
'Based on their reports, it was agreed that the first day of
Ramadan this year fell on Monday (September 1),' the state-run Antara
news agency quoted Basyuni as saying after chairing the meeting to
determine the start of Ramadan, which was also attended by
ambassadors from Muslim nations.
Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim organization,
relies on astronomical calculation to determine the start of the holy
month, while Nahdlatul Ulama, which claims to have 40 million
followers, uses the sighting to the new moon, called rukyah.
During the holy month, Muslims abstain from food and drink from
sunrise to sunset, in accordance with one of the five pillars of
their religion. The daily fast is broken by prayers and festive meals.
Ramadan is the ninth month in the lunar calendar, when the Islamic
holy book, the Koran, was first revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.
Nearly 88 per cent of Indonesia's 230 million people adhere to
Islam, making it the world's most populous Muslim nation.
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