Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs has officially declared that Eid al-Fitr will fall on Saturday, March 21, 2026, following the annual isbat hearing—a uniquely Indonesian process that demonstrates how the world's largest Muslim-majority democracy manages religious pluralism within Islam itself.
The announcement came after the sidang isbat (verification hearing) held at the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jakarta, where government officials, Islamic scholars, and astronomers convened to determine the start of Shawwal, the Islamic month following Ramadan.
"Based on the results of astronomical calculations and the isbat hearing, we have agreed that 1 Shawwal 1447 Hijriah falls on Saturday, March 21, 2026," announced Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar during the press conference Thursday evening.
In Indonesia, as across archipelagic democracies, unity in diversity requires constant negotiation across islands, ethnicities, and beliefs. The Eid date determination process exemplifies this principle in action, as the government mediates between different Islamic methodologies while respecting organizational autonomy.
The process highlights Indonesia's distinctive approach to Islamic governance. Unlike many Muslim-majority nations with single religious authorities, Indonesia accommodates methodological differences between its major Islamic organizations while providing government coordination for national coherence.
Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Islamic organization with tens of millions of members, had previously announced that Eid would fall on Friday, March 20, based on its hisab hakiki wujudul hilal methodology—a purely astronomical calculation that considers the new moon's existence above the horizon.
Meanwhile, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the nation's largest Islamic organization, predicted Saturday, March 21, based on imkanur rukyah criteria, which requires not just the moon's presence but its visibility potential—a standard closer to traditional moon-sighting practices.
The government's isbat hearing process synthesizes these approaches. Officials present astronomical calculations showing the moon's position across Indonesia's multiple time zones, stretching from to . Hundreds of observation posts across the archipelago attempt actual moon sighting (), with results reported to .
