Muslims are about to welcome the sacred month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and the start date of Ramadan 2026 has once again become a public focus. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, through the "2026 Indonesian Hijri Calendar," predicted that the first day of Ramadan 1447 AH is expected to fall on February 18, 2026 (Wednesday) or February 19, 2026 (Thursday). The government's final official determination will be based on the results of the moon sighting conference held at the end of Sha'ban.
Meanwhile, the Muhammadiyah organization of Indonesia has already determined, based on the global unified Hijri calendar, that the first day of Ramadan 1447 AH is February 18, 2026 (Wednesday), with its criteria referencing astronomical parameters of a lunar altitude not less than 5 degrees and an angular distance of 8 degrees from the Earth. Ramadan in 2026 is expected to begin in February, which intuitively reflects the characteristic of the Hijri calendar advancing each year. The date transition of this calendar is based on sunset, which is fundamentally different from the Gregorian calendar, which uses local midnight as the start of the day and is calculated based on Earth's 24-hour rotation cycle.
Furthermore, the two calendars differ in the structure of the number of days in a month. The Gregorian calendar has 12 months with days ranging from 29 to 31, whereas each month in the Hijri calendar is fixed at 29 or 30 days. This difference in the calculation system results in the Hijri calendar year being shorter in total duration than the Gregorian calendar, causing all Islamic calendar months, including Ramadan, to advance relative to the Gregorian calendar each year, rarely coinciding with the start of Gregorian months.
However, a special case occurred in 2025, when the first day of Ramadan in the Islamic calendar coincided with the start of a Gregorian month, falling on March 1. This date was determined by the Central Board for Doctrinal Interpretation and Renewal of the Muhammadiyah organization, based on precise astronomical calculations and moon sighting results. As a result, Muslims from both the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah organizations were able to begin Ramadan fasting on the same day, March 1, 2025.
Muslims are about to welcome the sacred month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and the start date of Ramadan 2026 has once again become a public focus. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, through the "2026 Indonesian Hijri Calendar," predicted that the first day of Ramadan 1447 AH is expected to fall on February 18, 2026 (Wednesday) or February 19, 2026 (Thursday). The government's final official determination will be based on the results of the moon sighting conference held at the end of Sha'ban.
Meanwhile, the Muhammadiyah organization of Indonesia has already determined, based on the global unified Hijri calendar, that the first day of Ramadan 1447 AH is February 18, 2026 (Wednesday), with its criteria referencing astronomical parameters of a lunar altitude not less than 5 degrees and an angular distance of 8 degrees from the Earth. Ramadan in 2026 is expected to begin in February, which intuitively reflects the characteristic of the Hijri calendar advancing each year. The date transition of this calendar is based on sunset, which is fundamentally different from the Gregorian calendar, which uses local midnight as the start of the day and is calculated based on Earth's 24-hour rotation cycle.
Furthermore, the two calendars differ in the structure of the number of days in a month. The Gregorian calendar has 12 months with days ranging from 29 to 31, whereas each month in the Hijri calendar is fixed at 29 or 30 days. This difference in the calculation system results in the Hijri calendar year being shorter in total duration than the Gregorian calendar, causing all Islamic calendar months, including Ramadan, to advance relative to the Gregorian calendar each year, rarely coinciding with the start of Gregorian months.
However, a special case occurred in 2025, when the first day of Ramadan in the Islamic calendar coincided with the start of a Gregorian month, falling on March 1. This date was determined by the Central Board for Doctrinal Interpretation and Renewal of the Muhammadiyah organization, based on precise astronomical calculations and moon sighting results. As a result, Muslims from both the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah organizations were able to begin Ramadan fasting on the same day, March 1, 2025.