MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, YOGYAKARTA – The Muhammadiyah Council for Religious Opinion and Tajdid held its weekly meeting on Monday, May 13, focusing on a key issue in the ongoing development of the Unified Global Hijri Calendar. It discussed when exactly a new Islamic day should begin.
The topic sparked a thoughtful discussion, centering on three main views—whether a new day starts at sunset (maghrib), at midnight, or at dawn (fajr). Each option carries important consequences for how Muslims observe their daily religious practices, especially prayer times and fasting.
Chairperson of Muhammadiyah Syamsul Anwar pointed out that while international forums have widely discussed the global Islamic calendar, they’ve largely avoided addressing when a new day actually starts. Even the 2016 Global Islamic Calendar Conference in Turkey, he noted, didn’t settle the matter.
“In the conference’s resolution, it only mentioned that the new day must start before midnight, but it didn’t clearly define when the day begins. For instance, Jamaluddin ‘Abd al-Raziq referred to midnight, but that’s not tied directly to worship. We can still perform taraweeh prayers before midnight and fast the next day, and that’s valid,” explained Syamsul.
“The conference decision only said the new day should begin before midnight, but didn’t define when that moment actually is. For instance, Jamaluddin ‘Abd al-Raziq referred to midnight, but it wasn’t in the context of worship. Taraweeh prayers can still be held before midnight, and the next day’s fasting remains valid.”
According to Syamsul, the reference to midnight is more of a technical guideline for calendar setting, rather than a religious ruling.
Meanwhile, the council member Oman Fathurohman explained how the wujudul hilal method works in determining the start of a new lunar month. Under this method, the month begins at sunset on the 29th day if three criteria are met: a lunar conjunction (ijtima’) has taken place, it occurs before sunset, and the moon is visible above the horizon. If any of these are not met, the current month is extended to 30 days.
“In wujudul hilal, the basis is maghrib. But when it comes to calendar writing, the new day starts at midnight, not sunset,” explained Oman.
If ijtima’ happens on Monday morning and the moon is sighted after sunset, the new month has begun. Still, the calendar would mark the first of Ramadan as Tuesday. In that case, tarawih prayers would still be held on Monday night.
Oman suggested that this approach could be applied in the global calendar.
“We shouldn’t structure the calendar based on maghrib, but from midnight—00:00,” he said. This, he added, would help align the technical side of calendar-making with religious practice.
Besides, Secretary of the Council Muhamad Rofiq Muzakkir supported the idea.
“In our official guidelines (Tanfidz), we intentionally didn’t state whether the day starts at maghrib or midnight to avoid debate. However, if asked, we can explain that from a religious perspective, the day starts at maghrib, while for the purpose of a global calendar, it starts at 00:00,” said Rofiq.
He believes this approach can bridge the gap between the practical need for a standardized calendar and the religious principles guiding Islamic worship.
With this proposal, Muhammadiyah hopes the unified global hijri calendar can gain wider acceptance without compromising the core values of Islamic faith. The discussion marks another important step toward creating a unified, practical, and faith-conscious calendar for Muslims around the world.
