Applicability of the New MABIMS Criteria and Its Impact in the Southeast Asia Region

Abstract

The polemic of differences in starting the fasts of Ramadhan, Shawwal and Zulhijah is still being debated among Islamic calendar experts in Indonesia. There is no agreement on the cause of the difference in determining the beginning of the Hijri Month. The MABIMS New Criteria is among the many criteria when starting the month. MABIMS criteria are agreed upon by the Office of Judges in Malaysia, the Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia, the Sultanate of Brunei, and the Minister of Religion of Singapore. How does this criteria apply in each country? This paper examines the sociological and astronomical aspects of the applicability of the New MABIMS Criteria and their impact in the Southeast Asian Region. I will be done by looking at the astronomical parameters in realizing an established Hijri calendar. Meanwhile, a socio-political approach contributes to seeing how far the new visibility criteria of MABIMS can be consistently agreed upon in their implementation. In a socio-political approach, the author uses Gelding's theory by adopting an enforceability scheme consisting of factual or empirical, normative or formal, and evaluative. The three enforcement schemes are used to analyze the applicability of the new MABIMS criteria and their impact on the Southeast Asian region. The results show that implementing the new criteria of MABIMS through the three approaches above can be carried out and accelerated toward Hijri Calendar Unifications by mutual agreement.