Indonesia Adopts Islamic "Expected Visibility" Lunar Calendar
Islamic Voice

Indonesia has agreed to implement the expected visibility imkan-e-ruyah system for its national calendar which has proved to be accurate over the last decade. Known as the International Islamic Calendar Programme (IICP) and formulated by Indian astronomer and physicist Dr. Mohammad Ilyas during the 80s at the Malaysian Science University in Penang, it has already been implemented by the Malaysian government in order to fix the exact date of the moon's visibility and provide dates for holidays for Islamic festivals. Dr. Ilyas had first discovered a lunar dateline, and through extensive calculations devised a mechanism to predict the visibility of the crescent in a particular region. He claimed that the IICP reached 100 per cent accuracy.

The IICP secretariat in Penang is now awaiting a similar action from Saudi Arabia. The scientists at IICP are engaged in extensive discussions with concerned officials and Ulema of Saudi Arabia.