Guide
When Is Hari Raya in Singapore? Why the Date Keeps Moving
There is no single answer to "when is Hari Raya" that holds from one year to the next, and that trips people up every year. Unlike a fixed-date holiday, Hari Raya moves, and how Singapore fixes the exact day is often misunderstood. Here is why it drifts, how Singapore actually determines it, and how to find the real date.
The two Hari Rayas
First, "Hari Raya" refers to two different celebrations:
- Hari Raya Puasa (Aidilfitri) — the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. This is the bigger cultural celebration.
- Hari Raya Haji (Aidiladha) — the festival of sacrifice, tied to the Haj pilgrimage, about two months and ten days after Aidilfitri.
Both are gazetted public holidays in Singapore. If you only hear "Hari Raya," it usually means Aidilfitri. The difference is covered in Puasa vs Haji.
Why the date moves about 11 days earlier each year
Hari Raya follows the Islamic calendar, which is lunar: twelve lunar months of roughly 29 to 30 days, about 354 days in total. That is around 11 days shorter than the 365-day Gregorian year. So each year, Hari Raya lands about 11 days earlier than the year before, and over time it drifts across all the seasons.
You can see the drift in the gazetted Singapore dates for Hari Raya Puasa:
| Year | Hari Raya Puasa (gazetted) | Shift from previous year |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Wed 10 Apr | — |
| 2025 | Mon 31 Mar | 10 days earlier |
| 2026 | Fri 20 Mar | 11 days earlier |
| 2027 | Wed 10 Mar | 10 days earlier |
| 2028 | Sun 27 Feb (projected) | 11 days earlier |
That is why you cannot just remember "it's in April." A few years later it is in March, then February. The only reliable way is to check the date for the specific year. Hari Raya Haji drifts by the same amount; the gazetted dates for each year are on the 2026 and 2027 pages.
How Singapore actually fixes the date
This is the part most explanations get wrong. Singapore does not wait for someone to physically sight the crescent moon. Naked-eye sighting is impractical here: Singapore gets roughly 170 days of thunderstorms a year, so the sky is often clouded at the critical moment.
Instead, MUIS (the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) uses Imkan ar-Rukyah, meaning "the possibility of visible moon-sighting," a calculated method shared by the MABIMS group of Southeast Asian countries. At sunset on the 29th day of the month, the new moon must meet two astronomical thresholds:
- Moon altitude above the horizon: more than 3°
- Elongation (the angular gap between the sun and moon): more than 6.4°
If the new moon clears both, the next day begins the new month; if not, the current month runs a 30th day. Because this is calculated, MUIS can determine and announce the date in advance rather than waiting for the night itself. The exact criteria and any determination are MUIS's; this is a plain-English summary, not a religious ruling.
Why your calendar app can be a day off
Different authorities legitimately arrive at different days. A country that relies on physical sighting, or that applies slightly different criteria, can announce Hari Raya a day earlier or later than Singapore, and each country has the right to determine its own month. This is why Singapore and Malaysia occasionally celebrate on different days despite being neighbours.
A generic phone calendar or a global website may follow a different method, or another country's dates, so it can show a day either side of MUIS's date. For Singapore, the date that governs the public holiday is the one MUIS determines and the government gazettes, which is what the dates on this site come from.
How to find the real Singapore date
- This year and next: the gazetted dates are on the 2026 and 2027 pages, taken straight from data.gov.sg.
- Further ahead: treat any date you see as a projection, especially if you are booking non-refundable travel around it. The day can still shift by one when MUIS makes its determination.
- For prayer, sahur and iftar times: those are separate from the holiday date. Use a dedicated prayer-times source for daily timings.
Common questions
Is Hari Raya the same day everywhere in the world? Not always. Each country determines the start of the Islamic month independently, so the date can differ by a day between Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East.
How far ahead is the Singapore date confirmed? Because Singapore uses a calculated method, MUIS can determine the date well in advance, and Singapore gazettes its public holidays more than a year ahead. Dates several years out are still projections until confirmed.
Why do Singapore and Malaysia sometimes differ? They apply the crescent-visibility criteria slightly differently, and Malaysia gives more weight to physical sighting. Same moon, different method, so occasionally a different announced day.
For anything authoritative on how the date is set, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) is the source. This guide is a plain-English overview, not a religious ruling.