Clerics signal end of Ramadan

MAGUINDANAO - Muslim folks on Sunday night ended their observance of the Ramadan after clerics sighted the crescent moon marking the Eid’l Fit’r and the first day of Shawwal in the Islamic Hijrah calendar.

Thousands went out to perform the open-field Eid’l Fit’r obligatory prayers in designated areas in the province. The morning Eid outdoor worship rite is a tradition pioneered centuries ago by Islam’s progenitor, Mohammad.

The sighting of the new moon, which signaled the end of the Ramadan, a holy month in Islam, was confirmed by Central Mindanao’s Darul Iftah (House of Opinions) and the Office of the Jurisconsult in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Physically-fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the Ramadhan, which lasts for one lunar cycle, from 28-29 days, as a religious obligation and to inculcate among them the importance of self-restraint to achieve spiritual perfection.

Most public officials in the ARMM and surrounding provinces focused their respective Eid messages on the need for a continuing Muslim-Christian solidarity to hasten the attainment of lasting peace in Mindanao.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said in a statement that residents of the autonomous region, which covers Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, must continue helping push forward the peace overture between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

About 90 percent of ARMM’s more than five million residents are Muslims belonging to the Maguindanao, Maranao, Yakan, Tausog, Samah, and Iranon tribes.

“Our sacrifices and prayers during the just-concluded Ramadan should inspire us to continue struggling, with vigor, for the attainment of cultural, religious and political unity among all sectors in the autonomous region,” Hataman said.

The autonomous region, a known bastion of the MILF, is covered by the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the revolutionary group and government.

Maguindanao, in fact, is host to more than 40 government-recognized MILF enclaves, including Camp Darapanan, the rebel group's main headquarters in Sultan Kudarat town, where members of its central committee holds office.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu told reporters via text message on Sunday night that while there were isolated hostilities between the military and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the province during the Ramadan, the observance of the fasting season by local folks in all of the 36 towns under his jurisdiction was relatively peaceful.

The BIFF, which is fighting for an independent Islamic state and led by radical preachers trained abroad, is not covered by the 1997 government-MILF ceasefire accord.

Mangudadatu said he is grateful to the religious communities in the province, the ARMM police, and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division for working together to ensure a peaceful and solemn observance of the Ramadan by Maguindanao’s Muslim sectors.

“After Ramadan comes the challenge for us to live up to the ideals of fraternalism, religious solidarity, piety and compassion for all people regardless of whether they are Muslims, or non-Muslims, as preached by Prophet Mohammad,” Mangudadatu said.

He also urged his Muslim constituents to unite and address the problem of religious extremism.

“In Islam there is no extremism, no compulsion in religion either. It is all about respect for life, love for neighbors, respect for other religions and respect for religious figureheads and their worship sites, and most importantly, co-existence,” Mangudadatu said.

Despite appeals for restrain by the ARMM police and the 6th ID, gunshots were still heard in parts of the autonomous region, fired by revelers to greet the Eid’l Fit’r, the culmination of the Ramadan season.

Besides fasting during daytime, Muslims also focus on good deeds and reparations for wrongdoings during their month-long atonement process.

Observing the Ramadan is one of the “five pillars” of the Islamic faith, which include absolute subservience to Allah, praying five times a day facing the west, giving of zakat (alms) to the poor, and performing the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah, Saudi Arabia, for those who can afford the cost of travel, at least once in a lifetime.

The first Islamic communities in Mindanao were organized by two missionaries, Karimul Makdum, a Middle Eastern Arab, and Mohammad Kabunsuan, a Malay noble man from Johore, who, in the 14th century, separately set foot in Simunul Island in now Tawi-Tawi province, and at the Bucana Area in the present day Cotabato City, respectively, to preach Islam.