Imams preach vs violence, terrorism

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Mindanao’s Muslim communities celebrated the Eid’l Adha yesterday, with clerics calling on the faithful to spread Islamic teachings against violence and terrorism as a means of seeking political and religious redress.

Members of the Jurisconsult in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao emphasized in their sermons that non-Muslims have become stereotypes, with strong prejudice against Islam, owing to the un-Islamic practices of jihadist groups.

ARMM’s political leaders also urged local folk to help push forward Malacañang’s peace overtures with Muslim communities, partly aimed at propagating interfaith solidarity among local Moro, Christian and lumad sectors.

“True Muslims are not terrorists, not warmongers. True Muslims are those who work for harmony with all people around them through prayers and good deeds and religious tolerance,” Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said.

In Maguindanao’s adjoining Buluan, Pandag and Mangudadatu towns, preachers invoked in their sermons the essence of Eid’l Adha, also known as the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice, as a good source of inspiration to reject religious extremism.