ARMM commemorates arrival of first Arab preacher in Tawi-Tawi

COTABATO CITY — The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will commemorate today the arrival of Sheik Karimul Makdum in Tawi-Tawi in the 14th century to spread Islam.

Makdum, builder of the country’s first mosque on the Tawi-Tawi island town of Simunul, was the first Arab missionary to establish Muslim communities in the province, which he governed under the Islamic concept of equality for all men, universal love and respect for life and the environment.

ARMM Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan declared today a non-working holiday in the entire autonomous region, which groups the predominantly Muslim Marawi City, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in Central Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

ARMM Social Welfare Secretary Ruby Sahali-Tan, daughter of Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali, said the yearly observance of Makdum’s arrival is highlighted by activities on Simunul Island.

Pilgrims pay homage to Makdum at his grave-turned-shrine in Bohe Indangan, a seaside village in Simunul.

Gov. Sahali said this year’s commemoration is more meaningful since it comes four days after the Islamic world celebrated the Eid’l Fitr, or the end of the Ramadhan fasting season.

It was Makdum, according to religious leaders in Tawi-Tawi, who first taught well-off natives, mostly barter traders, the importance of feeding the poor during the Eid’l Fitr as a gesture of fraternalism.

In fact, Gov. Sahali butchers cattle to be shared to his poor constituents in his hometown of Panglima Sugala, also an island town not far from Simunul.

He said feeding his impoverished constituents during the month-long Ramadhan and the Eid’l Fitr reminds him that while he is a ranking political leader in Tawi-Tawi, he is just an "ordinary Muslim" under the Islamic teaching that all men are equal regardless of creed, ethnic identity or race.

Makdum also became popular in the islands of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi when he pacified warring groups as he taught them the Islamic principle of reconciliation premised on patience, mercy and humility.

Makdum, according to contemporary Moro historians, also litigated civil and criminal cases through the Sharia jurisprudence.