MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Thousands of Muslim residents in Central Mindanao on Tuesday prayed in open fields in keeping with a centuries-old tradition of celebrating the Eid’l Adha at the backdrop of tight security provided jointly by the police and the military.
Many clerics who led the prayers called on worshipers to help ensure safe and honest barangay elections on October 28, warning that cheating is “haram,†or forbidden in Islam.
“Cheating during elections is just the same as eating pork or drinking intoxicants,†said Imam Abdullah Morsid, an Islamic missionary in Datu Blah Sinsuat town.
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, said the congregational prayers in the province were held peacefully.
“We are grateful to the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and all its component units in Maguindanao and the provincial police for securing the designated sites for the congregational prayers.†Mangudadatu said.
Clerics who led the prayers also appealed on worshipers to continue supporting the Mindanao peace process forward and the ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The Eid’l Adha celebration, also known as Islamic “feast of sacrifice,†is based on the Qur’an story about how Ibrahim (Abraham) nearly slaughtered as a sacrifice his son, Ismail , to show “submission to Allah†when he was asked to do so as a test of faith.
The scriptural account of Ibrahim’s absolute subservience to his “omnipotent and merciful Allah†climaxed with a divine intervention, with a lamb coming out of the wilderness to be slaughtered instead, sparing Ismail from death.