Symposium on peace

Last October 13, the 8th Annual College Assurance Plan Symposium on Peace was held in Tacloban City and Prof. Moner M. Bajunaid, former Chancellor of Mindanao State University and Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Center for Peace Studies, presented a paper that threw light on the so-called Muslim problem in Mindanao.

Prof. Bajunaid was born and grew up in Mindanao. He began his talk by reminding his audience that "Mindanao enjoys a comparative advantage from the rest of the Philippines: It is typhoon-free; it is a major supplier of food, sending out 45 percent of the national agricultural exports." Why, then, is it that of the country’s 24 most impoverished provinces, 16 are from Mindanao? This means that two-thirds of the country’s poorest provinces are in Mindanao. Yet, as far back as the time of President Quezon, Mindanao was already referred to as the "Land of Promise." Was our idea of Mindanao as the "Land of Promise" based on the wrong premise?

The greatest drawback to progress in Mindanao is the state of peace and order in some sectors. Here, Prof. Bajunaid quotes Sayyid Qutb, a renown Islamic scholar, who observed that "Peace emerges as the preamble to the principle of harmony in the universe, harmony in the laws of life and the origin of man. War, on the other hand, is the result of the violations of harmony, such as injustice, oppression and subjugation." In short, peace is impossible where there is no justice and therefore oppression and subjugation prevail. Justice encompasses all other virtues.

Prof. Bajunaid concluded his paper with this statement:

"Muslims and Christians can join hands for the sake of our common humanity. If we build on our commonalities rather than differences, this would be a better place to live in.

"Islam and Christianity are two great religions of Abrahamic origin. No Muslim is a Muslim if he or she does not believe in Jesus. The Qur’an gives great respect to Mary, mother of Jesus, and describes her a noble and chaste woman. A whole long chapter in the Qur’an is named Mary, where she was foretold of the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, and how she will conceive him thru the Immaculate Conception."