Yesterday's Eid-al Fitr and our Muslim Filipinos
We are devout Christians, mostly Catholics, but yesterday we conveyed our fraternal greetings to more than eleven million fellow citizens celebrating the holy feast of Eid-al Fitr, on this first day of the Islamic month of Shawal. Yesterday, Muslims all over the world attended communal prayers in their mosques and other places. They were also expected to listen to the Khutba or sermons by their imams. All Muslims are likewise enjoined to give zakat al fitr, which is charity in the form of food. Perhaps Muslims all over the Philippines, whether Maranaos, Magindanaos, Tausugs, other groups, were thinking of our poor brothers and sisters in the beleaguered Islamic Holy City of Marawi. Inshallah.
The proclamation of Ed-al Fitr as an official legal holiday nationwide was made in 2002. This year's celebration fell on June 26, next year, it shall be on a Friday, a rest day for Muslims, on June 15, 2018. The annual proclamation by the president follows the official communication from the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, a government agency tasked with tracking the movement of the moon, coordinating with Mecca and other holy cities, and informing Malacañan, which would then issue the proclamation. Remember that Muslims have their own lunar calendar while Christians follow the Gregorian calendar.
The other Muslim national holiday is Eid-al Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice. There are other holidays which are provided for in PD 1083, the Code of Muslim Personal Laws. They are observed in Muslim areas only and include the Amun Jadid, or the Muslim New Year, which falls on the first day of the month of Muharam; also the Islah Wa Miraj, falling on the twenty-seventh of the month of Rajah, which celebrates the nocturnal journey of the Mohammad to the holy land of Mecca, and his ascension to Heaven. Added to them is Maulin Nabih, on the twelfth of the month of Rabiah, which is Mohammad's birthday. Without government recognition, Muslims observe religious holidays, like the Ashura, the Islamic Thanksgiving Day, on the tenth of Muharam; the Awwal Ramadan, the first day of the Holy Season of Ramadan; and the Islamic All Souls Day, the Nisfu Sha'alam, on the fifteenth of the month of Shaalam.
Islam antedates Christianity in the Philippines by about two centuries. In 1380, Arab trader Karim Makkdum arrived in Sulu and started preaching Islam in our land. In 1450, Abu Bakr, who claimed to be a direct descendant of Muhammad, arrived and propagated Islam. Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam teaches that there is only one God, all-powerful, all-knowing and all-merciful. It has been written that the Muslims descended from the first son of Abraham or Ibrahim, with the Egyptian slave. The Jews and later the Christians descended from Isaac, then Jacob, all the way to David and to Jesus. Therefore, Christians, Jews and Muslims have a common ancestor, Abraham or Ibrahim, and we have only one God.
Thus, we need to unite and not kill each other as Cain murdered his brother Abel. We are bound by Ibrahim, our common father, the same origin, the same blood, and hopefully, the same faith. Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim brothers and sisters.
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