MAGUINDANAO: Most Muslim residents in the province now look forward to the Eid ul Fitr, but in a mood made sombre by mounting threats of attacks by the brigand Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Eid ul Fitr, or the culmination of the month-long Ramadan fasting season, will be celebrated on August 9, which was declared a regular holiday by President Aquino.
Eid ul Fitr is one of the most important religious events in Islam, when Muslims perform congregational thanksgiving prayers in open fields to signify the end of their observance of the Ramadan.
Healthy Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the Ramadan as a religious obligation and as means of strengthening spiritual perfection, through self-restraint and discipline.
“We are fasting now practically under duress. We fast and pray five times a day and worry so much about these bandits. We are worried of them possibly initiating violent activities as the Eid’l Fitr comes near,” a farmer, Motin Usop, said in the Maguindanao vernacular.
Eid ul Fitr is traditionally celebrated as a day for families to reunite and partake of a banquet to symbolize oneness in faith and as thanksgiving for having surpassed the rigours of fasting as a form of sacrifice, while focusing on good deeds and reparations for wrongdoings. With guarded optimism, Muslim members of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police are hoping for a safe celebration of the Eid ul Fitr in Maguindanao and in other provinces of ARMM.
“We are hoping these armed lawless groups pestering civilians will respect the forthcoming Eid ul Fitr by not embarking on any manoeuvre that can badly affect civilians,” said a Muslim officer of the 6th ID, Major Jimmy Matalam.
Matalam said he does not understand why the BIFF, which has been trying to show that it is religious in character, has disregarded the essence of the Ramadan by perpetrating more than a dozen attacks since the fasting season started July 10.
Observing the Ramadan, a holy month in the Islamic lunar-based Hijrah calendar, is one of the “five pillars” of the Islamic faith, which include absolute belief in Allah, praying five times a day facing the west, giving of zakat (alms) to the poor, and, for those who can afford the cost of travel, going to Mecca for Hajj for at least once in a lifetime.
The Philippine star
