COTABATO CITY – The commemoration today of the birthday of Islam’s founder Prophet Mohammad which coincides with the Holy Week is considered by Mindanao leaders as an “eye opener” for Muslims and Christians to have a unified aspiration for peace and development despite religious differences.
Muslims use the Hijrah lunar calendar in setting the dates of religious events and holidays.
For Muslims, Mohammad is a peace advocate that propagated religious solidarity, preached respect for life, equality of all men regardless of race and status in life, and exemplified love for Allah when he was still alive.
“I consider this year’s commemoration of the Maulidin Nabi or the birth of Prophet Mohammad, within the Holy Week among Christians, as a good omen and an indication that we in Mindanao are for peaceful days ahead,” said Cotabato City Mayor Muslimen Sema, secretary-general of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Sema said he has vivid recollections of how his Christian friends provided him sanctuary, supplied him and other guerrillas with food and water, at the height of the MNLF’s uprising during the 1970s.
Sema said it is by understanding each other’s “religious commonalities” that Muslims and non-Muslims would appreciate and learn how to recognize and respect each other’s differences.
Members of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate congregation, including those involved in joint peace-building efforts of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said they will use the coincidental celebration of Maulidin Nabi and Easter Sunday in the same week to highlight the importance of the unity of Muslim and Christian communities in Mindanao.
Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had declared March 18 and 19 as non-working holidays in the region, in commemoration of Bangsamoro Day and Maulidin Nabi, respectively.
“It is but fitting and proper for all ARMM residents to have enough time to commemorate these two important holidays in their homes,” Ampatuan told The STAR.
Ampatuan said he himself is fascinated with how Maulidin Nabi and Easter Sunday came to be commemorated in the same week.
He has been strengthening the Madaris education system in the region to promote Islamic principles of unity, fraternalism, and religious co-existence among students.
The ARMM covers the cities of Marawi and Lamitan, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
“Isn’t it nice to realize that religions should not set barriers among us? We should even capitalize on our religions as very good vehicles for peace and sustainable development in the ARMM and elsewhere in the country,” Ampatuan pointed out.
Lawyer Paisalin Tago, Speaker of the 24-seat Regional Assembly of the ARMM, said Islam has profound teachings on respect for religions and worship sites, whether these are owned by Muslims or non-Muslims.
“In the life story of Prophet Mohammad, it was with the Christians and people of other non-Muslim sects that he had sought refuge when he was being persecuted, hunted like a wild animal by tribes that refused to embrace Islam at first,” said Tago, an ethnic Maranaw.