Ulamas gather for peace

MARAWI CITY — More than a thousand foreign-trained Islamic theologians (ulamas) from all over Mindanao opened yesterday their three-day congress here with calls for more government support for their Da’awah, or religious activities, to promote peace and sustainable development in their war-torn communities.

Dr. Mohammad Al-Sharief, secretary-general of the Middle East-based World Islamic Call Society, is addressing the participants tomorrow.

President Arroyo and representatives of the Libyan government will also attend the culminating rites at the Mindanao State University.

Vice Gov. Mahid Mutilan, of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the congress serves as a forum where the Ulama League of the Philippines can discuss how it can help the Arroyo administration’s peace initiatives in the South.

"This is also to correct the impression that religious leaders in the South are fanatics, terrorists and rebellious people," Mutilan told The STAR.

Most of the participants are preachers who studied Islamic theology in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where Mutilan himself trained as a Muslim missionary.

Organizers said the preachers, among them teachers of government-accredited Madrasah schools in the ARMM provinces, will discuss extensively today the problems besetting the Madaris or Islamic education, which is partly integrated into the regional curriculum.

Mutilan said that only by strengthening the Madaris in the ARMM that the national government can educate young Muslims on the real context of Islam, which espouses peace and universal love.

Mutilan said they also hope to come up with a formula on how to cushion what he called as the "undue perversion" by certain Islamic groups to justify terrorism as a means of waging jihad or holy war.

Some of the Muslim preachers lamented that government security forces have been "persecuting" them due to false impressions that they are supporting the Abu Sayyaf or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and are using Madrasahs to preach Islamic fundamentalism.

"And this could possibly be the reason why the government seemed not to be very supportive of the Madaris in predominantly Muslim areas in Mindanao," said a 36-year-old teacher who asked not to be identified.