Ramadan starts today

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The country’s Islamic Darul Iftah, or House of Opinions, and muftis (high priests) in predominantly Muslim areas have issued separate edicts that the Ramadan fasting season will start today, as Islamic scholars did not see the new moon Tuesday night.

Traditional Muslim communities in the South adhere strictly to the sighting of the new moon as a ritualistic prelude to their observance of the Ramadan, where they fast at daytime for one lunar cycle as an obligation, which is one of the so-called five pillars of the Islamic faith.

Bai Omera Dianalan-Lucman of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos urged all indigenous Islamic groups in the South and other parts of the country to abide by the fatwah (edict) of the Darul Iftah since it was reached as a consensus by a collegial body of preachers, not a ruling by only one aleem (cleric).

A local member of the Darul Iftah, Ustadz Ebrahim Ismael, said Muslims in Mindanao failed to see the new moon Tuesday night and thus, will start fasting today.

Ismael said Muslims in other parts of the world, including those in Indonesia and some islands of Tawi-Tawi, a component province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, saw the new moon and, as a religious obligation, already began with their observance of the Ramadan.

Security authorities have asked revelers not to fire guns to greet the start of the Ramadan.