'Eid'l Fitr might fall on August 8'

COTABATO CITY - “Fast when you see the new moon, break your fast when you see the new moon,” thus preached Islam’s progenitor, Mohammad, encouraging Muslims to fast from dawn to dusk during the Ramadhan season.

Scholars will forge ahead with their centuries-old Islamic congregational moon sighting starting Wednesday night to determine the exact date of the Eid’l Fitr, even as President Benigno Aquino III had already declared August 9 as a national holiday in observance of the religious event.

Islamic theologians, among them graduates of the secular Al-Azzar University in Cairo, Egypt and Islamic universities in Libya, said Eid'l Fitr may possibly fall on August 8, if the new moon is sighted on Wednesday night next week (August 7).

The Eid’l Fitr is the culmination of month-long Ramadhan.

“But if the new moon is seen on Thursday night, August 8, we shall celebrate the Eid’l Fitr on August 9, Friday ” said Imam Musa Aripin, an ethnic Yakan preacher.

The traditional moon sighting is a strong Islamic practice for determining the last day of Ramadhan, and the start of the month of Shawwal in the Hijrah lunar calendar.

“We are grateful to President Aquino for having declared August 9 as an `Eid Holiday,’ which is for us a strong recognition of the  existence of Muslim communities in the country,” said Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The ARMM, which covers  Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in Central Mindanao, the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi, is home to some three million Muslims.

Clerics will start with the moon-sighting activity Wednesday night, August 7.

“If our moon sighting activity will lead to the celebration of the Eid on August 8, or perhaps a day later, on August 9, we shall still be thankful to President Aquino for his intention of promoting a better understanding of our religion,” said ethnic Maguindanaon cleric Ustadz Esmael Ebrahim, a commissioner in the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos.

Ramadhan, a “holy month” in Islam, is also traditionally started with the sighting of the new moon on the last day of the month of Shaban.

Physically-fit Muslims are obliged to fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle during the Ramadhan, both as a religious obligation and as a means of strengthening spiritual perfection through self-restraint and discipline.

The Eid’l Fitr is one of the most important religious events in Islam, capped with congregational thanksgiving prayers in open fields after sunrise, following the sighting of the new moon the night before.

Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, whose office is busy with relief missions for more than 30,000 constituents displaced by last week’s flashfloods that hit 19 of the 36 towns in Maguindanao, urged flood victims and evacuees from conflict-stricken areas to pray for peace in their communities during Eid’l Fitr.

“The Ramadhan sacrifices of our people in still flooded areas in Maguindanao and those in areas where there were recent skirmishes between armed groups and government forces became very difficult and challenging yet they persisted to fulfill a centuries-old religious obligation,” Mangudadatu said.

He said it is, in fact, the “spirit of Ramadhan,” which teaches Muslims to be resilient with the challenges and trials they face every day, which emboldens ethnic Maguindanaons in perennially-flooded towns and in conflict-prone villages to surmount the ordeals brought about by natural and man-made calamities. 

“We should also pray for the enlightenment of the `peace spoilers’ creating troubles at a time when Malacañang is trying its best to peacefully address the Mindanao `Moro issue’ that has been hounding us for decades now,” said Mangudadatu, chairman of the provincial peace and order council.

Mangudadatu said he had asked the more than 2,000 scholars of the provincial government’s education program to participate in the traditional moon sighting activities of religious leaders in their respective communities as perpetuation of a tradition pioneered by ancient tent-dwelling Muslims in the deserts of what is now known as Middle East.