COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Local clerics declared May 17 the first day of Ramadhan after failing to see the crescent moon on Tuesday night that would have signaled its start on Wednesday.
The Ramadhan, a holy month in Islam where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle as a religious obligation and as reparation for wrongdoings, would have started Wednesday had they spotted the moon the night before.
The Darul Iftah (House of Opinions) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao announced before midnight Tuesday that the Ramadhan shall commence on Thursday.
The group, comprised of moderate preachers who studied Islamic theology in schools in the Middle East and North Africa, urged ARMM residents to get involved in domestic peace initiatives during the Ramadhan.
Shiek Abu Huraira Udasan, grand mufti (preacher) of the Bangsamoro Darul Iftah, which is identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, also declared Thursday as the start of this year's Ramadhan.
Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith, which include belief in Allah, praying five times daily, giving of zakat (alms) to the poor, and performing the hajj to Makkah, Saudi Arabia at least once if one can afford the cost of travel.
Ramadhan is also a time when Muslims share more food to needy neighbors regardless of religion and race.
ARMM distributes relief
The ARMM regional government began distributing on Tuesday rice and other food rations to hundreds of Maranao families displaced by the May 23 to October 16, 2017 siege of Marawi City by Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists.
The distribution is part of the regional government Ramadhan outreach missions.
The program is being facilitated by ARMM's Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team, most known as HEART, whose personnel departed for Marawi City Tuesday bringing with them more than 20 tons of relief goods.
HEART's information officer, Myrna Jocelyn Henry, said Wednesday that besides rice and other provisions, they also supplied Marawi City residents with fish transported in refrigerated trucks.
The HEART, operating under the supervision of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, has been helping the city government of Marawi and the office of Lanao del Sur Gov. Soraya Bedjoria Adiong-Alonto provide the needs of thousands of displaced Maranaos since last year.
Mufti Aboulkahir Tarason, a senior cleric in Basilan, said he and other members of the regional Darul Iftah are grateful to the HEART for its planned series of relief missions for needy Muslims during the Ramadhan.
“Just by giving even a single Maranao family food for even just a single day, it is as if the HEART group had feed the whole mankind for that day. That’s the Islamic theory on acts of piety and charity,” Tarason said.
He said their group will also embark on various religious activities meant to strengthen the solidarity of ARMM’s Muslim, Christian and Lumad residents during the Ramadhan.
The executive department of ARMM had issued a memorandum directing Muslim employees of different regional agencies to report for work early and perform their duties until 4:00 p.m. during office days for them to have enough time to prepare for their bukah, or first meal at sunset, after a day-long fast.
Muslims focus on good deeds and prayers during the Ramadhan, where adversaries reconcile and rebuild ties severed by all kinds of disputes.
Muslims believe it was during the Ramadhan, which means scorching heat in Arabic, that Allah sent the Qur’an, via Archangel Gabriel, to Mohammad, who was to become the propagator of Islam.