Clerics during Eid'l Adha celebration: Spread Islam teachings againt terrorism

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Mindanao’s Moro communities on Saturday celebrated the Eid’l Adha where clerics called on worshipers to spread Islamic teachings against violence and terrorism as means of seeking political and religious redress.

Members of the Jurisconsult in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, composed of Imams in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, emphasized in their sermons that non-Muslims have become stereotypes, with strong prejudice against Islam, owing to the un-Islamic practices of Jihadist groups.

ARMM’s political leaders had also urged local folks to help push forward Malacañang’s peace overtures with Muslim communities, partly aimed at propagating interfaith solidarity among local Moro, Christian and lumad sectors.

“True Muslims are not terrorists, not war mongers. True Muslims are those who work for harmony with all people around them through prayers and good deeds and religious tolerance,” Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu told reporters.

In Maguindanao’s adjoining Buluan, Pandag and Mangudadatu towns, preachers invoked in their sermons the essence of the Eid’l Adha, also known as “Islamic feast of sacrifice,” as a good source of inspiration to reject religious extremism.

An Army Islamic theologian, Capt. Mujib Ladjabuan of the 6th Infantry Division, said one of the challenges confronting Muslims in the Philippines now is the “bad effect” of extremism on the image of Islam, which espouses respect for all religions.

“Muslims are often construed as terrorists because of the wrongdoings of others that call themselves Muslims but are not Muslims because they don’t practice the teachings on religious tolerance and co-existence with non-Muslims,” Ladjabuan said.

Slaughter

The story about Eid’l Adha and how it became an important religious event in Islam is the same with biblical accounts on how Abraham (Ibrahim) nearly slaughtered his son, as ordered by Allah, as a test of absolute subservience.

According to the Qur’an, Allah, after having tested Ibrahim’s loyalty, sent down a lamb through Archangel Gabriel, which was offered as a sacrifice instead, sparing the child’s life.

“In context, if applied to present situation, this religious event tells us to 'slaughter' for good [the] evil practices that destroys our relationship with each other as Muslims and our relationship with non-Muslims,” ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said in a statement.

Local government units in Maguindanao’s 36 towns facilitated the obligatory Eid’l Adha open-field congregational prayers in designated sites in the first and second districts of the province.

Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, and his subordinate officers helped Army clerics officiate group prayers in Army camps under the division’s jurisdiction.

Col. Melquiades Feliciano, commanding officer of the 601st Brigade in Tacurong City, even assisted an Imam in slaughtering a cow as a kurban (offering) before dozens of worshipers.

“It’s nice to see our Christian and Muslim soldiers and the people around come together to help each other make the celebration of religious events like this become successful,” Feliciano pointed out.

The Eid’l Adha also marks the culmination of the yearly hajj to Makkah in Saudi Arabia. The religious holiday comes a day after pilgrims from across the world had converged at Arafah, in the periphery of Makkah, for a religious rite.

Performing the hajj, for those who can afford the cost of travel, is one the five pillars of the Islamic faith, which include absolute submission to Allah, praying five times a day facing west, giving of zakat (alms) to the poor, and fasting from dawn to dusk during the 30-day Ramadhan season.