DAVAO CITY – Muslims around the world celebrated Eid-al-Fitr on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, including Muslim Filipinos in the country.
Eid-al-Fitr marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan, one of the most important religious holidays for Islam.
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk as a religious obligation and focus on charitable works, the forgiveness of others’ wrongdoings, and prayers.
In Cotabato City, police and military authorities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said the congregational prayers across the region to mark Eid al-Fitr on Wednesday were peaceful and solemn.
Brig. Gen. Marni Marcos, BARMM police director, said that since Wednesday morning, no untoward incident has disrupted the solemn observance of the end of Ramadan.
“So far, so good,” Marcos said about the Eid al-Fitr celebrations.
Thousands of Muslims in the BARMM provinces joined the congregational prayer in open spaces, city and provincial capitol grounds, the BARMM provincial satellite compounds, and public-school grounds to perform the obligatory prayer rituals.
In Cebu, Muslim Filipinos celebrated Eid-al-Fitr inside the Police Regional Office, the first time community as well as Muslim policemen were gathered together with the regional police leadership.
At the capital, Muslims gathered inside and outside the Manila Golden Mosque in Quiapo, Manila for solemn prayers during the end of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.
Aside from the mosque in Manila, Muslims also flocked to the Quirino Grandstand also in Manila, and the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City.
Meanwhile, a Catholic prelate greeted Muslim Filipinos celebrating Eid al-Fitr.
“We greet our Muslims brothers and sisters on this end of the Ramadan season. It has been a month of prayer and also we pray that we arrive at the genuine development and reconciliation of peoples of Mindanao, especially now with the start of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao,” Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma said in an interview over Radio Veritas.
“We hope that the season of prayer would also bring about what Pope Francis and his counterpart in Abu Dhabi will say, ‘We pray for fraternal humanity among all peoples that we are all brothers and sisters under the creator, All Mighty God.’ So, this is our prayer and aspiration as we moved on in Mindanao. We work together for peace and development for everyone. Again, my greetings to our Muslim brothers and sisters,” said the chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Mutual Relations.
There are more than 10 million Muslims in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country.
On
the other hand, the Archdiocese of Davao has offered the “blessings of
peace and joy” to all Muslims in Davao celebrating Eid al-Fitr on
Wednesday.
“To all of you, our greetings of peace and joy today, on this Feast of Eid
al-Fitr, as you celebrate the end of the Islamic holy season of Ramadan,” said
Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles.
Valles said the priests in the archdiocese have offered prayers that each one
of the Muslims would benefit spiritually from going through and completing the
holy month of Ramadan.
“And we wish that today each one of you has become truly closer and faithful to
Allah,” Valles said in his Eid message.
He said the offer of prayers is the archdiocese gesture of solidarity and
friendship, “believing that all of us are sons and daughters of one God”.
(With reports from PNA)
