Ramadan fasting in PH starts on Sunday

FILIPINO Muslims pray on the eve of Ramadan inside the Grand Mosque, also known as Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Masjid (Muslim center of worship), in Cotabato City. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY — Filipino Muslims will officially start on Sunday the daily fasting during the 30-day Ramadan, according to a decree issued by the Dharul Ifta (House of Opinion) here late Friday.

The Dharul Ifta said efforts to sight the moon by the naked eye failed on Friday evening. The sighting of the moon was to determine if the dawn-to-dusk abstinence would start Saturday.

But because there had been no moon sighting, the collegial body of scholars and clerics decided on Sunday as the start of the fasting activities.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic Hijra calendar. Because of the cycle of the lunar calendar, the shift of the Muslims’ fasting period varies each year by approximately 11 days compared to the Gregorian calendar.

Ustadz Jaafar Ali, an associate scholar of the House of Opinion here, said they made the announcement late Friday evening that Sunday was the first day of Ramadan fasting this year.

Muslims elsewhere expected the start of Ramadan fasting Saturday in Saudi Arabia; and Sunday in the US and in Europe — although information would ultimately come from the rule of the moon-sighting by the naked eye as prescribed by the Koran, Ali said.

The rule is that if the new moon is not visible on the last day of Sa’aban (the eighth lunar month), then fasting starts on the following day, he said.

Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, abstaining from food and water after the suhur, the pre-dawn meal.

Fasting is called sawm in Arabic and is one of the five pillars of Islam.

The Koran says: “O! ye who believe… Fasting is prescribed unto you as it was prescribed unto those before you, that ye may learn self-restraint…” (2:128).

Fasting was not done by Muslims exclusively.

The Bible (Old and New Testament) has accounts on its practice in ancient Israel (People of God), as narrated in Matthew 16:16-18; Isaiah 58: 3-7; Psalm 69:10 Daniel 10:3; Luke 18:12.

Aside from food and drink, Muslims couples acquiesce to self-restriction on sexual contact at daytime during Ramadan.

Families and friends then gather for the iftar meal to break the fast after more than 14 hours. Many Muslims begin the meal by eating dates, the naturally preserved fruit of the biblical palm trees.

Upholding the so-called intra-faith dialogue in some places, non-Muslims are normally invited to observe night prayers and join the iftar meals.

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