COTABATO CITY, Philippines—“The entire Filipino nation should have the full opportunity to join their Muslim brothers and sisters in peace and harmony in the observance and celebration of Eid al-Fitr,” President Aquino said in declaring Friday, the end of Ramadan, a nonworking holiday.
Muslims the world over celebrate Eid al-Fitr Friday by holding prayers in open fields and community thanksgiving feasts and exchanges at amicable dialogues.
The Eid celebration marks the end of the monthlong dawn to sunset daily fasting in Ramadan, and is determined by the moonrise in Sawwal, the 10th of the 12-month lunar
Hijrah Calendar.
Eid al-Fitr in the Philippines is a national nonworking holiday. President Aquino issued Proclamation No. 1070, which declared July 17 as this year’s Eid al-Fitr.
In Metro Manila, the focal points of celebration are Quirino Grandstand and Quezon Memorial Circle.
Public congregations elsewhere are being encouraged for the blessing rites.
The majority of Muslim families will also visit each other and partake of the year’s best food on the table. But beneath the scenes of holiday cheer, some seek forgiveness from those they had wronged.
New moon rising
Most local councils tasked to determine the new moon rise rely on naked-eye sighting.
But in neighboring Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, the Assalaam Observatory in Surakarta, Central Java, provided a telescopic photograph on Wednesday of a waning crescent moon, showing that only a thick cord line was left of the Ramadan moon circle in the Hijra year 1436.
AR Sugeng Riyadi, a member of the Moon-sighting Council Worldwide in Assalaam, said the crescent moon signaling the end of Ramadan would appear at 1:24 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or 9:24 p.m. Philippine time, Thursday.
Abu Hurraira Udasan, the Bangsamoro Grand Mufti, said his group was to declare the end of Ramadan after collating the results of local and overseas moon-sighting efforts.
Young Muslims here said the Bangsamoro Dharul Ifta under Udasan, who is well-educated in both the Islamic and Western learning, may have to eventually import the modern technology for its local moon-sighting working committee to prevent future confusion on either the start of Ramadan, or the Eid al-Fitr.
Various Muslims groups, such as the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), have concurred on the use of modern technology in aid of moon-sighting to determine the annual start and end of Ramadan.
By FCNA’s forecast, there was no way the new crescent moon would be visible to the naked eye on July 16 in the Philippines. It would only be visible in some parts of the French Polynesia, and on perfect weather condition, in some parts of South Africa, it said.
From North Africa to South America, the new moon can only be seen with the use of astronomical telescope, the FCNA said.
Int’l Ramadan Fairs
Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are urging the public to pray at the ORG compound in Cotabato City.
During the fasting month, it had welcomed visitors to observe the Ramadan festivities with a mockup of villages depicting life and culture of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao.
In the past, Young Moro Professionals Network, a nongovernment organization, held International Ramadan Fairs post-Hariraya in malls such as Glorietta to invite Christians to celebrate the holidays.
During Philippine celebrations of Eid al-Fitr, Muslims dress in their native or grand Islamic attire, and converge for the 6-7 a.m. prayers in mosques. Charity, amounting to 2.5 percent of one’s annual salary, is offered to the poor.–With a report from Samira Gutoc