COTABATO CITY – Muslims across the globe will celebrate Eid’l Adha today.
Eid’l Adha is one of two most important feasts in Islam marking the end of the yearly performance of the hajj (pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia) and the day Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was tested of his loyalty to God.
For current pilgrims in Saudi Arabia estimated at no less than 3.5 million, with over 7,000 Filipino delegates, the act of slaughtering livestock (at least a sheep) will complete their hajj performance, which is one of five pillars of Islam.
Parts of the meat proceeds are cooked for consumption by pilgrims in the day-long feast often highlighted by eid or congregational prayers. Saudi authorities usually distribute the rest of the meat to poor communities within and outside the Muslim kingdom.
The rest of the world’s 1.8-billion Muslims replicate similar festive rituals in their respective countries.
The Philippine government declares every tenth of Hijrah (lunar) calendar a national holiday pursuant to Republic Act 9849. Since this year’s Eid’l Adha falls on a Sunday, such law deems the succeeding work day or Monday a holiday.
President Duterte has issued the corresponding declaration, according to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos.
NCMF Secretary Saidamen Pangarungan, currently supervising over 7,000 Filipino hajj delegates in Saudi Arabia, yesterday urged his fellow Muslim citizens to live by Islamic teachings on faithful obedience to God and the duly established authorities.
Eid’l Adha observance is a yearly reckoning of the 10th day of Hijrah, during which Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) attempted to sacrifice his son, Ismael, in a Divine test of his loyalty to God during the days he was mandated to build the kaa’ba, the four-cornered edifice in Makkah (Mecca) built in with a black that pilgrims circumambulate seven times nowadays in performing hajj.
Angels, according to Islamic literature, replaced Ismael with a goat, which Prophet Abraham actually slit in the neck, with inner thought that it was his son that was sacrificed. The angels told the prophet later that he passed the Divine test for obedience.
In the country, the estimated 11 million Muslim Filipinos will hold congregational prayers in open fields in different regions.
Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, home to majority of Muslim Filipinos, have set regional and provincial venues of for Eid’l Adha festive activities in the component provinces of Lanao del Sur (including Marawi City), Maguindanao, Basilan (including Lamitan City), Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi and in this city as well as 63 barangays in North Cotabato.
“Let us meditate and renew our loyalty to Allah (s.w.t.) and the established authorities in furtherance of peace, amity, and productive life for our salvation in the day hereafter,” BARMM interim Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim was quoted as saying in his call for the region’s adherents of Islam.
The regional congregational prayer is set today at the open ground of the BARMM compound in this city. Ebrahim is reportedly joining the prayer at the BARMM compound, while thousands of followers in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front would perform a separate congregation in Camp Darapanan in Simsuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. (Ali Macabalang)