COTABATO CITY – Congregational prayers in the upcoming Ramadhan (Islamic fasting month) are also suspended in compliance with government-mandated measures to contain spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, according to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).
In his public advisory on April 18, NCMF Secretary Saidamen Pangarungan said his agency’s March 16 memo order crafted with the councils of ulama (Islamic scholars) and imams in the country remained in effect until further notice pursuant to Presidential Proclamation Nos. 926 and 929 prohibiting mass gatherings.
Ramadhan is the 9th month in the lunar Hijrah calendar, during which able bodied Muslims are mandated to abstain from foods, drinks, even sex and wrong doings from dawn to dusk for one whole month as one of the five pillars of Islam.
Goods deeds and prayers during Ramdhan, according to scholars, deserve Divine rewards 1,200 times over similar acts performed in other months. The Holy Qur’an as a guidance to mankind was revealed during Ramadhan, making it the holiest period in Islamic calendar.
Holding congregational prayers, including Taraweeh — a special nightly congregational prayer during Ramadhan — is prohibited in masjid (mosque) or outside residence.
But families, who are asymptomatic of COVID-19, may still hold their mass prayers at home, Sec. Pangarungan said, citing protocols in Saudi Arabia, “where we look (upon) for spiritual guidance.”
Pangarungan urged Muslims and people of other faiths to intensify solemn supplications for an immediate end of the pandemic, which has brought about severe impacts on the global economy and restrained the movements of billions of people.
Meanwhile, NCMF spokesman Jun Alonto-Datu Ramos their agency continued to coordinate with other government agencies in the delivery of relief goods for Muslim Filipinos outside the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). (Ali G. Macabalang)