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MY, MY, MY MARAWI: Islamic New Year

MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 02 October) — Islamic New Year tomorrow (October 3) has no big celebration but remembrance of the past and preparing for better deeds is good.

Amon Jadid comes after the pilgrimage season where millions circumambulated around the Masjid Al Haraam. It is a regional non-working holiday (in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao – ed)

The Amon Jadid marks the first day in the lunar-based Islamic Hijrah calendar.

Looking back, gains in the peace process through presentations by the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) are being spread hopefully resulting in creating goodwill among Christians for Muslims.

This is vital in the light of mistrust brought about by the bombing in Roxas, a night market in Davao City.

This indirectly resulted in facially covered niqabis ordered to open their faces in Davao City as ordered by Mayor Sarah Duterte.

The new administration’s anti drug war has affected many Meranaos involved in narco-politics with highly publicized surrenders of mayors in Lanao del Sur. A target 15k drug surrenderees are expected in Marawi and Lanao del Sur but no drug rehabilitation center can yet accommodate their entry. Thus this is made a priority program of LGUs especially that narcopolitics seems to have entered Ranaw politics for decades.

The Amon Jadid, or first day in the Islamic month of Muharram is in Hijrah Year 1438.

The Hijrah New Year comes after the culmination of the yearly Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Performing the Hajj, which is obligatory for Muslims who can afford the cost of travel from their countries of origin to Mecca, is one of the “Five Pillars” of the Islamic religion, which include absolute belief in Allah, praying five times a day facing the west, giving of zakat (alms) to the poor, and fasting at daytime during the 30-day Ramadhan season.

The Amon Jadid is one of the Muslim Holidays the national government recognizes under Presidential Decree 1083, which codified Muslim family laws and practices.

Moro communities are hopeful with a pro-Moro administration to continue supporting the Mindanao peace process while observing the Amon Jadid holiday.

The ARMM, which groups together Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi, has about four million Muslim residents. (MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Samira A. Gutoc-Tomawis, Ll.B., is former assemblywoman, women sector, of the Regional Legislative Assembly, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; former director, Al-Amanah Islamic Bank, Inc.; former director, Marawi Resort Hotel, Inc. See her blog at http://samiragutoc.webs.com.)

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