President Arroyo is expected to issue a message on `Eid Al-Fitr Monday

MANILA, November 13 (IslamOnline.net) – Filipino Muslims celebrated Saturday, November 13, `Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, with mass prayer and festivities.

Atty. Macaosur Macalanggan, regional director of the Office of Muslim Affairs, told IslamOnline.net that the moon-sighting committee, composed of members from the office and religious scholars, concluded that Friday, November 12, as the last day of Ramadan in the Philippines .

"The whole Filipino Muslim community is celebrating `Eid Al-Fitr today. We are here in the mosque to pray and later celebrate with a feast. I know the entire Muslim country, from Manila to Mindanao , is doing the same.

"We pray not only for us Muslims but for everyone, for every Filipino and every human being," Macalanggan said.

Official Holiday

He recalled that the Philippine government had declared November 15 a national holiday in celebration of the breaking of the fast, popularly known here as Hariraya Puasa.

Filipino Muslims welcomed the declaration of an official holiday as a gesture of peace and inclusiveness by the government of this Christian dominated country.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and top Muslim government officials are expected to issue messages on the occasion on Monday.

In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Governor Parouk Hussin gave civil servants a three-day holiday as of Friday to celebrate `Eid Al-Fitr.

"Everybody here is in a jovial mood. We are celebrating the `Eid as peacefully as we could to show to the world that we love peace, that we are a peace loving people," Wahab Jamali, a resident of Marawi City , told IOL over the phone.

He said no shooting incident was reported in the country’s only Islamic city of Marawi although some gunshots were heard.

"They were simply jubilant about the feast and it is their way of expressing what they feel. I know they mean no harm. They fired in the air," Jamali added.

He further said he heard little gunfire than in the previous years.

Macalanggan said violence and terrorism "are two things which we would try harder to take away from the minds of the people that are associated with Islam and us Muslims."

He stressed that during Ramadan, Filipino Muslims "have shown our Christian brothers that we are a disciplined people. We have proven to them how we control our minds, hearts and desires. We have shown them we are a peaceful people."

Hadji Najim, an imam from the Muslim province of Lanao del Sur , told IOL on October 25 that the main task for Filipino Muslims during Ramadan would be to prove that Islam and Muslims have nothing to do with terrorism and violence.

Saaduddin Maayo, an imam, told IOL the holy fasting month is not simply an obligation but a time to reflect what a God-fearing Muslim has done during the past year and what he/she plans to do the following year.

"It was a time to look at ourselves and ask ourselves if we have done things according to what is asked of us by Allah and what is written in the Noble Qur’an."