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A
mosque overlooks the harbor at Moroni, on the island of Grand
Comoro
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By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, October 26 (IslamOnline.net) - Muslims in the Indian Ocean,
composed of a few sovereign Islands will be celebrating the start of
Ramadan Monday as the moon was not sighted until late night Saturday,
IslamOnline.net was told Sunday, October 26.
“We
are starting to fast on Monday as the moon sighting was not possible
on Saturday evening,” Shehzana Malleck Kadeer, a local source told
IslamOnline.net Sunday by phone.
Mauritius
and Comoro Muslims are known to have a fondness to go to all length
possible in moon sighting and their disappointments were obvious when
the ‘sirens’ failed to blow Saturday after the Esha prayers.
In
Port Louis city, the capital of Mauritius where Muslims are in
concentration, there was a bustle of activities with people rushing
for last minute shopping, hoping that Sunday would be the first day of
fasting.
With
the Ramadan starting only Monday, many Muslim parents would be heading
for the beautiful sea sides in the country to relax and entertain
their children and families.
Mauritius
has a vibrant Muslim community; a majority of them are of Indian
origin though they do not have any connection with India itself today.
Mauritius
has a population of 1.3 million and only 17 percent of them are
Muslims. Mostly traders and government officials, Muslims played a
major part in the country’s accession to independence in 1968.
Lately
the minority group was targeted by the U.S. and the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) that claimed extremist elements of the
community was planning to blow up churches on the island.
The
claims were vehemently denied by the Muslims who naturally earned the
support of other minorities, including African origin Christians who
felt the Muslims were unfairly targeted.
The
majority Hindu population, they form 52 percent of the population,
abides by fairly democratic principles and allowed a non-Hindu Paul
Raymond Berenger to accede to the post of Prime Minister of Mauritius
on the 1st October this year.
Berenger
is the also the favorite of a majority of Muslims and Christians on
the Island where peaceful cooperation is still a significant element
of Mauritian culture.
In
Madagascar and Comoro, the Muslims too are avid moon sightseer’s
roaming their dinghy far into the high seas to look for the slim
figure of the first day moon of the month of Ramadan.
On
Saturday, they returned ashore after failing to sight the much sought
moon and decided that the Ramadan will finally start on Monday too.
Comoro
Islands is a majority Muslim territory with African-Arabic
descendants. The islands are now a federated republic with a unique
president leading the small islands that separated in the late
1990’s after a series of political turmoil.
Comoro
Muslims too were charged with terror links by the CIA that has staged
an outpost on some of the Islands in the region.
In
Madagascar, the 100,000 Muslims were to start fasting on Monday
altogether though no confirmation was obtained from Antananarivo, the
capital city of the largest Island in Africa.
Muslims
there are of mostly Iranian origin with a mixture of them from Africa
and of Malay origin.
There
was no information on when the Muslim community in the Seychelles
Island would start fasting. Muslims account for less than one percent
of the Seychelles population and are around 1500 on the Island.
The
Seychelles has a population of 75,000.
Indian
Ocean Muslims – to mark Ramadan Monday – joins Saudi Arabia, other
Gulf States, Syria, Lebanon, Tunis, Algeria, Turkey, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Thailand, France, Holland, China, U.S.
Egypt,
Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Jordan, Sudan, Djibouti, Tajikistan,
Palestine, however, started fasting Sunday, October 26.
Pakistan
and Iraqi Shiites are yet to decide Sunday whether to fast Monday or
Tuesday.
