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MANILA, March 23, 2023 (SDN) — Muslims in the Philippines join today, Thursday, the Islamic world called “Ummah” in performing the Ramadan fast for 29 or 30 days, each day.
In Metro Manila, calendar from the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) shows the start of fasting at 4:30 a.m, after which eating, drinking, smoking, and engaging in sex are not allowed until sunset. Based on the calendar, even of the Bangamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the Ramadan fast lasts for over 13 hours.
Thus, for more than 13 hours adult Muslims are forbidden to eat, drink, smoke and do sexual relations of any kind.
For the holy month, BARMM Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim issued Memorandum Circular No. 0052 to change the working hours in the region.
The temporary change makes the working hours in the BARMM from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but without decrease in the 40-hour work week. Ebrahim’s issuance will revert the working hours to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. after the celebration of Eid’l Fitr, the Festival of Breaking the Fast, after month.
On March 21, the Bangsamoro Darul Iftah headed by Grand Mufti Abuhuraira Udasan led its Moon-sighting Committee to try and sight the Ramadan crescent moon. Sighting the crescent signals the start of Ramadan; moon-sighting is also being done 28 or 29 days into the fast to determine the religious obligation’s conclusion.
On the other hand, the NCMF’s Moon-sighting Committee tried to see if the crescent moon appeared in the early evening of March 23. Upon receiving reports it was sighted, religious leaders in Metro Manila, in coordination with the Commission, declared that Ramadan’s first day is Thursday, March 23.
The Region IX (Western Mindanao) Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdulbaki Abubakar also declared March 23 as first day of Ramadan. This effectively, it appears, synchronized the elusive start of the annual fasting among Muslims in the country.
Foreign diplomatic missions in Manila traditionally hold non-sectarian Iftar dinner
At least in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), they also start their fast today.
In Saudi Arabia, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, he described Ramadan as “a blessed one that he asks God to help Muslims to take advantage of its days and nights to do good deeds…asked God to protect Saudi Arabia and the world from evil.”
Getting on in the social media bandwagon, the King implored God in a tweet to “make Ramadan a month of goodness, blessings and peace for our people, the Muslim nation and people all over the world.”
Islam’s HIjrah 1444 corresponds to the Gregorian 2023.
Ramadan fast as Islamic ritual aims at encouraging patience, charity, and community. “Iftar”, the breaking of the fast at sunset, is also shared in some households or communities with non-Muslims to strengthen brotherhood among peoples of different faiths.
As this developed, diplomatic missions in the Philippines have a tradition of holding Iftar dinners where Muslim and Christian leaders, including from the government, the community, and in politics, are invited.
Muslims believe that the first verses of the Holy Qur’an were revealed in the month of Ramadan. (✓)