In Mindanao, war shatters the Ramadan
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By Germelina A. Lacorte
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY — For Amirah Ali Lidasan, 33, the Ramadan is a time of peace and prayer. Sawm, or the fasting during Ramadan, is one of the five pillars of Islam, or the five “duties” every Muslim observes to practice his or her faith.The entire Muslim world celebrates it to commemorate the time when Allah revealed the first verses of the Qur’an to the Prophet Mohammed.
“To observe Ramadan, you need absolute peace of mind,” said Lidasan. “We make it a point to avoid stress. Farming communities, for instance, had to stack their food ahead of time, so that they can focus all their thoughts on Allah during Ramadan. Not an ounce of annoyance should be there during Ramadan,” she explained.
But when Mindanao Muslims started Ramadan on September 12 this year, fighting continued to rage in the island of Basilan. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro himself said the government saw no reason to stop military operations that, according to the data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), already displaced 24,000 since July this year. Groups like the Suara Bangsamoro said the number of the displaced persons who remained unreported could even be higher.
Also, Suara called the “fire and test mission” that government troops were doing in some Muslim communities in Basilan as a sign of “disrespect” for the Muslim religious exercise. Reports reaching Lidasan’s group said Scout Rangers and the Special Forces were doing fire testing in Muslim communities in TipoTipo town’s barangay Ungkaya Pukan, displacing whole communities as a result.
“The incessant fighting makes it impossible for the communities to celebrate Ramadan,” said Lidasan, who always relate the Ramadan of her childhood as a time not only of prayer but also of experiencing “oneness” with the entire Muslim community.
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