Holiday is August 12 but Eid'l Adha for Muslims is August 11

COTABATO CITY --- Muslims in Southern Philippines will celebrate on Sunday, August 11, the Eid’l Adha, ahead of the August 12 holiday Malacañang declared.

Residents of Isabela City in Basilan will hold their open-field Eid’l Adha congregational prayer rite at the parade ground in the Basilan National High School on August 11 as agreed by Islamic theologians and clerics overseeing mosques in the city and in towns nearby.

The consensus was reached during a dialogue Thursday among Isabela City officials, representatives from the Basilan provincial government, Congressman Mujiv Hataman, members of the Basilan Ulama Supreme Council and officials of the Isabela City Madrasah Association.

Among those who attended the dialogue at the city hall of Isabela City were preachers led by Ustadz Alzad Sattar, a member of the Bangsamoro parliament.

Mayor Rose Furigay of Lamitan City, capital of Basilan, said Friday Muslims in all of their more than 40 barangays shall also celebrate the Eid’l Adha on August 11.

“Security preparations are now underway for them to have a peaceful and solemn outdoor activity on August 11 in designated sites,” Furigay said.

The Bangsamoro grand mufti (preacher), Abu Huraira Udasan, had said as early as August 2 that central Mindanao’s Muslim communities shall commemorate on August 11 the Eid’l Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice.

Malacañang has declared August 12 as a non-working Eid’l Adha holiday.

Islamic missionaries in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao adhere to directives from Udasan, who is also figurehead of BARMM’s Darul Iftah.

The Darul Iftah, or House of Opinions, is comprised of clerics who had studied Islam in religious schools in the Middle East and North Africa.

BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, Cotabato City and more than 60 barangays in North Cotabato in Region 12.

Eid’l Adha is commemorated by Muslims annually to give honor to the biblical story, also chronicled in the Qur’an, about the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to offer as a sacrifice his son as a test of his subservience to God.

As written, the supposed ritual was interrupted by an angel who replaced Ibraham’s child with a sacrificial ram.

There are two most important religious holidays in Islam, the Eid’l Adha and the Eid’l Fitr.

The Eid’l Fit’r marks the culmination of the Ramadhan fasting season where physically-fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle, about 28 to 29 days, as an obligation and to learn the importance of self-restraint to achieve spiritual perfection.