June 5 is final Eid'l Fitr day in BARMM areas

COTABATO CITY --- Middle Eastern states are celebrating today the Eid’l Fitr after Arab clerics saw the crescent moon rising Monday but their Asian counterparts were not as lucky.

The Saudi Arabian Royal Supreme Court was reported to have declared June 4 as culmination of Ramadhan, where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, focus on good deeds and prayers for one lunar cycle, which lasts from 28 to 29 days.

Muslims celebrate the Eid’l Fitr in the first day Shawal in the Hijrah lunar-based calendar, which marks the completion of Ramadhan, a holy month in Islam.

Fasting during the Ramadhan is one of the “five pillars” of the Islamic faith, which include belief in Allah, praying five times a day facing west, giving of alms to the poor, and, for those who can afford the cost of travel, performing the hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah in Saudi Arabia even just once in a lifetime.

Sick people, the elderly, pregnant and lactating mothers are exempted from the obligatory Ramadhan fasting process.

Clerics in many parts of Asia failed to see the crescent month Monday in separate moon-sighting rites, a practice pioneered by the first ever Muslim community established by Mohammad, progenitor of Islam.

The Darul Iftah, or House of Opinions, in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao declared June 5 as the day for Eid’l Fitr celebration in BARMM’s five provinces at past 8:00 p.m. Monday.

Darul Iftah’s grand mufti (preacher) Abu Huraira Udasan, who had studied Islamic theology in Egypt, personally announced on Monday night via radio stations in central Mindanao that Muslims in BARMM ought to celebrate Eid’l Fitr Wednesday, June 5, which President Rodrigo Duterte earlier declared as non-working holiday.

The Darul Iftah is comprised of senior Islamic theologians from across the Bangsamoro region, among them graduates of Islamic universities in the Middle East and North Africa.