Ramadan begins

COTABATO CITY — Ramadan officially started today for followers of Islam after the sighting of crescent moon Sunday night in Malaysia, Muslim religious leaders said.Muslims will fully abstain from drinking and marital sexfrom dawn to dusk for a month.Mufti Abu Huraira Udasan of Darul Ifta (House of Opinion) for Maguindanao and Cotabato said the crescent moon was sighted in the neighboring country of Malaysia but not in the Philippines. Ramadan is the ninth of the 12-month Hijri lunar calendar, and is considered the holiest month in Islam. It was during this month that God’s revelations in the Koran were completed, according to the history of Islam.Maguindanao and Cotabato Grand Mufti Abu Huraira Udasan earlier said the start of Ramadan fasting would either be Monday or Tuesday, depending on the reports of moon sighting missions dispatched yesterday to different strategic areas in Mindanao.The Regional Darul Ifta in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (RDI-ARMM) joined for the first time the Muslim world’s annual lunar observation to determine the first day of fasting.