MUSLIMS united yesterday in celebrating the end of Ramadan, or Eid’l Fitr. How they celebrated the festival of fast-breaking was both a spiritual and communal thanksgiving.
All mosques, according to Imam Aladdin Ubpon of Alkhairiah Mosque in Mambaling, Cebu City, started the festival with a congregational prayer that assured blessings from Allah.
“Like a broom that can clean away so much dirt if there are so many sticks locked together, so is the Muslim belief that if we are united, we will receive so many blessings from Allah,” he said.
For Green Mosque Imam Ustadz Haron Magadapa, Eid’l Fitr is celebrated right from the moment “the devotee walks into the mosque and harmoniously chants praise and worship to Allah.”
“Each one coming together to the annual assembly is celebrating with his brothers his successful fasting and his transformation into a moderate Muslim. As one, he can control his passions and grow his business,” he said.
Ubpon said that the Ramadan teaches Muslims to sympathize with both Muslim and non-Muslim brothers through fasting.
During the congregational prayer, the imams stood before devotees, praised Allah and read verses from the Holy Koran. A 30-minute sermon on the wisdom of the 30-day Ramadan ensued, and then a feast. Muslims invited their neighbors to their homes and served them halal food.
“It’s like a fiesta. The important thing is we are establishing relations in the community by starting to treat our neighbors well,” said Magadapa.
Eid’l Fitr is celebrated for three to four days in some parts of the world.
Those who fast six days more after the end of Ramadan will receive 10 times more from Allah, said Magadapa.
The two leaders were happy with the turnout in their mosques early yesterday morning.
Ubpon said that around 2,000 Muslims, including children, filled the Alkhairiah Mosque that some of them had to go and worship in other mosques because the place could no longer accommodate them.
Magadapa said that some 600 Muslims attended the ceremony at the Green Mosque in Zapatera. The turnout was 100 more than he expected. He attributed this to the rising number of Muslims in Cebu and their consciousness to observe Ramadan. (NRC)
