Monday, May 28, 2007 Command votes strong in Muslim communities By Ben O. Tesiorna, Senior Reporter
YES, there is such a thing as command votes in Muslim Mindanao and so people should not be surprised if the not so popular administration ticket Team Unity enjoys a landslide victory in Maguindanao province.
This was the opinion made by a ranking member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as he attributed this phenomenon to the religious obligation of every Muslim to "follow their leaders."
In a report, Muhammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF secretariat, said Islam obliges Muslims to follow their leaders as a religious obligation and cited this verse in the Qur'an: "Obey Allah, obey the Messenger (Prophet Muhammad) and obey those who lead over you."
The report posted at the MILF official website luwaran.com said the verse in Qur'an "is a very clear guideline" for Muslims.
Ameen said Muslims are obliged to follow the orders of a "rightly-guided leader." Not following the leader is tantamount to not obeying Allah and the Prophet, he added.
"Allah punishes those who disobeys their leaders, but the orders must be moral, ethical, and within the bounds of Islam," Ameen said.
The MILF leader however clarified that such obedience concerns only those orders, instructions, edicts that are within the prescriptions of Islam.
"If they are not, Muslims are equally obliged not to follow," he said.
The clarification came in the heels of the explanation of the controversial 12-0 vote in favor of the administration's Team Unity in Maguindanao.
Ameen partly agreed that Moros tend to follow leaders as a religious obligation, but clarified that the order of any leader to vote for certain party candidates is not within the purview of an obligatory act. Islam has an entirely different system of choosing leaders, which is opposed to the Philippine system.
