CEBU must have its own grand mosque to unite its 6,000 Muslim community.
This was the statement of Dr. Ijodin Saripada Mamacol, executive director of the Office of Muslim Affairs and Indigenous Cultural Communities, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, during the celebration of Eid’l Adha.
Mamacol said Cebu City is the only major city in the country that continues to lack a grand mosque despite the large number of Muslim faithful here.
“As you can see, in addition to the [Manila Golden] Mosque in Manila, other major cities in the Philippines, such as Davao, Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, also have grand mosques. Only Cebu City has none,” he told SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, June 27.
He said that it will not only be advantageous to unify Muslims in Cebu altogether, but it will also draw pilgrims from other parts of the country to the city.
“Forgotten”
Mamacol revealed that there were plans for the construction of a grand mosque even during the administration of former mayor Tomas Osmeña.
However, it was unclear why the project did not push through and just “vanished into thin air.”
Yet the Muslim community remains hopeful that the forgotten project will be brought to life.
“It really is a plan that we will have our grand mosque, I already brought it up with Mayor [Michael Rama] and the rest of the council,” he said in Cebuano.
Mamacol said they are already in talks with city officials regarding their request, although there has been no formal planning.
To unite
He asserted that the construction of a grand mosque would bring all Muslims in Cebu City together, particularly because they all come from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
According to Mamacol, 80 percent or around 4,800 Muslims in the city are from the Maranao tribe, an ethnic group native to the region around Lanao Lake in Mindanao.
The remainder of the Muslims are from the Maguindanaon and Tausug tribes.
He is aware that there are smaller mosques in the city but a grand mosque would gather them all together in one place during important holidays, such as Eid’l Fitr, or the end of Ramadan, and Eid’l Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.
Among the prominent mosques in Cebu City is the Sittie Mariam Masjed in Barangay Pahina Central and Al-Khaimah Masjed in Barangay Mambaling.
Anzhira Malawani, a 30-year-old Maranao who migrated from Iligan City, said that an establishment of a grand mosque will create an identity among Muslims in Cebu.
“There are many Muslims from different tribes. So if there is a grand mosque instead of segregating ourselves from others, we will all gather together during big events,” she said told SunStar Cebu on Wednesday.
For 42-year-old Maranao Asnawi Bao, who is originally from Lanao del Sur, it will encourage young Muslims to engage more in religious practices.
“Like in Manila, they have Golden Mosque. They can gather hundreds to thousands of people to pray there every Friday,” Bao said.