Posted by
wholesale on Monday, September 21, 2009 3:29:43 AM
Filed Under: Religion & Belief, Islam, Unrest and Conflicts and War
COTABATO CITY—Muslims and Christians
inflatable bouncer prayed a block apart here Sunday as their religious leaders exchanged peace messages.
As early as 6 a.m., Muslim worshippers began entering the gate of Cotabato City Central Pilot Elementary School for the Eid al-Fitr prayer.
Across the track-and-field ground where Muslims spread carpets for the prayer, Christians flocked for the early first Sunday Mass at Immaculate Conception Cathedral.
The night before, Mufti Omar Pasigan, 71, extended his message of peace and goodwill to Muslims and Christians sharing a common community as he
inflatable tent declared this year’s end of Ramadan.
“May the Muslims and Christians live in peace and prosperity in this community,” Pasigan said in his broadcast declaration on the end of Ramadan in the current Muslim Hijrah (Migration) year of 1430.
Pasigan said political and civic leaders had opened at least three open spaces here as designated places of worship for the Eid al-Fitr prayer—the ARMM Complex, the People’s Palace as the City Hall is called, and the city’s Central Pilot Elementary School.
The sun came out after two days of rain during the 45-minute open-field prayer. An hour later, heavy rain again fell.
For his part, Bishop Orlando Quevedo said: “The Christians felicitate our brother and sister Muslims with prayers for peace and healing and of environment that will help them become successful in their celebration.”
Officials said the unusually heavy presence of
inflatable slides security forces on the premises was prompted partly by a deadly bombing in July at the gate side of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas office here in which about a dozen people were killed and scores wounded.
Mayor Muslimin Sema called on the young to seek education as their first priority. “Education leads the way through virtues of worship and good deeds as followers and leaders,” he said.
Top cleric killed in Russia
Elsewhere as Muslims marked Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, Ismail Bostanov, rector of the Islamic Institute and a top Muslim cleric, was killed in an attack in Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus, Russian news agencies reported.
Bostanov’s car was fired on by unknown assailants as the vehicle was stopped at a traffic light in the center of Cherkessk. His son was wounded in the shooting, the RIA Novosti news agency said.