New Maguindanao sultan to pursue self-determination

Posted: December 23, 2005

A NEWLY-enthroned sultan in Maguindanao said he will actively pursue the right to self-rule for Maguindanao people under the United Nations Charter and international agreements.

Datu Amir Baraguir, a writer-historian, was named to the royal throne as Seri Paduka Sultan Sayyid Hadji Datu Amir bin Muhammad Baraguir during solemn traditional ceremonies at the Estosan Garden Hotel in Cotabato City.

Baraguir, who used to write a column for the Inquirer, was enthroned as Maguindanao’s 25th Sultan on Dec. 12.

The third son of the late Sultan Muhammad G.M. Baraguir and Bai Fatima Carmen Andong, Baraguir traces his roots from Mindanao’s three historic royalties—Maguindanao, Buayan and Kabuntalan.

The 45-year-old Sultan noted that UN Charter provisions applicable to colonized nations and states like Maguindanao “or ‘Mindanao’ in today’s parlance” in effect provided every Filipino the duty “to help, if not cause, Maguindanao to pursue [the] right [to self-determination].”

Indigenous nationhood

He said forms of self-determination the UN has resolved in recognizing “indigenous nationhood” ranged from “autonomous future” to “nationhood past” (in the case of Maguindanao) under the so-called Indian Doctrine.

He said he hoped a shift to the federal parliamentary form of government could give more substance to these rights “under the Principle of Incorporation” of nations in international laws.

But he lamented that contemporary sultans have had “little else to do” than acting as “symbols of unity for those whose traditional and historical moorings are still intact, and in serving in limited capacity as a patron of Maguindanaon arts, culture and tradition.”

Today the sultan no longer has the powers and authorities to address the problems of “inadequate or inappropriate education, poverty, high mortality and morbidity rates, lack of stable peace and the absence of a proper and more integrated moral, social and cultural direction” according to Baraguir.

Under the reign of Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Qudratullah Nasiruddin, better known in history as Sultan Kudarat, the sultanate’s dominion expanded to as far north as Zamboanga Peninsula; part of today’s Maguindanao province; Caraga Region (i.e. ceded to Spain under the 1645 Lopez-Kudarat Treaty); and Basilan to the West. For a time, the reign subjugated the old Kingdom of Ternate in the present-day Indonesia.

He fiercely resisted Spain’s futile attempts to conquer Maguindanao.

Mandate

Baraguir said the diminishing mandate of the sultanate has been detrimental to the Philippine government and a “misfortune” to Maguindanao.

But this state of affairs need not continue, he said.

The royal leadership, he said, will act as catalyst in pursuit of Maguindanao’s right to self-determination and serve as the voice of the underprivileged and advocate of redistributive justice in Maguindanao and, if possible, the world.

“The current Sultanate of Maguindanao is committed to the creative restoration of all [its] roles during the Era of Independence, without radically uprooting the present regime, and in accordance with constitutional law, order and propriety,” Baraguir said in his 10-minute speech.

Baraguir said it was “in the interest of the Maguindanaon people, the Philippine state, and the global community that the sultanate be explored as a dynamic institution for more rational and sustainable peace in this part of the world” – and which, he said, has legal and moral bases.

He cited provisions of the UN Charter that guarantees the principle of self-determination for colonized nations and states “similar to the once-sovereign Maguindanao.”

“Thus, Filipinos from the ordinary citizens to the highest policy-makers, are not only morally but legally obliged to help, if not cause, Maguindanao to pursue that right (self-governance). For the peoples of Maguindanao, this is a supreme patriotic duty,” Baraguir said.

By Nash Maulana, PDI Mindanao Bureau

Dec 18, 2005 Updated 03:14am (Mla time)

 

SMERI researcher's thesis on Quds Day under fire

Posted: December 1, 2005

As featured by JewishTimes.com, while Muslims of the globe are marching during the last Friday of  this  year’s fasting month of Ramadan, the Berlin-based "Together Against Political Islam and Anti-Semitism" stages a trans-Atlantic campaign for the removal of  "Al-Quds Day" in the list of Muslim holidays.

As a result of this campaign, Quds Day has been erased from some interfaith calendars in the United States and United Kingdom and "institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, from Harvard University to North Umbria University in England, have announced that they are deleting Al Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day...from calendars where it had been listed as a religious holiday," the said site quoted.

According to Arne Behrensen, co-founder of the Zionist group, he chose to focus on the calendars after reading a lecture by Mansoor Limba, SMERI Senior Researcher and Translator. As he claims, "Limba spoke with pride of how Al-Quds Day was becoming accepted as an Islamic holiday  around the world, recognized by a long list of organizations, including some Jewish ones."

The Zionist activist is actually referring to Limba’s paper qualified for presentation at the 2nd International Seminar on Islamic Thought held in Malaysia in December last year, an abridged version of which is posted by the Bangsamoro.com in its site.

The said paper examines the power nature of Quds Day in the cyberspace. Using the theory of power as "social order" constituted by a routine-knowledge interaction as the theoretical framework of the study, the SMERI researcher argues that the persistent routines of behavior in the case of the International Quds Day is represented by the march demonstrations and rallies every last Friday of Ramadan since its consecration in August 1979 by Imam Khomeini.

That International Quds Day is observed and commemorated annually by Muslims of the globe through march demonstrations and rallies, accordingly, is the common, collective knowledge of the routines. As a result of the interaction between the routine and knowledge for the past two decades, there emerged a social order--inclusion of the Quds Day in the calendar of Islamic holidays.

The point highlighted by Limba from the discussion is that on one hand, the emergent social order--Quds Day as Islamic holiday--is an indication of globalization of its observance. On the other hand, the same social order can indirectly fortify the already ongoing globalization of support to Palestine taking into account the routine-knowledge interaction. In other words, the produced social order (Quds Day as Islamic holiday) can potentially pave the way for the appearance of a ‘higher’ social order, i.e. even further globalization of support to Palestine.

When asked as to whether the result of this campaign has refuted the theory of power as "social order" in case of Quds Day, Limba comments: "First of all, it must be noted that the fact that there is a deliberate and sustained move against the inclusion of Quds Day in the list of Muslim holidays only shows that "Quds Day as Muslim holiday" is indeed an emergent social order. The campaign  is far from refuting the theory as the theory itself also expects some actions to be practiced which are contrary to the routine. Jay-walking by the pedestrians and car running at red light by the drivers are examples of these anti-routine acts in the case of traffic lights."

"Concerning the said campaign against International Quds Day, we can see in their web site that the Jews of Neturei Karta International are still firm in their stance against Zionism, and in practice, there are still determined to join the annual Quds Day demonstrations," Limba adds.

"In sum, time can be the best judge. The resultant social order (Quds Day as holiday) will only fade away once the routine-knowledge interaction is not sustained in the years to come," the SMERI researcher concludes.

Ahl al-Bayt ('a) Hilal Sighting Committee in the country

Posted: November 1, 2005

The beginning of this year’s lunar month of Ramadan once again highlights the absence of an umbrella organization of the Muntazirin in the country on account of their lack of internal mechanism, independence, mature leadership, and unity (see "Reflections on the fate of ABPA," Shajaratun Muntazirah Newsletter Issue 5, Volume 2, No. 1).

As usual, by blindly imitating their spiritual and monetary masters in Saudi Arabia, the local Wahhabi ‘ulama’ announced October 4 (Sha‘ban 29) as the beginning of the fasting month as the hilal has been allegedly sighted somewhere in the remote islands of Tawi-Tawi the previous evening, October 3 (Sha‘ban 28!)--a sighting claim which, apart from being highly improbable, has no specified criteria of verification but unfortunately unquestionably accepted hook, line and sinker by the unconcerned populace.

As is known the world over, the Wahhabis have the perennial practice of manipulating the start and end of Ramadan as well as the Day of Hajj by disregarding the actual sighting of the hilal (crescent). This is while Allah Ta‘ala orders the believers to follow the sighting criterion to determine the date of Hajj and other Islamic festivals and seasons as explicitly stated in this noble verse of the Glorious Qur’an and substantiated by authentic hadiths:

"They ask thee, (O Muhammad), of new moons. Say: They are fixed seasons for mankind and for the pilgrimage. It is not righteousness that ye go to houses by the backs thereof (as do the idolaters at certain seasons), but the righteous man is he who wardeth off (evil). So go to houses by the gates thereof, and observe your duty to Allah, that ye may be successful." (Surah al-Baqarah 2:189)

Muntazirin in the country are not exempted from confusion that this Wahhabi menace is annually bringing to the local Muslims. This is demonstrated by separate inquiries made by some Muntazirin from Butuan City and Manila to the Institute on the eve of the Wahhabis’ announcement of the alleged sighting of the crescent.

Keeping this in view, it is natural that it is high time now for the elder Muntazirin to consider the idea of forming the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) Hilal Sighting Committee in the country under the guidance of the institution of marja‘iyyah.

This committee may initially form sighting groups in the cities of Cotabato, Marawi, Zamboanga, Cebu, and Manila.

In terms of sighting frequency, the committee may start on its sighting activities on only the commencement and end of the two months related to the observance of fasting and Hajj (i.e., Ramadan and Dhu’l-Hijjah).

After sometime, the committee may expand its sighting groups to include other areas where there are considerably thriving communities of Muntazirin.

In tandem with this expansion in the scope of the sighting groups shall be a regularity in the frequency of sighting activities by making them monthly as they are supposed to be.  

Once we emerged successful in hilal sighting, it can be hoped that this achievement will spill over in more, or at least equally, important issue-areas as well.

A group of Balik-Islam Muntazirin forges cooperation with SMERI

Posted: October 6, 2005

A group of Balik-Islam (former Christians who reverted to Islam) Muntazirin from different parts of the Cotabato-Maguindanao region visits the SM Educational and Research Institute (SMERI) yesterday to forge cooperation with the Institute with respect to some activities under its Research and External Bureaus.

The areas of activity covered are those under the Research Bureau's Comparative Religion Department and National Muslim Studies Department, as well as External Bureau's outreach programs such as distribution of free books and local printing of booklets on Islam.

At the end of the four-hour meeting, the delegation is invited to take their iftar (meal for breaking the fast) at the Institute.

Each of the four delegates of the Balik-Islam Muntazirin in the region is offered with free copies of three books, (1) The Psalms of Islam, (2) Then I Was Guided, and (3) Nahj al-Balaghah for Children; Shajaratun Muntazirah Newsletter Issue 5 (with an Editorial related to the Balik-Islam Muntazirin, "De-terrorizing the terror of terrorism"); and an article by SMERI's Senior Researcher and Translator entitled, "Inclination-to-Islam Trend in Southeast Asia: The Philippine Case".

The group and SMERI agree to meet in the near future.

SMERI Ramadan Programs

Posted: October 1, 2005

As the blessed month of Ramadan is fast approaching, Shajaratun Muntazirah Educational and Research Institute’s (SMERI) Education and External Bureaus announce their joint Ramadan Audio-Visual Exhibits, incorporating programs related to the fasting month, the martyrdom of Imam ‘Ali (‘a) (from the 19th to the 21st) and International Quds Day (last Friday of the lunar month).

The Institute shall invite local Muntazirin to join the holding of group recitation of the following supplications:

· Du‘a Kumayl (every Thursday night);

· Du‘a Tawassul (every Tuesday night);

· Du‘a Nudba (every Tuesday night)

· Du‘a Jawshan Kabir (every night during the last 10 nights of the month)

The different books, articles, and audio-video files related to Ramadan, fasting and spirituality such as lectures, anashid, tawashi‘, supplications, presentations, and films available in the Library shall be introduced to the visitors and readers.

During the whole month, the serial film (around 30 hours) about the Commander of the Faithful (‘a) produced by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) shall be shown every night at the ‘Allamah Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi Room of the Institute.

Starting on the last Friday of the month (Quds Day) which falls on October 28 up to the  eve of the ‘Id al-Fitr celebration, posters, pictures and other visual materials featuring the issue of Quds ash-Sharif and the Palestinian struggle for self-determination shall be displayed in the Institute.

Various presentations and documentary films available at the Library, showing Israel’s state-sponsored policy of terrorism in the Occupied Territories, the everyday oppression experienced by the Palestinians, and their struggle and resistance as well as that of the Lebanese people shall be offered for public viewing.

The External Bureau of the Institute is planning to reproduce many copies of the following English fact sheets and their Filipino translations (rendered by SMERI’s Writing and Translation Department) for free distribution:

· What is the Fast of the Month of Ramadan?

· Why Do the Shi‘ah Avoid Tarawih Congregations?

· What Non-Muslims Say About ‘Ali (‘a) the First Successor of Prophet Muhammad (s)

· A Sermon Without Dots

· Merits of the Soul... Struggle Against the Self (Jihad al-Nafs)

· Merits of the Soul... Repentance (tawbah)

If you have some inquiries, suggestions or comments, you may send them at: [email protected] 

Remembering Shaykh Ahmed Deedat

Posted: September 1, 2005

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.

In the early morning of August 8, 2005 (Rajab 2, 1426 AH), the Muslim world has lost one of the few accomplished ambassadors of Islam in the contemporary period.

Shaykh Ahmed Hoosen Deedat returned to the mercy of His Most Merciful Lord after succumbing to a severe stroke that left him in a state of coma for almost a decade. Throughout this period, however, he still continued to inspire, educate, challenge, and inform people about the universal message of Islam.

Here in the Philippines, the only Christian country in the whole continent of Asia, the late Deedat will continue to inspire dedicated propagators of Islam and to enlighten thousands of souls who are thirsty of the limpid water of the truth of Islam. These can be accomplished through the thousands of copies of his publications which have been distributed free of charge in the country as elsewhere in the entire world.

In addition to his books, Shaykh Deedat through his founded Islamic Propagation Center International (IPCI) based in Durban, South Africa, also occasionally distributed books such as the following:  

"They Dare to Speak Out" by Paul Findley;

"Publish It Not: The Middle East Cover Up" by Christopher Mayhew and Michael Adams

"Muhammad in the Bible" by ‘Abdul Ahad Dawud

"The God that Never Was"

"Muhammad the Prophet of Islam" by S. Ramakrisna Rao

"The Hundred or the Top Hundred in History" by Michael H. Hart

"Way to the Qur’an" by Khurram Murad

Following is one of the kind letters of the late Founder and President of the IPCI more than a decade ago to a group of Muntazirin in the country, which expresses his fatherly attention to the da’wah efforts in this part of the globe: 

22 December 1993                         

7 Rajab 1414 AH

Respected Brother in Islam,

As-salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Peace and contentment be upon you, your family and friends, and may Allah SWT at all times confine us within the folds of His grace, bounty, love and mercy, and keep us within the boundaries of truth, wisdom reasoning, understanding, and faith. Amen.

Jazakullah for your informative letter, the kind words and sentiments express therein, and the corrections to our publications.

Your letter brought tears of joy to my eyes knowing that there are committed Muslims who have understood the very essence why Allah SWT made us Muslims, and that is to pass on the truth and message of Deen al-Islam. Al-hamdulliah.

I have under separate cover forwarded the books requested for your library. I managed to obtain a copy of the book on (Salman) Rushdie which was only available in the UK.

Keep up the good work and may Allah SWT pave your path with success. Amen.

With salaams and best wishes.

Yours in Islam,

Ahmed Deedat                    

Servant of Islam

SMERI distributes its eDigest

Posted: August 3, 2005

As part of its public relations activities, starting today SM Educational and Research Institute (SMERI) distributes through email its "SMERI eDigest" to individuals in the country who are included in the SMERI Mailing List.

The SMERI eDigest contains links to recommended sites, electronic articles and media items, and updates to the SMERI site.

The External Bureau of the Institute, which is producing the eDigest, is trying its best to make is a weekly digest.

Any interest party may join the Mailing List by sending blank email to us with the subject: "Subscription eDigest".

SMERI launches its website

Posted: April 27, 2005

On the auspicious occasion  the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet of Islam (s) and Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq ('a) on Rabi' al-Awwal 17, 1426 AH/April 26, 2005, marking the culmination day of the International Islamic Unity Week (Rabi' al-Awwal 12-17), SM Educational and Research Institute (SMERI) launches its website.

The website is maintained by the Public Relations Department under the External Bureau of the Institute.