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Phillippines: Threat To Demolish Mosque Provokes Sectarian Tension
Tensions are high on Basilan, an island in the south of the Philippines, where the Muslim community has threatened to attack Christians if the government does not stop its plan to destroy the Ihya Unsunna mosque, one of the oldest mosques on the island, in order to construct a market depot. "This is our place of worship, this is the house of God and destroying the mosque will only bring trouble because the Muslims are angry. We appeal to our leaders to please spare the mosque,â Ustadz Omar Suhod, one of the Muslim religious leaders told The Manila Times. Basilan, which is situated just south of the island of Mindanao, is one of the few areas in the Philippines where Muslims are still in the majority.The Ihya Unsunna mosque is in Isabela City, on the island of Basilan, just south of the Mindanao region. Muslim villagers have been guarding the mosque everyday but tensions remain high. Hundreds of Muslims demonstrators took part in a protest outside the mosque, shouting angry slogans condeming the local politicians who want to destroy the 13-year-old mosque. "We will fight for [our] right[s]. There will be bloodshed if they destroy the mosque," said one of the protestors while another demonstrator identified as Usman Sahibul told the local media that he is ready to die in the name of Islam. Aside from the Ihya Unsunna mosque, there are also dozens of mosques in Isabela City, where about 60,000 Muslims pray. If the local government goes ahead with the project to destroy the mosque, angry Muslims have threatened to destroy a Catholic cathedral in response. The cathedral is the only place of worship for the minority Christian population on the island. Once dominated exclusively by Muslims and animists, the Mindanao region has in the last 50 years seen an influx of Catholics, who have moved to the south of the country under a government programme. Today only 18 percent of the population of Mindanao is Muslim. Basilan is part of the autonomous Muslim region of Mindanao, an area of five provinces to which the pro-Catholic government in Manila has conceded partial autonomy. The island, together with the nearby archipelago of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, are considered to be hot zones in terms of religious tensions. The area is also the stronghold of the radical Islamic group, Abu Sayyaf, which is linked to the trans-national terrorist groups, Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda. Posted by: tipper 2006-02-15 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=142714 |