Monument built on Simunul island in honor of moderate Islamic preacher

COTABATO CITY -- Officials launched on Tuesday a monument honoring a 14thcentury Arab cleric who taught southerners Islamic peace activism present outcast Islamic militants are trying to destroy.The seaside landmark monument on where Arab preacher Karimul Makdum first set foot on Simunal, now an island town in Tawi-Tawi, was constructed using funds from the executive department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).ARMM and provincial officials led the inauguration of the monument on Tuesday, an event capped off with the launching of P80 million worth of infrastructure projects in Simunul.Makdum built in Bohe Indangan, Simunul what is to become the country’s first ever and oldest mosque.He brought with him a copy of the Qur’an that he used as main reference in propagating Islam in what are now island towns in Tawi-Tawi.The event in Simunul on Tuesday was jointly led by Tawi-Tawi Gov. Rashidin Matba and Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman, chief executive of the autonomous region.Hataman said the monument shall be a strong reminder for people in Tawi-Tawi to remain moderate in their interpretations of the teachings in the Qur’an.Outlawed religious extremists in ARMM have eloquently been misinterpreting many verses in the Qur’an when they preach to justify their violent behaviors and their persecution of Christians and neutral Muslims.The autonomous region covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.Hataman was accompanied to Simunul by Engineer Don Long, and Ayesha Mangudadatu, regional secretaries of ARMM’s public works and tourism departments, respectively.Makdum is known for having organized Tawi-Tawi’s pagan inhabitants into Muslim communities governed by Islamic principles on co-existence among tribes with different faiths, respect for non-Islamic religions, and fraternalism.He was also chronicled to have introduced to the local communities a Sharia justice system based on Islamic teachings on equality of all men regardless of races and religions and the la iqra fidin principle, or freedom in religious beliefs, apparently meant to ensure interfaith solidarity among Muslims and non-Muslims.The ARMM and the municipal government of Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi, had earlier constructed jointly the Bud Bongao eco-tourism park, also a religious landmark.It was in Bud Bongao (Bongao Peak) where other foreign Islamic theologians that came after Makdum to preach Islam in the islands were buried.All on-going infrastructure projects in Tawi-Tawi of the ARMM government are joint development ventures of Hataman, Loong and officials of the Provincial District Engineering Office.