December 11, 2000, The Philippine Star, Muslim groups pray for Estrada ouster nightly,

December 11, 2000, The Philippine Star, Muslim groups pray for Estrada ouster nightly,

COTABATO CITY — Influential groups of Muslim leaders and young professionals have been secretly holding evening Ramadan prayers for the ouster of President Estrada, key sources from the Islamic religious community said. 

One of the sources, a foreign-trained imam (Muslim priest), who works for an agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said at least five groups of young Muslims, some of them career employees of the government, gather in different houses every night and hold their congregational prayers after breaking their fast at dusk. 

Muslims fast during the day for one lunar cycle or 30 days during the Ramadan, which started last Nov. 27. "This group prayer meetings started after the activation of the impeachment court now prosecuting President Estrada," said the source, who asked to be identified only as Ustadz Tahir. 

The nightly prayers were said to have been organized by student leaders from Catholic and state-run universities who have been extremely critical of the government's pacification campaign in Central Mindanao which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels and the displacement of thousands of civilians, mostly ethnic Muslims. 

"We decide during the day where to hold the prayers and then gather in the agreed venue before sunset. We break our fast and then hold the prayers," said a 24-year-old, who identified himself only as Moksim. "We do nothing bad. We only pray that the litigation of the impeachment case the President now faces will be guided by divine wisdom and that justice for the Filipinos will prevail," said a female Maranaw teacher. 

Al-Haj Murad, MILF military chief, said he has been receiving feedback, too, that some of their field commanders have also been gathering at night to pray for the conviction of President Estrada and immediate resolution of the Mindanao conflict. "But I think the prayers are focused more on the resolution of the government conflict. Because we don't recognize the government anyway so the controversy now hounding President Estrada is practically nothing to us," Murad said in an interview via two-way radio.