'Takbiran' is more unified

'Takbiran' is more unified

JAKARTA (JP): In many local neighborhoods, the coming of Idul
Fitri on Friday was marked with people hurrying to and from
houses carrying rantang (sets of stacked containers) of food.

Inside the rantang containers were ketupat, rice cake boiled
in rhombus shaped packets of plaited coconut leaves, and various
other traditional foods that many people still identify with the
end of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadhan.

As the well accepted custom dictates, the person who brings a
container full of food cannot go home empty handed; his or her
rantang is filled again with similar food, all with a different
taste due to having been cooked by different people.

Even in modern housing complexes such as Bintaro Jaya and
Pondok Indah, whose busy residents usually do not have time for
visiting, many people were spotted carrying the containers from
one house to another.

Late Thursday afternoon, almost all mosques had started to
welcome the celebration with the beating of beduk (drums) and the
resounding recitation of takbiran, the praise of Allah's name,
all night.

Right after the Idul Fitri prayers on Friday morning, held in
mosques and any nearby empty lot, people joyously greeted one
another with Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin, the Arabic words which is a
request for complete forgiveness, or the Indonesian version Maaf
Lahir dan Batin.

These words will continue to echo in offices and work places
for the next several days as people resume work after the two-day
Moslem Idul Fitri holiday and Sunday.

For the first time in many years, this Idul Fitri saw an
absence of noisy debates among astronomers and scholars on when
the holiday should be celebrated.

Thanks to the government's rigorous campaign for a unified
onset and end of Ramadhan, all of the major Moslem organizations,
including the usually-dissenting Nahdlatul Ulama, agreed that
Idul Fitri fell on Friday.

This agreement was a major feat, as Moslems here, and in many
other parts of the globe as well, have often differed on the
matter for many reasons, including different methods of
determination.

Last year, Nahdlatul Ulama urged its some 30 million followers
to stop fasting and celebrate Idul Fitri a day earlier than the
date ruled by the government.

This year the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced on
Wednesday evening that 17 out of 19 calendars issued by major
Moslem organizations determined that a new moon, which signifies
the end of Ramadhan, would not be seen on that day.

Investigation teams of the 19 organizations, posted in various
parts of the country, also failed to sight the new moon then.

The organizations' representatives then agreed to complete the
fasting month to its 30th day, and celebrated the holiday on
Friday. Among the organizations were Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul
Ulama, and Persatuan Islam.

Differences did occur, but they concerned only with small
groups such as the congregation of a mosque in Central Jakarta
and a boarding school in East Jakarta. They celebrated the Idul
Fitri on Thursday, as did people in Saudi Arabia.

As for the Idul Fitri prayers, several locations in Jakarta
saw the gatherings of thousands of people. President Soeharto,
Vice President Try Sutrisno, cabinet ministers and foreign
dignitaries joined thousands of Jakarta's Moslems in the Grand
Mosque Istiqlal.

Chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema Hasan Basri said
in his sermon in Istiqlal that only faithful people will make
Indonesia a quality nation able to withstand the rush for
globalization.

Afterward, President Soeharto and First Lady Tien Soeharto in
their residence received Vice President and Mrs. Tuti Try
Sutrisno who visited for a halal bihalal, a traditional rite of
stating and seeking forgiveness for past mistakes.

At the Senayan Eastern Square, some 100,000 prayed and
listened to the Idul Fitri sermon delivered by famous preacher
Zainuddin M.Z. Some celebrities, including the "king" of dangdut
music Rhoma Irama and poet W.S. Rendra, were seen among the
congregation there.

At the Ministry of Transmigration, noted Moslem poet Taufik
Ismail said in his sermon that Moslems needed to strengthen
social solidarity by cultivating an alms-giving habit.

"Increase this habit to four, five times, cease seeking
business profits to provide for seven generations (of family)
after your own," Taufik said. "(Earning) to provide for one
generation is enough, give the rest to the poor."

Minister of Defense and Security Gen. Edi Sudradjat attended
the prayer service at the Mosque Taqwa located on the ministry
compound, while Maj. Gen. Koesparmono Irsan, deputy to National
Police Chief for operational affairs, joined other members of the
National Police in their prayers at the Bhayangkari Square.

In South Banten, West Java, some 3,000 recently-converted
Moslems in the Baduy society, whose majority adhere to a pre-
Islamic system of belief called Sunda Wiwitan, also celebrated
Idul Fitri on Friday.

As did their brethren throughout the country, the Baduy
Moslems spent the previous night by beating the mosques' drum and
praising Allah, and visiting relatives and friends.

In Surabaya, East Java, Governor Basofi Soedirman and military
commander Maj. Gen. Haris Sudarno joined around 200,000 Moslems
praying at the headquarters of the Brawijaya military command.

Preacher Qosim Nurseha told the gathering that Indonesians who
were unable to exercise self-restraint, as is taught by Islam,
will undermine the national development efforts.

Some 5,000 Moslems in the predominantly-Hindhu Bali province
prayed at the Puputan Square after listening to Governor Ida
Bagus Oka's broadcast earlier that Moslems contributed more to
the efforts to eradicate poverty. Some Rp 22 million (US$ 10,000)
of zakat fitrah (tithe donated to the poor in rice or money a few
days before Idul Fitri) was collected.

In Jakarta and other major cities, most of the mosques
grounds, roads and other lots displayed an identical scene: heaps
of torn, dirty newspapers used by the Moslems as their prayer
mats.

In Surabaya, according to the Antara news agency, some 200
road sweepers had to "celebrate" the holiday by picking up and
cleaning up the roads strewn with paper.

Many Jakartan Moslems chose not to go straight home after the
Idul Fitri prayers, but went to cemeteries to pay homage to their
late relatives. As usual, this ritual created heavy traffic in
surrounding areas, such as near Tanah Kusir and Pondok Kelapa
cemeteries.

Beggars, vendors of flower petals, and informal cemetery
workers, who offer to clean graves for a fee, all contributed to
the activities which are uniquely of Indonesian Moslems.
(team/swe)