'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)