A Moro-Christian wedding

From the Philippine Star (Dec 28): A Moro-Christian wedding

Four days before Christmas (Dec. 22) I flew to Cotabato City to stand as sponsor in a Muslim wedding. It was an interesting experience. Until then I hadn’t witnessed such a wedding, much less participated in the simple rites. And until I got to the wedding venue, a modest garden-restaurant, I didn’t know what to expect. It was only then that I was handed the invitation card. I found my name atop the list of 14 sponsors, a mix of men and women with Muslim and Christian names a number of whom I know.

On Nov. 28, I had received a text-invitation from the bride. She mentioned the date but not where the wedding would take place. She didn’t even name the groom! When she texted again on Dec. 14, she provided these details: wedding rites at Raff’s Garden at 4 p.m., sponsors shall be in barong, and the groom’s name is Ismael (who I assumed was a Muslim). Essentially it was a Muslim-Christian wedding, though the religious rites were purely Islamic.

Bai Ali Indayla, the bride, is a Maguindanao Muslim as her parents are. Although his name is Islamic and he can speak Tausog, Ismael Mallen, the groom, belongs to a Christian family in Zamboanga Sibugay. For the wedding to happen and for the sake of his beloved (in Asia, Muslim women cannot marry outside their faith), Ismael converted to Islam. The bride proudly refers to her husband as a “Balik-Islam.” The latter’s father, a municipal councilor, told me that his family respects Ismael’s decision.

I found the wedding a give-and-take affair. While Ismael turned Muslim to enable the wedding to take place, during the rites Bai Ali’s father officially transferred to the groom his responsibility over his daughter. The rite also signified, I was informed later, that in effect the bride became part of her husband’s Christian family.

Moreover, the newlyweds, both progressive youth activists and human rights defenders, prefer to call their marriage a Moro-Christian union. This is in accord with the Bangsamoro (Moro people) identity, adopted by both the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Bai Ali, student council president in her college days, is the secretary general of Kawagib, the Moro human rights organization. Ismael is a youth organizer who has gravitated to human rights advocacy........

http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2012-12-29/891041/moro-christian-wedding