Key Philippine Military and Insurgency-Related Events: MILF: BDA director educates UBJP SouthMin on the political aspects of Islam

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

MILF: BDA director educates UBJP SouthMin on the political aspects of Islam

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Apr 13): BDA director educates UBJP SouthMin on the political aspects of Islam

An Aleem (Islamic scholar) member of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) Board of Directors delivered a lecture on the political aspects of Islam to the key officers of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) from Southern Mindanao (SouthMin) region geared towards strengthening the group through education of its party members.

“Islam is a total way of life,” Ustadz Abdulkadir Abdullah, BOD member of BDA said during the Training on Political Party Development held at the Sun City Suites in General Santos City on April 5-7, 2016.

The training was organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Institute for Autonomy and Governance and UBJP with the financial support from European Union.

“It has provided guidance in every sphere of life, from individual cleanliness, rules of trade to the structure and politics of the society,” he explained.

He said Islam can never be separated from social, political, or economic life, since religion provides moral guidance for every action that a person takes.

The Islamic scholar said, “God is the absolute sovereign in Islam, and is therefore the only Lord of heaven and earth.”

He said that God is the Ruler of the affairs of men in Islamic doctrine, thus, “God is the Supreme lawgiver, the Absolute Judge, and the Legislator who distinguishes right from wrong.”

“His is the Creation and Command,” Abdullah mentioned the 54th verse of the 7th chapter of the Holy Qur’an.

“God alone has the authority to make laws, determine acts of worship, decide morals, and set standards of human interaction and behaviour,” he explained.

The lecturer said that since God is the sole sovereign of human affairs, there is no distinction between religious and state authority.

He said that the ideal Islamic state is a community governed by law revealed by God. “The function of Islamic state is to provide security and order so that Muslims can carry out both their religious and worldly duties.

UBJP is the political party created by the MILF in preparation to its engagement to political exercises once the Bangsamoro autonomous government will be established.

The Philippine Government and the MILF signed in 2014 the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), a peace deal that provides the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) by the Philippine Congress.

Once approved, the BBL will pave way for the creation of Bangsamoro autonomous government with more fiscal and political powers that will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The proposed Bangsamoro law which the Philippine Congress failed to deliver under the Aquino administration is hoped to bring justice, peace and development to the Bangsamoro people.

The Bangsamoro political entity is not an Islamic state. The BBL was crafted attuned to the economic, social and cultural aspects of the Bangsamoro people.

BDA is the economic arm of the MILF. The agency has been engaged with development partners in providing projects to conflict affected areas of Mindanao.