Today marks the end of one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar, the Eid al-Adha, which means the Festival of Sacrifice. The highlight of the event is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia where millions of hajj from all corners of the Muslim world gather to commemorate God’s appearance to Ibrahim in a dream, commanding him to sacrifice his son as a supreme act of obedience. However, God stopped Ibrahim when he was about to slay his son and gave him a sheep instead as the offering.
On the lighter side, today Eid al-Adha is the time when Muslim families gather for get-together, enjoy sumptuous meals, visit loved ones and give gifts to children and charities to the poor. The hajj pilgrimage, which every able-bodied and financially capable Muslim must fulfill at least once in his lifetime, is a serious business. The number of pilgrims allocated per Muslim country is limited and some countries run a lottery to select the pilgrims. The pilgrimage to Mecca is like the Quiapo Feast of the Black Nazarene but only many times over. It is described as a “crush and stampede” event causing numerous casualties. The deadliest hajj disaster took place in 2015 where over 2,000 pilgrims were crushed to death. Muslims feel cleansed by praying before the Kaaba. As one hajji explains, the experience is indescribable—one has to participate in the pilgrimage in order to understand it. Shalom to all our Muslim brothers. Eid Mubarak!
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This one is for Ripley. Believe it or not, a fart disrupted and suspended an intense debate in Homa Bay county assembly in Kenya. Obviously bothered by the foul smell, one assemblyman rose and addressed the Speaker: “Honorable Speaker, one of us has polluted the air and I know who it is.” This drew a sharp retort from the honorable “wind blower” who exclaimed: “I’m not the one. I cannot do such a thing in front of my colleagues.” If this had taken place in our Congress, this incident would have been treated as a national catastrophe that calls for a congressional investigation. Incidentally, the use of the word “fart” in a debate inside the Canadian Parliament had incensed some members of that august body. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel accused her government of treating the province of Alberta “like a fart in the room.” Reacting to it, the Green Party leader, Elizabeth May, demanded: “I heard her say a word I know is distinctly unparliamentary, and I think she may want to withdraw it.”
Truly, we are just one fart away from disaster.
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Mayor Isko reminds me of the most colorful mayor Manila has ever had, the legendary Arsenic Lacson, who was the first elective mayor of any chartered city in the country. Soon after his inauguration, one of the first orders Mayor Lacson issued was the immediate demolition of the makeshift stalls that crammed the Quiapo Church. He also directed the police to demolish and close the cluster of stores that had occupied the City Hall grounds. One of his priorities was to make Manila clean, and its officials dedicated and honest. On his 10th day in office, he led his vice squad in raiding vice dens in the city, which he conducted at dawn to surprise the vice lords. He swooped down on gambling, sex and opium dens in Santa Cruz and Binondo and arrested maintainers who offered him bribes.
On his first week in office, Mayor Isko has denounced the criminal elements that had offered him P5-million bribe per day just to let illegal vendors ply their trade in the streets. Just like his great predecessor, Mayor Isko is bent to return the public streets and sidewalks to the public. This early, just like Lacson, Isko Moreno’s name is now being mentioned as a possible presidential contender because of his strong performance as mayor of the premier city of Manila. Unfortunately, Lacson died of a heart attack at age 49. Who knows he could have rewritten our history by becoming our president after Diosdado Macapagal. And there was no love lost between him and Ferdinand Marcos. When both were members of the Second Congress, he and Marcos were engaged in a heated debate over President Quirino’s suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus. While delivering his speech, Marcos kept pointing his finger like a pistol in Lacson’s direction. Suddenly, Lacson stood up and addressed the Speaker: “Mr. Speaker, I demand protection from the Chair!” Bewildered, the Speaker asked: “The gentleman from Manila should explain his demand for protection.” Lacson replied, “Mr. Speaker, I demand protection from the gentleman from Ilocos Norte who reminds me, everytime he points his trigger finger at me, of the murder of Nalundasan.”