BARMM declares Nov. 7 as special holiday to mark Sheikh Karimul Makhdum day

MANILA — The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government on Thursday declared Nov. 7 as special public holiday in observance of 642th Sheikh Karimul Makhdum day, considered as the arrival of Islam in the Philippines.

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According to the Tawi-Tawi Provincial Government, the day seeks to commemorate the arrival and establishment of Islam in the country when a group of Arabian missionaries, led by Sheikh Karimul Makhdum, docked in the island of Simunul, Tawi-Tawi, building the first-ever mosque in the country, and propagated Islam throughout the southern Philippines.

A law was passed in 2014 declaring the Sheikh Karimul Makhdum Mosque as a National Historical Landmark.

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The mosque, located in Tubig Indangan in Simunul, is considered as the site of one of the oldest existing Muslim houses of prayer in the Philippines.

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The Bangsamoro region is currently under a state of calamity following the devastation caused by severe tropical storm Paeng.

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