The Senate has this time-honored ritual of asking one of the members to perform the opening prayer at the start of every week's session. It is a common practice in legislative bodies. Some naughty minds claim that their devotion to their mandate is perhaps not steadfast; hence, the need to seek the guidance and blessing of God Almighty.

Last week, Senator Robin Padilla led the prayer. But the good senator, a Muslim convert instead performed the "adhan," a call to prayer for Muslims normally intoned in the hallowed chamber of mosques, not in the halls of Congress. It was historic and very impressive. I must confess it gave me chills and goose bumps watching the video clip. He does it with near perfect pronunciation (Arabic), accent, delivery, intonation, and right pacing. The video went viral in Moro social media platforms, earning him adulation of the Muslim community.

The timing of the event cannot be more propitious. It came at a time when the senator is embroiled in a controversy, which has ruffled feathers among Muslim clerics. He recently expressed publicly support to the bill legalizing same-sex marriage.

Did he or any of his advisers know that such union is considered a mortal sin by Islam, no ifs, no buts? Some tenets of Islam may be susceptible to hazy hermeneutics by religious "alims" or scholars, but not this one. The verses of the Holy Koran and Hadith al Shariff are categorical — it is taboo.

Muslim clerics expressed deep antipathy, if not condemnation on the position taken by the senator. Initially, this column was not inclined to take on the issue. But many readers — this column is turning into "Sumbungan ng Moro" corner — have persistently called, asking that they be heard.

Rappler reported that, "The grand Imam of Marawi City's largest mosque denounced Senator Robin Padilla's sponsorship of a same-sex civil union bill as he declared his and his followers' withdrawal of support from the actor-turned-politician. Marawi Grand Mosque Imam Alim Abdulmajed Djamla said his group was strongly condemning Padilla's sponsorship of Senate Bill 449, a proposed measure to institutionalize civil unions of same-sex couples and establish their legal rights." He said that the proposed measure "is considered 'haram' (forbidden) based on Islamic laws and is tantamount to disbelief (Kufr)."

This column grants the senator the benefit of doubt about his real reason for embracing Islam. He is what Muslims popularly referred to as "Balik Islam," or returnee to his former creed, Islam, on the assumption that many pre-Hispanic Filipinos had Islam as their religion before the Spanish conquistadores and friars converted them to Christianity.