A‘ūdhū billāhi minash-Shaytānir-Rajīm . Bismillāhir-Rahmānir-Rahīm . Ud‘u ilā sabīli rabbika bi’l-hikmah wa’l-maw‘izati’l-hasana . Wa jādilhum bi’l-latī hiya ahsan .

 

“Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord, with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious!” [Al-Qur’an 16:125]

 

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, sisters and brothers in faith as well as in humanity: As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh.  

 

Introduction

Before embarking on the discussion proper, allow me to highlight some points, which I deem relevant and essential for my present talk. Firstly, the inclination-to-Islam trend or the non-Muslims’ conversion/reversion to Islam is undoubtedly an integral part of the Islamic awakening or resurgence, which revolves around the concepts of tajdīd [revival] and islāh [reform]. Secondly, the Islamic awakening or resurgence is a global phenomenon. Thirdly, a manifestation of Islamic revival in one place has direct or indirect, short-term or long-term impacts in the other parts of the world. Lastly, as an integral part of the Islamic awakening or resurgence phenomenon, the inclination-to-Islam trend among the non-Muslims the world over ought to be discussed and analyzed within the framework of the global Islamic resurgence.

 

Keeping in mind the aforementioned points as my hypotheses and guidelines, I will henceforth examine the inclination-to-Islam trend in the contemporary Southeast Asia , focusing on the Philippines . My choice of the inclination-to-Islam trend in the Philippines as the focal point is anchored on two (2) fundamental reasons. First, as what is well known to all of you, Southeast Asia is predominantly inhabited by Muslims; the number of Muslims in Indonesia alone, which is almost 202 million last year,[1] is slightly more than that of the Arab countries combined together.[2] As to the countries such as Thailand , Singapore , Burma ( Myanmar ), Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia in which the dominant religion is Buddhism, I have unfortunately dearth of information about the Islamic inclination trend there. Of course, the exception is the Muslim converts in Singapore whose extensive socio-cultural, educational, economic, and propagation activities are widely known in the region.[3] Besides, my wife has a personal Muslim Thai friend who was a Buddhist before embracing Islam... Apart from the facts-and-figures aspect, the other reason behind my choice of the Philippines is its peculiar status as the only Christian-dominated country (96% Christian and 5% Muslim)[4] in the whole continent of Asia .[5]                    

 

The Region

Historically, the denizens of Southeast Asia were introduced to Islam through mostly Sayyid[6] Arab and Persian traders, Sufis and/or missionaries who came to the region about 500 years ago. A certain Shaykh Ahmad Qummī from Persia introduced the Islamic faith to the people of Thailand . Arab sayyids preached Islam to the people of Indonesia , Malaysia , Brunei , and Southern Philippines , and laid the foundation of a socio-political institution called ‘Sultanate’.

 

As part of the global Islam ummah, Muslims of the region are also swept by the wave of global Islamic revival in the recent years. The existence of ABIM (Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement), PAS (Islamic Party of Malaysia) and the banned-Dār al-Arqām in Malaysia; Muhammadiyyah Movement, IJABI and the militant Lashkar-e Jihād in Indonesia; Muslim liberation fronts in southern Philippines; the Tablīgh-e Jamā‘at and in extremist and radical form, the Jamā‘at Islāmī and Abu Sayyaf groups in the entire region are obvious revivalist manifestations of Islam. Many factors for this phenomenon can be identified such as the increased contact of the Southeast Asian Muslims with other members of the Islamic ummah such as that of the Middle East through hajj pilgrimage and educational travels; events like the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the OPEC oil embargo, and the Islamic Revolution in Iran; and the influence of Islamic political thoughts of such figures as Sayyid Qutb, Hasan al-Bannā, Abū’l-A‘lā Mawdūdī, Jamāluddīn Asadābādī, Muhammad ‘Abduh, Imām Khomeinī, ‘Alī Sharī‘atī, and Murtadā Mutahharī, among others.          

 

Nature, Factors and Manifestations of the Trend

In the case of the Philippines , inclination-to-Islam trend demonstrates two levels. The first and lower level is the increasing non-Muslims’ proper understanding, and at times, even appreciation of Islam and/or the Muslims. The other and higher level of the Islamic inclination trend is the non-Muslims’ actual profession of Islam as their new religion.  

 

The end of intense fighting in late 1970s between the Philippine army and the Moro fighters has provided an atmosphere of more frequent personal and social intercourse between Muslims and Christians.[7] Out of these interactions, some wounds and grievances are healed; biases and prejudices lessened; misconceptions and stereotyping buried; and a spirit of tolerance, understanding and accommodation has found its niche. Christians have realized for the first time that Islam is not a religion of violence; that jihād is not meant to force Islam down the throat of vanquished peoples; that true Muslims are people of morality and hygiene. They have understood better the basic precepts of Islam such that Jesus Christ is highly revered as a bona fide Prophet of God; that polygamy is not encouraged, just permitted and regulated; and that prophets of the Old Testament are acknowledged as well. 

 

In consonance with the global trend in Islamic resurgence, another significant aspect is the influx of Islamic literatures dealing with comparative studies of Islam and Christianity in the country. These reading materials are dispatched by such foreign institutions as the Islamic Propagation Center International (Durban, South Africa),[8] Islamic Da‘wah Call and Guidance Office (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), Aisha Begum Bawany Waqf (Karachi, Pakistan), World Assembly of Muslim Youth (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia),[9] and others.

 

These two factors are generally accounted for a phenomenal reversion to Islam of some Christians; among them are former learned men of Christianity such as priests, pastors, seminarians, catechists, and evangelists. This trend is true across the country from North to South. In the North, revert-Muslims are widely distributed in such areas as, inter alia, Pangasinan, Vigan, Baguio , Bulacan, and Batangas.[10] In the central part of the country an equally large number of reverts exists, particularly in Cebu .[11] According to Najeeb Razul (formerly Samuel Fernandez), a Christian turned-Islamic-televangelist of the Voice of Islam, from 1986 to 1995 the Balik-Islam movement has won the hearts of about 92,000 people to Islam.[12] Reversion took place individually, though at times collectively, say a family or so. Known as Balik-Islam (those who turned back to Islam), these revert-Muslims have formed various organizations; they are engaged in multifarious propagation activities: radio and TV programs; distribution of Islamic literatures and audio-video tapes; seminars, lectures and symposia; public inter-religious debates; preaching to prisoners and highlanders; and socio-economic services. The Glorious Qur’an has been first translated into Filipino and Cebuano (the most widely spoken regional language) by two former Christians who turned Muslims...      

 

Recently, even in the cyberspace, the presence of the Balik-Islam can be felt. So far, among the most active, if not the most active website, is owned by the Fi Sabilillah Media Public Service, Inc. (FSMPSI) based in Manila . The website features, among others, its newsletter, Ang Pahayagan (The Publication), testimonies of some revert-Muslims on the circumstances surrounding their decision to embrace the new faith, which is Islam,[13] and the group’s Islamic perspectives and views on the basis of existing Philippine setting. The said public service media identifies its raison d’ être as answering the anti-Islamic propaganda, which it describes in this manner:

 

Various non-Muslim indoctrinators in the Philippines have all along employed their energies to destroy the true faith of tawhīd (having no doubt that there is only One God). They criticized Islam in order to establish incontestable claim to the naturalness of their religion. They are apt to mistranslate the Holy Qur’an and spread many misconceptions about Prophet Muhammad (s). They profusely manipulate print and broadcast media to serve their wicked desire to deceive multitudes of soul.[14]

 

As for the other websites maintained by Balik-Islam or revert-Muslims, we can cite the following: Islamic Information Center,[15] Jamaa’tu Balik-Islam,[16] Filipino Guide,[17] and the Sunnah Islamic Page Tagalog.[18]

 

News items mainly or partly dealing with these revert-Muslims and, at times, with the Philippine government’s concern over the alleged association of some of them with terrorist groups can be browsed in the Internet; for instance, the articles entitled, “The New Believers;”[19] “Troubled Return of the Faithful;”[20] “New ‘Back to Islam’ Movement Feared in Mindanao;”[21] “Government Struggles with ‘Hearts and Minds’ Campaign among Muslims;”[22] “Angry, Young Men (I);”[23] and “Police Prejudice against Muslims.”[24]     

 

Future Prospects

Now, the question is—what future is awaiting this Islamic inclination trend in the Philippines ? If we try to take a keen scrutiny of the Qur’anic passage I have recited at the beginning of my speech, we will realize that in inviting people toward Islam two vital elements are involved, viz. the use of wisdom [hikmah] and logic [mantiq]—bi’l-hikmah wa’l-maw‘izati’l-hasana [with wisdom and beautiful preaching]—in order to win the minds and the sincere demonstration of excellent morality [akhlāq]—bi’l-latī hiya ahsan [in ways that are best and most gracious]—in order to win the hearts. Thus, as long as these two weapons for the heart and mind, i.e. hikmah and akhlāq are used, I can assure that, by the will of God, bright prospects lie ahead of the Islamization process among the non-Muslims in the Philippines . Who knows, one day these former Christians will teach Islam to the nominal or so-called born-Muslims in Mindanao who, day by day are wittingly or unwittingly going outside the ambit of Islam.      

 

As Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson rightly claims, “People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already; it fell on the day Muhammad (s) was born”. And in the language of the future world constitution:

 

Huwa’l-ladhī arsala Rasūlahu bil-hudā wa dīni’l-haqq . Liyuzhirahu ‘ala’d-dīni kulli wa lawkariha’l-mushrikūn

 

“It is He Who hath sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religions, even though the Pagans may detest (it)." [Al-Qur’an 9:33]

 

Lastly, before I take my seat, let me convey a 1,400-year old divine warning and challenge to all of us Muslims:

 

Wa intatawallaw yastabdil qawman ghayrakum thumma lā yakūnu amthālakum.

 

“If ye turn your back (from the religion of God), He will place in your stead another people (to uphold the religion and hoist the banner of truth), and these people are not like you (in negligence and complacency).” [Al-Qur’an 47:38]

 

Was-salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh.