Assa-lamu-alay-Kum

This Arabic phrase is probably the most commonly used greeting considering the Islamic population, which is one of the biggest in the world today. “Peace be with you” may be said with sincerity and honesty, and yet to this writer it is an empty phrase, void of substance and depth. Let me take you on a tour into my jaundiced and prejudiced mind.

Decade 70’s: I am a growing adolescent living along the highway connecting the cities of Davao and Cotabato. I see convoys of military trucks heading for Cotabato and I am told that a conflict between the Muslims and Christians is brewing. A few days later these same trucks pass by again carrying the dead and the dying. Some few months later a friend joins the “Ilaga” and is killed in the battle. His body was only retrieved after two days. The reason: Muslims.

Decade 80’s: I am a medical student caught up in some extracurricular activity. Due to some dietary restriction in my religion I befriend a guy who also doesn’t eat pork. We become best of friends and maybe because of this closeness he lectures me on the ‘virtues’ of his people. He tells me that as a Christian I should never trust Muslims because they have a tendency to be traitors. A year later due to some trivial thing of which I wasn’t even directly involved, he cocks his pistol and points it at my head in anger. One slight movement of his finger and my brains could have splattered on the pavement. Who was this guy? A Muslim.

I am a young physician assigned in the emergency room of a hospital in Iligan city. We have many cases of soldiers being ambushed and many of them don’t live long enough to be discharged from the hospital. Who killed these young men? Muslims.

Decade 90’s: Much of the Islamic world is in turmoil. It is either ethnic cleansing in some European country or a border dispute between a Muslim and a non-Muslim country. Countries in Africa, Bali, Sri Lanka and Indonesia are not spared. The conflict in the southern Philippines only shifts from one peace negotiation to another, which only gives both sides the chance to replenish armament. The reason? Muslims.

Decade 2000: the symbols of the free world are shattered and destroyed. Two planes crash into the World Trade Center and reduce them to heaps of twisted metal and charred bodies. Its very shocking to me due to the fact that before it happened my wife and I had the chance to be at the top floor of this structure to celebrate our being citizens in a free world. Who destroyed the symbols of our freedom? Muslims.

May 2007: I am on a truck with about a dozen Muslim young people, all volunteers to a medical outreach [Kalilintad 2] in Balabagan Lanao del sur. It is my first time with them and as usual I regard them with suspicion and wariness. We reach our destination where we begin treating the resident Muslims there. What is very conspicuous is that some the patients have guns and even lay them beside me as I go through the motions of giving them a medical checkup. The following day we head to the beach for some swimming and lunch, but we are forced to cut short our picnic due to the arrival of four young civilian men in their early twenties or late teens carrying assault rifles. One even tries to impress us by throwing a coconut in the air and firing at it to display his marksmanship. We hurriedly board our truck and flee onto the highway and we find another place to have lunch. Who were these guys? Muslims.

At this point the reader can conclude that this writer has some sort of distrust towards the Muslims, of which I will not even rebut. But before the story ends let me tell you how God in his wisdom and love set me free from this bondage.

About an hour after that incident at the beach, we are again on the road at the back of open-bed truck and it starts to rain. Five Muslims boys beside me [Acmad, Nasrudin, Abbas, Tahir and Sammy] start singing and they are singing praise songs, the same songs that we Christians sing. They sing in a very sincere and animated way while gesturing to the heavens. My heart melts and my tears blend with the rain. They cannot notice that I am crying. I finally realize that I still have a lot to go through before I could finally be set free from this bondage of hatred.

The following days are like getting out of prison. I confront the group with my testimony and they readily forgive me. God also gives me that great feeling of forgiveness and I forgive myself. With this change in my life I can now face the new challenges of being a missionary for God, and I can truly say with sincerity and honesty. Assa-lamu-alay-Kum! Allahu Akbar!

To Minda, Sailina, Omega, Jahara, Merriam, Sarah, Nena, Nora, Tonina, Noraisa, Analyn, Pinky, Fatima, Abbas, Akmad, Sammy, Nasrudin, Talib, Tahir, Tato, Abner, James, Mark and to the other team members of the Kalilintad 2, I say, Sukran.