Adeel Malik
A team of enthusiastic Muslims cooperating with the UK-based Islamic Education & Research Academy (IERA) has witnessed a miracle on Sunday, November 11, with an entire village in the Philippines converting to Islam.
As part of their Dawah Outreach work, the iERA team were invited by a Muslim convert, Abu Bakr, to the local mosque in Bantayan Island, in the central Philippines province of Cebu.
“With the help of Abu Bakr, the iERA team prepared dry food packs at Medina Masjid that would be used later that day to distribute to the poor,” the Prophetic Mission page on Facebook wrote.
Arriving at the village, the team organized a symposium to convey the message of Islam to the locals.
“The audience with around 250 attendees from a predominantly Christian background were mesmerized by a passionate talk by both Abu Bakr and Esa Khan,” the page added.
“They spoke about the similarities between Islam and Christianity and the true message of Prophet Jesus (as) which was to worship Almighty God Alone.”
To the surprise of iERA team, the whole village accepted Islam, with 215 people declaring their shahada or testimony of faith.
“It was an emotional charged moment as the whole village accepted Islam together as one united community.”
Muslims make up nearly 8 percent of the total population in the largely Catholic Philippines.
The mineral-rich southern region of Mindanao, Islam’s birthplace in the Philippines, is home to 5 million Muslims.
Islam reached the Philippines in the 13th century, about 200 years before Christianity.
IERA is UK-based registered charity whose sole objective is the advancement of the Islamic faith.
IERA was established to provide support for new Muslims in the first couple of years of their journey, is now holding two of these retreats a year.
On their Facebook post, they described the moment as:
“In the early hours of Sunday morning, the iERA team left Bogo City and headed off to travel by ferry to Bantayan Island in Order to Convey the Call and to Reconnect Humanity back to God. Enroute to the port and before boarding the ferry, the travelling team were invited to Medina Mosque, a local masjid run by a revert to Islam, Abu Bakr.
Abu Bakr a local hero who since he reverted to Islam has built a masjid and established a local community of New Muslims from all the Dawah Outreach work he had been involved in for over 20 years.
He has built over 40 new Muslim communities with satellite Masajids from all his Dawah Outreach work in the surrounding villages across Cebu Island. Abu Bakr also runs a local Islamic radio station that he uses to inform people about the message of Islam and as a result hundreds of people have embraced Islam.
With the help of Abu Bakr, the iERA team prepared dry food packs at Medina Masjid that would be used to later that day to distribute to the poor.
https://www.facebook.com/129061487130355/posts/1910846345618518/
The iERA team then boarded the ferry to Bantayan Island and proceeded to hire motorbikes tor the outreach team and travelled as a convoy to the remote part of the island to visit local villagers.
Upon arrival at the village, a local symposium was organised to Convey the Message of Islam. The audience with around 250 attendees from a predominantly Christian Background were mesmerised by a passionate talk by both Abu Bakr and Esa Khan. They spoke about the similarities between Islam and Christianity and the true message of Prophet Jesus AS which was to worship Almighty God Alone.
As a result of this and by the Permission of Almighty God, the whole village accepted Islam with 215 people declaring their Testimony of Faith with Esa Khan and Abu Bakr.
It was an emotional charged moment as the whole village accepted Islam together as one United community. Following on from this, the prepared Food Packs were distributed to the poor who were delighted to receive much needed food that included 5kg of Rice and Dry food cans.
As the sun began to set in the evening the team headed back to Cebu city, first by returning to the port by ferry and then proceeding by coach on a 3 hour journey back.”
