I was Mr. James Den C. Bedico now I am Mr. Afraz Saleem C. Bedico, a former of member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo or Church of Christ in the Republic of the Philippines.

The Iglesia Ni Cristo is one of the most influential and the second largest Christian group here in the Philippines next to the Roman Catholic. I was born, raised, and baptized inside the Iglesia Ni Cristo since my parents, brother and sister, and most of my relatives are dedicated members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.

During my early childhood, I was very active in every religious activities of the Iglesia Ni Cristo and I regularly went to church every Thursday and Sunday. I could even say that I never missed a congregational worship of my former religion except in extreme cases of illness. I used to be a choir and my parents still hold key position in the church like being a deacon and a deaconess. For my college, I studied in the school exclusively owned by the Iglesia Ni Cristo and all of its students are members of the said church. I spend thirty years of my life being an Iglesia Ni Cristo member. I never had the experience of listening to the teachings of other religion except the Iglesia Ni Cristo doctrines.

With respect to Muslims, I was never interested about them. You could simply count the number of Muslims in the Philippines because they are a minority. When I was travelling by ship from Manila going home to my province here in the Philippines, I saw a group of Muslims. I perceived them as members of a tribe, a blood lineage, or a group of natives living in the isolated farthermost islands of the Philippines. I never thought that they had a religion. The word Islam was a complete oblivion in my mind. I never heard the word Islam since my childhood or maybe I never gave attention to the word. Basically because Islam here in the Philippines is a forgotten religion. Philippines is dominated by Christianity especially in the northern and central parts of the country; but in the southernmost part, Muslims are quite dominant. This is because they are adjacent or near to Malaysia, a Muslim country in southeast Asia.

Many years passed by, I felt so empty, as if I am looking for something. In the earlier part of 2012, I had this strange dream about a Muslim child wearing a hijab covering all of her body except her eyes. The child maybe a 6 year old girl. She was looking at me at a distance of about 5 ft from where I was standing and then she uttered the words: “Assalamu Alaikum.” I then woke up. I was so confused as to why I would have such a dream about something I was not interested in.

After dreaming about a Muslim, I started to search on the internet about Muslims. Then, I read the word Islam so I typed it. Some suggested websites appeared, one of them was www.islamreligion.com. I visited the site and I was amazed because I never thought that Islam is a religion and it teaches about the ONENESS OF GOD. I became so interested in Islam that day

especially after reading an article that GOD has no partner or a son. A doctrine which is similar to my former religion but my former religion teaches that Christ is the son of GOD. So, I thought to myself that if my former religion teaches us that there is only one GOD and that Jesus Christ is the son of GOD then I could say that GOD could multiply himself by having a son. If GOD could have a son then GOD could do it again until there will be numerous gods that will help the ONE GOD on his tasks as a GOD. I lost faith in my former religion and I began to dig deeper into the Islamic faith.

I constantly visited www.islamreligion.com and read some enlightening articles about Islam. I was so amazed when I saw a video of how Muslims perform their prayers. I said to myself, the prayers in Islam is more holistic, more sincere, more humble, and more submissive to GOD ALMIGHTY, especially when I saw Muslims perform the ruku or bowing (bowing is a sign of respect to a MASTER) and then the sajdah or the prostration. There is so much respect in the prayers performed by Muslims. I wondered to myself as to why in my former religion when we pray we just stand and our hands are everywhere which causes distraction in our prayers. I also said to myself: if we bow to a person it shows so much respect then why can’t we bow to the ALMIGHTY GOD; and when a gun is pointed as us we prostrate to the person to ask for his mercy to spare our lives, then why can’t we prostrate to the ALMIGHTY GOD WHO IS capable of causing our death and capable of putting our souls in Hell. I realized that Islam is a religion that calls for worshipping GOD with great respect through sincere prayers, solid faith, and strong belief.

Another reason why I embraced Islam is when I read the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I was amazed to see how Muslims took good care of their Prophet (peace be upon him) right up to his last breathe and how the Prophet fought for the SUPREMACY AND ONENESS OF GOD and the Muslim’s struggle to protect the Prophet against the evil motives of his enemies.

This is the essence of Islam, we respect the ONENESS OF GOD and we respect the Messenger of GOD: Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) with dignity.

Now, as a Muslim, my actions are more refined. I am more GOD-fearing and GOD-conscious. I always remember GOD by praying regularly, remember Him in everything I do through supplications and remember Him by repenting to Him when I commit sins. These are all the pleasant changes of my life. I enjoy my religion and I am very happy that I embraced Islam as my new religion. I am very happy that I am now legally converted into Islam here in the Philippines and I am now using my Muslim name Afraz Saleem C. Bedico. In-shaa-ALLAH (God Willing) I will die in old age as a Muslim. Thank you very much to Samy, the one who assisted me in pronouncing the shahadah, thank you also to Tariq for answering my questions during the Live-Chat, and thank you www.Islamreligion.com for being a guide to those who do not know the right path to salvation.

ALHAMDULILLAH (All praise and thanks are due to God) for guiding me to the right path.
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/10229/