Two Philippine Muslim peace advocates – Abdulwahid Lutian and Mickdad Sali are harnessing the power and reach of radio and social media to counter jihadist propaganda from influencing their fellow Muslims in Western Mindanao.
They host Al-Risalah – Arabic for ‘The Message’, live every Saturday and Sunday, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. over RPN-DXXX AM station in Zamboanga. The transmission reaches most of the provinces in the Sulu area and up to the Lanao areas.
DXXX (1008 kHz) is owned by Radio Philippines Network and Nine Media Corporation.
Lutian, an official of the Bureau of Quarantine office in Zamboanga City, is the main host and anchor, while Sali, a police community relations officer at the Police Protection and Security Group of the Philippine National Police’s regional office in the Zamboanga Peninsula region, takes care of production chores.
Different bonafide Muslim scholars serve as resource persons in every episode. They have lined up 25 topics so far that will cover up to January next year. The program’s episodes are posted on its Facebook account.
The issues include human rights, Shariah laws and its parts, health from the point of Islamic practice, burial ceremonies, voting rights, and peace and security.
Lutian and Sali started broadcasting as a team in 2009 at a different station, which lasted until 2015.
They launched their ongoing program in DXXX last August.
Lutian said he and Sali carry out the radio projects on a voluntary basis, and are not getting paid for their services. A Muslim NGO pays for the airtime, he said.
“My radio program also aims to warn the youths from getting involved in extremism, by citing Koranic admonitions against violence and depicting the life of Prophet Muhammad as a man and model of peace,” he told the Philippine News Agency.
The main theme of the radio program, he said, is oneness of Muslims with Allah.
“We want our Muslim brothers to follow the teachings of Islam to foster peace and harmony in Muslim societies and our relationship with people of other faith,” he said.