Religious Conversion as a 'Winding Pathway': Experience of Balik-Islam and Muslim–Christian Relations in the Southern Philippines.

Within the context of Islamic revival and the influx of overseas workers, the number of Christian converts to Islam in the Philippines, called 'Balik-Islam', has increased since the 1970s. This study focuses on Balik-Islam individuals' everyday religious practices and explores Muslim–Christian relations in the southern Philippines. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it reveals that Balik-Islam people viewed conversion from Christianity not as a detached experience but as a continuous experience in the 'dalan' (pathway) of seeking a true religion, and they continued to engage in a daily exchange of information with other religions. This perception was formed by observing the interaction between leaders and participants in daʿwa (missionary activities) seminars held by the Balik-Islam organization. This article posits that religious practices and the sense of belonging to Islam or Christianity have fluctuated among Balik-Islam people because they have faced difficulties in practising Islam due to various factors, including adaptation to different life habits and relations with Christian family members. Thus, the conversion experience in Balik-Islam is a continuous but winding path. It embodies alternative interreligious relations that are distinct from ecumenical coexistence, which sees religious boundaries as evident, or coexistence through hybrid and creative rituals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]