Islamization Period

Description: The first preacher to have taught Islam in the Philippines was Ahmad Timhar Magbalu who came from Hadramaut in Yemen to Sulu around 1270-1275. 

More information: As early as 982 AD, foreign Muslims were already in the Philippines. Chinese account mentions of an Arab ship Mindoro who came to the port of Canton (Guangzhou). But the beginning of spread of Islam took place in Sulu with the arrival of a Muslim preacher, Ahmad Timhar Maqbalu around 1270-75 AD. He is known in oral history as Tuan Mashaikha, a title indicating that he came from house of Mashā’ikh (learned) who were descendants of Prophet Muhammad through his grandson Husayn.  

Because of his superior in knowledge, he acquired respect from the Tausug and married the daughter of the local chief. He died in 710 hijra/1310 leaving some descendants in Sulu. His missionary activity facilitated the slow transition from Hinduism or conversion to Islam of the local inhabitants. His shrine in Bud Datu serves as the oldest physical evidence of Islam in the country.

Sources: 

Scott, Henry William. Filipinos in China before 1500. China Studies Program. Manila: De La Salle University, 1989.

Majul, Cesar A. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1999. 

Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naguib. Historical Fact and Fiction. Malaysia: UTM Press, 2011. 

Description: Karimul Makhdum was a celebrated Muslim Sufi preacher who first taught Islam among the Sama in Tawi-Tawi fifty years after the arrival of Tuan Mashaika in Sulu. 

More information: Fifty years the death of Tuan Mashaikha, the celebrated Sufi preacher from Qadiri order, Ibrāhīm Zayn al-Dīn al-Akbar locally known as Karimul Makhdum (the Noble Master, landed with his men in Tawi-Tawi. He was the seventh generations from Imām Muhammad Sāhib Marbāt, the seventh generation from the Imām Ahmad bin ‘Īsā (d.961) surnamed the Emigrant (al-Muhājir) and the eighth generation from al-Husayn, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. Karīmul Makhdum most of his life travelling to spread Islam. He taught Islam in East Java and was celebrated as the Sunan (revered person) of Nggesik (Tuban). Many Javanese saints descended from him. He travelled extensively in the Sulu archipelago to teach Islam.

Karimul Makhdum and his men must have arrived first in Sibutu island, South of Tawi-Tawi, built a mosque in Simunul and visited many islands of Sulu. He has been attributed with spiritual powers like walking on water. 

Sources: 

Majul, Cesar A. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1999. 

Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naguib. Historical Fact and Fiction. Malaysia: UTM Press, 2011. Kurais II, Muhammad. The History of Tawi-Tawi and its People. Tawi-Tawi: Mindanao State University Sulu College of Technology and Oceanography, 1979.

Grave of Sultan Shariful Hashim in Mount Tumatangis, Jolo, Sulu. Photo by Darwin J. Absari

A digitalized manuscript by Princeton University of a book brought by Shariful Hashim to Sulu

Description: Sayyid Abukar, a Malay-Arab Prince came Basilan and later proceeded to Sulu to teach Islam and established the Sulu Sultanate in 1405. 

More information: The culmination of the spread of Islam in Sulu was reached with the arrival of Sayyid Abubakar or locally known as Shariful Hashim. He belonged to the Bani Hāshim, the most noble line of Quraysh from which Prophet Muhammad was descended. He was the son of Sayyid ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin al-‘Alawi al-Husayni to a Malaccan Princess, daughter of Sultan Iskandar. His father, Sayyid ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin was the fifth in line of descent from Sharif ‘Abd Allāh, son of Sharif ‘Alawī bin Muhammad Sāhib Marbāt from whom both Tuan Masha’ika and Karīmuk Makhdum descended from.

After studying Islam in Mecca, he came back to Malacca with a book Durr al-Manzum (The Strung Pearls) which he personally taught to the Malaccan Sultan who then ordered the book be translated to Malay. 

He first stayed among the Yakan in Basilan. Later, he proceeded to Sulu upon the invitation of the Tausug. He arrived Sulu around 1395 and married the daughter of Raja Baginda, a prince from Menangkabaw who was the ruler of the coastal areas in Sulu. After the death of Raja Baguinda, Shariful Hashim consolidated the population, converted the remaining non-Muslims and established the Sulu sultanate in 1405 and became the first Sultan. He also built madrasa and organized the teaching of Qur’an and Hadith. 

Sources: 

Majul, Cesar A. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1999. 

Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naguib. Historical Fact and Fiction. Malaysia: UTM Press, 2011. 

Kurais II, Muhammad. The History of Tawi-Tawi and its People. Tawi-Tawi: Mindanao State University Sulu College of Technology and Oceanography, 1979.

Absari, Darwin J. PagTuhan: The Tausug Spiritual Tradition. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2021.

Grave of Sharif Awliya’s eldest son Sharif Shaikh Sagulandang in Tawan- Tawan, Maguindanao. Photo by Darwin Absari.

Description: Karimul Makhdum proceeded to Mindanao to teach Islam among the Maguindanaon. He was the first Muslim missionary popularly called Sharif Awliya by the natives. 

More information: After teaching Islam in Sulu, Karimul Makhdum proceeded to Maguindanao via Zamboanga Peninsula. He arrived around 1365 and was known as Sharif Awliya since many of the saints in Java descended from him. He married the local princess and taught Islam before returning back to Java. He left a daughter named Paramisuli and three sons in Maguindanao. 

Sources: 

Majul, Cesar A. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1999. 

Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naguib. Historical Fact and Fiction. Malaysia: UTM Press, 2011. 

My interview with Sultan Sharif Kaharodin. February 28, 2006. Dulawan, Maguindanao.

The spread of Islam in Maguindanao culminated with the arrival of Sharif Kabungsuwan, who established the Maguindanao Sultanate in 1440. He is believed to be the younger brother of Sultan Shariful Hashim.

More Information:

Islam’s further spread in Maguindanao was accomplished by Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuwan, who was, accordingly, Shariful Hashim’s younger brother. He arrived in Maguindanao with his men and the seafaring people (Sama Dilaut) around 1440. He was met by the local chiefs Tabunaway and Mamalu, who were descendants of his uncle Sharif Maharaja.

Sharif Maharaja was another Muslim preacher who followed Sharif Awliya to Maguindanao to continue missionary work. His daughter was married to Sharif Maharaja, from whom Tabunaway and Mamalu descended. With the assistance of the two local chiefs, Sharif Kabungsuwan was able to consolidate the natives and establish the Sultanate of Maguindanao. He reigned for more than 20 years before returning home.

Sources: 

Saleeby Najeeb M. 1905. Studies in Moro History, Law, and Religion. Manila: Bureau of Printing.

Majul, Cesar A. 1999. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. 

Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naguib. 2011. Historical Fact and Fiction. Malaysia: UTM Press.

Sultan’s Palace or Grave of Sultan Sharif Kabunguwan in Indonesia/Malacca

The culmination of the spread of Islam in Maguindanao was reached with the arrival of Sharif Kabungsuwan who established the Maguindanao Sultanate in 1440. He is believed to be the younger brother of Sultan Shariful Hashim. 

More Information:

      Islam’s further spread in Maguindanao was accomplished by Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuwan who was accordingly Shariful Hashim’s younger brother. He arrived Maguindanao with his men and the seafaring people (Sama Dilaut) around 1440. He was met by the local chiefs Tabunaway and Mamalu who were descendants of his uncle Sharif Maharaja. 

Sharif Maharaja was another Muslim preacher who followed Sharif Awliya to Maguindanao to continue his missionary works. His daughter was married to Sharif Maharaja from where Tabunaway and Mamalu descended. With the assistance of the two local chiefs, Sharif Kabungsuwan was able to consolidate the natives and established the Sultanate of Maguindanao.  He reigned for more than 20 years before returning home. 

Sources: 

Saleeby Najeeb M. Studies in Moro History, Law, and Religion. Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1905.

Majul, Cesar A. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1999. 

Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naguib. Historical Fact and Fiction. Malaysia: UTM Press, 2011.

The old Qur’an of Bayang, Lanao del Sur displayed at the National Museum in Manila. Photo by Darwin J. Absari

Description: Lanao areas were also Islamized by a certain Muslim preacher Sharif ‘Alawi and from the intermarriages between the Maguindanao rulers and Maranao datus. 

More information: From Maguindanao, Islam slowly spread to some parts of Sarangani and Davao in the first half of the 17th century. With the same political and marriage alliances with the Maranao datus, Islam entered Lanao. 

Local traditions also mention the coming of Sharif ‘Alawi who became chief of Misamis Oriental and whose preaching reached Lanao and Bukidnon. He is also believed to have left descendants in the area. 

Source: 

Majul, Cesar A. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1999. 

Introduction 

The flourishing interisland trade that has been taking place since the pre-Islamic era facilitated the further expansion of Islam to Visayas and Luzon by the people in Mindanao and Sulu who have now become Muslims.

After the establishment of the Sulu Sultanate in 1405, Sulu’s power as a sovereign state was felt all over Luzon and the Visayas islands, Celebes Sea, Palawan, North Borneo, and the China Sea, and their trade extended from China and Japan, at the one extreme, and to Malacca, Sumatra, and Java at the other (Saleeby 1908). Some areas in the Philippines such as Mindoro and Calamianes remained to be tributary states of the Sulu Sultanate until the coming of the Spaniards. (Majul 1999)

The Maguindanao Sultanate ruled over the whole southern coast of Mindanao from Point Tugubum, east of Mati, to Zamboanga, and beyond this latter point to the outskirts of Dapitan. All the non-Muslim tribes living around the Gulf of Davao and in the Sarangani country, and all the Subanons west of Tukurun and Dapitan submitted to its power and paid tribute to the sultanate. In the upper Rio Grande (Pulangi) Valley the power of the rajas of Bwayan was felt and respected as far as the watershed of the Cagayan Valley on the north and the inaccessible slopes of Mount Apo on the east. The M’ranaos controlled the whole of Lanao and the seacoast west of Cagayan de Misamis and north of the Illana Bay. During this period, traders as well as spiritual sages from Sulu and Mindanao visited the places of their trading partners in the country, and to some extent, were leading in the interisland as well as the overseas trade of their non-Muslim brethren.

Sources: 

Majul, Cesar A. 1999. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. 

Saleeby, Najeeb M. 1905. Studies in Moro History, Law, and Religion. Manila: Bureau of Public Printing,.

According to Chinese sources, the earliest presence of Muslims in the country was in 982 AD in Mindoro. However, the beginning of Islam’s spread to Luzon and the Visayas took place at the height of the Sulu Sultanate and was reinforced by Bornean preachers in the sixteenth century.

More information:

Islam was present in Luzon as early as 982 AD. A Chinese document mentions an Arab ship from Mindoro that went to China. However, the initial spread of Islam to the Visayas and Luzon took place at the height of the Sulu Sultanate at the beginning of the fifteenth Century. Some areas in Luzon and the Visayas were under the influence of the Sulu Sultanate.

This initial spread was later reinforced when the Brunei sultan took over Manila and brought in Muslim missionaries who reached as far as Batangas, Cebu, Mindoro, Oton in Iloilo, and Bonbon in Butuan. Spanish Historian Antonio Morga wrote, “If the entrance of the Spaniards had been longer delayed, this sect would have extended all over the island, and even throughout the others; and it would have been difficult to have uprooted it from them.”

However, the slow spread of Islam to Luzon and the Visayas was halted with the arrival of Spaniards in the mid-sixteenth century. But legacies of Islam continue to survive in the language, psychology, and way of life of the Christianized natives.

Sources: 

Donoso, Isaac. 2013. Islamic Fareast: Ethnogenesis of Philippine Islam. University of the Philippines Press. 

Majul, Cesar A. 1999. The Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. 

Islamic legacies can be seen even in the architectural design of churches built by the Spaniards especially in Cebu and Bohol.

More Information:

The long Spanish evangelization in Luzon and the Visayas did not entirely erase Islam’s legacies among the Christianized natives. These legacies came via the Tausug of Sulu, Malay, and even the Spaniards. Kapwa (fellow human being), according to the Filipino indigenous concept, is a shared identity. The unity of the self and others reflects the Islamic concept of Tawhid that Filipino Muslims apply in their interpersonal relationships.

Henry William Scott’s Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (1984) and John Wolff’s Malay Borrowings in Tagalog (1976) reveal some relevant Tagalog words borrowed from Malay and Arabic. One of the most important words is simbahan (house of worship or church), derived from the root word simba (worship). Simba, as revealed by the works of Scott and Wolff, is derived from the Malay word sumba (worship), which originally came from the Arabic term subha (praise).

Interesting to note that the old simbahan (churches) in the Philippines, especially those in Cebu and Bohol, also reveal Islamic influence, particularly from mosques in Spain. Spaniards brought with them their Islamic roots, as the Moors had Islamized them for nearly 800 years. Alicia Coseteng, in her Spanish Churches in the Philippines (1972), wrote:

Muslim influence is much more pervasive in the southern

regions, especially in Bohol and Cebu. Churches in these regions

carry elements and motifs which are reminiscent of the Mudejar

in Spain and Mexico. Minaret-like bell towers with their onion-shaped

domes or four-cornered hat roofs, like those of the

Church in Carcar, and the highly stylized design of the façade

of the church in Naga, Cebu, indicates strong Muslim influence.

Floral and geometric patterns—delicate, flat, stylized—on the

facades and in the interior of churches in these two provinces

reveal distinctly Moorish origins. Lattice work, inlays, carved

woodwork, blind balustrades, trilobular and ogee arches, spiral

columns, all these are charming evidence of Muslim art on

colonial religious architecture.

Even some Spanish loan words in Tagalog originated from Arabic, such as alcalde (mayor) from the Arabic term al-Qadi (judge), barrio/baryo (district) from barrī (less urbanized parts of the city), and many others.

Sources:

Scott, Henry William. 1984. PreHispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History(Revised Edition). Quezon City: New Day Publishers.

Donoso, Isaac. ed. 2018. More Islamic Than We Admit. Insights into Philippine Cultural History. Quezon City: Vival Foundation, Inc. 

Absari, Darwin J. 2021. PagTuhan: The Tausug Spiritual Tradition. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

Coseteng, Alicia M. L. 1972. Spanish Churches in the Philippines. New Mercury Printing Press, Quezon City, Philippines.​

Summary:

The arrival of various eastern civilizations (Indian, Chinese, and Islam) to Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago via sea trade before the advent of western colonial invaders nurtured the growth of the Bangsamoro civilization. The Indians, Chinese, and Muslims who came to trade with the natives of Mindanao and Sulu brought with them their culture and religious traditions that exposed the native inhabitants to a universalistic religion with a sophisticated intellectual tradition. This confluence of tradition was achieved due to the tolerance of these Indians, Chinese, and Muslims who did not attempt to conquer the native, and the natives’ openness to receiving people of different religions. Each eastern civilization left a legacy harmoniously integrated in the culture, language, and religious tradition of the people of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. Islam being the last carrier of eastern civilization has brought Mindanao and Sulu civilization to its peak when Muslim preachers established the sultanates whose power and dominion did not only reach almost the entire country but also neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

By the mid-sixteenth century, the Muslims’ power and prosperity began to be challenged by Western colonizers, first by the Spaniards and later the Americans whose agenda was to control and monopolize the rich economic activities under the guise of religious evangelization and democratization. For more than three hundred years, the Muslims resisted the protracted war that has affected their political, economic, and religious life.