Department of History, National University of Singapore

Islamic and Arab Cultural Influences in the South of the Philippines

Author(s): Cesar Adib Majul
Source: Journal of Southeast Asian History, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Sep., 1966), pp. 61-73
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Department of History, National University
of Singapore
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ISLAMICAND ARAB CULTURAL INFLUENCES IN
THE SOUTH OF THE PHILIPPINES
Cesar Adib Majul

It is not
infrequent for some Filipino historians to write that
the Filipino people have inherited a, great deal from both Oriental
and Occidental cultures without losing their racial identity, and
that before the coming of Spain and Christianity to the
Philippines
during the sixteenth century, the ancestors of the present-day Fili
and cultural relations with India,
pinos had commercial, political,
rest of Malaysia. This re
China, Japan, and the view, however,
certain clarifications and The term "Fili
quires qualifications.
a one and
pino" now-a-days is mainly political generally denotes
the native inhabitants of the Philippine Archipelago who are sub
to a definite and internationally recognized central govern
ject
ment. years or more ago, the native inhabitants of the
Seventy
were called "indios' and not "Filipinos", as this latter
Philippines
term was reserved for were born in the
Spaniards who Philippines,
to distinguish them from those Spaniards who were born in Spain.
in spite of the fact that the present-day Fili
Historically speaking,
their ancestors belong to a wider race, not con
pinos and they did
stitute a "people" in any political sense. This is not to deny that
their ancestors shared in a common cultural matrix. But if they
were a in this sense,
then they, with the Indo
"people" present-day
nesians and other Malays, belong to one As pointed earlier,
people.
the concept of a Filipino people belonging to one national com
is a recent one, and the of them more
munity process integrating
and more into a national community is still going on. It might be

meaningful to maintain that the different Malay at present

peoples
are or divided into different political entities.
segmented

Before the coming of the Spaniards to the

Philippine Archipe
lago in the sixteenth century, the inhabitants of the different islands
were organized into different political entities bauas)
(barangays,
of varying sizes, under the rule of their
respective petty chiefs called
datus. Some of these barangays, in time, became fused into wider
an
political communities under the rule of authority called some
times a rajah. After a systematic conquest which began in the last
quarter of the sixteenth century and which lasted for many decades,

Spanish colonial and ecclesiastical policy succeeded in progressively

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

integrating these different "principalities" into a definite political

community that constituted a of as well as an ecclesiasti
colony Spain
cal province of the Catholic Churcn. In spite of major differences
in language and dialects, the generality of the native inhabitants,
who were now identified as colonial subjects of the Spanish King
as well as Catholics, were all called "indios." But this is only a
part of the whole picture.

The came to the with a frank and avowed

Spaniards Philippines
to extend
the dominions of the Spanish Monarch and to
policy:
Christianize the native inhabitants. They had presumed, too, that
the whole of the Philippine Archipelago lay within Spain's sphere
of influence and their preserve for conquest, although the Portu
guese claimed otherwise. However, they found out that in spite
of repeated there were a few in the south
attempts, principalities
that they could not fully conquer, much less convert. I refer in
to the two major sultanates of Sulu and Magindano and
particular
few neighboring minor "sultanates". It is nevertheless true that
these major sultanates progressively lost territories that were event

ually integrated into the Spanish colony. Possibly, too, if the Span
iards remained longer in the they might have, in time,
Philippines,
exercised full political control over these sultanates. But the
fact is that, unlike the other principalities in the
Philippines which

by the seventeenth century, fell under Spanish domination till the

end of the nineteenth century, the Sulu sultanate, and to some
extent Magindano sultanate, maintained as almost
independent
status till the last quarter of the last century. This dramatic
an almost in the
phenomenon, representing singular exception
history of the Spanish conquest of the
Philippines,
cannot be ex

fully, I maintain, unless we analyze the culture of the

plained
Sulus and Magindanaos, and the political and social concomitants
of such a culture.

When the Spaniards came to the the

Philippine Archipelago,
Sulu sultanate represented, relatively, the most advanced
politically
in the islands. By the end of the sixteenth century, the
entity
extended to
power of the Sulu Sultan practically every island in
the Sulu Archipelago up to some coastal areas in and
Zamboanga
Borneo. There was trade with China, Malacca, Brunei, and parts
of present-day Indonesia. Sulu had become an and an
emporium
integral fixture of the international trade in Its
Malaysia.
neighbor, the rising sultanate of Magindanao, in the island of Min
danao, was beginning to
eclipse its rival, the sultanate of Buayan; it
would not be long after that its power would extend to the Ma
ranao area on what is now known as the two provinces of Lanao

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

del Norte and Nanao del Sur. The Spaniards called most of the
inhabitants of these areas "Moros" since they shared the same re
of Islam with the "Moros" or Moors, who had once con
ligion
quered Spain.
At the Moros in the number around two
present, Philippines
million and a half out of nearly thirty million Filipinos. Con
the indelible on the
sequently, when imprint of Spain Filipinos
is spoken of, this refers mainly to the of the
majority Filipinos
who had succumbed to domination and had become
Spanish
christianized and whosefamily system and other social institu
tions bear clear marks of Spanish influences. Similarly, when
Islamic and Arabic influences are spoken of with regard to Fili

pinos, these mainly refer to the Moros. All these is not to

deny
that in of religious differences and cultural
spite peculiar
traits, the Filipino Christians and Moslems com
Filipino
monly share in some similar Malay cultural traits. How
basically
ever, in spite of the fact that the national community in the
Philip
pines is secular in in that its integrative principles trans
principle
cend religious differences, it is still meaningful to talk about
Christian and Islamic influences among the But
Filipino people.
this only suggests that the spiritual traditions and cultural attain
ments of different groups of constitute a heritage that pro
Filipinos
perly belong to the as a whole.
Filipino people
Therefore to understandthe history of the and
Filipino people
the elements that enter their general
into culture, it is necessary
to know the history and the specific culture of the Moros, a culture
that must take Islam as its most It
inevitably significant feature.
has been suggested earlier that the reason the
why Spaniards
encountered great difficulty in integrating the Moros into their
colonial system, which was identified with particular state religion,
was that the nature of the culture and of the Moros was
religion
an effective bar to their assimilation.
easy

The fact of Islam in the Philippines antedates by at least three

centuries the coming of the Spanish conquerors with the sword
and cross. And if the missionaries and chroniclers
early Spanish
were a
right in their observations, delay in the arrival of the
or other
Spaniards, possibly any European power, would have
witnessed the propagation of Islam throughout the whole of the
Philippine Archipelago. To understand, therefore, the fact of
Islam in the Philippines, it is necessary to mention
briefly how
Islam as a religion and cultural force was introduced into the
Philippines, how it expanded to neighboring areas, how it affected

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

the that embraced it, what social expectations it fulfilled,

peoples
how the traits gave the Moslems in the a new
accepted Philippines
sense of identity them to offer greater organized resistance
enabling
to another culture and force, and the manner in which
competitive
Moslems can today contribute their share in
Filipino enriching
the national culture within the framework of a pluralistic society.

As to the initial coming of Islam to the there are no

Philippines,
fully satisfactory historical accounts. Reliance must
therefore be
based on written and oral traditional accounts which
usually have
a great truth in them. These accounts are well-known and
fairly
some can be verified. contain mytho
partially They, nevertheless,
logical elements which may be
considered as or mis
perversions
understanding of earlier or narratives. A tradition
descriptions
fairly held in common among the different islands in the Sulu
is that Islam was introduced and strengthened
Archipelago by seven
brothers who were mostly Arabs originally coming from the Arab
ian Peninsula. It is asserted that although some were traders and
possibly adventurers, they came and stayed in Sulu for some time
and effected conversions. It is believed that upon their arrival,
the inhabitants of Sulu and Mindanao were infidels, worshippers
of inanimate objects, lived almost naked, were and
promiscuous,
definitely without knowledge of the true God. this
(Incidentally,
tradition of earler beliefs is
partially confirmed by some of its traces
in the Philippines and by the accounts of early Christian mission
aries regarding neighboring areas). Although there is general
agreement on the number of these Moslem missionaries previously
referred to, and on the names of about four or five of them, there
are different names given to the others. This might be partially
due to the fact that a person might have been a local
designated by
name instead of his original Arabic one, or that narrators would
insert the name of their own favorite within the frame
missionary
work of the conventional seven brothers, thus excluding what
might be considered to have been a minor missionary.

But a more careful analysis of such a tradition, coupled with

other traditional accounts, leads one to conclude that these seven
brothers were actually not biological brothers but had arrived at
different stages in the Islamization of Sulu, and Mindanao, too,
since one of these brothers is asserted to have gone to Mindanao.
Consequently, these seven brothers merely designate seven
major
persons responsible for the introduction and strengthening of Islam
in the The tombs claimed to belong to some of them
Philippines.
can still be out to the serious Several of these
pointed inquirer.
tombs have been objects of visits from time immemorial to the

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

present. Parenthetically, there are many persons claiming descent

from some of these brothers, and the proof presented are the genea

logical trees called tarsilas or salasUahs.

The best known seven missionaries

of these or teachers is Abu
Bakr who is asserted come to have from Arabia. It is
originally
to him that the creation of the Sulu sultanate, the codification of
the Sulu laws, the introduction of the Shari'a the greater dis
semination of the Arabic and the territorial administrative
script,
arrangement of the sultanate, is attributed. The most eminent
authority on Sulu History, Dr. estimated that
Najeeb Saleeby,1
Abu Bakr must have arrived on the shores of Sulu around 1450.
It is probable that his arrival was slightly later. His title was
Paduka Mahasari Aulana Al-Sultan Sherif Al-Hashimi and this
title also appears on his tomb. All the succeeding sultans of Sulu
had claimed descent from him; in fact, no one could become sultan
unless he could prove descent from him. Hence, the necessity for
the tarsilas in for this was
keeping order, proof par excellence
of legitimacy. Descent from a sharif was also deemed
important
since the sultan had spiritual powers and it was to
preferable
have a sultan who in his as imam was a member of the
capacity
Quraish. It is to be noticed that part of the full title of Abu Bakr,
a title retained
by all the sultans up to this century, evince Hindu
influences, although indirectly, since these influences might have
come from other
directly parts of Malaysia rather than
directly from
India.

It
is clear, indeed, that the different territorial chiefs (datus)
among the Sulus would not have readily accepted the pretensions of
Abu Bakr and the establishment sultanate unless they had already
some form of Islamic consciousness them to
developed enabling
submit to a sultan. For accepting the institution of the sultanate,
meant in effect, giving up part of their relative ?
independence
an which
independence they had enjoyed since time immemorial,
and maintained by the character of their leadership and the number
and strength of their followers. if Abu Bakr is
Consequently,
looked up to as the Arab who introduced Islamic political institu
tions into Sulu while the had the inclinations to
people developed
accept these institutions, it must be some of the earlier "brothers"
who must have introduced the fundamental beliefs and ritual of
Islam. Fortunately, tradition and
the tarsilas come again to the res
cue on thismatter. It is narrated
that a certain Makhdum arrived on
the shores of Sulu on an "iron tub". He is considered to be the
first aulia (sic) in the with the Northeast coast ot
Philippines,
1. N. Saleeby. The History of Sulu 1908;
(Manila, republished 1963).

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

Borneo a
as Asserted to have
stopping place. possessed magical
power, he
is also affirmed to have arrived with some Chinese com
His coming in an iion or metal "tub" might
panions. signify that
arrived on a boat or that
Makhdum might have junk partially used
metals. To be imputed to have magical powers can be easily ex
the fact that the Arabs at this time a
plained by represented higher
culture. knew some of the arts of and could com
They healing
municate by "pieces of papers". The tombs of some of these Chi
nese are scattered in various places and the
position of their graves
mark them as Moslems. These traditions are not really fantastic
since it is well-known that the Arabs had trader colonies in many
of the ports of Southern China which they used as their stopping
places in their vital participation in the international trade of South
east Asia which
they practically controlled together with other
Moslem from the ninth century to almost the end of the
traders
fifteenth century. Tales of the activities of Makhdum cite him as
a merchant who had decided to stay in Sulu, had taken a wife
(or
wives) and had instructed his family and closest friends in the
fundamentals of Islam as well as its rituals.

But the fact that different places iti the Sulu

Archipelago (Tandu
Banak in Sibutu island, Bud Agad in Jolo, and Lugus island in
claim the grave of Makhdum as well as the fact that different
Tapul)
families in various places in the Sulu claim descent
Archipelago
from him, suggest that there might have been various makhdumins.
As is well known, the word "makhdum" in Arabic simply means
"master". Unlike in the Middle East where this term usually has
a household connotation, in India, Malacca, and parts of the Indo
nesian Archipelago, it was used to designate errant Moslem
teachers, missionaries, or learned men. In Tandu Banak, Makh
dum is called Karim-ul at Bud
Makhdum, Agad he is called Moha
dum Aminullah Al-Nikad, while in Lugus island he is called
Abdur-Rahman. Time and the blunting of historical memory
might have fused all of these men into one single personality, with
the consequence that many Sulus at present think of one and
only
one makhdum. The one buried at Tandu Banak is also reputed
to have built the first two mosques in Sulu. One of these was
built in Tub ig Indangan in Simunul island and the original
pillars
of this mosque still exist as part of the structure of a newer one.
However, even if the existence of various makhdumins is accepted,
the various stories about the first makhdum to refer mainly
appear
to the one buried at Tandu Banak.

Makhdum or the various makhdumins must have been quite

successful in spreading Islam since the tarsilas claim that when a
certain Rajah Baguinda Ali came from Sumatra with many others.

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

a
possibly to found principality in Sulu, they already found Moslems
in Jolo whom they asked not to fight against them. Rajah
Baguinda, who is supposed to have married the daughter of a
local da tu, is accredited also with the further spread of Islam.
Abu Bakr, the first Sultan, is claimed to have married the daughter
of Baguinda Ali, although other accounts claim that it was the
widow of Baguinda Ali that the former married. It is not clear
from the various accounts whether Ali was a Sumatra
Baguinda
or an Arab
prince (or Persian) adventurer who had come from Suma
tra as part of his journey in the search of fame or adventure. How
ever, the marriage of Arabs to the daughters of local chiefs, and the
resultant sultanates that emerged from such unions, had been a
common in Southeast Asia and had accounted for at
phenomena
least half a dozen dynasties.

Another noted missionary credited with the introduction of

Islam to Tawi-Tawi and other neighboring islands was the Arab
Sayed Alawi Balpaki (Ar. Al-Faqih) on whom all accounts are
agreed
as one of the seven "brothers".
Many legends are associated with
him, legends which are veritable gems for the formulation of a
folklore of the South. Alawi Balpaki came to Tawi-Tawi
probably
around the end of the seventeenth century. The reasons for this
date is beyond the scope of this paper. In any case, a strict
chronology of the coming of the seven "brothers" is still problemati
cal and will some more time for our scholars to determine.
require
The usual date assigned to the
coming of Islam to Sulu, which
coincides with the coming of Karim-ul-Makhdum, is about 1380.
However, Islamic influences appear earlier as evidenced by the
existence of the grave of an Arab dated 1310 A.D. a
(710 A.H.);
grave that is found in a tampat (sacred grove) that had been
respected for the last six hundred years and which had been the
site for the coronation of most of the Sulu sultans. It is quite
reasonable to assert that Islamic elements had begun to grow in
Sulu soil as early as the end of the thirteenth
century.
The introduction of to Mindanao,
Islam more to
specifically
what now constitutes the provinces of Cotabato and the two Lanao
provinces, is attributed to the Sherif Muhammed
Kabungsuwan,
to be the son of an Arab, the Sherif Zein-ul-Abidin from
reputed
Hadhramaut, who settled in Johore and married the daughter of a
sultan there. Muhammed came with Sam?is to
Kabungsuwan
establish a kingdom or sultanate. Tradition mentions other aulia
who had preceded Muhammed but it appears that
Kabungsuwan,
most of the credit for the Islamization of the above-mentioned
three provinces is attributable to Muhammed
Kabungsuwan.
Not to be disregarded are the Islamic influence that might

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

have come from Sulu to Mindanao. Part of Mindanao, more

areas were
specifically
in the province of Zamboanga, tributary to
the Sulu sultanate. The coming of Muhammed Kabungsuwan pro
bably took place around the middle of the sixteenth century.

When the Spaniards first came to Manila in 1570, it was a

that was ruled by Moslem who were members
principality rajahs
of the ruling family of Brunei. It is not explicitly known how
the Islamic religion was among the inhabitants of Manila,
prevalent
but if the pattern of Islamization of other parts of Malaysia is
the inhabitants of Manila in time, would have followed
applied,
the religion of the rulers. There is evidence that Islamic practices
like the avoidance
of pork and the performance of prayer rituals
were already not only in Manila but in Batangas and
spreading,
even as far north as the of Cagayan. In the island ol
province
Mindoro, between Luzon and Sulu, the datus were Moslems who
were tributary to the Sulu Sultan. However, the northward ex
of Islam from Brunei, Sulu, and Mindanao to other parts
pansion
of the Philippines was arrested by the
coming of Spain. Islam
retreated to its strongholds, in Sulu and parts of Mindanao

Historically speaking, the Islamization of the would

Philippines
represent the end process of the gradual Islamization of the whole
a starting with Sumatra the thirteenth
Malaysia; process during
century, proceeding to Malacca and Java in the fourteenth century,

entering Brunei in the fifteenth century, and then to other parts

of Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas in the sixteenth century.

Although Islamic influences were already present in Sulu as

early as the thirteenth century, additional influences from Malacca,

Sumatra and Java in the fifteenth century served as a guarantee
that Islam would thrive in Sulu, and therefore also in parts of Min
danao. In the sixteenth century, further religious contacts with
Macassar and the Moluccas become again evident in Sulu and
Cotobato. These contacts,
constituting military veritable
alliances as welll as can be as a
religious dialogues, interpreted
response to the coming of the Portuguese and Spaniards in Malay
sia. It was a coming that presented both a commercial and re

ligious threat to many Malaysians. The pattern of the Crusades

was thus or continued in another part of the world.
repeated

To summarize the above historical digressions, it might be

worthwhile to present the following categories before going into
the other aspects of this paper:

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

1. The coming of Arab traders who did missionary work in

Sulu during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Some
as a
probably came from China stopping place in their
com
mercial acitvities.

2. The coming of additional influences from Sumatra as re

corded in the coming of Rajah Baguinda Ali from Menang
kabaw around the end of the fourteenth century. Tradi
tion also claims that Abu Bakr came from Palembang as
a
stopping place.
3. Commercial contacts with Malacca and Java during the
fifteenth century, contacts that might have facilitated
the coming of additional influences from theological centers.

4. The coming of religious leaders from the Moluccas during

the sixteenth century. Evidences of Javanese missionaries
and military alliances with Macassar, Borneo, and the
Moluccas to face the threat of the coming of and
Christianity
the commercial rivalry of European powers.

These actually refer to the stages of the coming,

four categories
and reinforcement, of
Islamic influences into the Philippines,
which stages, however, must not be regarded as separate and un
related. Actually, they all represent one continuous process. If
a fifth stage were to be desired, then it would the
comprise present,
that is, influences coming from intellectual centers of the United
Arab Republic, more Al Azhar University, and the
specifically,
coming of Moslem missionaries from the UAR, Indonesia, and
Pakistan. In this fifth stage would be included the increasing num
ber of hajjis who are given the chance to meet Moslems from other
countries, compare notes, and come back with a relatively purer
concept of Islam enabling them to discriminate against pre-Islamic
beliefs in their society which they had once assumed as part of the
Islamic faith and beliefs

It would appear that there is a gap of nearly three hundred years

between the fourth stage and the fifth stage. This is partially true
since during this time Sulu was being to some extent,
by-passed,
by the international trade that once flourished before the coming
of the in Southeast Asia. A diminution of the trade
Europeans
with China, and the spice tended
monopoly by European powers,
to isolate the Moslems in the and the
Philippines. Piracy capture
of slaves took the
place of the former commercial activities of the
Stilus and Magindanoas. However, what is not to be disregarded
is the fact that during these three hundred years a few errant Arab
traders still came. Some of them at different times, the
occupied,

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

position of chief pandits or kali (Ar. qudi), a position of great im

portance since no law was legislated without the consultation, it
not of the kali. There are evidences too, of a Turk in the
approval,
an
eighteenth century and Afghan in the nineteenth century having
served as chief pandita.

It must be
emphasized that the introduction of Islam into the
Philippines and its was generally
progressive expansion peaceful
and not by conquest. This is not to deny that there were isolated
cases of coercion on the part of a few enthusiastic rulers or warriors.
But these isolated cases are not significant. Most of the seven
brothers partook of the role of teachers. It is narrated how most
of them upon their arrival on the shores of Sulu silently stood on
the beach and performed their prayers?to the awe and the bewild
erment, if not fear, of the natives unfamiliar with the rituals of
Islam. These missionaries stayed, reared families, and instructed
the children of others whom they impressed with their kindness,
and teachings. It is a which still exists in
patience, phenomenon
some isolated parts of the and which I had the chance
Philippines
to observe. Some of the "brothers" were eventually asked to take
over power, and one of them, on account of his prestige,
political
knowledge, and charismatic was able to transform this
leadership,
offer into a sultanate which had endured for about five hundred
years.

The fact is that these "brothers", and many others like them,
came as of a culture and civilization with
representatives higher
which the existing culture could not compete. The wonder of it
all was how a religion and culture which had flourished and found

expression in order cultures and ancient in the Middle

empires
East and Africacould be introduced to it; and all the while,

impressing uponit the glory of its achievements, enabling Sulu and

the Magindanao areas to become a of a wider
part community.
Part of the then, at that time, could have claimed with
Philippines
the older of a common
empires and cultures the possession ethlos.
When the ulamaof Sulu and Magindanao claimed that their areas
constituted part of dar-al-Islam and when they prefaced the laws
of the land with this assertion, they were in effect, their
expressing
consciousness of the existence of a wider community. Although
an economic historian might conceive of such an assertion as an
expression of interest to belong to a community that partook of
the international trade that flourished from the Moslem ports of
the Mediterranean to the Moslem ports in Ternate, what must
not be overlooked is the fact that the ulama, with the consent of

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

the faithful, postulated the ideal of a kingdom of God on earth.

This was reaffirmation of the Moslem principle that the destiny of
a is not merely one of their own making but that there was
people
another power, transcendental yet providential, that ruled them.
In brief, the culture that the Moros were
progressively adopting
was never conceived to be the entire result of their own human
effort of creation.
But all of these mean that the coming and expansion of Islam
was effortless, that all that was needed was a few gentle or learned
men to bring about a social transformation of tremendous impli
cations in the history of the Philippines. To fuse a highly religious
culture, that embraced practically every aspect of one's life, and
which had originally be relevant to a environment which
particular
gave birth to Islam with an almost entirely different environment,
must have met some initial resistance and
brought about some social
tensions. Indeed, tradition will normally resist change. A story
is told in Lugus island, where Makhdum lived for some time, that
when Makhdum was
teaching some children about Islam, he had
a rival teacher on the same beach, and that there was a line drawn
on the beach rival teacher, who can
separating both parties. The
be taken as representative of the old cultural forces, claimed before
his students that his teachings could what those of
accomplish
Makhdum could and that his teachings were the Islamic ones.
truly
Actually the fact that the rival teacher had to some of the
adopt
of Makhdum a Yet
teachings signified signal victory for Islam.
while Islam affected and transformed the existing culture, it was
in turn being affected
by the older culture in its new home. But
then Islam is, as it was, It would shed its roots
always patient.
and eventually choke off the older beliefs that are
incompatible
with its own. In Islam in the Philippines was never
principle,
truly syncretic, although it is understandable that many of the old
beliefs should indefinitely be associated with it to the extent of
being taken by many to be part of it. Those who are living in
the fifth stage as delineated above will be able to determine whether
the old beliefs will continue to
persist.
The expansion of Islam in the is such a complex
Philippines
phenomena that not one for it is sufficient.
single explanation
The coming of the first teachers was the
merely precipitating
factor. Other factors like the conversion of the different petty
chiefs to enable them to share more
effectively in the interna
tional trade, the conversion of the inhabitants to the religion of
their rulers to enable them to share in the
prestige of the latter
of the new faith, and the presence of some form of coercion, can
help in the of this But what
understanding complex phenomena.

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

is to be considered further is the fact that Islam as a culture

satisfied certain growing needs. With it came a new
system of
a more system of laws, novel methods for
writing, comprehensive
coordinating social and economic motives, a more effective politi
cal system, and above all, a new concept of life and the Deity,
and consequently a new set of values. It was the ideological value
of Islam and its particular characteristics that enabled the Moslem
to withstand the onslaughts of another highly
peoples developed
and competitive culture. Unlike the other principalities of the
Manila which was much less
Philippines, including relatively
Islamized than the sultanates under discussion, where there was
the absence of a well-developed ideology, in ideology that covered
every aspect of a man's existence, the sultanates of the
practically
south of the offered the greatest resistance to Spanish
Philippines
colonialization and Christianization. In the historical context the
Moslem peoples found themselves in the past as resisting foreign
domination, so their Islamic consciousness constitutes what may be
considered as elements of a
pre-nationalism.
Moslems are justly of their Islamic
Filipino proud heritage.
Their history demonstrated that they were more than willing to
sacrifice their lives and even those of their women and children
to preserve this heritage. During Friday prayers, Moslems publicly
thank God for having allowed the faith (iman) to have come to
the Philippines. Testifying to the oneness of God and the pro
phethood of Muhammed, and praying for God's mercy for Moslems
all over the world, Moslems affirm that all Moslems are
Filipino
brothers and that they are all equal before God save in In
piety.
spite of their belief in the universality of Islam and their convic
tion that the Islamic community transcends political barriers, no
one can the patriotism and love of country of
seriously question
Filipino Moslems.
But the age of religious conflicts and the attempts to conquer
the Moslems of the South is now a thing of the past. The Moslems
in the
Philippines
now find themselves a cultural minority in a
national community, where they are citizens with equal political
rights as the others. It is a that is beginning once more
minority
to become conscious of its Islamic
faith. The coming of additional
teachers from other of Islam, the existence of new Islamic
centers
associations, and more intellectual contacts with religious leaders
from other Islamic countries, is now generating a greater conscious
ness. To be mentioned further
is the fact that the emergence of
independent nations
composed mainly of Moslems cannot but con
tribute to this increasing awareness, an awareness that had come
after a few years of slumber.

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 ISLAMIC INFLUENCES IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

The problem now is how this minority with Islam as its heritage
can contribute to the enrichment of the national culture. For this,
the initiative must come from the Moslem scholars, poets, artists
and other learned men in the Philippines. What is needed first
of all is the writing of a history of their areas, a history that can
be eventually as an essential part into a general history
incorporated
of the
Philippines. It will have to be a history which the other
must take as part of the history of their national commu
Filipinos
nity, that is, it must be conceived as their history too. The Moslems
of the South will have to colllect, too, their epics, poems, and
folklore, and introduce them to a wider public, such that in the
future the other Filipinos would consider these to be their own.
The Moslem artists and sculptors must develop greater skills, and
must accelerate their creative energies to produce greater works
of art with ancient motifs and traditional forms as
inspiration.
Moslem musicians and dancers must expose to others their own
and the classical ones in such a manner that the other
composition
would be made to feel that here is an art which their
Filipinos
ancestors might have shared once upon a time. Bult above all, the
Moslems must among themselves the traditional Islamic
develop
virtues of bravery, filial piety, cleanliness, and above
hospitality,
all, the love of truth and the cultivation of learning. These virtues
can be In time, may of the beautiful
only spread by example.
things in the culture of the Moslem peoples in the South, not only
in those things directly inspired by Islam but also in those pre
Islamic patterns modified by Islamic influences, wil be considered
as common
property by the majority of Filipinos. Communica
tion between peoples which have been separated by colonial domi
nation will be reestablished, mutual tolerance will flourish, and
the duty of the Moslem minority to their country, the
Philippines,
will be partially done.

The present day requirements of a developing society which is

a universal makes it crucial to the
phenomena emphasize positive
contributions of divergent groups or sub-cultures within the wider
community. The experiences of some of the most developed
countries which are competing with one another to serve as models
of what a modern society should aim at, demonstrate that it is
infinitely wiser to maximize the efforts of every group in the body
rather than to suppress one in favor of a
politic majority.
a paper read before an Africasian
(Based on Seminar on Arts,
Literature and Culture organized by the Pakistan Thinkers
Forum held at Lahore, Pakistan, February 1965).

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