THE MUSLIM FILIPINOS

The Muslim Filipinos, otherwise known as Moros, are the most significant
minority in the otherwise homogeneous Philippine society. They represent roughly about
5 per cent of the total population of the country, numbering approximately five million.
Except the ruling classes who have Arabic traces, the Moros are basically Malayan like
the rest of the people in the Philippines.

1. Ethnic Groupings

The concentrations of Muslims are in the southern part of the country. Tribal
descent and the place of domicile differentiate one group of Muslim from another.
Maguindanaos are the Muslims who settled in Cotabato, starting from the Simuay
Labangan area to Margosatubig. The Maranaos occupy the area around Lake Lanao, the
northern coast of Iligan bay and the southern coasts of Lanao and Malabang. Agriculture
is the primary means of livelihood of the Maguindanaos and Maranaos. The former
practice wet-rice agriculture along the plains of the Cotabato River while the latter plant
upland rice and corn. Iranons live in the region north of the Simuay River in Cotabato.
The Yakans live in the Zamboanga area. They are also an upland rice people. Tausugs
are the Muslims who live in the island of Sulu. Although they practice some agriculture,
they rely mainly on fishing together with trading and piracy. Samals populate the rest
of the islands of the Sulu archipelago, the province of Palawan and part of the provinces
of Davao and Zamboanga del Sur. They concentrate almost entirely on agriculture.
Bajaos are boat people and they rely mostly on the sea for a living, to a point where they
seldom come ashore.'


Before the arrival of the Spaniards, there were several sultanates of
Maguindanaons, however only the sultanates of Maguindanao and Buayan were
significant. The Tausugs under the Sultanate of Sulu claimed territorial domain over
North Borneo, Palawan and the southern coast of Mindanao. In the Lanao area, there
was extreme segmentation in the many sultanates of the Maranaos. Other Muslim groups
like the Samals, Yakans and Badjaos had no independent political existence and were
subject people.2

2. Introduction of Islam

Islam was introduced in the Philippines in 1380 when an Arabian scholar by the
name of Mudum began preaching the doctrines of Mohammed in the island of Sulu. In
1390, a petty ruler of Menangkabaw, Sumatra by the name of Raja Baginda, arrived in
Sulu and promptly converted some natives to Islam. Sayed Abu Bakr followed the
example of Raja Baginda. He left Palembang around 1450, settled in Sulu and later
married Baginda's daughter, Paramisuli. After Baginda's death, Abu Bakr established
a government patterned after the Sultanate of Arabia. In the exercise of his powers as
sultan, Islam spread rapidly to all parts of Sulu.3

The man responsible for introducing Islam in the island of Mindanao was Sherif
Muhammad Kabungsuan. He came from Johore, Malay Peninsula and on his arrival in
Mindanao he converted many of the tribes to his religion. He married into an influential
family, and made use of the relationship to install himself as the first sultan in Mindanao.
It was during this period that the propagation of Islam in the Philippines spread rapidly
to the Visayas and Luzon. The archipelago became the farthest expansion of an Islamic
network that was partly religious, partly economic and partly political.4


Islamization of the archipelago caused the introduction of new laws, ethics and
a new outlook in the meaning and direction of life. The Muslims in the Philippines
gradually became an integral part of an expanding Islamic Malay world. They used the
Arabic script for writing local languages, the Arabic language for rituals and theological
matters and Malay language for commercial and court language. Muslim Filipinos
became aware of their existence as part of a wider community that extends from
Morocco to the Malay lands in the South China Sea.5




1 Gowing, Peter, and McAmis, Robert., The Muslim Filipinos, Solidaridad
Publishing House, Manila, 1974, p. 185.
2 Ibid., p. 16.
3 Glang, Alunan, Muslim Secession or Integration?, R.P. Publishing Co. Quezon
City, 1969, p. 42.
4 Ibid., p. 41.
5 Gowing and McAmis, Op. cit., p. 5.