Filipino Muslim
Encyclopedia : F : FI : FIL : Filipino Muslim
- This article deals with ethnic Muslims. For the religion, see Islam in the Philippines.
In 1380, Makhdum Karim, the first Muslim missionary to the Philippines, brought Islam to the Philippines. Subsequent visits of Muslim Malay missionaries helped strengthen the Muslim faith of the southern Filipinos. The Sultanate of Sulu, the largest Muslim Kingdom of South East Asia and the Malay Archipelago, encompassed parts of Malaysia and the Philippines. The royal house of the Sultanate claim descent from the prophet Mohammed.
Many of the inhabitants of pre-Spanish Era Philippines were said to be of the Muslim faith. Rajah Sulayman, the local chieftain of Manila at the time of Spanish conquest under Martín de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo, was a Muslim. The chieftain of Mactan Island, Lapu-Lapu, led a skirmish with the Spanish in 1521 (known as the Battle of Mactan), in which Ferdinand Magellan was killed. An ingrained Muslim legacy in the Philippines is the custom to circumcise (tuli). When the Spaniards arrived, circumcision was justified as being Christian. The practice continues to this day and is still popular among Filipinos, even those of other faiths.
Longstanding economic grievances stemming from resentment of popular prejudice against them and years of governmental neglect contribute to the roots of Muslim insurgency in recent decades.
Subgroups
Ten cultural subgroups could be identified on the basis of language. Three of these groups made up the great majority of Moros. They were the Maguindanaos of North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao provinces; the Maranaos of the two Lanao provinces; and the Tausugs, principally from Jolo Island. Smaller groups were the Samals and Bajaus, principally of the Sulu Archipelago; the Yakans of provinces of Basilan and Zamboanga del Sur; the Ilanons and Sangirs of Southern Mindanao Region; the Melabugnans of southern Palawan; and the Jama Mapuns of the Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi Island.Filipino Muslims are not a closely knit group and lack solidarity. Each group is fiercely proud of their separate identities and culture, Muslim orthodoxy, and language, among other things. Endemic conflict persisted for centuries. Internal differences among Moros in the 1980s, however, were outweighed by cultural, social, and legal traditions and shared historical experiences vis-à-vis non-Muslims.
Hierarchy and Agamat
In the traditional structure of Muslim societies, sultans were the highest authority followed by the datus and their rule was sanctioned by the Qur'an. Datus were measured by the number of followers. In return for tribute and labor, the datu provided aid in emergencies and advocacy in disputes with other communities, through the agamat. A Datu is basic to the smooth function of the Filipino Muslim society. He was a powerful authority figure who may have as many as four wives but in modern times usually has only one. In the old days, they led raids on other villages. They may demand revenge maratabat for the death of a follower or upon injury to his honor. Datus continued to act as the community leaders in Muslim societies in Mindanao and administered the Sharia (Muslim law) through the agama. The support of the datu was essential for government programs in Muslim communities. Polygamy under Islam was permitted but rarely practised. Muslim communities tend to be hierarchical in rural areas.Government incentive to migrate, land disputes, public schools as propagators of Christianity
The government policies instituted immediately after independence in 1946 abolished the Bureau for Non-Christian Tribes, a legacy used by the United States to deal with minorities and encouraged migration of other Filipinos from densely settled areas such as Central Luzon to the "open" frontier of Mindanao. By the 1950, hundreds of thousands of Ilocanos, Ilonggos, Tagalogs, and others were settling in North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces, where their influx inflamed Muslim hostility. The crux of the problem lay in land disputes. Christian migrants to the Cotabatos, for example, complained that they bought land from a certain Muslim only to have the seller's relatives refuse to recognize the sale and demand more money. Muslims claimed that Christians would title land through government agencies unknown to Muslim residents, for whom land titling was a new institution. Distrust and resentment spread to the public school system, regarded by most Muslims as an agency for the propagation of Christian teachings.Divisions
Divisions along generational lines have emerged among Moros since the 1960s. Many young Muslims, dissatisfied with the old leaders, asserted that datu and sultans were unnecessary in modern Muslim society. Among themselves, these young reformers were divided between moderates, working within the system for their political goals, and militants, engaging in guerrilla-style warfare. To some degree, the government managed to isolate the militants, but Muslim reformers, whether moderates or militants, were united in their strong religious adherence. This bond was significant, because the Moros felt threatened by the continued expansion of Christians into southern Mindanao and by the prolonged presence of army troops in their homeland.Terrorist organizations
By 1970, a terrorist organization of Christians called the Ilagas (Rats) began operating in the Cotabatos. In retaliation, Muslim armed bands, called Blackshirts appeared. The same phenomena occurred in Lanao, where the Muslim 'Barracudas' began fighting the Ilagas. Philippine army troops sent in to restore peace and order were accused by Muslims of favoring the Christians. When martial law was declared in 1972, Muslim Mindanao was in turmoil.The Philippine government discovered shortly after independence the need for a specialized agency to deal with the Muslim minority and set up the Commission for National Integration in 1957, which was later replaced by the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities. Filipino nationalists envisioned a united country in which Christians and Muslims would be offered economic advantages and the Muslims would be assimilated into the dominant culture. They would simply be Filipinos who had their own mode of worship and who refused to eat pork. This vision, less than ideal to many Christians, was generally rejected by Muslims who feared that it was a euphemistic equivalent of assimilation. Concessions were made to Muslim religion and customs. Muslims were exempted from Philippine laws prohibiting polygamy and divorce, and in 1977 the government attempted to codify Muslim law on personal relationships and to harmonize Muslim customary law with Philippine law. A significant break from past practice was the 1990 establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which gave Muslims in the region control over some aspects of government, but not over national security and foreign affairs.
There were social factors in the early 1990s that militated against the cultural autonomy sought by Muslim leaders. Industrial development and increased migration outside the region brought new educational demands and new roles for women. These changes in turn led to greater assimilation and, in some cases, even intermarriage. Nevertheless, Muslims and Christians generally remained distinct societies often at odds with one another.
This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
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