texts and manuscripts: description and research

Transcription

TEXTS AND MANUSCRIPTS:
DESCRIPTION AND RESEARCH
I. Donoso Jiménez
PHILIPPINE ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS
AND WESTERN HISTORIOGRAPHY
The presence of Islam in the Philippine Archipelago was
originated as consequence of the incorporation of the
region into the Islamic World
South-East Asia became part of the global commerce between the Middle
East and China [1]. Being initially a middle pass,
South-East Asia attracted the international commerce as
mediator. In so doing, Islam emerged as the political tool
of legitimacy in an economic world dominated by Muslim traders. As main political institution the Sultanate
was incorporated into the Malay Peninsula (Malacca),
progressing eastwards in the maritime arena towards and
beyond the easternmost edge of the classical known
world (Oikoumene / ì
), this is to say, the Philippine Archipelago [2].
The Philippine historical sources before the
16th century are not numerous [3]. Hence the reconstruction of the pre-Hispanic Archipelago has to employ usually auxiliary sciences to History [4], or external sources
that somehow mention the area. In this sense, Chinese
sources are capital to measure the political development
in the Archipelago, especially southern regions due to
the diplomatic contact between China and Sulu [5].
Regarding Arabic sources, unluckily the data that they
provide are circumstantial and intricate to identify [6].
Besides these general data mentioned, it is possible
to find two main typologies of primary sources to research on Islam in the Philippine Archipelago: We could
call them as: (i) sources internally created (emic genesis)
and (ii) sources externally created (etic genesis).
Sources Internally Created
The sources created internally were originated to encourage an Islamic advocacy and legitimacy. Using
however autochthonous materials, they were codified to
establish a politico-religious authority based on Islam. At
the beginning the sources were orally transmitted,
mainly in Malay language, but eventually they were
written down in local languages in order to claim an authority and implement Islamic Civilization:
SILSILA
The most important Philippine Islamic sources are oral
traditions of genealogical accounts regarding aristocratic
families (Datus, Rajas, Sultans), that in some moment were
written down. The eldest are commonly known to we codified in the Malay language, but finally they were transmitted in the local ones [7]. These genealogical accounts are
called tarsilas from the Arabic silsila (chain). Its main
function is to establish the lineage and succession in order
to give advocacy to political power and sovereignty over
ancestral domains [8]. These sources are historical documents produced largely by Philippine Islamic communities
(Moros), but other communities had produced such genealogical accounts of oral tradition too [9], such can be found
in other South-East Asian parts like Brunei:
© I. Donoso Jiménez, 2010
A good example of a tarsila which has references to
a pre-Islamic past, the introduction of Islam, and great
neighbouring empires is the Selesilah of Brunei. It begins
with a narration of how Brunei while still kafir (infidel)
was a dependency of Madjapahit and how this political relation ended. The first ruler who becomes a Muslim then
acquires the symbols of royalty from the kingdom of Johore. An officer of the Emperor of China marries his
daughter and in time succeeds as ruler of Brunei with
a Muslim title and name. His daughter, in time, marries the
Sharif Ali, a descendent of the Prophet through Hasan.
The sovereignty of the kingdom is then given to the Sharif
who assumes the name of Sultan Berkat. From this Sharif
is descendent all the sultans of Brunei [10].
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Manuscripta Orientalia.
VOL. 16 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2010
Fig. 1
I. DONOSO JIMÉNEZ. Philippine Islamic Manuscripts
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Fig. 2
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Fig. 3
Tarsila phenomenon is therefore patrimonial inside
South-East Asia, though Islamic elements intervene undoubtedly in its conformation. Hence, the validation
through authorities
the so-called isn d
which is
a key mechanism in Islamic prophetic traditions.
Accordingly, the isn d is articulated in order to give
validity to a political power based on the prophetic
descent
ahl al-bayt
and particularly the roles of the
shar f sayyid [11]:
Writing from Malacca in 1556, Jesuit Baltasar Diaz labels the passage of Muslim teachers under the pretence of
their being merchants in Portuguese ships one of the gravest offences that could be offered God our Lord , and recounts a personal experience. In the ship in which he came
from India, one of his fellow passengers was a Moro, proclaiming himself a relative of Muhammad , who was on his
way to Borneo to join a companion who has already made
Moros of the major part of that paganism [12].
After obtaining the legal Islamic sanction through
the shar f and in consequence the ancestry with the
Prophet Muhammad, the other capital element to validate the local isn d (the indigenous prerogative) is the
native sanction to rule. Thus, the Malay sultanates originated precisely through interracial weddings in which
both authorities are given: indigenous and Islamic.
Nevertheless, the Islamic legitimacy in the Far East
of the world known (South-East Asia) required an extraordinary sanction, the one given by the Qur nic
prophet of World's Edge, i. e. Iskandar Dh al-Qarnayn
of the two horns [13]. Consequently, the first Islamic
political entity, the first Sultanate established in
South-East Asia required to recognize legitimacy to the
first Prophet that according to the Qur n had initiated
the Islamization in those regions of the earth [14]. Malacca modulated a model of South-East Asian Islamic
state, placing Dh al-Qarnayn on the top of the political
claiming. Hence, the mention of this figure in the Malay
sultanates, including the Filipinos is not certainly a curiosity or extravaganza, but an actual imperative of Islamic political and religious authority [15].
In the Malay-Indonesian world the Islamic sources
has usually narrative and descriptive features, explaining
deeper historical accounts and characters [16]. What we
find in the Philippine Archipelago is however different,
concise genealogical list where the isn d combines with
short pictures (using the same terminology we could call
them matn) [17]. The reason for this is that meanwhile
peninsular Malaya and West Maritime South-East Asia
were in the middle of the Islamic route connecting Arabia, India and China, the Islamization of East Maritime
South-East Asia was a local and slow phenomenon
within the Malay world. Indeed, West Maritime
South-East Asia saw the intellectual culmination of Islamic thinkers
as amza Fan r or N r al-D n
al-R n r [18]
meantime East Maritime South-East
Asia was still in the process of consolidating the Islamic
political state (Sultanate) and the factual Islamization.
Consequently, Philippine sources reflects this level in the
process of incorporation into the Islamic world [19].
7
In spite of the variety and diversity of tarsilas, it
seems to be that the primary codification was already
done by Najeeb Mitry Saleeby, Lebanese at the service
of the American administration who at the beginning of
the 20th century compiled and translated the tarsilas
from both Mindanao [20] and Sulu [21]. However,
Saleeby neither reproduced nor analyzed the original
sources (some of them written most probably in Malay
language), documents missing at the present. Thus what
we have is English translations of originals supposedly
lost, and researches have undertaken exegesis of those
translations at the eyes of other primary sources [22]. It
is needed therefore to find original versions and study
directly the language and peculiarities of actual tarsilas.
Thus, although a lot of work has to be done in the interpretation of Saleeby's versions, the comprehensive
analysis of Philippine tarsilas is still a task to be undertaken.
Finally, it has to be noted that although Philippine
Islamic sources are limited in relation with the whole
Malay-Indonesian area, the Philippines add a unique
richness: to be the easternmost edge of the whole Islamic
world. Accordingly, the location in the edges allows always to spread astonishing cultural phenomena. Hence
we can find a unique genealogical document relating the
lineage of Zamboanga's aristocracy, from indigenous
times to Islamization and then Hispanization
the
Tarsila Zamboangueña [23]. The document was referred
by Kawasa Anw r al-D n Dh al-Qarnayn (1805
1830), Sultan of Maguindanao, and adjusted into Spanish by José Araneta and Plácido Alberto de Saavedra
from a 1725 document, which came from an original
supposedly in Maguindanao J w . The purpose of the
tarsila was to recognize the division in the Sultanate,
sanctioning Zamboanga's lineage and giving its sovereignty to the King of Spain:
Cuando el Salip Saliganya Bunsú entró ser dueño y enseñar la ley mahometana en Zamboanga, sin este nombre
según la Talasida nuestro, introdujo por el río Masolóc, que
entonces era su nombre, en donde se detuvieron cuando por
las avenidas del río vieron bajar despojos de sembrados que se
internaron hasta los pies de Polumbató que hallaron un
camarín que la gente corría, cuando Saliganya Bunsú dejó su
cris y su candil de oro en la misma puerta y la misma cuerda
formó tres nudos y tornó bajando el río y llegado el término de
los tres días como él lo indicaba mandó á sus bayulares y
hallaron un valapá de oro con tres envoltorios de buyo y
entregaron á su señor que comprendió del nudo parlamento, y
llegado el término de los tres días, fue con toda su comitiva al
mismo lugar que sin demora llegó el Timuhay Saragán
juntamente con su hija Nayac con el cris puesto y candil
fajado junto con los principales y ancianos del pueblo y se
juntaron á reconocer por señor casando á su misma hija que
Saliganya en prueba que él lo admitía lo compró por un
esclavo un perrito que este llevaba y de ella tuvo dos hijos
Matombong y Tongab; cuando por un evento enclaron en el
rio Cagang-Cagang que ahora es rio Hondo, los Señores
Conquistadores que por allí estuvo en esa borda Majaraba
Palouan, principal, cabeza de los lutaos y noticioso de esto
Saliganya Bunsú por avisos de sus gentes bajó con varias
Fig. 4
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9
Fig. 5
10
Fig. 6
11
clases de vituallas, arroz, hube, camote, frijoles y dos cabezas
de vaca, y á su gente mandó pescar y dió á los españoles
cuando de vueltas y revueltas tanto los españoles como
Saliganya Bunsú de Mindanao y Joló y los dichos españoles,
hasta las Molucas y en lo posterior se ajustaron y cedieron al
estar bajo el dominio del Rey de España con las condiciones
que han de ser ausiliares de mar y tierra, guerra y conquista de
S. M. de estos dominios y escepto del tributo dando el medio
real por vasallaje que ellos admitieron estas condiciones [24].
What is shocking in this tarsila is the total unexpected raison d'être. Firstly, it was expected to be a
document to sanction an Islamic claim, yet validates a
Christian one. Secondly, it was expected to strengthen
the Sultanate, yet is the license of excision. Finally, it
should be written in Spanish, yet actually is done in
Chabacano. Tarsila Zamboangueña points out the ways
where culture works
the human contact. This is the
uniqueness of Philippine Civilization.
J W
The tarsila as a written phenomenon drives us to another main typology of Philippine Islamic corpora, the
J w documents. The writing system of Malay language
was based on the Arabic script and the Philippine languages inherited a lot of linguistic peculiarities of Malay
[25]. Hence, it is believed that original tarsilas were
codified in Malay language with Arabic script, and
eventually local languages (Tausug in the Sulu Archipelago and Maguindanao in the Río Grande de Mindanao)
emerged in the transmission [26].
The Islamization of large areas in South-East Asia
motivated the adoption of the Arabic script (fig. 1). Certainly Arabic script was successful in the transmission of
numerous languages of the world, from Spain to China.
Turkish, Persian and Indian languages adopted effectively Arabic alphabet. By using an aljamiado system,
even the Spanish Romance was written down in Arabic
by the last Spanish Muslims
the Mudéjares and the
Moriscos [27]. Thus, in the Malay world Arabic script
replaced the local written systems [28], developing an
own way to write the language J w .
Islam was a world-wide phenomenon due to its capacity to spread a universal message and adjust traditions
through a common intellectual exercise, the scripture.
Wherever Islam emerged, immediately a written tradition emerged. Most importantly, Arabic language was
the medium to transmit an international heritage, and by
Arabic script the local heritage was intellectualized. Beyond religion, Islam allowed an intellectual revolution
wherever emerged, similar to the European Humanism.
Certainly, Islamic Thought represented a further step in
the development of a Malay intellectual speculation,
a step towards humanism based on scripture:
Unlike Hinduism and Buddhism, Islam is traditionally
linked with the West [ ] The Islamization of the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago should therefore not be compared [ ] with the earlier Hinduization, as has been traditionally done. It would be more relevant to compare the
Islamization process with Western elements [ ] The
highly intellectual and rationalistic religious spirit entered
the receptive minds of the people, effecting a rise of rationalism and intellectualism not manifested in pre-Islamic
times [29].
Consequently, J w literature represents a huge corpora composed by several typologies including Islamic
exegesis, historiography and literature. J w script was
a revolutionary South-East Asian phenomenon from
Patani to Mindanao, allowing Arabic script to develop
a shared civil culture.
In the Philippines this phenomenon took place in the
areas contacted by Islam, in the Sulu Archipelago, the
western coast of Mindanao, as well as Manila's bay,
where Malay began to be employed as lingua
franca [30]. This is how people from the Philippine Archipelago were encorporating the cultural innovations
taken from Islam into South-East Asia. At the moment of
the Spanish advent to Luzon the accounts said that some
inhabitants converted to Islam were capable to read the
Qur n in Arabic. Therefore, the knowledge of Arabic
language and script was still in its beginning [31]. However, the contact of local people with Islamized Malays
certainly helped in both, the introduction of Islam and
the Arabic script. Consequently, it is likely to think that
written documents in Tagalog using Arabic alphabet
have existed [32]. With the introduction of the Latin
script, Islamized regions adopted and enforced decidedly
their cultural trends. Thus, the languages where political
structures emerged took Arabic as its writing system
Tausug in Sulu and Maguindanao in the Pulangi.
After a Spanish administration was established in the
new entity called the Philippines, diplomatic and political
relations were needed to deal within the region (fig. 2).
Arabic script
in J w documents
was a remarkable
tool in the consolidation of a political status for the
Sultanates. By having a written protocol, language
determined a level of political autonomy and
structure [33]. Eventually, since the long period from the
16th century onwards, J w phenomenon in the Philippine
Archipelago consolidated a rich tradition and, most
importantly, a huge corpus of documents [34]. Due to the
diplomatic relations between the Spanish administration
and the Sultanates, J w corpora is enormously rich in
both Tausug and Maguindanao languages, and with no
doubt represents the largest and most valuable Philippine
Islamic sources [35]. These documents used to be featured
in two versions, original J w and Spanish translation
(fig. 3) sometimes even Chinese translation, since Chinese
speakers were present in both the Philippines and the
Sultanates (fig. 4). It is important to note that the original
J w has frequently Spanish words transcribed into Arabic
script, surprising linguistic phenomenon similar to the one
done by the Spanish Moriscos in the other side of the
world. Accordingly, Spanish Moriscos used Arabic script
to write Spanish language. Astonishing, in the other side
of the Islamic world, Philippine Moros wrote down
Spanish words as well using Arabic script:
12
Fig. 7
13
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
14
.
Kapit rasy n di p s;
Capitulación de paz;
Capitulation of peace [36].
This phenomenon shows us that culture is something
movable and in constant process of transformation. Arabic
script was used to write Spanish language in Spain as well
as in the other side of the Islamic world, the Philippines.
Furthermore, Arabic words were introduced to the Philippines directly or through Malay, but also through Spanish
too, i. e.: alahas (alhaja, al- ja), alkalde (alcalde, al-q ),
alkampor (alcanfor, al-kanf r), alkansiya (alcancía,
al-kanziyya), aldaba (aldaba, al- abba), almires (almirez,
al-mihr s), baryo (barrio, al-barr ), kapre (cafre, k fir),
kisame (zaquizamí, s qf f ssam ). As we can notice, there
are quite numerous Filipino words coming from the Arabic
language once spoken in Spain. Thus, Arabic once spoken
in Spain has penetrated Philippine languages as well as
Arabic spoken in the Malay-Indonesian world, connecting
in the Archipelago both edges of the Islamic World.
In sum, J w documents are a testimony of the pervasiveness of similar cultural phenomena all over the
world and the creativity of culture as a way of expression. By using Arabic script, Moros were able to develop
a plain political administration and diplomatic protocol
(figs. 5 7). The Sultanates were structured, and by so
doing the Islamic culture in the Philippines as well. And
in this process, the role of the Andalusian civilization,
the role of the Spanish Islamic heritage, was important.
KIT B
The literature of the Muslims in the Philippines is
a complex world that still has not been possible to digest
thoroughly. Mainly transmitted through oral tradition,
a remarkable task of compilation and translation into
English has been undertaken in the last decades.
However, given the complexity of the endeavour (oral
transmission, different languages, cultural and historical
contextualization, field work required, etc., being a job
between Ethnography and Literary Criticism), at present
still we do not have a global reference on the topic. This
is why the current statement uses to limit the literatures
of Philippine Muslim communities into the different
ethno-linguistic groups: Tausug Literature, Maranao Literature, Sama Literature, etc. Therefore, the focus of attention centres on the use of the literary materials for
ethnic descriptions (which in some cases can conduct
towards plain folklore). Indeed, a holistic analysis of
categories, aesthetics and literary forms of this literature
has not been attempted, leaving the impression of heterogeneous materials in a fragmented tribal world [37].
Different matter is the so-called Philippine Islamic Literature , corpus that does not have to deal with the creative
literature of the Muslim communities in the Philippines
(whether under the common concept of Moro , whether
under the specific ethno-linguistic group), but with the explicit Islamic message. Similarly, Moro Literature or the
literature of any ethno-linguistic group
does not have
necessarily to deal with Islam. Quite the reverse, Moro Literature uses to deal with pre-Islamic elements.
Within this specific literature done in the Philippine
Archipelago that has Islam as its reason, we can find the
kit b as a main form. Moro kutub (plural of kit b) are
book-type documents written in J w script and dealing
with Islamic philosophy, theology or mysticism. Nevertheless, book-type documents are the basis where Islamic
civilization emerged. Hence, by compiling, translating
and analyzing Roman-Greek classicism, as well as Persian and Indian traditions, Islamic civilization created
specific conditions for massive book production and circulation. In a borderless dominion from the Iberian
Peninsula to South-East Asia and China, knowledge,
books and students circulated across cultural capitals:
Baghd d, Dimashq, Mi r, Qayraw n, Qur uba, F s,
Samarqand, Istanbul, Delhi, Timbuktu, Malacca, Brunei
and, finally, Jolo. Although in distance places and times,
periods and dynasties, Islamic lands were able to create
urban centres that produced masters, knowledge, and
books. Consequently, education was a permanent aspect
of the Islamic cities, and the education caused the wide
spread occurrence of writing. The state did not meddle in
a system basing in the ij za, the recognition that an authoritative master (according to genealogical schools
validated in the Indexes, fihrists) furnished to the student. However, to this system of master
disciple was
added a centralized educational space starting in the
11th century the madrasa:
In this article he [Julián Ribera, a Spanish Arabist
I. D. J.] studied the early madrasas founded by Persian
sovereigns, and found in these institutions of learning an
Oriental and especially Chinese origin [ ] On the other
hand, neither Greece nor Rome had practiced this type of
intervention in educational matters, and such a free system
maintained itself in Europe till the thirteenth century when
official initiative on the part of the monarchs of various
countries in the West resulted in the creation of universities
which coincided in many aspects with the Oriental
madrasas [38].
Accordingly, education is main tool wherever Islam
takes roots and, together with education, books are. The
existence of Islamic books in the Philippine Archipelago
is a fact from the 16th century, since Spanish sources
testify that some people from Manila could read some
words in Qur ns brought from Brunei, as we have seen
in 1572 Relación del descubrimiento y conquista de la
isla de Luzón y Mindoro [39]. In a history of Islamic
Books in the Philippine Archipelago a key source is
1736 José Torrubia's Disertacion historico-politica en
que se trata de la extensión de el Mahometismo en las
Islas Philipinas (fig. 8). In this 18th century dialogue
between a Spanish from the Metropolis and a Filipino
Spanish, it is stated that shuraf (pl. of shar f) from
Makka introduced Qur n into the Archipelago, and
plenty were seized in the Fort of Sabanilla (near present
Malabang) and carried to Manila in 1724:
Desde la entrada nuestra en esta tierra se ha aumentado
mucho la Morería, así por el común tráfico, que en ella tienen los Macasares, como porque los Santones de Meca,
saliendo por el Estrecho de Moca vienen hasta Sumatra,
y de allí por su estrecho pasan a nuestros Isleños con el
espíritu Diabólico; traen Alcoranes en Arábigo, y por ellos
los instruyen: gran porción de estos libros se cogieron en la
Sabanilla, y yo los vi en Manila en manos del Sargento
Mayor Ponce, el año de 1724 [40].
Importantly, at the end of the 19th century Juan Salcedo's Proyectos de dominación y colonización de Mindanao y Joló gives us a very valuable data stating the
role of panditas in the educational life of Moros. Furthermore, the author provides specific mention of
Qur ns from the 16th century as genuine bibliographic
treasures:
En cada ranchería hay un PANDITA o sacerdote. Su
traje y turbante es blanco. La ocupación del pandita se reduce a leer el Corán, cuyos ejemplares tienen en gran estima. Algunos datan del siglo XVI, constituyendo verdaderas joyas bibliográficas. Casi todos los panditas verifican la peregrinación a la Meca [41].
Hence, mainly Qur n, but also other kind of Islamic books, enhanced Islamic education in important
15
areas of the Archipelago (from Sulu to Manila) since
the 16th century [42]. Spanish sources mentioned thoroughly the existence of those, and some item was catalogued by Wenceslao Emilio Retana in his 1894 Bibliografía de Mindanao [43]. At present, some of the Islamic sources saved from the destruction caused by
World War Two to the largest Filipiniana collection
Colección de la Compañía General de Tabacos de
Filipinas
are kept in the National Library of the
Philippines [44].
But beyond these documents kept in public institutions, private collections are with no doubt the main
mine for Moro kutub. Together with Qur n, it is known
that private owners have books written in J w script and
local language about Islamic education, principles and
f sm. Not only the language of the documents is still
without a comprehensive study, but also the content itself is practically unknown. In spite that other regions in
South-East Asia have deeply studied the Islamic scholarship from the 16th century until today [45], in the Philippine Archipelago we cannot even identify a single author or work, precisely because those materials are still
unknown and inedited [46]. Indeed, by editing and analyzing Philippine Islamic books we will obtain a more
broad understanding of Muslim phenomena in the Archipelago within its South-East Asian context and Islamic civilization.
KHU BA
Finally, it is possible to find other typologies of Islamic sources that provide valuable data to understand
the political and cultural world of Philippine Islam. Accordingly, Friday sermon and orations for special occasions followed a standard formula that made them eventually to be fossilized and written down. Hence, the
khu ba is a sermon that has to follow a pyramidal order
within the Islamic tradition. In the particular case of the
Philippine Sultanates: from God (All h), Mu ammad,
the Caliphs, till the mention of all the Sultans, ending
with the active Sultan. Given the list, it is possible to
compare and extract details in the validation of tarsilas
and track down Islamic traditions. Saleeby featured some
khu bas of the Sulu Sultanate [47], although nowadays
the research on these kinds of sources present the same
conundrum that the tarsilas
the lack of original
documents [48]. Consequently, the field is totally open
for further and comprehensive researches.
Sources Externally Created
Sources externally created are product of the historical contact between Muslim communities in the Philippine Archipelago and external observers. Numerous
travellers performed journeys around the area (by political reasons or private entrepreneurship), writing accounts and itineraries about their experiences. Given the
geopolitical value of Mindanao-Sulu area within
South-East Asia, many of the travels wanted to establish
diplomatic approach to the Moro Sultanates, describing
in the process their protocol, manners and mores.
Dutch [49], British [50], French [51] and Germans [52]
contacted Moro Sultanates in different historical periods.
Finally, the Americans at the beginning of the
20th century succeeded in removing Spain from the
area [53].
However during almost four centuries, Spaniards
developed a State administration in the Philippine Archipelago that experienced
in such long period
a process in coherence with the specific times. Two main
corpora were created: a specific Spanish historiography
on Philippine Islam and the records of the Spanish administration in the Archipelago [54]. The evolution was
reflected in the relations with Muslim communities in
the islands too. Indeed, Spanish records since 1522 to
1898 represent the largest documental corpus to study
Muslim communities in the Archipelago [55]. In almost
four centuries of documental production and human relation, certainly the anthropological and political paradigms evolved as times evolve. Thus, it is needed to approach the corpora with the appropriated historiographic
criterion. We have different mentality and point of view
that the people who produced those documents in former
times. Accordingly, we have to develop a historiographic
perspective as well as the sociologist and the anthropologist do. Otherwise reductionism, dogmatism and
even bias emerge [56]. At the same time, it is needed to
place those documents in their proper context, for what
specific purpose they were created and what public was
Fig. 10
16
17
Fig. 11
18
expected to read them. Documents are of very heterogeneous nature and it is a reductionism to classify all under
the same label [57].
Having said that, sources externally created about
Philippine Islam are composed by several sporadic insights done by travellers and specific individuals that
enter in contact with Moro communities, and by a large
tradition of Spanish texts including accounts, memoirs
narrations, travels, chronicles, descriptions and, finally,
complete histories of Sulu and Mindanao (fig. 9). In
this sense, it is possible to find data regarding the Muslim presence in the area from the beginning of the
Spanish advent in Asia. Eventually, when the establishment of the Spanish political body became stable,
literature involving Moros was notably increasing, until
the moment in which it became a separate section and
field in the Spanish writings about the Philippines.
Thus during the 19th century, a rich bibliography focusing exclusively on Mindanao and Sulu areas and the
people living there emerged, from historical books to
geographical descriptions. Accordingly, unlike external
sources that sporadically emerged, Spanish writers created the hugest and most coherent tradition in the study
of Philippine Islam, a tradition that lasted more than
three centuries from the Renaissance to the Modernism.
Thus, Spanish Historiography on Philippine Islam
represents not only an enormous corpus, but the most
durable intellectual exertion in the effort to understand
why and how Islam was in the Philippines [58]. The
long-lasting exertion to understand Muslims in the
Philippines ended with an incipient Spanish school on
Mindanao and Sulu studies at the turn of the century;
a tradition that evolved from the Relaciones de sucesos'
Renaissance mentality [59] to the two-volume histories
in 19th century positivism [60].
Unlike other sources externally created, the diversity and diachronic extension of the Spanish historiography produced not only descriptive texts about the
Philippine South and its inhabitants, but also the reproduction and explanation of actual sources internally
created (fig. 10), as tarsilas [61], J w documents [62]
and even kutub. Going beyond, the cultural interaction
will witness the conjunction of both typologies: the
emergence of sources internally created after external
elements (as J w documents in Tausug / Maguindanao
and Spanish versions after Moro-Spanish diplomacy)
(fig. 11). And going a step further, we can find the indigenization of the external sources in a single typology
(the emergence of the Chabacano world, as testifies
Zamboanga's Tarsila which narrates the genealogy
from indigenous period, Islamization and Hispanization
using Chabacano language).
Towards Philippine Islamic Studies
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Spanish
academic and bibliographical tradition allowed the development of incipient Filipino scholarship on Islam [63]. The inaugurated in 1898 and aborted short later
Republic of the Philippines was a new State in the modern arena. Filipinos had to deal not only with American
interventionism and the usurpation of the State, but also
with their position (diminished by the Americans) as
nation in the world. Islam, as the first political tool of
administration in the Philippine Archipelago, played
a pivotal role in the process of building a modern Philippine State. Accordingly, studying the intellectual and
political history of the Archipelago within the frames of
political struggle Filipinos started interesting in studying
of Islam as an own phenomenon [64].
Foreign [65] as well as Filipino [66] scholars have
worked through the years to establish academic statements that eventually could be valid in comprehending
Islamic phenomenon in the Archipelago. The exertion
produced a paramount reference not only in local Islam,
but also in the whole region. As modern South-East
Asian scholar, César Adib Majul is known all over the
world, being as transcendental for the Philippines as
Syed Muhammad al Naquib bin Ali al-Attas for Malaysia. Majul was able to provide factual dimension to Islamic studies in the country, as a holistic discipline that
includes all the levels of human thought under an Islamic
perspective [67]. In so doing, Majul founded the modern
discipline in the country, and established a model of
scholarship for Philippine Islamic studies [68].
At present, Philippine Islamic studies represents
a specific field of study and research, which deals with
the easternmost edge of the classical Islamic world and
its specific conundrums. Several bibliographic
repertoires have been compiled [69] as well as particular
topics obtained special attention. Nevertheless, huge
corpora of primary sources are still unattended as well as
many topics are to be researched. Philippine Islamic
studies are just in its beginning, and the future is the
challenge to validate it as one of the main scholarly
traditions in South-East Asia. From history to
philosophy, from humanities to exegesis, Philippine
Islamic phenomenon still has to be located within the
history of Islam and Islamic civilization. Philippine
Islamic manuscripts are a condition sine qua non in this
task.
Notes
1. About the process of Islamization in South-East Asia see: M. B. Hooker, Islam in South-East Asia (Leiden, 1983);
H. M. Federspiel, Sultans, Shamans, and Saints Islam and Muslims in Southeast Asia (Honolulu, 2007); R. D. McAmis, Malay Muslims.
The History and Challenge of Resurgent Islam in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 2002); Part IV: South East Asia , The Cambridge History of Islam, ed. by P. M. Holt, A. K. S. Lambton, B. Lewis (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 123 54; N. Tarling, The Cambridge History of the
Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 330 4, 508 72; S. Q. Fatimi, Isl m Comes to Malaysia (Singapore, 1963); C. A. Majul, Theo-
19
ries of the Introduction and Expansion of Islam in Malaysia (Dumaguete City, 1964); J. H. Meuleman, The history of Islam in Southeast Asia: some questions and debates , Islam in Southeast Asia. Political, Social and Strategic Challenges for the 21st Century, ed. by
K. S. Nathan, M. H. Kamali (Singapore, 2005), pp. 22 44; A. H. Johns, Islamization in Southeast Asia: reflections and reconsiderations with special reference to the role of Sufism , Southeast Asian Studies XXXI/1 (1993), pp. 43 61.
2. About Islam in the Philippine Archipelago see: Majul, Muslims in the Philippines (Quezon City, 1999 (1973)); idem, Islam
advent and spread in the Philippines , Majul's Collection, Institute of Islamic Studies (Quezon City, 1989); C. A. Abubakar, Islamization of Southern Philippines: an overview , Filipino Muslims: Their Social Institutions and Cultural Achievements, ed. by F. L. Jocano
(Quezon City, 1983), pp. 6 13; idem, The advent and growth of Islam in the Philippines , op. cit., ed. by K. S. Nathan,
M. H. Kamali, pp. 45 63; Muslim Philippines, ed. by A. Isidro, M. Saber (Marawi, 1968); The Muslim Filipinos, ed. by P. Gowing,
R. McAmis (Manila, 1974); Gowing, Muslim Filipinos. Heritage and Horizon (Quezon City, 1979); A. P. Sakili, Space and Identity:
Expressions in the Culture, Arts and Society of the Muslims in the Philippines (Quezon City, 2003); Datu M. O. Mastura, Muslim Filipino Experience. A Collection of Essays (Manila, 1984); S. K. Tan, Decolonization and Filipino Muslim Identity (Quezon City, 1989);
J. R. Rasul, Struggle for Identity. A Short History of the Filipino Muslims (Quezon City, 2003); I. Donoso Jiménez, Islamic Far East:
Ethnohistory of the Filipino Muslims. Master thesis (Quezon City, 2007); Gh. Loyre-de-Hauteclocque, Evolution des Maranao: Des
origines au XVIIIe siècle. Contribution à l´histoire des musulmans philippins (Paris, 1989); E. Clavé, La mise en place des sultanats
philippins et d'une société musulmane plurielle (XIVe XVIe siècle). Master Thesis (Paris, 2005).
3. The most valuable investigations regarding this topic are due to W. H. Scott: Prehispanic Sources Materials for the Study of
the Philippine History (Quezon City, 1984); Looking for the Prehispanic Filipino and Other Essays in Philippine History (Quezon
City, 1992); Barangay. Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society (Quezon City, 2004); vid. etiam F. L. Jocano, Philippine
Prehistory. An Anthropological Overview of the Beginnings of the Filipino Society and Culture (Quezon City, 1975).
A fructiferous field of researches nowadays is on the Laguna Copperplate, which is opening new scopes convening different
Philippine historical sources. See for instance: J. F. Tiongson, The Laguna Copperplate inscription: a new interpretation using
early Tagalog dictionaries , paper presented for the 8th International Conference on Philippine Studies, 23 26 July 2008, Philippine Social Science Centre, Quezon City.
4. In the case of the Philippine South see: A. Spoehr, Zamboanga and Sulu. An Archaeological Approach to Ethnic Diversity
(Pittsburgh, 1973); L. L. Junker, Raiding, Trading, and Feasting. The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms (Quezon City,
2000); R. Fox, The archaeological record of Chinese influence in the Philippines , Philippine Studies XV/1 (1967), pp. 41 62;
J. R. Francisco, Indian influences in the Philippines , Philippine Social Sciences and Humanities Review XXVIII/1 3 (1963).
5. Cf. Wu Ching-hong, A study of references to the Philippines in Chinese sources from earliest times to the Ming dynasty ,
Philippine Social Sciences and Humanities Review XXIV/1 2 (1959); Wang Teh-Ming, Notes on the Sulu Islands in
Chu-Fan-Chih , Asian Studies IX/1 (1971), pp. 76 8; W. W. Rockhill, Notes on the relations and trade of China with the Eastern
Archipelago and the coasts of the Indian ocean during the fourteenth century , T'oung Pao (Leiden, 1975), pp. 270 1. About the
Sino-Suluan Diplomatic Relations see: Whag Teh Ming, Sino-Suluan Historical Relations in Ancient Texts. Doctoral Thesis (Quezon City, 1989); Scott, Prehispanic Sources Materials, pp. 76 86; A. Hedjazi, S. Ututalum, The Rise and Fall of the Sulu Islamic
Empire (1675 1919) (s. l., 2002); H. Reynolds, Why Chinese traders approached the Philippines late-and from the South , Studies in Philippine Anthropology, ed. by M. Zamora (Quezon City, 1967), pp. 454 65.
In this sense, the difficulty to trace the ethnic origin of the Chinese Muslim communities (Hui) and the historical contact with
Sulu, opened the gate to speculations certainly astonishing:
During the summer of 1989, while travelling across the eleven provinces of China, I interviewed many Chinese descendants of the East
King of Sulu to collect material for my research. At that time, Wenxuan An, the sixteenth-generation grandson of the East King [ ] revealed
to me that our ancestors are Moros of the Philippines and before they came to the Philippines, they were the Moors in Africa . I just smiled in
response, and I thought this was only a fantasy like the Arabian Nights .
M. Xu Xianlong, From Moors to Moros: The North African heritage of the Hui Chinese , Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs XVI/1 (1996), p. 21.
6. As Far East of the world known by the Arabs, South-East Asia maritime region was exposed to the imaginary creation of
fabulous stories after oral accounts, Arab literary tradition called Literature of Marvels
Aj ib . Related with the Philippine
Archipelago we can find mainly two tales: W q W q and Women's Island, fictitious places that could reveal however actual data.
Cf. Donoso Jiménez, Al-Andalus and Asia: Ibero-Asian relations before Magellan , More Hispanic than We Admit. Insights into
Philippine Cultural History, ed. by idem (Quezon City, 2008), pp. 9 35.
Realizing the peculiarities of the Arabic geographic literature, W. H. Scott dismantled the traditional historiography established by
Otley Beyer:
These references [Arab sources] are hearsay evidence or tales about lands at the end of the world, not descriptions of Arab trade routes.
Their negative testimony is especially disappointing in view of H. Otley Beyer's oft-quoted statement that Arabs opened a new trade route via
Borneo, the Philippines and Japan to Korea in the eight century [ ] By the time of the Spanish advent, Filipino merchants and mercenaries
were spread all over Southeast Asia [ ] If one wishes to speculate about the advent of Arabs and Arab influences in the prehispanic Philippines, therefore, a ready explanation is available
namely, that they were in vessels built, owned and manned by islanders born within that
triangle [Manila
Timor
Malacca], [ ] It is perhaps surprising that nobody has yet looked for Sindbad-the-Sailor's lands of cannibals,
peppers, coconuts, and pearl-fisheries in the Philippines.
Scott, Prehispanic Sources Materials, pp. 80
3.
20
About the literature of Aj ib and Philippine seats in Arab sources see: Donoso Jiménez, Islamic Far East, pp. 101 21. The
main references for Arab sources in South-East Asia are the following: G. Ferrand, Relations de voyages et textes géographiques
arabes, persans et turks relatifs a l'Extrême-Orient du VIIIE au XVIIIE siècles (París, 1913); G. R. Tibbetts, A Study of the Arabic
Texts Containing Material on South-East Asia (Leiden
London, 1979). However, the most valuable data for the Philippine Archipelago does not appear in the classical works of the Arab Geography, but in late navigational treaties. Cf. idem, Arab Navigation
in the Indian Ocean Before the Coming of the Portuguese: Being a Translation of Kitab al-Fawaid fi usul al-bahr wal-qawaid of
Ahmad b. Majid al-Najdi; Together with an Introduction on the History of Arab Navigation, Notes on the Navigational Techniques
and on the Topography of the Indian Ocean and a Glossary of Navigational Terms (London, 1971.
7. As mentioned, the genealogical accounts were written down in order to obtain a physical proof of a political claim. After the
dissipation of the traditional sultanates and proliferation of claiming lines, numerous apocryphal tarsilas have emerged. However
the unfeasibility to obtain the original tarsilas, the current researches on tarsilas are showing the richness of these documents, and
that still there is plenty of information to be analyzed and documents to be published.
8. Cf. Tan, Filipino-Muslim perceptions of their history and culture as seen through indigenous written sources , UP-CIDS
Chronicle IV/1 2 (1999), pp. 37 52.
9. Cf. S. Hayase, Mindanao Ethnohistory Beyond Nations. Maguindanao, Sangir, and Bagobo Societies in East Maritime
Southeast Asia (Quezon City, 2007).
10. Majul, Muslims in the Philippines, p. 33. Cf. H. Low, Selesilah (Book of the Descent) of the Rajahs of Bruni , Journal of
the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society V (1880), pp. 1 5.
11. Cf. M. Kazuo, Toward the formation of Sayyido-Sharifology: questioning accepted fact , The Journal of Sophia Asian
Studies XXII (2004), pp. 87 103; Shar f , in EI2.
12. Scott, Looking for the Prehispanic Filipino, p. 29.
13. The most important revelations ( y t) in the Qur n about the Prophetic action of Dh al-Qarnayn in the easternmost edge
of the world are: 18:83 95.
14. C. C. Brown, S jarah M layu or Malay Annals (Kuala Lumpur, 1970), p. 2:
Now this is how the story begins according to the account we have received: When Raja Iskandar, the Two-Horned, son of Raja Darab,
a Roman of the country of Macedonia, set out to visit the East, he came to the frontier of India. Now there was a certain Raja, by name Raja
Kida Hindi, whose kingdom was so vast that he held sway over half of all India [ ] And Raja Kida Hindi was defeated by Raja Iskandar and
was captured alive, whereupon Raja Iskandar ordered him to accept the True Faith. And he did so and became a Muhammadan, embracing the
religion of Abraham, the chosen friend of God (on him be peace) .
15. N. M. Saleeby, The History of Sulu (Manila, 1963 (1908)), pp. 38
9:
The traditions state that Tuan Mashai ka was the son of Jamiyun Kulisa and Indara Suga, who came to Sulu with Alexander the Great [ ]
The common believe among the Sulus that Alexander the Great invaded their island is one of many indications which lead one to think that
most of their knowledge and traditions came by the way of Malacca or Juhur.
About Dh al-Qarnayn's Islamic symbolism in Asia see: Jiménez Donoso, Islamic Far East, pp. 73 7.
16. Cf. R. Winstedt, A History of Classical Malay Literature (Kuala Lumpur, 1969), pp. 92 134.
17. Terminology of the Prophetic traditions, ad th. It is important to note, as did César Adib Majul, the curious parallelisms
between some tarsilas and certain classical isn d, as the one in Ibn Ish q's S rat Ras l All h. Cf. Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad.
A Translation of Sirat Rasul Allah (Lahore, 1955) and the MS N.1 in Saleeby, Studies in Moro History, Law and Religion (Manila,
1976 (1905)), p. 13. The analysis between the origin of Philippine Islamic traditions and its sources is a field still to be investigated.
18. Cf. P. G. Riddell, Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World. Transmission and Responses (Singapore, 2003);
S. M. N. al-Attas, R n r and the Wujudiyyah of 17th Century Aceh (Singapore, 1966); idem, The Mysticism of amza Fan r
(Kuala Lumpur, 1970).
19. It is not possible to speak properly about a Muslim intellectual in the Archipelago until the 20th century, when César Adib
Majul consolidated a school of writing and obtained international recognition, not only as historian, but most importantly as Islamic
thinker.
20. Published in 1905, Studies in Moro History, Law and Religion (Manila).
21. Published in 1908, The History of Sulu (Manila).
22. César Adib Majul did extraordinarily that task through all his works: An analysis of the Genealogy of Sulu , Readings
on Islam in Southeast Asia (Singapore, 1985), pp. 48 57 (previously in Asian Studies XVII (1979), pp. 1 17, as well as in Archipel. Etudes interdisciplinaires sur le monde insulindien XXII (1981), pp. 167 82); idem, Political and historical notes on the Old
Sulu Sultanate , Philippine Historical Review I/1 (1965), pp. 229 51; idem, Succession in the Old Sulu Sultanate , ibid.,
pp. 252 71. Other works have been undertaken to analyse the role of specific data, as the Datus: Rasul, The Datuship and the
Sulu Sultanate , Kadatuan I. Conference Proceeding (Zamboanga, 1997); and Datu Mastura, The Maguindanao core lineage and
the Dumatus , Muslim Filipino Experience, pp. 3 15.
23. Cf. Donoso Jiménez, Estudio y edición de la Társila Zamboangueña , Illes i Imperis (Barcelona, in print).
24. Ibid.
25. M. N. b. Ngah, Kitab J w : Islamic Thought of the Malay Muslim Scholars (Singapore, 1983), p. viii:
J w means people of Java which also refers to Malays because the Arabs in the past considered all the people in the Malay Archipelago as Javanese; therefore the Malay writing using Arabic characters is called J w script.
21
26. Kirim can be the name given to Maguindanao J w documents, according to Tan, Filipino-Muslim perceptions .
27. About the Spanish Aljamía there are plenty of works, we will mention only as main references: L. B. Pons, Bibliografía de
la literatura aljamiado-morisca (Alicante, 1992); and A. G. Chejne, Islam and the West. The Moriscos, A Cultural and Social History (Albany, 1983). A general bibliography about Moriscos can be downloaded from the site:
http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portal/LMM/estudios_y_biblio.shtml.
Arabic script was used by other Europeans, as the Bosnians, the Albanians and other Muslims in the Balkans:
E. Zakhos-Papazahariou, Babel balkanique: histoire politique des alphabets utilisés dans les Balkans , Cahiers du monde russe et
soviétique XIII/2 (1972), pp. 145 79.
28. The script that was employed by the Malays of Sumatra [ ] disappeared when those seafarers adopted Islam and the
Arabic alphabet , Scott, Prehispanic Sources Materials, p. 61.
29. Al-Attas, The Mysticism of Hamzah Fans r , pp. 191 4.
30. Islamization mainly represents a world-wide net that made Muslims borderless travellers all over the Islamic world. People
from the Philippine Archipelago participated in this global activity as well. Thus, when the Portuguese arrived to Malacca, people
from Luzon island (luções) was part of its commercial activity:
Acerca da mercadoria é gente mui esperta e artificiosa pera seu proveito, ca ordinariamente tratam com estas nações: jaus, siames, pegus,
bengalas, quelis, malabares, guzarates, párseos, arábios, e otras muitas nações, que os tèm feitos muy sagazes, por ali residirme e a cidade ser
populosa com as naus que concorrem a ela, em que também soem vir os povos chins, léquios, luções e outros daquele Oriente.
J. M. Garcia, As Filipinas na Historiografia Portuguesa do Século XVI (Philippines in the Portuguese XVIth Century Historiography) (Porto, 2003), p. 62. Quotation from João de Barros (1615), Ásia de João de Barros, década III, liv. V, cap. 4 (Lisboa,
1988 2001), p. 130. Translation as follows (p. 135):
In terms of trade, they are very intelligent and clever people, and they normally deal with these nationalities: the Javanese, Siamese, Pegus,
Bangalis, Quelis, Malabars, Gujeratis, Parsees [Persians], Arabs and many others, which has made them very wise, since they live there and
the city is full of ships competing with them for trade, for which purpose the Chinese, Taiwanese, luções and other peoples also frequent it.
Not only people from Luzon joined the international commerce, but also the port of Manila started to consolidate a local aristocracy based on business, what will cause cultural transformations (Scott, Prehispanic Sources Materials, pp. 42 3):
Manila was a bilingual community at the time of the Spanish advent, its bourgeoisie speaking Malay as a second language even as their
descendents were later to speak Spanish and English [ ] Malay was the lingua franca of Southeast Asia commerce at the time and had been
for many years [ ] Indeed, it was probably the language which Sulu royalty spoke with a community of Chinese Muslims in a trading station
on the Grand Canal in Shantung province in 1417 [ ] and it is significant that the majority of them [foreign words] were already Malay borrowings from civilizations farther to the west at the time of their introduction into Tagalog.
31. Relación del descubrimiento y conquista de la isla de Luzón y Mindoro (Manila, 1572), featured in W. E. Retana, Archivo
del Bibliófilo Filipino. Recopilación de documentos históricos, científicos, literarios y políticos y Estudios Bibliográficos (Madrid,
1898), iv, p. 29.
Verdad es que algunos que an estado en Burney, entienden alguna cosa, y saben leer algunas palabras del Alcorán; empero estos son muy
pocos y tienen entre ellos opinión que el que no ubiere estado en Burney puede comer puerco, y esto yo se lo he oydo dezir á muchos dellos.
32. O. D. Corpuz, The Roots of the Filipino Nation (Quezon City, 2005), pp. 39
42:
The link between Islam and writing [ ] is repeatedly documented [ ] The chiefs of Manila were in written communication with the
Sultan of Borneo. Writing, presumably, in the Arabic script, was linked to Islamic conversion in Manila and Batangas [ ] The native scripts
were superseded by the Castilian alphabet in colonized Filipinas. In the Tagalog area the Arabic script, which might have displaced the native
script at least among the chiefs, was also superseded by the Castilian.
For deeper references on Philippine writing history see: Donoso Jiménez, El Humanismo en Filipinas , Humanismo. Teoría
Cultural de Europa, ed. by P. Aullón de Haro (Madrid, in press).
33. And together with language, political symbols within the chancelleries emerged as well, as the epigraphy. See:
A. T. Gallop, Malay Seal Inscriptions: A Study in the Islamic Epigraphy from Southeast Asia, Doctoral Dissertation, University of
London, 2002 (unpublished). We are deeply grateful to the author in sharing and sending to us her researches.
34. For a general state of the problem see Tan, The Surat Sug: the J w tradition in the Philippines , Journal of Sophia Asian
Studies XX (2002), pp. 197 210; for the contemporary evolution of J w script in the Philippines see Abubakar, Surat Sug: J w
tradition in Southern Philippines , Philippine Civilization and Asian-Hispanic Cultural Relations
Cuaderno Internacional de
Estudios Hispánicos y Lingüística (CIEHL), ed. by Donoso Jiménez (Humacao, in press).
35. Paradoxically all the J w documents of the Spanish period are still practically neglected and untouched. S. K. Tan undertook an exhaustive research in American archives to compile and translate J w documents of the American period, which was
published in two volumes: Surat Sug. Letters of the Sultanate of Sulu (Manila, 2005). He is also the author of the main existing
references on Philippine J w documents: J w Documentary Series No. 1, Annotated Bibliography of J w Materials of the Muslim
South (Quezon City, 1996); and J w Documentary Series No. 2, Surat Maguindanaon (Quezon City, 1996).
At present we are carrying out a project together with Julkipli M. Wadi in the National Archives of the Philippines that aims to
compile, transcribe, translate and analyze the J w documents of the Spanish period and the Moro-Spanish diplomatic Corporac.
36. Philippine Nacional Archives (Manila): Mindanao y Sulú, SDS 9276 [1836 1898], exp. 2, fol. 1:
22
Capitulaciones de Paz, Proteccion y Comercio otorgadas al Muy Excelente Sultan y Dattos de Joló, por el Yllm S r Capitán General,
Gobernador de las Yslas Filipinas en nombre de las Alta y Poderosa Soberana de S. M C. siendo tratadas y convenidas por ambas partes á saber: en representación del Gobierno Español, como Plenipotenciario del M. Y. S r Capitan General D. Pedro Antonio Salazar Gobernador de
Filipinas, el Capitan de Fragata de la Real Armada D. José Maria Halcon, Comandante Jefe de las Fuerzas Navales que hay en la Rada de Joló;
de la otra parte el Sultan Mogamad-Diamalul-Quiram Raxa de Joló y los Dattos que firman, cuyas partes Otorgaron (Joló, 23 de septiembre de
1836) .
37. A Historiography of the literatures of Philippine Muslim communities could include the following: A. Manuel, A survey
of Philippine epics , Asian Folklore Studies XX (1963), pp. 1 76; Tan, The Development of Muslim Literature (s. l., 1978);
N. T. Madale, Tales from Lake Lanao and Other Essays (Manila, 2001); G. Rixhon, Tausug oral literature , People of the Current: Reprints from Sulu Studies (Manila, 2001); Literature of Voice. Epics in the Philippines, ed. by N. Revel (Quezon City, 2005).
Of special relevance are all the issues of the journal Sulu Studies (Jolo), as well as the works leaded by the French researcher
Nicole Revel, in particular Silungan Baltapa: Le Voyage au ciel d'un hero Sama (Paris, 2005). As consequence of Revel's efforts,
the Archives of Ateneo de Manila University holds currently the largest collection on Philippine intangible heritage.
As far as specific works is concerned, the edition, translation and analysis of some pivotal landmarks has been done:
J. R. Francisco, Maharadia Lawana, ed. and transl. with the collaboration of Madale (Quezon City, 1969); Madale, Raja Indarapatra: A Socio-Cultural Analysis (Quezon City, 1982); C. Wein, Raja of Madaya. A Philippine Folk-Epic (Cebu, 1984); A. Aliman,
Lagia Indarapatra, A Magindanaon Folk Narrative: Some Notes on Islamic Influence Master Thesis (Quezon City, 1986); Darangen: in Original Maranao Verse with English Translation (Marawi City, 1986 1992), i v.
Other parallel topic is the presence of Islam in the general Philippine Literature: See Donoso Jiménez, El Islam en las Letras
Filipinas , Studi Ispanici XXXII (2007), pp. 291 313.
38. J. T. Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship (Sixteenth Century to the Present) (Leiden, 1970), p. 158.
About madrasa see: Madrasa , EI; G. Makdisi, The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West (New
York, 1982); idem, The madrasa in Spain: some remarks , Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Mediterranée XV XVI,
pp. 153 8; idem, Madrasa and university in the Middle Ages , Studia Islamica XXXII (1970), pp. 255 64; Law and Education
in Medieval Islam: Studies in Memory of Professor George Makdisi, ed. by J. E. Lowry, D. J. Stewart, Sh. M. Toorawa (London,
2004); G. D. Newby, The foundation of the University of Naples: typological parallels with Arab institutions of higher learning ,
Medieval Encounters III/2 (1997), pp. 173 83; and Donoso Jiménez, El colegio universitario europeo y la madrasa islámica ,
Hispanogalia. Revista hispanofrancesa de Pensamiento, Literatura y Arte IV (2007 2009), pp. 31 42.
39. Cf. supra note 31.
40. J. Torrubia, Disertacion historico-politica en que se trata de la extensión de el Mahometismo en las Islas Philipinas:
grandes estragos que han hecho los Mindanaos, Joloes, Camucones, y Confederados de esta Secta en nuestros Pueblos Cristianos,
medio con que se han contenido, y vno congruente para su perfecto establecimiento (Madrid, 1736), pp. 1 2.
41. J. Salcedo, M. de los Ríos, Proyectos de dominación y colonización de Mindanao y Joló (Gerona, 1891), pp. 28 9.
42. Until present the most valuable researches on Philippine Qur ns have been done by A. T. Gallop. See: From Caucasia to
Southeast Asia: D ghist ni Qur ns and the Islamic manuscript tradition in Brunei and in the Southern Philippines , Manuscripta
Orientalia XIV/1, pp. 32 56, 2, pp. 3 14.
43. For instance No. 167: Alcorán.
En moro de Mindanao
Ms. Fué de un pandita. Está escrito en papel muy ordinario.
Parece ser copia de la segunda mitad del presente siglo , Retana, Bibliografía de Mindanao (Epítome) (Madrid, 1894), 59 pp.
44. Together with the Qur n, there are two more printed books from Bombay used by Maguindanaos according to Retana. See
Nos. 1643, 1645a and 1645b in I. R. Medina, Filipiniana Materials in the National Library (Quezon City, 1971).
45. Cf. P. G. Riddell, Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World. Transmission and Responses (Singapore, 2003).
46. The main and practically the only work has been done again by Samuel Tan
with the assistance of Munap
H. Hairulla
in pioneering books that have established at least the basis to make visible the existence of Moro kutub: Tan,
M. H. Hairulla, J w Documentary Series No. 3, An Annotation of the Marsada Kitabs (Quezon City, 2002); J w Documentary
Series No. 4, Basilan Kitabs (Quezon City, 2007); J w Documentary Series No. 5, Tawi-Tawi Kitabs (Quezon City, 2007).
47. Saleeby, Studies in Moro History, pp. 112 20.
48. Cf. Majul, Muslims in the Philippines, pp. 8 10.
49. Cf. R. Laarhoven, Triumph of Moro Diplomacy. The Maguindanao Sultanate in the 17th Century (Quezon City, 1989);
Tien-Tse Chang, The Spanish-Dutch naval battle of 1617 outside Manila Bay , Journal of Southeast Asia History VII/1 (1966),
pp. 111 21; M. P. H. Roessingh, Dutch relations with the Philippines, 1600 1800 , Asian Studies XXI (1983), pp. 59 78.
50. Cf. N. Tarling, The superintendence of British interests in South-East Asia in the nineteenth century , Journal of Southeast Asia History VII/1 (1966), pp. 97 110; idem, Sulu and Sabah. A Study of British Policy Towards the Philippines and North
Borneo from the Late Eighteenth Century (Kuala Lumpur, 1978).
The most valuable British account on Moro Sultanates is without doubts the travels of Thomas Forrest, A Voyage to New
Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balambangan: Including an Account of Magindano, Sooloo, and Other Islands, Illustrated with
Copper-Plates. Performed in the Tartar Galley, Belonging to the Honourable East India Company, During the Years, 1774, 1775,
and 1776, by Captain Thomas Forrest, to which is Added, a Vocabulary on the Magindano Tongue (Dublin, 1779). Besides the
geographical, political, and cultural description of the Sultanates, Forrest published for the first time in English a Philippine tarsila,
the one of the Sultanate of Maguindanao. Actually, the English translation of the account orally narrated by the former Sultan Pakir
Maulana Kamsa in Malay to Forrest (p. 214):
23
The following short account of the history of Magindano, is drawn from original records, in the possession of Fakymolano [Pakir Maulana
Kamsa], elder brother to Paharadine [Pahar ud-Din] the present Sultan, and father to Kybad Zachariel [Kibad Sahriyal], the present Rajah
Moodo [Raja Muda]; they are wrote in the Magindano tongue, and Arabic character. I took it down from Fakymolano's own mouth, who dictated in Malay.
51. Agustín Santayana (father of the American philosopher George Santayana) transcribed important documents about the
French interest in Basilan Island, as well as Hong Kong's Governor Sir Bowring impressions on Mindanao status: La isla de Mindanao, su historia y su estado presente, con algunas reflexiones acerca de su porvenir (Madrid, 1862).
Main French sources about the Philippine South are the following: G. J. Le Gentil de La Galaisière, Voyage dans les mers de
l'Inde, fait par ordre du Roi à l'occasion du passage de Vénus sur le disque du soleil le 6 juin 1761 & le 3 du même mois 1769
(Paris, 1781), ii; P. Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine, fait par ordre du roi, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781. Dans
lequel on traite des moeursm, de la religion, des sciences & des arts des Indiens, de Chinois, des Pegouins & des Madegasses;
suivi d'observations sur le cap de Bonne-Espérance, les isles de France & de Bourbon, les Maldives, Ceylan, Malacca, les Philippines & les Moluques, & de recherches sur l'histoire naturelle de ces pays (Paris, 1782); J. B. Mallat, Les Philippines; histoire,
géographie, moeurs, agriculture, industrie et commerce des colonies espagnoles dans l'Océanie (Paris, 1846); P. Proust de la Gironière, Aventures d'un gentilhomme breton aux îles Philippines, avec un aperçu sur la géologie et la nature de sol de ces îles; sur
ses habitants; sur la règne minéral, le règne végétal et le règne animal; sur l'agriculture, l'industrie et le commerce de cet archipel
(Paris, 1855); F. P. Marie d'Orléans duc d'Alen on, Luçon et Mindanao, Extraits d'un Journal de voyage dans l'extrème Orient
(Paris, 1870); J. Montano, Voyage aux Philippines et en Malaisie (Paris, 1886); and A. Marche, Luçon et Palaouan: six annees de
voyages aux Philippines,(Paris, 1887).
52. Cf. M. S. Montemayor, Captain Herman Leopold Schück. The Saga of a German Sea Captain in 19th Century
Sulu-Sulawesi Seas (Quezon City); L. Á. Gutiérrez, Las peticiones de ayuda del Sultán de Joló al Imperio Alemán y la formulación de la doctrina bismarckiana sobre política colonial , Imperios y naciones en el Pacífico. La formación de una colonia:
Filipinas (2001), pp. 641 60.
53. Cf. Gowing, Mandate in Moroland: the American Government of Muslim Filipinos 1899 1920 (Quezon City, 1977).
As well as Forrest, another source externally created reproduced one internally created, in this case the tarsila of the Sultanate
of Sulu. Charles E. Livingston wrote a short paper about what he thought mythological origin of Sulu , being not conscious that it
was actually the Sulu tarsila: Legendary history of Sulu , The Philippine Review / Revista Filipina I/8 (1916), p. 65.
During the American period, besides the dramatic contribution of Saleeby, research on Philippine Islam was limited to several
articles and some books, like V. Hurley, Swish of the Kris: the Story of the Moros (New York, 1936). It is relevant though the contributions to the study of Moro languages. However, the pioneering work in Moro Philology was done by the Spaniard Jacinto
Juanmartí, for Maguindanao: Gramática de la lengua de maguindanao según se habla en el centro y en la costa sur de la isla de
Mindanao (Manila, 1892); Diccionario moro-maguindanao-español (Manila, 1892); Compendio de historia universal desde la
creación del mundo hasta la venida de Jesucristo, y un breve vocabulario en castellano y en moro-maguindanao por un padre
misionero de la Compañía de Jesús (Singapore, 1888) (the first was translated into English by the Captain of the 14th cavalry,
showing that it was relevant for the American policy: A Grammar of the Maguindanao Tongue According to the Manner of Speaking it in the Interior and on the South Coast of the Island of Mindanao, Translated from the Spanish of Rev. Father J. Juanmartí,
Order of Jesuits, by C. C. Smith, Captain Fourteenth U. S. Cavalry (Washington, 1906). For Sulu Philology, the pioneering and
remarkable work was: A. Cowie, English-Sulu-Malay Vocabulary, with Useful Sentences, Tables, & (London, 1893). Since then,
Americans did a vital work in linguistic studies: R. S. Porter
1st Lieut. Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army, A Primer and Vocabulary of the Moro Dialect (Magindanau) (Washington, 1903); K. G. Buffum, Lieut. Col. C. Lynch, Joloano Moro (s. l., 1913);
C. R. Cameron, Sulu Writing. An Explanation of the Sulu-Arabic Script as Employed in Writing the Sulu Language of the Southern
Philippines (Zamboanga, 1917).
Americans were further in Christian proselytism by employing Tausug language using Latin script, as in the translation of
Luke's Gospel: Kitab Injil ni Luka (Manila, 1931).
Finally, as political administrator, United Stated produced hundreds of records that are fundamental for the years 1898 1946.
Those sources are mainly kept in the metropolis as colonial records. The Library of Congress is without any doubt a place where
the new sources may be found.
54. The later are mainly kept in the National Archives of the Philippines. However, many documents can be found as well in
several Spanish archives: Archivo General de Indias (Seville): the oldest documents starting from the 16th century; Archivo
Histórico Nacional (Madrid): political documents in section Ministerio de Ultramar from the 18th century; and Archivo del
Museo Naval (Madrid): scientific and military materials. Cf. R. T. José, Jr., Mindanao and Sulu Memorabilia in Spain , The Journal of History L/1 4 (2004), pp. 22 48.
55. Paradoxically, and in spite of the fact that scholars are aware of the value of the Spanish historiography on Philippine Islam
and the records of the Spanish administration in the Archipelago, a corpus of millions of documents has been neglected. In fact,
given the difficulties of current Filipinos and Moros to access their own sources in Spanish language, a general misconception has
been spread around the corpora to blame it and to safe the scholarship. The contradictions in this sense are obvious:
Colonial [Spanish] sources represent the most comprehensive collection vital to any historical study of the Muslim South [ ] The general
framework of Spanish historiography on the Moros was anchored in two impressions: (1) that the Moros , as the colonial sources called
them, were a degraded race of savages whose only ambition was to plunder, guided strongly by a religion based on the teachings of a false
24
prophet they called Mohammedanism ; and (2) that their lack of civilization underlined the need to subjugate them and civilize then through
Christianization.
Tan, Filipino-Muslim perceptions , p. 38. After the contradictions, the question is obvious: Are Spanish sources vital or not to any
historical study of the Muslim South?
Certainly, in young Republics born after postcolonial processes, nationalistic paradigm is a must. However, nationalism must
be able to design an academic paradigm capable to describe the complexities of how a modern nation emerges if it does not want to
fall in myth instead than logos:
The relativity of history is nicely illustrated by histories as Southern and Southeast Asia and Africa written in the colonial period as compared to those written after independence. There is a considerable difference
in the moral evaluations of colonialism, in the degree of emphasis on the colonial as compared with the precolonial periods, and in the stress laid on non-European documents. The extremes contrast most
strikingly: the defenders of colonialism who were citizens of the colonial powers and often present or former colonial officers themselves, versus those citizens of the ex-colonies who are now erecting new nationalist historical mythologies.
W. C. Sturtevant, Anthropology, history, and ethnohistory , Ethnohistory XIII/1 2 (1966), pp. 1 2.
In this sense, modern Philippine Islamic studies still carry the deep influence of César Adib Majul. Majul did a dramatic contribution to Philippine Islamic studies: after forty years still no work can surpass his statements. But forty years ago the historiographic paradigm was in a context of national integration and ideology. In order to validate Muslims in the nation called the
Philippines, they had to join the struggle for national construction, including endless wars, freedom fighters and a long list of heroes. These are common things in nationalistic historiography all over the world. Yet it establishes a binary paradigm between good
and evil that in no way reflects the complexities of culture and history in national construction, since nations are born in Hegelian
processes. W. H. Scott limited clearly the issue: Crusade or commerce? Spanish-Moro relations in the 16th century , Kinaadman,
A Journal of the Southern Philippines VI/1 (1984), pp. 111 5.
56. Accordingly, it is not possible to reduce a corpus that is considered the largest for historical Philippine Islam to common
places and stereotypes. Otherwise we invalidate it, and by doing so our capacity to make critical history.
However, scholars are starting to realize the must to research and use primary sources, and preliminary approaches are designing at least a framework for new insights: Cf. M. R. Tawagon, Spanish perceptions of the Moros: a historiographical study ,
Dansalan Quartely X/1 2 (1988), pp. 20 117; Tan, Beyond local history: the case of Sulu history in national perspective , The
Journal of History LIV (2008), pp. 1 20; C. A. Asain, Preparing the groundwork for Mindanao-Sulu historiography , ibid.,
pp. 21 49.
57. Reductionism may be caused by the incapacity to distinguish the details in a language nowadays alien to Filipinos. The
same happened in Spain with almost one millennium of Spanish history written in Arabic language. That millennium
the one
who created the Spanish modern culture
was erased from Spanish history with nationalist mythologies and dogmas (El Cid,
Reconquista, Santiago, etc.) and Spanish sources in Arabic language were condemned to oblivion. Something similar is happening
nowadays with Philippine sources in Spanish language, and with three centuries of history, the centuries that created the modern
Philippine nation.
58. For instance, Spanish sources can be used to reconstruct the history of patrimonial elements as important as the Kulintang:
Donoso Jiménez,
Historiography of the Moro Kulintang , Trans. Transcultural Music Review XII (2008):
http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/trans12/art17.htm.
59. An introduction to the typology Relaciones de sucesos
brochures explaining rhetorically events and accounts, that represent the origin of mass media
in Asia is: C. de M. Santos, Las relaciones de sucesos: Particularidades de un género menor. Las
relaciones de sucesos de tema asiático , conference submitted in V Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Asiática de Hispanistas (Tansui, Tamkang University, January 8 9, 2005).
The main Relaciones de sucesos that deal with Islam and Muslims in the Philippines are the following: Relacion del descubrimiento y conquista de la isla de Luzón y Mindoro; de las cosas más señaladas que en ellas sucedieron: tratase breve y sumariamente de la manera que se conquistó y ganó de lo que hasta oy está ganado y conquistado en esta dicha isla; ansí mesmo, de la
calidad de la gente della y su manera de vivir y las armas que usan y tiene, é fuertes que hazen para defenderse de los enemigos.
Aseme ogreçido escribir esta rrelaçión por ser informado que se an escripto otras muchas, ymbiado á Nueva España, tratando de
lo que en esta tierra a subcedido; las quales dicen que son muy fabulosas y profanas, diziendo que en esta tierra ay moros como
los de Berberia, y que las fuerças armas que tienen es ni mas ni menos; y que pelean y se defienden como turcos. Los que tal han
escripto no han tenido rrazón; escribir mas de aquello que es por que cierto los naturales desta isla de Luzón, que comúnmente
llamamos los españoles moros, ellos no lo son, porque en verdad es que ellos no saben la ley de Mahoma, ni la entienden; solamente en algunos pueblos orilla de la mar no comen puerco, y esto es por aver tratado ellos con los moros de Burney, que les han
predicado alguna parte de la secta de Mahoma; é porque adelante trataré más largo en lo que toca á los rritos é çirimonias destos
naturales, diré lo primero las guerras que con ellos an tenido los españoles, sin quitar ni poner cosa ninguna demasiado, porque
ansí me lo a encargado una cierta persona que me lo mandó scrivir, y desta manera se entenderá sin sospecha ninguna la defensa
que de estos naturales ay, por que el que esto leyere sepa la verdad de lo que acá pasa (Manila, 1572); Breve relacion de la grande
crueldad de Gentiles y Moros, contra los Predicadores Euangelicos del Orden de Santo Domingo, y Cofrades del Santissimo
Rosario, en las Filipinas, Iapon, y en las Indias Orientales, dende el Año 1617 hasta 1627 (Barcelona, 1631); Sucesos felices que
por mar y tierra ha dado Ntro. Señor á las armas españolas en las Islas Filipinas contra el Mindanao, y en las Terrenate, contra
los Holandeses, por fin del año de 1636 y principio del de 1637 (Manila, 1637); Relación de las gloriosas victorias qve en mar,
y tierra an tenido las Armas de nuestro invictissimo Rey, y Monarca Felipe III, el Grande, en las Islas Filipinas, contra los Moros
25
mahometanos de la gran Isla de Mindanao, y su Rey Cachil Corralat: sacada de varias relaciones qve este año de 1638, vinieron
de Manila (Mexico, 1638 [Biblioteca Nacional de España: R/33185]); Relacion de la entrada del svltan rey de Jolo Mahamad
Alimuddin en esta Ciudad de Manila: y del honor, y regocijos, con que le recibiò en 20. de Henero de 1749. el Illmo, y Rmo Señor
Doctor, y Mro D. Fr. Ioan de Arechederra (Manila 1749); J. De Arechederra, Pvntval relacion de lo acaecido en las expediciones
contra Moros Tirones, en Malanaos y Camucones destacadas en los de 746, y 47, Manila 1747; Idem, Continvacion de los progresos, y resvltas de las expediciones contra Moro, Tirones, y Camucones en este Año de 1748 (Manila, 1748 [BNE: R/33208
(2)]); Relacion de la valerosa defensa de los Naturales Bisayas del Pueblo de Palompong en la Ysla de Leyte, de la Provincia de
Catbalogan en las Yslas Philipinas, que hicieron contra las Armas Mahometanas de Ylanos, y Malanaos, en el Mes de Iunio de
1754 (Manila, 1754 [BNE: VE/ 1422/ 18; Nacional Library of the Philippines: (F) 991.402.R278]); N. de la Cruz Bagay, Compendio de los svcesos, qve con grande gloria de Dios, Lustre, y Honor de las Católicas Reales Armas de S. M. en defensa de estas
Cristiandades, e Islas de Bisayas, se consiguieron contra los Mahometanos Enemigos, por el Armamento destacado al Presidio de
Yligan, sobre las Costas de la Isla de Mindanao, en el año de mil setecientos cincuenta y quatro (Manila, 1755 [BNE:
R/33234/30]); Relacion de los svcessos de Mindanao, en las Islas Philipinas (Manila, 1734 [BNE: R/33196]).
Another typology of accounts are the testimonies and biographies of persons captured by Moros, as the poetic composition
called Trabajos Leytanas ( Sufferings from Leyte ) ca. 1740, which shows the accounts of a missionary captured by Moros in
Leyte, using the same Baroque style. Cf. Donoso Jiménez, Trabajos Leytanos. Leyte, ca. 1740 , Studi Ispanici XXXII (2007),
pp. 315 24.
60. The main bibliographical guide
summarizing the Spanish works on Mindanao and Sulu between the 16th and the
19th enturies
was W. E. Retana's Bibliografía de Mindanao (Epítome) (Madrid, 1894).
Chronologically, the most important Spanish works on Mindanao and Sulu are the following: M. De Ávalos, Carta y alegaciones de derecho de lic.do m.or de avalos oidor de la real audiencia de Manila para la S. C. M. R. acerca de los mahometanos de
las philipinas y contra ellos (Manila, 1585); F. Combes, Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Jolo y sus adyacentes (Madrid, 1667);
J. Torrubia, Disertacion historico-politica en que se trata de la extensión de el Mahometismo en las Islas Philipinas: grandes estragos que han hecho los Mindanaos, Joloes, Camucones, y Confederados de esta Secta en nuestros Pueblos Cristianos, medio con
que se han contenido, y vno congruente para su perfecto establecimiento (Madrid, 1736); P. de la Santísima Trinidad, Joló: Manifiesto en defensa del rey de Joló, Fernando I, y en su infidelidad Alimodin Mohamad, bautizado en Manila, capital de las islas
Filipinas, preso y arrestado en el castillo de Santiago de la misma ciudad por falsos testimonios de sus émulos: dado y declarado
por bueno su bautismo [inedited]; J. G. De Arboleya, Historia del archipiélago y sultanía de Joló (La Habana, 1851); F. Gaínza,
Memoria y antecedentes sobre las expediciones de Balanguingi y Joló (Manila, 1851); E. Bernáldez, F. De Folgueras, Reseña
histórica de la guerra al sur de Filipinas, sostenida por las armas españolas contra los piratas de aquel archipiélago, desde la
conquista hasta nuestros días (Madrid, 1857); A. Santayana, La isla de Mindanao, su historia y su estado presente, con algunas
reflexiones acerca de su porvenir (Madrid, 1862); J. N. Burriel, Itinerario de la excursión hecha a Mindanao y Joló en orden del
Excmo. Sr. Capitán General, Don Rafael Echagüe (1862 [inedited]); B. Giraudier, Expedición a Joló 1876. Bocetos del cronista
del Diario de Manila (Madrid, 1876); V. Barrantes, Guerras piráticas de Filipinas contra mindanaos y joloanos (Madrid, 1878);
P. A. de Pazos y Vela-Hidalgo, Joló. Relato histórico-militar desde su descubrimiento por los españoles en 1578 á nuestros días
(Burgos, 1879); A. Garín y Sociats, Memoria sobre el Archipiélago de Joló , Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica X (1881),
pp. 110 61; idem, Archipiélago de Joló (Madrid, 1882); P. De la Escosura, Memoria sobre Filipinas y Joló redactada en 1863 y
1864 (Madrid, 1882); V. M. Concas y Palau, Informe al gobierno de S. M. acerca de las costas de Joló, Borneo y Mindanao (Manila, 1882 [inedited]); idem, La Sultanía de Joló , Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica IX/3 (1884), pp. 153 82; idem, Relaciones
de España con Joló , Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica VIII/3 (1884); J. Rajal, Acerca de la Isla de Mindanao , Boletín de la
Sociedad Geográfica (1885), pp. 177 92; A. M. De Gayangos, La Ysla de Mindanao. Su estado actual y las reformas que
reclama (ca. 1885); J. Montero y Vidal, Historia de la piratería malayo-mahometana en Mindanao, Joló y Borneo. Comprende
desde el descubrimiento de dichas islas hasta junio de 1888 (Madrid, 1888), ii; M. Espina, Apuntes para hacer un libro sobre Joló
(Manila, 1888); J. Salcedo y Mantilla de los Ríos, Proyectos de dominación y colonización de Mindanao y Joló (Gerona, 1891);
J. G. Parrado, Memoria acerca de Mindanao (Manila, 1893); J. N. Aguilar, Mindanao: Su historia y geografía (Madrid, 1894); and
B. Francia y Ponce de León, Las Islas Filipinas: Mindanao (La Habana, 1898), ii.
61. The first author who reproduced a Moro genealogy was the Jesuit Francisco Combes. After oral transmission, he wrote the
genealogy of Sulu from a Butuan genesis (Historia de Mindanao y Joló por el P. Francisco Combes de la Compañía de Jesús, obra
publicada en Madrid en 1667, y que ahora, con la colaboración del P. Pablo Pastells, de la misma Compañía, saca nuevamente
a luz W. E Retana, ed. by W. E. Retana (Madrid, 1897), p. 41.):
Pero los señores, y Nobleza toda de Jolo, y Basilan, reconocen su origen en el pueblo de Butuan, que aunque continente desta isla, esta
dentro de la Nacion Bisaya, en la vanda del Norte, a vista de Bool [Bohol], y a pocas leguas de travesia de Leyte, como de Bool, governados
con la misma policia. Con que podrá gloriarse de aver dado Reyes, y Nobleza a estas Naciones. Y no ha tanto, que se desgajaron de su tronco
las ramas, que oy tanto florecen, que pueda aver olvido ocupado la memoria del suceso que los dividió. El Rey Viejo [Raja Bungsu of Sulu],
que oy vive de Joló, alcançó a ver al que se desmembró de los suyos, y desterraron de su Patria desgracias, para hazerle venturoso en la agena,
dandole la fundacion de Reyno tan velicoso, y temido en estas partes. Y porque los tiernos principios deste nuevo Reyno, cobraron aliento del
favor de nuestras armas, que lo gozaron algun tiempo pacífico, y tributario, será bien señalarle sus principios, antes que el tiempo los obscurezca.
26
The same can be said about José García de Arboleya. However in his text
that he called revealingly Cronicón, Ancestral
Chronicle
he seems to be closer to the standard Sulu tarsila (Historia del archipiélago y sultanía de Joló (La Habana, 1851),
p. 25):
Todas las noticias que se tienen de la dinastía de los sultanes de Joló se reduce a esto. A principios del siglo XVI el Sarif Sayed-Allí armó
una expedición en la Meca para el archipiélago indio. Reinaba entonces en Joló el emperador Kamaulin, y recibió muy bien al viajero árabe,
quien le redujo con su pueblo al gremio de Mahoma. El recién convertido idólatra Kamaulin tomó entonces el título de Sultán, reinó 7 años
más y murió en Joló, pasando el trono a su descendencia. Probablemente es la tumba de su catequista la del jefe árabe que como ya dijimos
veneran los joloanos.
62. About the peculiarities of J w script, it is possible to find valuable documents as the orthographic notes of Patricio de la
Escosura. He pointed out the differences of J w (between branches) with classical Arabic orthography (Memoria sobre Filipinas
y Joló redactada en 1863 y 1864 (Madrid, 1882), pp. 433 4):
Los nombres del Sultán y Dattos han sido reproducidos con la misma ortografía empleada en los documentos originales, aunque reconociendo que no es la que corresponde a la verdadera significación de las palabras. Es posible que las variantes provengan de la modificación que
las voces han sufrido al pasar del árabe al dialecto joloano; mas para conformar la ortografía con la significación árabe, deberían escribirse del
modo siguiente:
1.º (Sello.) Sultán Muhamed Dchaimal-ul Aazem [Mujamad Dchaimal-ul Alam]. 1279.
(Firma.) El Sultán Sung.
2.º (Sello.) Datto Muhamed Harun ar-Rashid [Mujamad Jarrún Nasarrid]. 1295. (Firma.) Muhamed Harun ar-Rashid.
3.º (Sello.)
Maja Radchamuda, Muhamed Badarudín [Maja Radchamuda Mujamad Baddarudín]. 1295.
(Firma.) Muhamed Badarudín.
4.º (Sello.)
Maja Radcha laut, Mujamed Dchaimal Abidín [Maja Radchalaut Mujamad Dchaimal Abidín]. 1295.
(Firma.)
Muhamed Dchaimal Abidín
5.º (Sello.)
Muluc Bandarasa, Mujamed Calusín Pulans [Muluk Bandarasa Mujamad Calusín Pulans]. 1295.
(Firma.)
Muhamed
Calusín.
Los números que se hallan en los sellos joloanos expresan los años de la Egira mahometana: 1279 del sello del Sultán (que es el 1862 de la
Era cristiana) indicará probablemente el de su advenimiento al trono; el 1295 de los demás sellos corresponde al año de 1878, en que se firmó
este tratado.
63. It is interesting to note that after the febrile activity at the turn of the century in dealing with Mindanao and Sulu, Spaniards
radically stopped to study the whole Philippine Archipelago as well. Only recently it can be observed a preliminary interest on the
topic. Thus, pointing out that the task to analyze Philippine Islam entered a new chapter. Cf. i. e. L. C. Fernández, Caracteres
socio-antropológicos de la isla de Mindanao en el siglo XIX , Revista española de antropología americana VII (1972), pp. 97
122; A. M. Prieto Lucena, Musulmanes y españoles en Filipinas a finales del siglo XVI , Homenaje a la profesora Lourdes
Díaz-Trechuelo (Cordoba, 1991), pp. 115 22; J. M. Fradera, El proces colonial i les fronteres interiors a la Filipines espanyola ,
Filipines. Un segle despres, una doble mirada (Barcelona, 2000), pp. 30 47; Y. Aixelà, Els Musulmans Filipins , ibid.; and
P. Romero de Tejada, La presencia islámica indonésica en las Filipinas indígena , España y el Pacífico: Legazpi, coord. by
L. Cabrero, I (2004), pp. 185 204.
64. In letter to Dr. A. B. Meyer signed in London January 7, 1889, José Rizal inaugurated a Philippine intellectual concern
about Islamic studies by writing Acerca del Tawalisi de Ybn Batuta (edited in Escritos políticos e históricos (Manila, 1961),
pp. 49 54). Nevertheless, Rizal showed during all his life a manifest attention for the Islamic presence as cultural motors in both,
Spain and the Philippines. He even used the downfall of Spanish Muslims to strength the action towards exertion in the Philippine
revolutionary context. Cf. Donoso Jiménez, El Islam en las Letras Filipinas , Studi Ispanici XXXII (2007), pp. 291 313. Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera developed as well a pioneering attention for Islamic sources to research about Philippine culture and history. Cf. El sánscrito en la lengua tagalog (Paris, 1887).
After the Philippine-American War, works started to appear in the most important journals in the first quarter of the
20th century using both, Spanish and English languages. For instances: S. Y. Orosa, Who is Hadji Butu , The Philippine Review / Revista FilipinaII/3 (1917), pp. 19 22; and C. Arnedo, History of the province of Lanao, on the island on Mindanao, and
description of the costumes of its Mohammedan inhabitants (Historia de la provincial de Lanao, de la isla de Mindanao, y de las
costumbres de sus habitants) , The Philippine Review / Revista Filipina VI/2 (1921), pp. 100 4.
65. We could point out Peter Gowing's works and the establishment of Dansalan Research Centre in Marawi City: The Muslim
Filipinos; Mandate in Moroland: The American Government of Muslim Filipinos, 1899 1920; idem, The Muslim Filipino minority , R. Israeli, The Crescent in the East (London, 1982), pp. 211 25. James Francis Warren's works are landmarks as well:
The Sulu Zone, 1768 1898: the Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian
Maritime State (Singapore, 1981); Iranun and Balangingi. Globalization, Maritime Raiding and the Birth of Ethnicity (Singapore,
2002); and The Global Economy and the Sulu Zone: Connections, Commodities and Culture (Quezon City, 2000).
66. Cf. i. e.: Filipino Muslim: Their Social Institutions and Cultural Achievements; Mastura, Muslim Filipino Experience.;
Madale, Tales from Lake Lanao; Hedjazi, Ututalum, op. cit.; Rasul, Struggle for Identity; Carmen A. Abubakar, Wither the roses
of yesterday: an exploratory look into the lives of Moro women during the colonial period , Ayan az-Zaman. Occasional Paper XIII (2005); and M. Bin-Ghalib Jundam, Tunggal hulah-duwa sarah: Adat and Sharee'ah Laws in the Life of the Tausug (Quezon City, 2006).
27
67. Majul's works can be found mostly in the Majul Library at the Institute of Islamic Studies of the University of the Philippines, Diliman-Quezon City, being the basics the followings: Muslims in the Philippines: Past, Present and Future Prospects (Manila, 1971); Muslims in the Philippines; Muslims and Christians in the Philippines. A study in conflict and efforts at reconciliation , The Vatican, Islam and the Middle East, ed. by K. C. Ellis (Syracuse, 1987); Theories of the Introduction and Expansion of
Islam in Malaysia; Islam advent and spread in the Philippines ; Ethnicity and Islam in the Philippines , Rothko Chapel Colloquium on Ethnicities and Nations (Houston, 1983); An essay on some Maguindanao tarsilas [unpublished paper]; The Moros of
the Philippines , Conflict VIII (1988), pp. 169 84; The Muslim problem in the Philippines (1975) [lecture in the Spanish Cultural Centre]; The Moro struggle in the Philippines , Third World Quarterly X/2 (1988), pp. 897 922; The problems of the Islamic da wah in the Philippines , International Conference of the 15th Century Hijra (Kuala Lumpur, 1981) [unpublished lecture];
An analysis of the Genealogy of Sulu ; Political and historical notes on the Old Sulu Sultanate ; Succession in the Old Sulu
Sultanate ; Some social and cultural problems of the Muslims in the Philippines , Asian Studies XIV/1 (1976), pp. 84 99.
68. The most important Philippine institution on Islamic studies was created by him
University of the Philippines' Institute
of Islamic Studies
preserving his miserliness and bibliography in the Library after his name.
69. Cf. A. T. Tiamson, Mindanao-Sulu Bibliography: A Preliminary Study (Davao City, 1970); idem, The Muslim Filipinos:
An Annotated Bibliography (Manila, 1977 (second edition: Makati, 1979)); idem, Notes on Moro bibliography , Mindanao Journal III/1 (1976), pp. 65 88; Jundam, Bibliography on Muslim Filipinos , Filipino Muslims: Their Social Institutions and Cultural Achievements, pp. 147 96; G. Loyre, Fundamental references to study the Muslims of the Southern Philippines, their history and anthropology , BHIS. Boletín de Historia (2004): www.arrakis.es/~jlopez/bhis001.doc; M. A. Bernad, Bibliography.
Mindanao and Sulu in thirteen Philippine and two Roman periodicals. 1950 1980 , Kinaadman, A Journal of the Southern Philippines VI/2 (1984), pp. 291 320; and Donoso Jiménez, Spanish Historiography on Philippine Islam Through its Sources (Manila, 2008).
Illustrations
Fig. 1. Carta del rey de Borneo a Tello escrita en árabe / Letter from the Sultan of Borneo to Tello
written in Arabic (July 27, 1599). Archivo General de Indias (Seville): FILIPINAS, 18B, R. 9,
N. 132.
Fig. 2. Letter from Alimudín Sultan of Sulu (ca. 1750). Philippine National Archives (Manila): Mindanao y Sulú, Rare 3 [1749 1754], fol. 59.
Fig. 3. Carta del Sultán de Sulú en español en torno al establecimiento de los Yngleses en la Ysla de
Balambagan / Letter in Spanish from the Sultan of Sulu about the establishment of the British
in the island of Balambagan (November 26, 1803). Philippine National Archives (Manila):
Mindanao y Sulú, SDS 9246 [1774 1887], exp. 20, fol. 373.
Fig. 4. Carta que el Sultán de Joló, Muhammad Dianarol Ahlam, y el datto Merwahal Daniel, dirijen
a su hermano el Sro. Governador de Zamboanga [ ] además del escrito Árabe, en Caracteres Chinos por si no entendían el primero / Letter from Jam l al-A am Sultan of Sulu and
Dattu Daniel to the Governor of Zamboanga, in Arabic script and, if ever is not understood, in
Chinese script (January, 1865), from a private collection reproduced in C. M. Shaw &
M. A. Mola, La ruta española a China (Madrid, 2007), p. 14.
Fig. 5. Capitulaciones de Paz, Proteccion y Comercio otorgadas al Muy Excelente Sultan y Dattos de
Joló, por el Yllm S r Capitán General, Gobernador de las Yslas Filipinas en nombre de las
Alta y Poderosa Soberana de S. M. C. siendo tratadas y convenidas por ambas partes á saber:
en representación del Gobierno Español, como Plenipotenciario del M. Y. S r Capitan General D. Pedro Antonio Salazar Gobernador de Filipinas, el Capitan de Fragata de la Real
Armada D. José Maria Halcon, Comandante Jefe de las Fuerzas Navales que hay en la Rada
de Joló; de la otra parte el Sultan Mogamad-Diamalul-Quiram Raxa de Joló y los Dattos que
firman, cuyas partes Otorgaron / Capitulations of Peace, Protection and Commerce between
the Sultan and Dattus of Sulu and the General Governor of the Philippine Islands (September
23, 1836). Philippine National Archives (Manila): Mindanao y Sulú, SDS 9276 [1836 1898],
exp. 2, fol. 2.
Fig. 6. Signatures of the 1836 Capitulation. Philippine National Archives (Manila): Mindanao y Sulú,
SDS 9276 [1836 1898], exp. 2, fol. 6.
Fig. 7. Letter from Jam l al-A am Sultan of Sulu (1878). Philippine National Archives (Manila):
Mindanao y Sulú, SDS 9241 [1750 1898], exp. 322, fol. 1202.
Fig. 8. Cover of Disertacion historico-politica en que se trata de la extensión de el Mahometismo en
las Islas Philipinas: grandes estragos que han hecho los Mindanaos, Joloes, Camucones,
y Confederados de esta Secta en nuestros Pueblos Cristianos, medio con que se han
contenido, y vno congruente para su perfecto establecimiento by J. Torrubia (Madrid, 1736).
Fig. 9. Cover of Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Ioló y svs Adyacentes. Progressos de la religión,
y armas catolicas by F. Combes (Madrid, 1667).
28
Fig. 10. Tumba hallada en las avanzadas del reducto Alfonso XII en dirección de la cota del
Paulima. Cementerio cerrado inmediato á la cotta de Daniel / Tomb found ahead of Alfonso
XII garrison towards the cotta of the Panglima. Isolated cemetery near the cotta Daniel, reproduced in B. Giraudier, Expedición a Joló 1876. Bocetos del cronista del Diario de Manila
(Madrid, 1876), p. 30.
Fig. 11. Letter from Dattu Aliudin to Dattu Alejo Álvarez, translator of the Spanish administration,
translated into Spanish by himself (April 6, 1887). Philippine National Archives (Manila):
Mindanao y Sulú, SDS 9269 [1832 1898], fol. 468.

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