Studies in Moro History, Law, and Religion Part 9

7. This is the history of the ruler of Pidatan. The first datu of Pidatan was Dyam, sultan of Pidatan. He begot Punduma. Punduma begot Tawgung.

8. The first datu of Lumbayanagi was Sultan Gulambay. He begot Ranu.

9. The first datu of Dupilas was Dindu, who was called Datu sa-Palaw. He begot Dimalaw.a.n.g.

10. The first datu of Sulug was Sarip Payang, who begot Raja Hasan, sultan of Sulug.

11. The first datu of Sangir was Makalindi. Makalindi married Timbang Saribu and begot Manamil, sultan of Sangir.

12. The first datu of Malalis was Ampwan, sultan of Malalis.

13. The first datu of Dulangan was Alip, the son of Abu, sultan of Dulamgan.

14. The first datu of Makadar was Sultan Limba, who also is a son of Abu.

15. The first datu of Didagun was Abad. Abad begot Dumalundung, who was sultan of Didagun.

16. The first datu of Barira was Dumak. Dumak begot Antagu, who was sultan of Barira.

17. The first datu of Sikun was Amat. Amat begot Salumbay, datu of Islnun.

18. The first datu of Kadingilan was Kapusan, the brother of Salumbay, son of Amat.

19. The first datu of Magulalngun was Balbal, who married Maradi, the daughter of the sultan of Tatarikun, and begot Burwa. Burwa became sultan of Tatarikun.

Here ends the genealogy of all the countries or towns.

THE HISTORY OF MAGINDANAO

Before the first ma.s.s was celebrated on the northern sh.o.r.e of Mindanao mosques had been built on the fertile banks of the Pulangi, and before Legaspi landed on Cebu Kabungsuwan had been declared and acknowledged datu of Magindanao.

The Mohammedan conqueror of Mindanao was neither an admiral of a fleet nor a leader of an army of regular troops. He had no nation back of him to reenforce his battalions nor a royal treasury to support his enterprise. His expedition was not prompted by mere chivalry or the gallant adventures of discovery. He was not looking for a new route to rich lands nor searching for spices and gold dust. The emigrant sought a new land to live in, and trusted his fortune and success to the valor of his crew and the influence of his witchcraft.

Having a fair admixture of Malay blood in him and sufficient Arabian energy and enthusiasm to push on, he came and conquered and soon found himself at home in Mindanao as well as at Juhur. There was no racial prejudice to contend against and the language of the new land was akin to his own. But true to his religion, as he was true to his ancestry, his faith suffered no defeat. No submission was accepted without conversion, and no friends.h.i.+p was cultivated with the unfaithful. He married in the land of his conquest, and the ties of faith were soon strengthened by the ties of blood and kins.h.i.+p; and as the first generation pa.s.sed and the second generation followed, the conqueror and the conquered became one in blood and sympathy, one in faith, and one in purpose. A new dynasty which stood for Islam, for progress, and for civilization arose on the ruins of barbarism and heathenism. Savage and fierce as the Moros look, they are greatly superior to the surrounding pagans who inhabit the hills and the interior of Mindanao. Once their equals and kinsmen, they have vastly surpa.s.sed them now and are preeminently above them. With Mohammedanism came art and knowledge, and communication with the outside world was established.

For four centuries two different agencies of civilization have been at work in the Philippine Islands. One started in the north and worked its way south, continually progressing and constantly growing in power and improving in character. The other began in the south and extended north, but it soon reached a definite limit, and like a tree stunted in its growth it reverted to its wild nature and grew th.o.r.n.y and fruitless. The first graft of the tree of Magindanao was not aided by later irrigation. The first wave of immigration was not reenforced, and with an ebb tide it lost most of its size and force.

The Moros of Mindanao figured very prominently in the history of the Philippines. They were never united under one flag, but they formed different sultanates, some of which attained considerable power and fame. In the fullness of his glory, the sultan of Magindanao ruled over the whole southern coast of Mindanao from Point Tugub.u.m, east of Mati, to Zamboanga, and beyond this latter point to the outskirts of Dapitan. All the pagan tribes living around the Gulf of Davao and in the Sarangani country, and all the Subanos west of Tukurun and Dapitan submitted to his power and paid him tribute. In the upper Rio Grande Valley the power of the rajas of Bwayan was felt and respected as far as the watershed of the Cagayan Valley on the north and the inaccessible slopes of Mount Apo on the east. The Ranao Moros controlled the whole country and the seacoast west of Cagayan de Misamis and north of the Illana Bay.

The large majority of the Moro sultanates are, however, small, and have never been fully numbered or described. They generally represent small divisions of territory and subdivisions of tribes, each under one chief who calls himself sultan or datu. Nevertheless, tribal relations and language group these petty divisions into two large distinct groups, the Magindanao and the Iranun. The Magindanao group includes the majority of the tribes. The Iranun group is restricted to the tribes living along the eastern coast of the Bay of Illana from the point of Polloc to the neighborhood of Tukurun, and the whole Ranao region lying between that line and the Bay of Iligan.

The Magindanao group is the greater of the two in number, in the extent of its territory, and in fame. Indeed, all the Moros of Mindanao, except the Iranun, were at one time under one influence and were brought under the sole control of the sultan of Magindanao.

The Samal Moros, who are variously cla.s.sified by different writers and who are often mentioned as one of the main divisions of the Moros of Mindanao, are really foreign to Mindanao and belong to a distinct and separate group. Until recently they had never been independent, but had lived under the protection of various datus, and always served the datu for the protection he afforded them, or paid him tribute. They were sea rovers and had no claim on territory anywhere. Lately they have settled down on the Island of Basilan, the Sulu Archipelago, and around the Zamboanga peninsula. The Samals were the latest of the Malay people to arrive in the Philippine Islands. In fact, they are the only Malay people of whom we have positive historical statement of emigration from the Malay Peninsula to Sulu and Mindanao, and were in all probability Mohammedans prior to their arrival in the Philippine Islands. With the Magindanao and Iranun peoples it is different. They were in the land and belonged to the native element of the country long before their conversion to Islam.

Islam was successfully introduced and firmly established in Mindanao by one man. This same man founded the sultanate of Magindanao and reformed the whole system of government among his converts. His full name was Sharif Mohammed Kabungsuwan, generally known as Sharif Kabungsuwan.

Kabungsuwan was without doubt the greatest Mohammedan adventurer who trod the soil of the island. But both the traditions of Magindanao and its written records state that he was preceded by two pioneers, the first of whom was Sharif Awliya. Awliya was universally regarded as a relative and a predecessor of Kabungsuwan. His history is wrapped in myths. He is said to have come to Mindanao in the air to search for paradise, or that part of it which remained in Mindanao, and, while he was looking for it on the hill of Tantawan (Cotabato), to have found a houri who was sent to him from heaven. He married this houri and she bore a daughter called Paramisuli. Later the sharif returned to the west, but his wife and daughter remained in Magindanao.

The second arrival in Magindanao was Sharif Maraja, who married Paramisuli and was thought to have begotten Tabunaway and Mamalu, who were the chiefs of Magindanao when Kabungsuwan arrived in the land. Sharif Maraja is said to have had a brother called Sharif Hasan, who accompanied him as far as Basilan, but who stopped there and founded the sultanate of Sulu. Whether Bidayan, the son of Sharif Hasan, who is mentioned in the fourth tarsila, should be Bidin, the abbreviated form of Zainul-Abidin, who was the first sultan of Sulu, it is not easy to say. No copy of the Sulu genealogy has been obtained as yet, and no authoritative statement can be made. But it is universally believed that the first sultan of Sulu came from Basilan, and that the ancestors of the sultans of Bruney, Sulu, and Magindanao were brothers.

Sharif Kabungsuwan was the son of Sharif Ali Zainul Abidin, a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed who emigrated from Hadramut, southern Arabia, to Juhur, Malay Peninsula. The sultan of Juhur, was evidently a Mohammedan then, and was called Iskandar Thul-Karnayn, the Arabic appellation of Alexander the Great. The word "Sharif"

is Arabic and means "n.o.ble." It is a t.i.tle which is universally given to the descendants of the Prophet Mohammed. The full t.i.tle is "Sayid Sharif," the "master and n.o.ble." The Arabians generally use the first word, Sayid, alone, but the Moros have adopted the second. Being highly respected on account of his ancestry, Zainul-Abidin was given the hand of the sultan's daughter in marriage. Her name was Jusul Asiqin, a corrupted form of the Arabic name "Jawzul-'As.h.i.+qin." It is generally believed that she bore three children, the youngest of whom was called Kabungsuwan. The word "Kabungsuwan" is Malay and means "the youngest." The names of the two older brothers of Kabungsuwan were variously given. They were not mentioned in the tarsila and have been obtained from mere traditions. One authority gave them as Ahmad and Alawi, the other as Mohammed and Ahmad. Both authorities agreed on the fact that the oldest founded the sultanate of Bruney, and the second the sultanate of Sulu.

Kabungsuwan probably knew some Arabic, but he necessarily spoke and used the Malay language, his mother's tongue.

The incidents connected with his departure from Juhur are of considerable historical interest. No dates have been obtained relative to this departure. The early Moros never dated their events or doc.u.ments. Their narratives were very brief and crude. When they dated their events or wars they used a cycle of eight years, and designated its years by the letters A, H, J, Z, D', B, W, D". Whenever one cycle ended they began another without any relation or reference to the corresponding Mohammedan year. The earliest date that has been obtained which has immediate bearing on Mindanao history is that Bwisan, the father of the Corralat of Combes, was living in 1597; the next date was that of Corralat's defeat by General Corcuera in 1636. Bwisan had two older brothers, and he was probably preceded in the sultanate by both of them. His father, Bangkaya, was the son of Makaalang, the son of Kabungsuwan. It will therefore be within safe limits to say that Kabungsuwan's departure from Juhur or his arrival in Mindanao occurred about the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century. Captain Forest, who visited Magindanao in 1775, placed that event roughly at A. D. 1475, which is near enough to a.s.sume as correct.

Tarsila No. II states that there departed with Sharif Kabungsuwan from Juhur many people who were dispersed by the storm and ultimately found their way to different ports. The places to which they went were Balimbang, Bangjar, Kuran, Tampasuk, Bruney, Sandakan, Sulu, Malabang, Tubuk, and Mindanao. There is no doubt that this statement refers to an emigration from Juhur east as far as Mindanao, and that with this emigration came Kabungsuwan. The Samal people generally believe that they came from Juhur and its neighborhood. The traditions of Magindanao distinctly state that the people who came with Kabungsuwan were Samals. The Samals or Bajaws are the sea nomads of the Malay Archipelago and their emigrations are frequent.

The Samals of the Sulu Archipelago are ruled by the Sulu datus and are generally very submissive. They are allowed to live on Sulu soil, but they have never made themselves independent anywhere. Indeed, all the evidence that can be obtained seems to point distinctly to the fact that they are of late arrival and do not belong to the older peoples of the Philippine Islands.

The early Magindanao records give the impression that the arrival of Kabungsuwan and the conversion of the people of Magindanao to Islam were accomplished peaceably. The word Samal is never mentioned and the Samals are always considered as aliens in every respect. The Samals seem never to have settled in Magindanao itself, but they did settle for some time on the Island of Bongo or Bungud, that lies opposite the mouth of the Pulangi, and at Batwan and Banago, near Malabang. From these places they moved later to Sibugay and Sarangani and the Gulf of Davao. Combes called the Samals Lutaw and said that they were in the employ of Corralat, and manned some of his boats, fighting and carrying on piracy side by side with the people of Magindanao and with the Iranun. Summing up the preceding evidence, we can unhesitatingly say that the Samals came to Magindanao with Kabungsuwan, but that they did not settle on the soil of Magindanao, nor did they intermarry sufficiently to a.s.similate with the Magindanao people.

The character of the conquest Kabungsuwan achieved and the bearing it has on the admixture of races in Mindanao is therefore of special interest. When Kabungsuwan arrived at the mouth of the Pulangi there were on the neighboring soil of Magindanao the following settlements: Slangan, Magindanao proper, Lusud, Matampay, Tagiman, and Kat.i.twan. The first and the last were probably the greatest and the strongest of all, for they were the first to meet Kabungsuwan and interrupted his advance at Tinundan. After some fighting they were evidently defeated and retreated up the river. The people of Magindanao, under the leaders.h.i.+p of the brothers Tabunaway and Mamalu, came next, but their att.i.tude was not hostile. For some reason they secured an alliance or agreement with Kabungsuwan and invited him to Magindanao. They submitted to a form of Mohammedan baptism and to circ.u.mcision, and towed Kabungsuwan's boat from that place up to Magindanao. Hence the meaning of the word tinundan, the place of towing. The ceremony for circ.u.mcision occurred at Katuri, the little settlement on the river just opposite Cotabato; the baptism or was.h.i.+ng occurred at Paygwan at the mouth of the river. The word katuri means circ.u.mcision.

The dumatus urge that Tabunaway and Mamalu had been Mohammedans previous to that incident and that they had some intimate relation to Kabungsuwan. This is possible, but it is very difficult to understand how such a submission could have been enforced or obtained had Kabungsuwan been a mere relative and guest whom they had never seen before. The people of Magindanao proper were, even in the best days of the sultanate, far outnumbered by the people of Slangan. Yet, soon after his arrival in Magindanao, Kabungsuwan went on conquering and converting to Islam all the surrounding tribes and chiefs, and succeeded. This seems impossible of achievement unless Kabungsuwan had some force with him which commanded the fear and respect of the natives, and which, with the aid of Magindanao, was able to carry his arms to victory over all the neighboring native chiefs and tribes of the land. This force was in all probability made up of the Samals who accompanied him from Juhur and who remained in his service and in the neighboring seas for a certain period of time. But having married in Mindanao, the succession to Kabungsuwan's sultanate naturally reverted to the native element, and the Samals were gradually alienated and their sympathy with their master grew steadily weaker. Not being agricultural in their habits and preferring the sea, they gradually withdrew from Magindanao. The natives proved superior to the Samals and, though converted to Islam, they preserved, to a great extent, their own ident.i.ty and their language. Knowing how insignificant the former chiefs and their settlements had been, it is not difficult for us to conceive how Kabungsuwan, with a small foreign force but with superior talent and with superior arms, could so easily accomplish the conquest of Magindanao. It is commonly believed that the natives who fought Kabungsuwan had no swords and depended chiefly on their wooden arrows as implements of war, and that the Mohammedans who attacked the natives fought with swords and gained an easy victory. Possibly they used gunpowder, too.

The inhabitants of Slangan, Magindanao, Kat.i.twan, and those of all the other settlements of the valley were pagans and were very similar to the present Tirurays in language and wors.h.i.+p. Those who adopted the new religion remained in the rich lowlands of the valley, but those who refused fled to the mountains and have stayed away ever since. Those who wavered in accepting the new terms of submission and who were later suffered to stay in the neighboring hills were called Tiruray. Those who refused to submit, fled to more distant places, and kept up their enmity and opposition were called Man.o.bos. The pagans who are thus spoken of as related to the Moros of Mindanao in origin, besides the above, are the Bilans, the Tagabilis, and the Subanos.

Every settlement of these former pagan tribes had its chief. The chief was called timway. Tabunaway was the last timway of Magindanao. Manumbali was the last timway of Slangan. The Tirurays and the Man.o.bos still call their chief timway. The ruler of the Mohammedan dynasty a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of datu. The noun datu means king or ruler; the verb datu means to rule. Kabungsuwan retained the t.i.tle sharif. His son Maka-alang also is always referred to as sharif. Later the term datu prevailed, and the first datu who is mentioned in the tarsila as sultan was Sultan Qudrat, whom Combes called Corralat.

Soon after Kabungsuwan had established his power in Magindanao he received the submission of many chiefs, all of whom he converted to Islam. Later he advanced up the valley to Bwayan and along the coast to Malabang. Some believe that he went to the Ranao country, but it is difficult to support all the statements made. His descendants and his converts carried on the war and the conversion, so that before the Spaniards reached their country their conquest and conversion had reached the present limits.

The story of Putri Tunina and her marriage to Kabungsuwan is universally known to the Moros of Mindanao. The custom of burying the dead next to the house, as practiced by Tabunaway, is still common everywhere, and trees are often planted around the tomb.

By Sarabanun, the sister of Tabunaway, Kabungsuwan begot no children. By Putri Tunina he begot three daughters, one of whom, Putri Mamur, married the first Moslem datu of Bwayan, Malang-sa-Ingud. At Malabang Kabungsuwan married Angintabu, the daughter of the chief of that place, and begot Sharif Maka-alang, who succeeded him.

The people of Magindanao who aided Kabungsuwan in his wars secured from him certain privileges and favors over their neighbors. These privileges are still claimed by the dumatus, the present descendants of Tabunaway. They have not paid tribute to the datus and have often intermarried with the datu cla.s.s. It was different with the people of Slangan. The descendants of Manumbali and his subjects all became subjects and servants to the datus. Their descendants are, however, still known and live in Lugaylugay, about 1 mile below Cotabato, and on the same side of the Pulangi.

Little is known about Sharif Maka-alang. He in all probability ruled in Magindanao, not in Malabang. His wife was a Bilan woman related to Parasab, a Bilan chief.

Bangkaya succeeded Maka-alang and married three wives, daughters of the princ.i.p.al chiefs of Slangan, Magindanao, and Matampay, by each one of whom he begot a son. His sons were Dimasangkay, Gugu Sarikula, and Kapitan Lawut Bwisan, all of whom become datus and succeeded to the rule of Magindanao in order. Sarikula married a Sulu princess called Raja Putri, who was supposed to be the n.o.blest lady of her day in Magindanao and who probably was the daughter of the sultan of Sulu. The word Putri is equivalent to "princess," and Raja Putri means "royal princess." Kapitan means "holder" or "leader." Lawut is a Malay word meaning "sea." Bwis means "tax." Kapitan Lawut Bwisan distinguished himself more than his predecessors and was the most powerful enemy Spain encountered in the south in her first effort to reduce the Moro land. In 1597, in company with Silungan, the raja of Bwayan, he checked the invasion of Marquis Rodriguez and defeated him at Tampakan.

Bwisan was succeeded by his son, Sultan Dipatwan Qudrat, the Corralat of Combes. The word Dipatwan is Malay in origin and means "master"

or "sir." The word qudrat is Arabic and means "power." The letters d and r and r and l are interchangeable in Moro, and the word qudrat is commonly p.r.o.nounced kudlat or kurlat; hence the corrupted form "Corralat." Sultan Qudrat overshadowed his father, Bwisan, and ruled with a strong hand. He was probably the strongest and greatest Mindanao sultan that ever lived. He fought the Spaniards bitterly and held their sovereignty in check for many years. His pirates terrorized Luzon and the Visayas and controlled the southern seas for a long time.

In 1636 General Corcuera led an expedition against him and after considerable difficulty reduced his fort and defeated his forces. Qudrat appears to have had a large number of firearms, and his fort was very strongly fortified. The Spaniards captured 8 bronze cannons, 27 lantaka or culverins, and 100 muskets.

In 1645 his relations with Spain had undergone a distinct change. He had become more powerful, but he was desirous of peace and made a treaty with the Spanish Government. This treaty was in the nature of an alliance for mutual aid and protection. It secured better commercial facilities and gave the Jesuits the privilege of building a church in the sultan's capital. Thirteen years later hostilities were renewed and another campaign was directed against Simway. This time Qudrat succeeded in blocking the river at different places and successfully checked the invasion.

Qudrat was followed by his son, Dundang Tidulay, of whom very little is known. Sultan Dundang Tidulay begot Sultan Mohammed sa-Barahaman and Sultan Mohammed Kaharu-d-Din Kuda. Barahaman ruled peacefully and begot several children, two of whom, j.a.par Sadik Manamir and Dipatwan Anwar, became sultans.

After the death of Sultan Barahaman his son Manamir was declared sultan. As Manamir was very young, his succession was considered illegal and an act of enmity directed against his uncle, Kuda. Kuda therefore "usurped the government and went to Simway, carrying with him the effects of the deceased sultan."

Civil war ensued and the peace of the state was greatly disturbed. This war must have lasted more than thirty years, and its story is variously related by the Moros. The tarsila do not mention it at all. The best description was given by Captain Forest, who learned its details from the mouth of Pakir Mawlana, the chief person who conducted the campaign and terminated the struggle.