Studies in Moro History, Law, and Religion

by Najeeb M. Saleeby

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 Juhūr are of considerable historical interest. No dates have been obtained relative to this departure. The early Moros never dated their events or documents. 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 Bwīsan, the father of the Corralat of Combés, was living in 1597; the next date was that of Corralat’s defeat by General Corcuera in 1636. Bwīsan had two older brothers, and he was probably preceded in the sultanate by both of them. His father, Bangkāya, was the son of Makaalang, the son of Kabungsuwan. It will therefore be within safe limits to say that Kabungsuwan’s departure from Juhūr 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 assume as correct.

Tarsila No. II states that there departed with Sharif Kabungsuwan from Juhūr 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 Juhūr east as far as Mindanao, and that with this emigration came Kabungsuwan. The Samal people generally believe that they came from Juhūr 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. Combés 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 assimilate 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 Katitwan. 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 leadership of the brothers Tabunaway and Mamālu, came next, but their attitude 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 circumcision, 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 circumcision occurred at Katuri, the little settlement on the river just opposite Cotabato; the baptism or washing occurred at Paygwan at the mouth of the river. The word katuri means circumcision.

The dumatus urge that Tabunaway and Mamālu 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 Juhūr 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 identity 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, Katitwan, and those of all the other settlements of the valley were pagans and were very similar to the present Tirurays in language and worship. 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 Manobos. 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 Manobos still call their chief timway. The ruler of the Mohammedan dynasty assumed the title of datu. The noun datu means king or ruler; the verb datu means to rule. Kabungsuwan retained the title 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 Combés 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.