The Mohammedans of Sulu.
Cross or Crescent?
In the lower part of the Philippine group, in the islands of Sulu and Mindanao, the Catholic Spanish conqueror early came into conflict with a religion not less intense and fanatical than his own. The story of this fierce struggle between Malay Mussulman and Spanish Catholic reads not unlike the more celebrated conflict between Christian and Mohammedan in the days of good King Ferdinand and pious Isabella. Here, too, was waged that dire battle of the creeds that deluged half of Europe with holy blood. Here, too, was mutual advance and retreat, but no reconciliation—no conversion.
The island of Sulu, on account of its position between Mindanao and Borneo, became, in this wise, populated by the followers of the Prophet: About three centuries ago Paguian Tindig, a Borneo chief, quarreled with his brother and was forced to flee for his life. He landed on Sulu Island, where he soon achieved great fame as a warrior. His cousin, Adasaolan, who had accompanied him, had taken up his abode in Basilan. Here he lorded it over the natives, but acknowledged the suzerainty of the Spaniards.
Adasaolan married a Mahometan princess—a daughter of the King of Mindanao, where, it appears, Islamism had been carried by Arab missionaries.
Soon afterward, Adasaolan, longing for the possession of the fat acres of Sulu, attacked his cousin Tindig, and vanquished that intrepid soldier, who died fighting bravely. However, Rajah Bongso, and not Adasaolan, succeeded Tindig. Nevertheless, Adasaolan had, with the aid of friends from Borneo and Mindanao, introduced Mahometanism into Sulu, which has since become the Mecca of the Philippines.
Chieftains of Sulu.