FSUN DECC (DISTANCE EDUCATION COMPUTER COURSES)          
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM                      

                                  Contributed by: Christopher Jay M. de Belen                         

FSUN

19th Floor, Cityland 10, Tower 1,
6815 H. V. dela Costa St., cor.
Ayala Avenue, Salcedo Village,
Makati City, Philippines
Tel. Nos. 8674490 to 92
Fax No. 00632-8127733 /

          Professor H. Otley Beyer made the 3 wave migration theory accepted by many. He once head the UP Anthropology Department. The first wave was the arrival of aborigines whom the Negritos or Aetas, Austaloid Sakai, proto- Malays and Java Man belonged. It was estimated 22,000 years ago. From South Asia, the second wave of migrants, the Indonesian came by canoes and boats after the Great Ice Age about 3000 B.C.. They introduced bronze and rice terraces. The third were navigators, potters, weavers and blacksmiths. They are the Malays who came before 1 B.C. in Mindanao and Sulu. Filipinos and Moros were the descendants of Malays. However, German Scientist Dr. Fritjof Voss proved that the 35 kilometer thick crust below China does not stretch to the Philippines, contrary to first wave theory that the first migrators walked along the land bridges.

          Mindanao, Palawan (formerly Paragua) and Sulu have been the indigenous territory of 13 Muslim-Ethno linguistic group or the Bangsamoro and 10 Lumad tribes( the non Christians and non Muslims). The Bangsamoro had their own distinct cultural, political, and social institutions. Mindanao and Sulu were separate countries from the rest of Luzon and Visayas Islands and economy was based on agriculture, weaving, pottery, and fishing with the Barter trade system was the currency. Even before the accidental discovery of the Philippines by Ferdinand Magellan, the Moros had Code of Laws, Literature, and Diplomatic Relations with Southeast Asia, Arabia, India, Japan, and China.

          The word Moro was derived from Mauritania or from Morocco who conquered Andalusia or the present Spain and established the Umayyad Kingdom. The word was applied to Berbers of North Africa and Arab people. In the advent of Spanish conquest in the Philippines, the natives of Manila environs were the first to be called as such and later to Islamized native of Mindanao and Sulu.

          Historians accepted that the Arab traders, Sufis and Missionaries brought Islam through the trade routes. Islam was already in Sulu by 1200s. A tombstone proved that Islam was in Mindanao before 1300s when it was discovered in Bud Bato bearing a name Tuan Mugbalu or Maqbalu with year of death 710 A.H. or 1310 A. D.. The title Tuan implies a person of high authority. According to Tarsila (genealogical account)  Tuan Masha'ika arrived in Sulu and married the daughter of local chieftain. Masha'ika founded the first Muslim community.  

           In 1380, Karimul Makhdum arrived and converted more natives into Muslim. Makhdum was given the holy title of Sharif Awliya. Makhdum founded the first Masjid ( Mosque) at Tubig-Indangan in Simunul Island. At the start of 15th century, Rajah Baginda arrived from Sumatra and made Buwansa the center of his community. Sulu was flourishing when Sayyid Abu Bakr arrived and married the daughter of Rajah Baginda. Upon the death of Rajah Baginda, Abu Bakr became the first crowned Sultan of Sulu and used the title Sharif Hashim.

          A Hashimite descent, Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuwan became the Chief of nearby town of Malabang and Cotabato and established the Maguindanao Sultanate but maintained the title Sharif.