history of jihad against the philippines ongoing)

8/4/2019 History of Jihad Against the Philippines Ongoing)

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History of Jihad Against the Philippines (1380-

Ongoing)

How the animists of Philippines initially resisted the Islamic HolyWarriors from 1380 onwards and how later they managed to remain a

Christian island atop a Muslim Archipelago by fighting off the Muslim

incursions of the Moros from Mindanao in the Southern Philippines,

especially the mayhem of the Abu Sayyaf.

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At the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research held in Cairo,in 1968, Shaikh Abdullah Ghoshah, Chief Judge of the Hashemite Kingdomof Jordan declared: "Jihad is legislated in order to be one of the means ofpropagating Islam. Consequently Non-Muslims ought to embrace Islam eitherwillingly or through wisdom and good advice or unwillingly through fightand Jihad. It is unlawful to give up Jihad and adopt peace and weaknessinstead of it, unless the purpose of giving up Jihad is for preparation for future

war, whenever the Muslims are weak, and their opponents are stronger Otherwise war is the basis of the relationship between Muslims and theiropponents."

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The coming of Islam to the Philippines

To realize how the animists of Philippines initially resisted the Islamic HolyWarriors from 1380 onwards and how later they managed to remain aChristian island atop a Muslim Archipelago by fighting off the Muslimincursions of the Moros from Mindanao in the Southern Philippines, we needto look at what happened in the neighboring countries from the 15th centuryonwards.

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Magellan


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Magellan

A seminal event that was to halt the advance of Islam was the arrival ofFerdinand Magellan in the Philippines in 1521.

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The story of Islamic incursions in the Philippines in closely intertwined withthat of Islam in the far-east. It was from Malaya, Southern Thailand andIndonesia that Islam went to the Philippines. Hence to study the coming ofIslam to the Philippines we start from the coming of Islam to Thailand andMalaya, where Islam first clashed with the local religions Buddhism andHinduism.

In fact, what are today the ASEAN countries had one religion (a mix ofHinduism-Buddhism-Animism) and one culture till the 15th century. Theydid not look upon themselves as different countries. A large part of todaysMalaysia was a part of the kingdom of Siam (Thailand). And at timesMalaysia Indonesia and Southern Phillipines (Mindanao and the Sulu islands)were under the rule of one single dynasty (Sri Vijaya, Shailendra, Majapahitand Mataram).

The Bas Reliefs of Borobudur in Indonesia and the ancient Indian (Sanskrit)language are the only reminders of the Buddhist and Hindu past of the

current Muslim population of Malaysia and Indonesia. Seals found inSouthern Philippines establish that the reign of these dynasties had extendedto the Philippine archipelago. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is onesuch seal. This seal dates from 900 AD (Saka Era year 822) and isconsidered to be the end of prehistory of the Philippines as far as documentsare concerned. It was found in the Laguna de Bay of Manila. In 1989, thePhilippines National Museum acquired it. The inscription forgives thedescendants of Namwaran from a debt of 926.4 grams of gold, and is grantedby the chief of Tondo (an area in Manila) and the authorities of Paila,Binwangan and Pulilan, which are all locations in Luzon. The words are amixture of Sanskrit, Old Malay, Old Javanese and O ld Tagalog.

The subject matter proves the highly developed society that existed in thePhilippines prior to the Spanish colonization, as well as refuting earlier claims

of the Philippines being a cultural isolate in Asia; the references to the Chiefof Medan in Indonesia claim the cultural and trade links with various otheraffiliated empires and territories in other parts of the Malay Archipelago.

One example of pre-Spanish Philippine script on a burial jar, derived fromBrahmi survives, as most of the writing was done on perishable bamboo orleaves; an earthenware burial jar dated 1200s or 1300s with script was foundin Batangas. This script is called in Tagalog Baybayin or Alibata.

But the point to be noted here is that the people of pre-islamic South EastAsia (including those of the Philippines) were under Hindu-Buddhist culturalinfluences and were ill prepared to meet the Islamic onslaught. The clash ofthe gentle ancestors of the Filipinos, Thais, Malays and Indonesians with theviolent Muslims is a clash of contrasts. This is so as there is no greatercontrast than that between Buddhism and Islam. While Buddhism is

intrinsically and universally non-violent, Islam is a violent, cruel andmurderous paranoia as we witnessed in 9/11, 7/7, 3/11 and numerous otherevents in recent history. The 14 century long history of Islam has beenequally violent and bloodied and cruel.

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Pre Islamic Horseman

A pre-Islamic horseman.

The face-off between Islam and Buddhism is a study of extremely starkcontrasts; contrasts like, actions followed by queer reactions followed againby counter reactions. Confusing is it? Let us explain. Read on.

The universal non-violence of Buddhism pitted against the depraved Crueltyof Islam

The Buddhists teach their adherents to be extremely non-violent whatever theprovocation, while Islam teaches its adherents to be extremely cruel,murderous, deceptive (Taqiya)and sadistic. When the Buddhists first

encountered the Muslims in Central Asia and Afghanistan (remember theBamiyan Buddhas?), the Buddhist reaction was no reaction at all. TheBuddhists tamely submitted to the Muslims. No they did not embrace Islamen masse; they just gave themselves up for being slaughtered en masse by theMuslims. The Buddhists were one of those few who accepted the "DeathOption" from the Muslims offer of "Islam or Death".

Hence the Buddhists simply perished in the first flush of Muslim onslaughtagainst them. Many of the Buddhists never learned to resist the Muslims.Even when the Muslims raided famous Buddhist Universities like Nalanda inIndias Bihar province, the Buddhists died en masse when the Muslimswordsmen slaughtered them like hyena would devour a clutch of rabbits in a

cage. The Buddhists also did not make any attempt to escape from theirmurderers. They accepted death with an air of fatalism and destiny. Andhence they are not around today to tell their story!

But their mindless slaughter evoked another and extremely opposite reactionfrom another set of Buddhists. This was also the most dramatic one so far the Mongol invasion of Iran and Iraq by Chengiz Khan and his son HulaguKhan. These Mongols were Buddhists by faith, whose homeland had beensuffering the depredations of the Muslims for six centuries (from 651 C.E. to1200 C.E.) when the Buddhist Mongols decided that enough was enoughand decided to pay back the Muslims with their own coin with duepremium added! The Mongols slaughtered the Muslims of Iran and Iraq withunremitting cruelty.

The Mon ols laid waste the countr side, burnt down cities slau htered the


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Muslim population en masse, including the Caliph himself!.

It was only this unexpected reversal of attitudes of the Mongol Buddhists,that resulted in the ravaging Muslims being ravaged themselves by a forcethat was infinitely more barbarous than the Muslims. And only this could leadto the defeat of the Muslims. This folks is the moral of our story when we tryto understand the Muslim attacks on the Buddhists of Thailand and how theMuslims can finally be defeated in the ongoing War on Terror.

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Clash of Contrasts Buddhism and Islam in Thailand and Malaysia (fromwhere Islam came to the Philippines)

Thailand is today a Buddhist nation, unlike its Muslim neighbors likeMalaysia and Indonesia. Thailand is Buddhist today due to the largelyforgotten struggle waged by the Siamese (Thai) kings against the MuslimJihadis who invaded South East Asia from the 13th century onwards. LikeThailand, the people of Malaysia, Indonesia also were overwhelminglyHindu and Buddhists, before they were overrun by Islam.

The face-off between Islam and Buddhism is a study of extremely starkcontrasts; contrasts like, actions followed by queer reactions followed againby counter reactions. Confusing is it? Let us explain. Read on.

Physical science tells us that w henever there is an action, there is also anequal and opposite reaction. In the world of human psychology, this rulegenerally becomes skewed depending on the ethical-moral mindset of theparties involved. The Muslims have encountered varying levels of resistancein their history of rampage spread across three continents of Europe, Asia andAfrica up to the 20th century. A rampage which spread in a dramatic mannerto America (9/11) and Australia (Bali attacks) in the 21st century.

The Muslim marauders started their rampage (Jihad) by measuring theirtheologically inspired murderous mentality against the military valor of theZoroastrian Persians in the 7th century followed by the military valor of theByzantine Christians. Note here that it was the military valor of the Persiansand Byzantines that was pitted against the theologically inspired murderousmentality of the Muslims. This match itself was unequal as theologicallyinspired murderous mentality can and did easily overcome military valor. Theinspiration of the Muslims was to destroy their enemies, while that of the

Persians and Byzantines was only to defeat and roll back the Musliminvasion. It was in this battle of objectives itself that the Persians and theByzantines lost out to the Muslims. To defeat the Muslims, our primaryobjective should be to destroy Islam. Only then can victory over Muslim bethe result!

The Muslim mindset of unremitting violence, cruelty and murder finallydefeated the military valor of both the Zoroastrian Persians and the ByzantineChristians. Both the cultures fell before the advance of the murderous Muslimmarauders. The Zoroastrian Persians perished and disappeared from historyaltogether. But the Christians responded differently. After four centuries ofunremitting barbarism from the Muslims who overran the Christian nations ofthe Middle East (known today as Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Turkey) and theChristian nations in Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia)as also in Europe (Spain for 800 years) France (for 30 years) Italy (for 8

years) the Christians finally decided that enough was enough and determinedto return the barbarism of the Muslims with even greater and more effectivebarbarism, tinged with determination to liberate the Holy Land from its infideloccupiers, singed as the Christians had been with four centuries of Muslimhorrors across three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.

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Traditional Thai Warriors

Traditional Thai Warriors

The Thais resisted the Muslims, albeit briefly in the 17th century, only tolapse back to a defensive position and again start suffering at the hands of theMalaysian Jihadis in the 21st century.

The Malays themselves were Buddhists and Hindu by faith till the 15thcentury under their kingdoms of Sri Vijaya (Malaysia), Majapahit(Indonesian archipelago). These kingdoms were ardent rivals and were at warwith each other and w ith their northern neighbor the kingdom of Siam(Thailand), when the Muslim first appeared on the scene.

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On the other hand because of the change of strategy while fighting themurderous Muslims, the Crusaders were stunningly successful, and in theirfirst rush itself overwhelmed the barbarous Muslim with even greater

barbarism. The Crusaders not only slaughtered the Muslims, but went furtherto roast and eat the Muslims in a gruesome barbecue. An exercise that cantoday be termed as recycling the adversary! Mind you, these Crusaders werenot Head Hunting cannibals when the left Europe. They came fromestablished civilizations in France, England, Germany, Spain, Italy inMediaeval Europe. But the relentless barbarism of the Muslims had built inthe Christians an urge to put an end to it all, once and forever. The result was The Crusades. and the corollary of cannibalism that was compelled uponthe Crusaders by four centuries of near fatal depredations of their countries,culture and civilization. It was only this unexpected reversal of attitudes onpart of the Crusaders of the ravaging the ravager Muslims with a force that


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,Muslims. This folks is the moral of our story when we try to understand theMuslim attacks on the Buddhists of Thailand.

The universal non-violence of Buddhism pitted against the depraved Crueltyof Islam

The Buddhists teach their adherents to be extremely non-violent whatever theprovocation, while Islam teaches its adherents to be extremely cruel,murderous and sadistic. When the Buddhists first encountered the Muslims inCentral Asia and Afghanistan (remember the Bamiyan Buddhas?), theBuddhist reaction was no reaction at all. The Buddhists tamely submitted to

the Muslims. No, they did not embrace Islam en masse; they just gavethemselves up for being slaughtered en masse by the Muslims. The Buddhistswere one of the few who accepted the "Death Option" from the Muslimsoffer of "Islam or Death". Hence the Buddhists simply perished in the firstflush of Muslim onslaught against them. Many of the Buddhists never learntto resist the Muslims. Even when the Muslims raided famous BuddhistUniversities like Nalanda in Indias Bihar province, the Buddhists died enmasse when the Muslim swordsmen slaughtered them like a pack of famishedhyenas would devour a clutch of rabbits inside a cage.

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Thai Samuri

A Thai Samurai

Before the advent of Islam, Sri Vijaya and Majapahit were powerful empiresfrom the 13th u to the 15th centuries. Both the Sri Vi a a and Ma a ahit


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.kings followed an eclectic faith made up of Hinduism and Buddhism. Thesekingdoms also had their illustrious counterparts in Laos, Cambodia, Thailandand Burma (Myanmar). They built magnificent cities. The ruins of Angkorare the most dramatic surviving evidences of their glory. Similar cities dottedMalaysia, and Indonesia in the 12 to the 15th centuries. Their decline beganwith the coming of Arab dhows (vessels) who carried not just merchandisebut also the sword of Islam. The king who first embraced Islam was namedParmeswara and he became a victim of circumstances when he was trickedinto becoming a Muslim.

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When attacked and massacred by the Muslims, the Buddhists initially did notmake any attempt to escape from their murderers. They accepted death withan air of fatalism and destiny. And hence they are not around today to telltheir story. But their mindless slaughter evoked another and extremelyopposite reaction from another set of Buddhists. This was also the most

dramatic one so far the Mongol invasion of Iran and Iraq by Chengiz Khanand his son Hulagu Khan. These Mongols were some sort of Buddhists byfaith, whose homeland had been suffering the depredations of the Muslimsfor six centuries (from 651 to 1200) when the Buddhist Mongols decided thatenough was enough and decided to pay back the Muslims with theirown coin with due premium added! The Mongols slaughtered the Muslimsof Iran and Iraq with unremitting cruelty. The Mongols laid waste thecountryside, burnt down cities slaughtered the Muslim population en masse,

including the Caliph himself!. The Mongols were matched in their reaction toMuslim Barbarism, only by the Crusaders. And interestingly it was only theMongols and the Crusaders who defeated the Muslims in their own homelandin the last 1400 years of the existence of the Muslims since 622 CE. Otherminor aberrations that turned the tide of the Muslims were the Franks atTours,the Spanish Re-conquistadores, the Hindus under their king Sivaji, theNubian marksmen and the Thai reconquest of the Sultanate of Pattani late inthe seventeenth century.

How Islam came to the Philippines after it came to Malaysia, Indonesia andThailand

After this longish preamble, we shall see how the Filipinos resisted theMuslims, and preserved the Philippines as a Christian enclave amidst anIslamic sea. But the war against Islam in the Philippines is far from over as

the activities of the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), the MILF(Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and now the dreaded Abu Sayyaf gangalong with the Jemmah Islamia cause intermittent but alarming suffering tothe mainly non-Muslim Filipinos even in the 21st century.

The origin of the Muslim problem in the Philippines lies in the forcedconversion of the Malays to Islam in the 15th century. The Malaysthemselves were Buddhists and Hindu by faith till the 15th century undertheir kingdoms of Sri Vijaya (Malaysia), Shailendra and Majapahit(Indonesian archipelago). These three kingdoms were ardent rivals and wereintermittently at war with each other and with their northern neighbor thekingdom of Siam (Thailand).

Interestingly, the entry of Islam in to South East Asia was facilitated by thisrivalry and internecine warfare of the three kingdoms of Thailand with

SriVijaya of Malaysia and Shailendra and Majapahit of Indonesia. But theultimate reason for the conversion of the last Sri Vijaya king, Parmeswara toIslam was deception as we shall see below.

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Thai Warriors as depicted at the Bas-Reliefs at Borobudur (Big Buddha) inIndonesia

It was the Arab merchant-Jihadis who deceived the last Sri Vijaya king,Parameswara (of todays Malaysia) to marry a Muslim damsel and convertedhim to Islam by promising him help in his fight against his rivals fromThailand. From 1402 onwards Parmeswara increasingly became dependenton the Arabs to stave off attempts from the Thais and the territorial ambitionsof his other rival Majapahit of Indonesia. The Arab merchant-soldiers whoseposition became increasingly stronger at Parmeswaras court offered to sendin more forces to fight alongside him, if he converted to Islam. Initially

Parameswara scornfully refused this offer. But as the struggle with Thailandand Majapahit wore on, his position became more precarious. At this juncturethe Arab merchants gifted him a princess of Pasai who was a mix breeddescendants from an Arab and Indonesian Nikah Mutah Marriage (A NikahMutah is a temporary marriages allowed for Muslims by the Quran).

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Before the advent of Islam in South-East Asia; Sri Vijaya, Shailendra,Mataram and Majapahit were powerful empires from the 3rd upto the 15thcenturies. The Sri Vijaya, Shailendra and Majapahit kings followed aneclectic faith made up of Hinduism and Buddhism. These kingdoms also hadtheir illustrious counterparts in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma(Myanmar). They built magnificent cities. The ruins of Angkor V at andBorobudur are the most dramatic surviving evidences of their glory. Similar

cities dotted Malaysia, and Indonesia in the 12 to the 15th centuries. Theirdecline began with the coming of Arab dhows (vessels) who carried not justmerchandise but also the sword and the murderous mentality of Islam.

The Indonesian-Malay Hindu king who first embraced Islam was namedParmeswara and he became a victim of circumstances when he was trickedinto becoming a Muslim. Parameswara was a scion of the Sri Vijaya dynastyand ruled from Palembang. But during Parameswaras time, Sri Vijaya wasin decline and Majapahit had become the overlord of Sri Vijaya.Parameswara had a dispute with the Majapahit ruler and was forced to shifthis capital from Palembang to the relatively safer Temasek island nowSingapore. There, during a skirmish with the forces of Majapahit,Parameswara killed prince Temagi of Siam, who w as allied with MajapahitThis angered the Siamese king, who threatened to capture and killParemeswara. This led to another string of battles between Sri Vijaya against

Siam and Majapahit, in which Parameswara was worsted and he had to fleehis new capital the Temasek island (Singapore) island, and seek refuge first inMuar, before fleeing further on to Malacca and deciding to make it his newcapital in 1402.

Arabs deceive and browbeat the last Sri Vijaya king Parameswara to marry aMuslim Girl and convert to Islam

Malacca was a trading port frequented by the Arabs, where they hadestablished a colony. At Malacca, the Arabs promised King Parameswara,help in his fight against his rivals from Thailand. From 1402 onwardsParmeswara increasingly became dependent on the Arabs to stave off


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a emp s rom e a s o avenge e s aug er o e r pr nce an eterritorial ambitions of Majapahit. The Arab merchant-soldiers whose positionbecame increasingly stronger at Parmeswaras court offered to send in moreforces to fight alongside him, if he converted to Islam. Initially Parameswarascornfully refused this offer. But as the struggle with Thailand wore on, hisposition became more precarious. At this juncture the Arab merchants giftedhim a princess of Pasai who was a mix breed descendant of the Arab andIndonesian Nikah Mutah Marriages (A Nikah Mutah is a temporarymarriage allowed for Muslims by the Quran).

Pasai, was originally known as Samudera-Pasai later renamed calledSamudera Darussalam. Pasai was a thriving harbor kingdom on the north

coast of Sumatra in the 13th to the 15th centuries CE. Due to its wealth Pasaihad attracted Arab merchants who in the course of time intermarried withlocal women to create a Muslim community that was half Arab and halfIndonesian, as the offspring of these marriages were brought up as Muslims.The area of Pasai is in todays Aceh province of Indonesia.

Incidentally the term "Pasai" is believed derived from Parsi, or Parseeimmigrants from the west coast of India namely Gujarat, some of whomigrated for mercantile activities to northern Sumatra in todays Acehprovince. Arab and Indian Muslims had also traded in Indonesia and Chinafor many centuries. A Muslim tombstone in eastern Java bears a datecorresponding to 1082. But substantial evidence of Islam in Indonesia beginsonly in northern Sumatra at the end of the 13th century. Two small Muslimtrading kingdoms existed by that time at Pasai and Peureulak or Perlak

Coming back to this princess from Pasai, she was from among these half-breed Arab-Indonesian Muslims, and was a maiden of extreme beauty. Themilitarily weakened king Parameswara fell for her, making his position evenmore precarious vis- -vis the Arabs. Parameswara incidentally did nothave any heir from his Queen but his new love told him, that she wascarrying his child. The lovelorn Parameswara who was becomingincreasingly militarily weak wanted an heir desperately. In this desperationand his blind love for his new love, he proposed to her, only to be told thatmarriage was possible only under Muslim rites for which he needed toconvert to Islam . To get an heir Parameswara agreed and recited the Shahadabefore he could bring his new love from the harem to his palace as hislegitimate queen. But according to Sri Vijaya courtrecords, in reality, the child which his Muslim harlot told him she wascarrying was not his but was fathered by an Arab as Parmeswara was

diagnosed as impotent by his medical practioners. But the urge to become anormal person and have an heir was overwhelming for Parameswara and thaturge compelled him to abandon his ancestral religion and convert to Islam.

The Hindu kingdom of Sri Vijaya transformed itself in to the Sultanate ofMalacca after the last Hindu king Parameswara, embraced Islam

Thus, in 1414, for reasons which were amorous and desperate in 1414,Parameswara converted to Islam after marrying the princess from Pasai. Afterhis conversion, he assumed the title Sultan Iskandar Shah. After hisconversion, his half A rab Queen also encouraged his subjects to embraceIslam and this is how Malacca became a sultanate. Thus Malacca was the firstto fall to the Muslims.

This conversion led to waves of conversions in Malaysia and Indonesia, most

of whose people converted to the new faith, except in far off Bali whichremained Hindu, as it is till this day. The descendants of Parameswara startedthe first Muslim dynasty and expanded the Sultanate of Malacca. At its heightthe Sultanate encompassed most of modern day Peninsula Malaysia, the siteof modern day Singapore and a great portion of eastern Sumatra and Borneo.The governor of Borneo later seceded from Malacca to form the independentSultanate of Borneo. For a long time Malacca remained the center of Islam inthe Malaysian and Indonesian archipelago (Aceh, Riau, Palembang andSulawesi). It was from Malacca where, imams and ustazes went to all overMalaysia and Indonesia to discuss religion and the like. Muslim missionarieswere also sent by the successive Sultans of Malacca to spread Islam to heHindu and Buddhist communities in the Malay Archipelago, such as in Java,


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Borneo, and the Philippines (Mindanao). Most of South East Asia at that timewas Hindu-Buddhist, except for the Philippines where the population waslargely animist, although in the south there were marked Hindu-Buddhistinfluences.

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Borobudur - Big Buddah Temple Complex

Borobudur Big Buddha. This temple complex is in Indonesia and datesback to the 8th century

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In the 15th century the Sultanate of Malacca destroyed the other Hindukingdom of Majapahit in Indonesia, it also weakened Thailand and madeincursions in to the Philippines

The Sultanates most important regional rivals continued to be Thailand in thenorth and the declining Majapahit Empire in the Indonesian archipelago(Aceh, Riau, Palembang and Sulawesi) in the south. But within thearchipelago, Majapahit was not able to control or effectively compete withthe Sultans of Malacca with their new found zeal of Islam, and ultimatelycame to an end during the later 15th century. After the demise of Majapahitkingdom and the conversion of most of its inhabitants to Islam, the Sultans ofMalacca alongwith their Arab allies concentrated on the conquest of Thailandwith the purported aim of converted the Thais to Islam. The Arabs based inMalacca along with their new converts the Malay Muslims of Malaccarepeatedly attacked Thailand and for a time it seemed that they would gostorming up the narrow Isthmus of Kra and penetrate up to the Thai capital ofAyuthaya.

During much of the fifteenth century Ayuthayas energies were directedtoward the Malay Peninsula, where the great trading port of Malaccacontested its claims to sovereignty. As the erstwhile Hindu-Buddhist states ofMalacca along with other Malay states south of Tambralinga had becomeMuslim early in the century, a resurgent and aggressive Islam served as asymbol of Malay solidarity against the Thais and for a time it seemed that theThais would also have to submit to Islam. But from the 17th centurysuccessive Thai kings allied themselves with the seafaring Western powers the Portuguese and the Dutch and succeeded in staving off the threat of Islamfrom the Muslim Malays and their Arab overlords.

Before the coming of the Spaniards and the Muslims, the Southern part of thePhilippines was intermittently under the Sri Vijaya and the MajapahitEmpires from the 4th up to the 10th centuries. This claim may sound

astounding today, as the population of the Philippines is divided betweenChristianity and Islam. But there is one evidence of the pre-Islamic and Pre-Christian past of the Filipinos. This is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription.

The pre-Islamic and Pre-Christian past of the Philippines

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription found in the Philippines, is surprisinglypartly in Sanskrit (ancient Hindu scriptural language) and party in locallanguages. It is dated to April 21, 900 C.E. mentions a pardon by theCommander in Chief of Tundun, represented by the Lord Minister of Pailah,Jayadewa.

Hinduism and Buddhism arrived in the Phili ines durin the existence of Sri

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Vijaya empire from the 7th to the 13th centuries. This was followed by thearrival of Chinese immigrants and traders from the 14th to the 20th centurieswho also brought Buddhism with them.

Buddhism in the Philippines gained foothold with the rise of the BuddhistMajapahit empire in Malaysia in the 7th century and lasted until their declinein the 15th century. Centered in Palembang, Sumatra, active trading byChinese and Indian merchants with native tribes brought Buddhistknowledge and iconography to the country. Archeological finds in thePhilippines unearthed priceless Buddhist statues and other artifacts dating tothis era.

Hindu and Buddhist Linguistic influences in Pre-Islamic and Pre-ColonialPhilippines

Linguistic influence also left its indelible mark, with Buddhist concepts suchas dukkha (suffering) and bodhi (knowledge) entering everyday speech.Dukha now means poor, while budhi (bodhi) is now another word forconscience or thought.

Strong Hindu influences are also common in Filipino languages andvocabulary. These words of Sanskrit origin entered the language via Malay.Local words like Guro (teacher) came from the Hindu word Guru. Karma, aHindu concept, is culturally understood by Filipinos.

Hindu influences in Filipino Tagalog Vocabulary

See also the Sanskrit words in the loan word section of the Tagalog language.

* bahagi (part, portion) in Tagalog, is bhaga in Sanskrit and bhag in Hindi,* diwata (god or goddess) is devata

* dukha (poor, destitute) is duhkha

* guro (teacher) is guru

* katha (story, fiction) is katha

* mukha (face) is mukha

* yaya (nurse) is aya

Hindu influences in Filipino Folklore

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the two great epics of India.Ramayana portrays the battle between good and evil. Rama, with his wifeSita and his brother Lakshmana, represent the eventual victory of good overevil, represented by Ravana, the ten-headed demon king. Rama is helped byhis devotee, Hanuman and the army of monkeys under the command of themonkey king Sugriv. The Ramayana has influenced Asia and the rest of theworld especially in terms of literature, culture and art.

There are versions of Ramayana in almost all Asian countries, includingChina, which emphasizes the role of Hanuman. The Philippines also has aMaranao version, "Maharadia Lawana", the result of field research andtranslation into English by Juan R. Francisco

Hindu influences in Filipino Art and literature

The Ramayana is also regularly enacted as "Ramaat Sita", in a drama-dance-musical art form at the Folk Arts Theater in Manila, at the University of thePhilippines and other venues in the country. The Ramayana w as initiallytranslated from English into Filipino by Bienvenido Lumbera. This wasfollowed by complete seven book translation thereof by Josephine AcostaPasricha.

Buddhism and Hinduism in Southern Philippines was overruled by the by the Islamic aggression by the Arab andMalay converts

THE RAPTURE . . .

Inerrancy and the

Original Texts by Matt

Slick


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Buddhism and Hinduism in Southern Philippines was overruled by the by theIslamic aggression by the Arab and Malay converts and the consequentspread of Islam by Indonesians and Malay Jihadis (Holy Warriors) before theSpaniards came in. Today it would be preposterous to claim that any part ofthe Philippines was under Hindu or Buddhist influences. But Copper plateevidence however suggests, that before the arrival of the Muslims and theSpanish the Philippines was part of Hindu empires based in Java and in otherislands. Possibly this is why the local Filipino chieftains had the title of

"Rajah" both before their conversion to Islam a practice that was retainedeven after their conversion to Islam. Before the coming of Islam, these Rajahs

were initially governors of the Sri Vijaya and Majapahit empires, and laterbecame local sovereigns paying token tribute to the former Hindu overlords.After the Sri Viajaya and Majapahit empires were overrun by the Muslimsand their populations converted to Islam, the wave of Islamic aggressionspread to the Philippines and many of these Rajahs of Sulu and Mindanaoalong with their subjects embraced Islam, leaving only the unorganized andnon-Hinduized Filipinos in the North to resist Islam successfully till thecoming of the Spaniards in 1521.

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Kavi Script

Characters used in the Javanese Kavi Script found in the Philippines

This is an example of pre-Spanish Philippine Javanese Kavi Script on a burialjar, derived from Brahmi survives, as most of the writing was done onperishable bamboo or leaves; an earthenware burial jar dated 1200s or 1300swith script was found in Batangas. This script is called in Tagalog Baybayinor Alibata.

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But the fact is that we can say with certainty that before the Muslimaggression and the Spanish colonial period, the Philippine archipelago alsowas under Hindu-Buddhist cultural influences, and were intermittentlysubjects of Sri Vijaya and Majapahit Empires. Their conversion to Islam wasswift when these empires were supplanted by Islamic conquest by theSultanates of Malacca, Johore, Borneo, who had themselves converted fromHinduism to Islam after 1414.

Hindu influences in the Central Philippines are evident from the fact that thecentral region, Visayas, was named after a Hindu term for Victory.Islamization of the Philippines which began in 1380, received a new fillip inthe Hindu-Buddhist dominated Southern Philippines (Sulu and Mindanao)after 1414 when the Parameswara, the last Hindu king of Sri Vijaya wasdeceived in to converting to Islam. After the conversion of this king many ofhis subjects who included todays Filipinos in the Sulu and Mindanao islands

also began converting to Islam under pressure from the Muslim rules ofDhimma under which non-Muslims (Kafirs) are treated as second classcitizens.

Islamization was also making inroads into Central and Northern PhilippinesVisayas and Luzon. It was a Muslim Rajah Soliman who was ruling ManilaBay in 1571 when the Spanish took the area from him. The process ofIslamization of Central and Northern Philippines was only halted by thecolonizing Spaniards.

So it is clear that before the coming of the Spaniards, the Muslims hadextended control over almost the whole of the Phili ines from 1380


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onwards, before the coming of the Spanish in 1521. We might wonder whyin spite of this fact, the Muslims could only convert the population only thoseareas which had been under the influences of the Hindu and Buddhistempires of Sri Vijaya and Majapahit. While the erstwhile animistic tribalpopulations who were ruled by chieftains like Lapu-Lapu and Humabonfiercely resisted Islam (as well as Christianity). From 1380 onwards, andmore so after 1414, these chieftains called Datu (chief) who ruled clans calledBarangays which was a kinship group fiercely and successfully resistedIslam. But the more culturally advanced Hinduized population who were theerstwhile subjects of the Sri Vijaya empire came effortlessly under the swayof Islam. This was also the reason for the swift and near total conversion to

Islam of the Malays and Indonesians (who were also subjects of the Hindu-Buddhist Sri Vijaya and Majapahit empires). These Muslim converts in theSouthern Philippines are the Moros of today who inhabit Sulu and Mindanao.But why did they convert with little resistance, when their less culturallyadvanced and tribal brethren in Luzon, Visayas and Cebu not only resistedIslam for two centuries from 1380 up to the end of the 16th century andjoined the Spanish in resisting Islam by ultimately converting to Christianity?Why did the Hinduized Filipinos of Mindanao and Sulu become Muslimswith ease, while the tribal and animistic Filipinos of Luzon, Visayas andCebu resisted Islam and ultimately converted to Christianity leading totodays split in Filipino national character into Muslim Filipinos and ChristianFilipinos with the ongoing terrorism in the south which sometimes explodesright in Makati as well?

The fact is that the tribal Filipinos of Luzon, Visayas and Cebu were notunder a central authority and resisted Islam using guerilla tactics in thedensely forested land where they lived a life of migration from place to place.This migratory lifestyle enabled easier resistance to Islam using guerillatactics. Their more civilized Hinduized counterparts of Sulu and Mindanaoled a settled life in big villages and towns and were an easy target for theMuslim raiders. They also owed allegiance to a sovereign who had convertedto Islam, making their position tenuous and vulnerable to the inroads that theMuslim had begun to make. And after the conversion of their Sri Vijaya

sovereign to Islam, they found resistance futile and soon came under thesway of Islam.

This was not true for the tribals of Luzon, Visayas and Cebu, who waged adoughty struggle against the Muslims and resisted their inroads fiercely. In

fact these tribals also initially resisted Christianity and one of their leadersLapu-Lapu also defeated and killed Magellan. The tribals converted toChristianity en masse after the Spanish missionaries began impressing on thetribal chiefs that they faced a common adversary in the Moros of the Southwho had been the foe of the animistic tribals of Luzon for two centuries from1380. The Spanish friars also learnt the local language and preached to themby mingling amongst the tribals unlike the Muslims who used to raid thetribes and force conversions to Islam, which the tribals invariably repudiatedafter the Muslims were driven out. The tactics of the Spanish were arefreshing change after two centuries of warfare with the Muslims of Suluand Mindanao. Hence the tactics of mass baptisms to Christianity using HolyWater which was similar to the tribal ritual of using water for baptism whichis very typical of Southeast Asian societies enabled success in converting thetribals of Luzon, Visayas and Cebu to Christianity within a few decades ofthe Spanish landing in the Philippines.

Islam in the Philippines

It is evident from the above that in the Philippines despite having a head-startover the Spaniards by about two centuries, the Muslims did not getremarkable success in converting the population of the northern Philippines.Their success was confined to the southern Philippines alone.

As far back as 1380, Makhdum Karim, the first Islamic Holy Warrior hadbrought Islam to the southern tip of Philippine Archipelago (Mindanao). Butthe efforts to convert the Filipino population en masse to Islam gatheredstrength after the defeat of the Hindu kingdoms of Sri Vijaya (Malaya) and


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a apa t n ones a . roun , t e war etween t e r aya an t eMajapahit Empire ended in favor of the former with the conversion of the lastSri Vijaya king Parameswara toIslam. Following this victory, Muslim Holy Warriors (Jihadis) introducedIslam into the Hindu-Malay empires and converted almost the entirepopulation to Islam.

By the next century, these holy warriors had reached the Sulu islands in thesouthern tip of the Philippines where the population was animistic and theytook up the task of converting the animistic population to Islam with renewedzeal. By the 15th century, most of Visayas (Central Philippines) and half ofLuzon (Northern Philippines) and the islands of Mindanao in the south had

become subject to the various Muslim sultanates of Borneo and much of thepopulation in the South had been converted to Islam.

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Prambanan Temple Complex

This imposing temple complex is at Prambanan and is dated around the 8thcentury. It is located on the Island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It looks markedlylike Angkor Wat another but more famous temple complex built later in the11th century in Cambodia.

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Subsequent incursions of Muslim Malay Muslim Holy Warriors strengthenedthe stranglehold of Islam among the frightened Hinduized Filipinos (todaysMoros) in the extreme south who had been subjects of the Hindu-Buddhist-Malay Sri Vijaya and Majapahit empires. After these empires were defeated

and their population converted to Islam, the Jihadis followed reached theshores of the Philippines in Sulu and Mindanao. By the early 15th century,Islam had been established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there toMindanao; it had even reached up north up to the Manila Bay area by 1565.Unlike in the South, there was continuing resistance from the local populationthat was organized in to Barangays. Barangays was a kinship group headedby a datu (chief). Organized resistance to Islam began only after the comingof the Spanish in 1521. Till then, during the period 1380 up to 1521, a majorpart of the animist population of Southern Philippines had been converted toIslam.

But Islam was not to be the religion of the Philippines, as it had become inMalaysia and Indonesia. A seminal event that was to halt the advance of slamwas the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines in 1521. After thisthe Filipino resistance to Islam received a new fillip. Magellan landed on the

island of Cebu, claiming the lands for Spain and naming them Islas de SanLazaro. He established friendly relations with some of the local chieftainswho had been battling the Muslims and converted some of them to RomanCatholicism.

A local chieftain named Humabon was the first native convert. Magellan

befriended Humabon, the king of Cebu and took special pride of convertingmany natives to Catholicism. However, he became involved with politicalissues and rivalries with other tribal groups and took part in a battle againstLapu-Lapu, a mortal enemy of Humabon. Magellan invaded Mactan Islandwith 49 soldiers and after several hours of fighting, Magellan was killed by


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- .

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Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

This temple complex in Cambodia is the signature of the Hindu-Buddhistdominance in South East before being supplanted by Islam.

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After this battle, the forces of Humabon were defeated, and the introduction

of Catholicism temporarily halted. Nevertheless, by 1571, the strongerSpaniards defeated the forces of the Muslim ruler Rajah Soliman the ruler ofManila, and Spain colonized the Philippines.

Over the next several decades, other Spanish expeditions were dispatched tothe islands. In 1543, Ruy Lpez de Villalobos led an expedition tothe islands and gave the name Las Islas Felipinas (after Philip II of Spain) tothe islands of Samar and Leyte. The name Philippines derived from Felipinas,was later extended to the entire archipelago.

Permanent Spanish settlement was not established until 1565 when anexpedition led by the Conquistadores, Miguel Lpez de Legazpi,arrived in Cebu from Mexico (New Spain). Spanish leadership was soonestablished over many small independent communities that previously hadknown no central rule. Six years later, following the defeat of the local Malay

Muslim ruler, Rajah Solayman, Legazpi established a capital at Manila, alocation that offered the excellent harbor of Manila Bay to the seafaringSpanish.

Spanish occupation of the Philippine islands was accomplished withrelatively little bloodshed, partly because most of the population (except theMuslims) offered little armed resistance to the Spanish, as their main enemyhad been the Malay and Arab Muslims seeking to convert them to Islam.

But a significant problem the Spanish faced was the subjugation of theMuslims of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The Muslims, in responseto attacks on them from the Spanish and their native allies, raided areas ofLuzon and the Visayas that were under Spanish colonial control. But theseactions were inconsequential as the fate of Islam in the Philippines was

sealed, and Philippines was not to go the way as had Malaysia and Indonesia,save for a southern tip of Mindanao.

Consequently, most of the Filipinos (except for those in the south) laterbecame Christian under the Spanish colonization. By the late 15th century,the Sultanate of Sulu, the largest Islamic Kingdom of South East Asia and theMalay Archipelago, encompassed parts of Malaysia and the Philippines.Ironically the Mongoloid looking members of the royal house of the Sultanateof Sulu claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad to reinforce theircredentials in their new found faith of Islam!

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Laguna Copperplate Document

The script in this Laguna Copperplate inscription and the w ords used in theLaguna document are exactly the same as those that were used on the islandJava at the time stated in the document, which was the year 822, in the oldHindu calendar or the year 900 C.E. (Common Era) on our calendar.

The inscription starts with the sentence " swasti shaka warsatita 822 waisakha

masa di(ng) jyotisa."

Although this is only one document but it seems to have revealed awidespread culture with Hindu influences in the Philippines before the arrivalof the Spaniards and even before the Muslims. Did ordinary Filipinos share

this culture or were the people mentioned in the document just members of asmall ruling class of foreigners? Was their culture pushed out of the islandswhen the Muslims arrived in the 12th or 13th century?

Did the royalty among the Filipino once speak Sanskrit (as did the royalty inJava) or was it reserved for important documents written by an elite minority?There are certainly some Sanskrit influences in Philippine languages butnobody was speaking it by the time the Spaniards arrived.

And what happened to this Kavi style of writing? It was a far more advancedand accurate way to write than the Baybayin script that Filipinos were using500 years later. Perhaps only that elite minority used it and so it disappearedwith them when they converted to Islam.

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Waves of conversion to Islam had just about begun in the late 15th centuryand were preparing to sweep north across the Philippine archipelago in the16th century when the Spanish colonialists reached the shores of thePhilippines. What followed was a checkmating of one faith by another andthe Spanish repulsed further attempts by the Sultans of Borneo to makeinroads, both military and religious in to the Philippine archipelago.

So the coming of the Spanish saved the Philippines from Islam, except for theSouthern tip where the population had been converted to Islam. This population was derisively referred to by the Spanishas Moros and Moriscos (Spanish for Moor or Muslim). Till today the Muslimpopulation of Southern Philippines continue to refer to themselves as Moros the name given to them by the Spanish colonialists!

The American interlude and the use of pigskin jackets to demoralize theMoros

In 1898, Spanish rule in the Philippines was brought to an end, by theAmerican marines who during the course of the Spanish-American waroccupied the Philippines by sending American Naval forces from across thePacific.

The Moros who were engaged in hostilities against the Spanish and theChristian Filipinos, regarded the American too as infidels and continued theirJihad against the emerging hyperpower. Little did the Moros know then thatthis was going to be their first brush with the cowboy temperament that was


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the only one to checkmate and subdue their Jihadi mentality.

In 1911, when Gen. John J. Pershing was in command of the Americangarrison in Mindanao, the Moros led a series of bloodied attacks on theAmerican Marines In response these numerous Islamic terrorist attacks,"Black Jack" as Gen. John J. Pershing was known informally, told his boysto catch the Moros and teach them a lesson like one they had never learntever before.

He forced the captured Moros to dig their own graves, the Moro terroristswere all tied to posts, execution style. The US soldiers then brought in pigs

and slaughtered them, rubbing their bullets in the blood and fat. Thus, theterrorists were terrorized; they saw that they would be contaminated withhogs blood. This would mean that they could not enter Heaven, even if theydied as terrorist martyrs.

All but one was shot, their bodies dumped into the grave, and the hog gutsdumped atop the bodies. The lone survivor was allowed to escape back to theterrorist camp and tell his brethren what happened to the others. This broughta stop to terrorism in the Philippines for the next 50 years.

Here lies lesson for us. Pointing a gun into the face of Islamic terrorists wontmake them flinch. They welcome the chance to die for Allah. Like Gen.Pershing, we must show them that they wont get to Muslim heaven (whichthey believe has an endless supply of virgins) but instead will die with thehated pigs of the devil.

But this important lesson was lost on the Filipinos who took over from theAmericans in 1946. The American too forgot this lesson and have so far notused it in the War on Terror. This has led to the Moro problem festering timeand again to bedevil the Filipinos up to our times.

The Jihad against Philippines today

Till today the struggle of the Filipinos with the Muslims goes on in theSouthern tip of Philippines (Mindanao that was part of the erstwhileSultanates of Sulu and Borneo) where Christians are routinely murderedespecially in the mayhem of the Abu Sayyaf.

Lessons from the struggle of Filipinos against Islam

The lessons from the continuing suffering of the Filipinos at the hands of theMuslim Moros of which only the mayhem of the Abu Sayyaf SouthernPhilippines is in the limelight, is that the sneaky and ruthless tactics of theMuslims can only be outmatched by we being more sneaky and ruthlessourselves.

Gloria Magapagal Arroyo is an astute leader we need more like her in thePhilippines.

The old English adage "Everything is fair in love and war," holds greatestrelevance while battling the Muslims. And only when we in the Non-Muslimworld realize this and go into an overreach with subterfuge against theTerrorists (all of whom are Muslims), and use our still prevailing (but fastclosing) edge of superior weapons against the enemy, can the Muslims finallybe defeated in the looming Third World War.

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Beheaded Christian Girl


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A Christian Girl beheaded in Indonesia by Muslims. Muslims consider it aholy duty to kill Christians who refuse to abjure Christianity and embraceIslam, as commanded by the Quran

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* For those uninitiated, PBUH expands to Perpetual Battle Upon Hagarism (Islam)

founded by the mass-murderer and pedophile pretender prophet Mohammed-ibn-

Abdallah (Yimach Shmo May his name and memory be obliterated).

______________________________________

Select Bibliography

Samson Blinded: A Machiavellian Perspective on the Middle East Conflict,by Obadiah Shoher

Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries(Hardcover) by Paul Fregosi

The Sword of the Prophet: History, Theology, Impact on the World by SrdjaTrifkovic

Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the Worlds Fastest GrowingFaith by Robert Spencer

Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam)by David Cook

Why I Am Not a Muslim by Ibn Warraq

Onward Muslim Soldiers by Robert Spencer

Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis by Bat YeOr

Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide by Bat Yeor

What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text, and Commentary by IbnWarraq

Islam and Terrorism: What the Quran Really Teaches About Christianity,Violence and the Goals of the Islamic Jihad by Mark A. Gabriel, Mark A.Gabriel

A Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas F. Madden

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by RobertSpencer

The Great Divide: The failure of Islam and the Triumph of the West by

Marvin Olasky

The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims byRobert Spencer

Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the Worlds Fastest GrowingFaith by Robert Spencer, David Pryce-Jones

The Koran (Penguin Classics) by N. J. Dawood

Dont Keep me Silent! One Womans Escape from the Chains of Islam byMina Nevisa


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Christianity And Islam: The Final Clash by Robert Livingston

Holiest Wars : Islamic Mahdis, Their Jihads, and Osama bin Laden byTimothy R. Furnish

The Last Trumpet: A Comparative Study in Christian-Islamic Eschatology by

Samuel, Ph.D. Shahid

Unleashing the beast: How a fanatical islamic dictator will form a ten-nationcoalition and terrorize the world for forty-two months by Perry Stone

Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature (Religion and Politics) byDavid Cook

Islam and the Jews: The Unfinished Battle by Mark A., Ph.D. Gabriel

The Challenge of Islam to Christians by David Pawson

The Prophetic Fall of the Islamic Regime by Glenn Miller, Roger Loomis

Prophet of Doom : Islams Terrorist Dogma in Muhammads Own Words byCraig Winn

The False Prophet by Ellis H. Skolfield

The Approach of Armageddon: An Islamic Perspective by MuhammadHisham Kabbani

The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God byGeorge Weigel

Infiltration : How Muslim Spies and Subversives have PenetratedWashington by Paul Sperry

Unholy Alliance : Radical Islam and the American Left by D avid Horowitz

Unveiling Islam : An Insiders Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs by ErgunMehmet Caner

Perfect Soldiers : The Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It byTerry McDermott

Islam Revealed A Christian Arabs View Of Islam by Anis Shorrosh

Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out by Ibn Warraq

The Origins of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islams Holy Book by IbnWarraq

2009 2011, LearnTheology.com. All rights reserved. Permission must beobtained from LearnTheology.com to use or copy any part of this post.

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