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                       Department of the Interior

                    Ethnological Survey Publications

                           Volume IV, Part I

               STUDIES IN MORO HISTORY, LAW, AND RELIGION


                                   By

                           NAJEEB M. SALEEBY

                                 Manila
                       Bureau of Public Printing
                                  1905







    Letter of Transmittal


    Department of the Interior,
    The Ethnological Survey,
    Manila, December 21, 1904.


    Sir: I have the honor to transmit a series of papers on Moro
    history, law, and religion consisting of original studies and
    translations from Moro texts made by Dr. Najeeb M. Saleeby. I
    recommend that these papers be published as Part I of Volume IV
    of the scientific studies edited by the Survey.


    Very respectfully,

    Merton L. Miller,
    Acting Chief of The Ethnological Survey.


    Hon. Dean C. Worcester,
    Secretary of the Interior, Manila, P. I.







CONTENTS

                                                              Page
Chapter I

History of Magindanao                                           11

    Magindanao history and genealogies                          11
    Introduction                                                11
    The transliteration                                         11
    Geographical sketch of the chief Moro settlements
    mentioned in the Tarsila of Mindanao                        13
    The mythology of Mindanao                                   16
    Manuscripts:
         I. From Adam to Mohammed                               20
                Genealogy of Mohammed                           20
                Translation                                     20
        II. Genealogy of Kabungsuwan and his coming to
            Magindanao, or the conversion of Magindanao
            to Islam                                            21
                Introduction                                    21
                Translation                                     23
       III. Genealogy of Bwayan                                 25
                Introduction                                    25
                Translation                                     26
        IV. History of the Dumatus and the conversion of
            Mindanao to Islam                                   28
                Introduction                                    28
                Translation                                     29
         V. Oldest copy of the genealogy of Magindanao and
            the Iranun datus                                    31
                Introduction                                    31
                Translation                                     33
        VI. History and genealogy of Magindanao proper          36
                Introduction                                    36
                Translation                                     37
       VII. Genealogy of Bagumbayan                             41
                Introduction                                    41
                Translation                                     42
                History of Bagumbayan                           47
      VIII. Ancestors of the datus of Mindanao                  49
                Introduction                                    49
                Translation                                     49
    History of Magindanao                                       50


Chapter II

Laws of the Moros                                               63

    General introduction                                        63
    The Luwaran, or the laws of Magindanao                      64
        Introduction                                            64
        Translation of the Luwaran, the Magindanao code of
        laws                                                    66
    Arabic marginal quotations of the Luwaran                   81
        Introduction                                            81
        Translation of the Arabic marginal quotations of
        the Luwaran                                             82
    Transliteration of Articles I to VIII of the Luwaran        88
    Sulu Codes                                                  89
    The principal Sulu Code                                     89
        Introduction                                            89
        The Code                                                90
    The new Sulu Code                                           94
        Introduction                                            94
        The Code                                                95


Chapter III

Two Sulu Orations                                              101
    Sulu oration for the feast of Ramadan                      101
    Sulu Friday oration                                        105







ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                          After page

Plate I. First page of an original manuscript copy of the Luwaran   64
     II. Second page of an original manuscript copy of the Luwaran  64
    III. Third page of an original manuscript copy of the Luwaran   64
     IV. Fourth page of an original manuscript copy of the Luwaran  64
      V. First page of the Sulu Code made and used by Sultan
         Jamalu-l-A'lam                                             90
     VI. Second page of the Sulu Code made and used by Sultan
         Jamalu-l-A'lam                                             90
    VII. Third page of the Sulu Code made and used by Sultan
         Jamalu-l-A'lam                                             90
   VIII. Fourth page of the Sulu Code made and used by Sultan
         Jamalu-l-A'lam                                             90
     IX. First page of the new Sulu Code in the Sulu dialect        94
      X. Second page of the new Sulu Code in the Sulu dialect       94
     XI. First page of the Sulu oration for the feast of Ramadan   102
    XII. Second page of the Sulu oration for the feast of Ramadan  102
   XIII. Third page of the Sulu oration for the feast of Ramadan   102
    XIV. First page of the Sulu Friday oration                     106
     XV. Second page of the Sulu Friday oration                    106
    XVI. Third page of the Sulu Friday oration                     106


Diagrams

  No. 1. Rulers of Bwayan from the first datu, Mamu                 22
      2. Rulers of Bwayan from Maytum, to the present time          22
      3. Rulers of Magindanao from Kabungsuwan to Sultan Pakir
         Mawlana Kamza                                              36
      4. Rulers of Magindanao from Sultan Pakir Mawlana Kamza to
         the present time                                           36
      5. Rulers of Bagumbayan from Raja Bwayan                      48







CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF MAGINDANAO


MAGINDANAO HISTORY AND GENEALOGIES


INTRODUCTION

The history of Mindanao prior to the advent of Islam is traditional
and mythological, and no effort has been made to put it on record. With
Islam came knowledge, art, and civilization. A new system of government
was instituted and its records were registered. Tarsila [1] were
written and the noble lineage of the datus was carefully kept. Each
sultanate or datuship kept a separate genealogy. These genealogies,
called tarsila or salsila, were very limited in their scope and brief
in their narration of events. They are our only source of written
information on the early history of the Moros, and are valuable on
that account. Previously the Moros withheld these tarsila and kept
them away from all foreigners and non-Mohammedans; but their attitude
has changed lately, and several different salsila were secured from
the chief datus of the Rio Grande Valley.

The original manuscripts could not be bought, but exact and true copies
of the same have been secured and translated and their translations
are herein published for the first time.



THE TRANSLITERATION

These tarsila are written in the Magindanao dialect with Arabic
characters, and a great part of their text is Magindanao names which
have never yet been expressed by means of Romanic characters. In
translating these tarsila such a large number of words have to
be transliterated that it is deemed necessary to adopt a system of
transliteration which can be easily understood by every English reader
and which is more adequate to express Magindanao sounds than either
Spanish or English. Such a system is herein adopted and is briefly
described as follows:

With the exception of ng and sh, the characters used in this system are
simple and represent simple sounds only. Every radical modification
of a certain simple sound is regarded as a different simple sound
and is represented by a separate and distinct character. Every
compound sound is represented by those characters that express its
simple constituent sounds. It is an unvarying rule in this system
that every character represents an invariable sound and every sound
has only one invariable character. The Magindanao dialect has only
twenty-seven simple sounds and can be expressed by twenty-seven simple
characters. These characters are the following:


    a, a, i, i, u, u, u, b, d, g, ng, h, j, k l, m, n, n, p, q, r,
    s, sh, t, w, y, z


The sounds which these characters represent conform very closely to
the original Roman sounds of the letters.


    a     is the short sound of a; it is pronounced midway between
          the a in bad and the e in bed
    a     is pronounced as the a in far, father
    i     is pronounced as the i in fin, ill
    i     is pronounced as the i in machine, police
    u     is pronounced as the u in put, push
    u     is pronounced as the u in rude, flute
    u     is a midvowel, pronounced with the tongue slightly moved
          from its normal position; it is intermediate between u
          and e, and is somewhat related to the u in hurt
    b, d, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t are pronounced as in English
    g     is always hard, as the g in gold, get
    ng    has a guttural-nasal sound like the ng in ring
    h     has an aspirate sound and should be always pronounced
          like the h in hill, behind
    j     is rarely used; when used it is pronounced like the s in
          adhesion, vision
    n     has a distinct palato-nasal sound and is related to the
          Spanish n in senor; it is generally followed by ya
    q     is a clicking, guttural sound related to k
    sh    is equivalent to sh in ship
    w     is always consonantal and sounds like the w in we, twin,
          water
    y     is always consonantal and sounds like the y in you, yes,
          beyond
    z     is pronounced midway between z and s


The triphthongs herein expressed by tsha and nya are used in words
of Malay origin, and are represented by single characters in Malay
and Magindanao.

In many cases when u precedes w and i precedes y the natives omit the
u and the i, and the same word may be written either with or without
the u or the i. When written they are pronounced very short; u at
the beginning of a word, as in undu, unggu, is often omitted both in
pronunciation and in writing. Such words may be written ndu and nggu.

To write Magindanao words by means of Arabic characters correctly a
certain knowledge of Arabic grammar and orthography is necessary. The
Moros lack that knowledge and write very inaccurately and
inconsistently. They neither punctuate nor use the accent sign.

In transliterating these tarsila that pronunciation which seemed
consistent and characteristic of each tarsila was adopted in the
transliteration of the same. The text is punctuated. The accent sign
is used very frequently. It is generally omitted when the accent is
upon the first syllable in words of two syllables and when it is upon
the syllable containing the long vowel. Some stress should be put on
the last syllable as a rule.

The Magindanao tongue is energetic and strong. Its pronunciation is
generally forcible, the last syllable being spoken abruptly and with
a certain amount of stress.

The word Mohammed is written with o in spite of the fact that it is
pronounced with u sound in both Arabic and Magindanao.

The combinations ay, ay, aw, aw are not diphthongs, but simple
syllables. The y and w in these cases and in all cases where they
precede a vowel have pure and distinct consonantal sounds.



A GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE CHIEF MORO SETTLEMENTS MENTIONED IN THE
TARSILA OF MINDANAO

The term Mindanao [2] or Magindanao was originally given to the town
now known as Cotabato and its immediate vicinity. As the power of the
sultan of Magindanao extended over the adjacent territory it was next
applied to the lower Rio Grande Valley and later to all the valley and
the whole seacoast that was brought under the rule of the sultan. The
word is derived from the root "danao," which means inundation by a
river, lake, or sea. The derivative "Mindanao" means "inundated"
or "that which is inundated." "Magindanao" means "that which has
inundation." This is the most appropriate term which could have been
given to this land. For more than 10 miles from the sea the Rio Grande,
aided by the rise of the tide, periodically overflows its banks and
floods all the adjacent lands. In the rainy season this inundation
extends farther up and includes an extensive tract of country. The
word "Cotabato" is in Moro kuta watu, which means a stone fort. Batu
is the equivalent of watu in Malay, Sulu, Tagalog, and Visaya. This
name is very modern, for the older maps that are still in use give
the name Mindanao in place of Cotabato. The little stream that rises
in the sulphur springs of Cotabato and empties into the Rio Grande
at its junction with the Matampay in front of the present guardhouse
is still known as the Stream of Magindanao.

The name of the Rio Grande in the Magindanao dialect is "Pulangi,"
which means "large river." The Rio Grande divides, 20 miles before it
reaches the sea, into the north branch and the south branch. Cotabato
is situated on the left bank of the north branch, about 5 miles from
its mouth. The hill of Cotabato is called "Tantawan," which means
"extensive view." Paygwan means "the place of washing," and is on the
left bank of the river at its mouth and above the bar. The Spanish
maps give it as Paiuan. Tinundan is at the mouth of a dead estuary
of the same name that joins the Pulangi about half a mile above
Paygwan and on the same side. Slangan is the western part of present
Cotabato and extends along the Manday stream. The Moros call the Manday
"Masurut." Simway extends along the river of the same name for about
2 miles from its mouth and lies about 4 miles north of Cotabato.

The Matampay River is a dead stream which joins the Pulangi
at Cotabato. Tagiman is the name of an old settlement built on
the Matampay River some distance above Cotabato. It is now called
Binilwan. Matampay and Lusudun were built on the Matampay River east of
Cotabato. Katitwan is an old settlement on the right bank of the river
3 miles below Libungan. Libungan is built at the junction of a river
of the same name with the Pulangi, about 9 miles above Cotabato. The
point at the fork is called Tambao. Three miles below Tambao on
the right bank of the south branch is the site of Bagumbayan. Three
miles below Bagumbayan on the left bank of the river is Taviran or
Tapidan. Ten miles below Taviran comes Tamontaka, which is nearly
south of Cotabato and about 4 miles distant. Tamontaka is about 4 miles
from the mouth of the south branch of the Pulangi. Lumbayanagi lies a
little below Tamontaka, on the right bank of the river. Immediately
above the fork and on the left bank of the main river lies the old
site of Kabuntalan. Fourteen miles above the fork lies Dulawan, the
settlement at present occupied by Datu Piang. Here empties one of the
largest tributaries of the Pulangi, which is navigable by launches for
12 miles farther up, to Sapakan, Datu Utu's main residence. Rakungan
lies in the foothills of the Tiruray Mountains about 12 miles south
of Sapakan. Talayan lies in the foothills of the Tiruray Mountains 15
miles southwest of Dulawan. Two miles below Dulawan lies the old site
of Bwayan, on the left bank of the Pulangi. Opposite Bwayan and Dulawan
lies the land of Kudarangan. Tinunkup is Reina Regente and Kabarukan
is the wooded hill beyond. Sarunayan is the stretch of country lying
north of Reina Regente and northeast of Kudarangan and extending to
the base of the Kulingtan Mountains, which separate the Rio Grande
Valley from the Ranao region. The country occupying the declivities
of these mountains north of Sarunayan is called Pidatan. Bagu Ingud
is an old settlement that lies along the left bank of the river about
16 or 20 miles above Reina Regente. Matbangan is on the right bank of
the river and extends a short distance below Piket. The Malitigaw or
Malidigaw is a large tributary of the Pulangi, about 15 miles above
Piket. Matinggawan is located at the junction of the Kabakan tributary
and about 30 miles above Piket. It is the chief settlement of the
last Moro district in the Rio Grande Valley whose farthest boundary
is the Mulita stream, which is about 115 miles by river above Cotabato.

Immediately south of the mouth of the south branch of the Rio Grande
and rising above the seashore at Linuk is the lofty and picturesque
pyramidal peak of Mount Kabalalan. From Kabalalan and the hills of
Taviran there stretches an extensive mountainous region or table-land
which extends as far south as the Bay of Sarangani. This table-land
is designated as the Tiruray table-land or mountains for the reason
that its northern half is inhabited by the tribe of pagans of the
same name who are not met with anywhere else. The Bay of Sarangani
is called in Moro Sugud Bwayan. Sugud means "bay," and Bwayan is
the chief settlement at the head of the bay. North of the head of
Sarangani Bay and at the southern terminus