Farouk Sharif - The Royal Sultanate of Lanao

The Royal Sultanate of Lanao

To the regular Filipino, the Sultanate System in Mindanao may seem so hard to understand and difficult to accept, the Sultanate system was the first centralized political bureaucracy in the Philippine archipelago. As state’s governance, it combines civil and religious authority, as the state in the pacific, it dominates trade and commerce and set the pace for others in social mores and ideas.

Indeed it has been very regrettable that some Filipino historians give only a few accounts, if any, of the heroism and bravery made by the Bangsamoro people and sultans, like Sultan Sarikula (1599) the fifth sultan of Maguindanao, Sultan Sharif Laut Buisan (1602) the sixth Sultan of Maguindanao, Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat (1656), Datu Mamundog (1759) Sultan of Raya in the battle of Radapan, Kauswagan, Lanao, Datu Akadir Amai Pakpak (1889) of the sultanate of Masiu and other sultans.

However, many respected historians: Filipino, foreigner and Bangsamoro have chronicled events that would affirm and substantiate the heroic struggles of the Bangsamoro Sultans.

The Sultanate of Lanao could be traced from the advent of two Muslim brother missionaries Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuan and Sharif Muhammad Alawi who arrived in Mindanao in 1515. They later settled in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental and the Sharif Kabungsuan in the present site of Malabang, Lanao, in the western coast of Mindanao after passing through Brunei, the seafaring people from johore who accompanied Kabungsuan were called Jamal or erang Laut, Sharif Kabungsuan's blood relation with his followers who remained with him and aided him in the establishment of a Sultanate system and the support would be based more on the successful bringing of Islam among the heathen inhabitant of Mindanao and established the Sultanate of Maguindanao in the year 1520.

Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuan was the son of Ali Zein ul Abedin an Arab hailing from Hadhramout (Mecca) who settled in Johore where he married the daughter of Sultan Iskandar Julkarnain, the first sultan of Malacca. He arrived in Malabang in 1515 and married the daughter of Macaapun Rajah Simbaan of Malabang. Sharif Kabungsuan and her maranao wife Angintabo was blessed of two children, Sharif macaalang and her sister Daragat. Angintabo died,and Sharif Kabungsuan married Masawang niece of Angintabo, they begot eleven children one of them is Aloyodan and Layagun.

In 1543, Sharif Kabungsuan reached an old aged and he installed his first native Maranao son Sharif Macaalang as 2nd Sultan of Maguindanao in 1543-1574. Sharif Macaalang married Bae Ble and begot Sharif Bangkaya.

Sharif Bangkaya was enthroned as the 3rd Sultan of Maguindanao in 1574-1578, he ruled for a short period, Sharif Bangkaya married Bae sa Sulangan and begot Sharif Dimasangcay Adel. Dimasangcay Adel was enthroned as 4th Sultan of Maguindanao in 1579-1585. the Royal Datus and sultans of Lanao and Iranon were descendants of Dimasangcay Adel. Sharif Bangkaya begot four children to her second wife Bai Bezaton, the children’s were Datu sa Palao a Pekong, Rajah Muda a mala sa kalibo, Pinayongan Bae a labi of Rabaugon in Pagadian and Sharif Gugu Sarikula. In 1585- Sharif Sarikula was enthroned as fifth sultan of Maguindanao, he married a Sulu princess. Sharif Bangkaya begot two children and her 3rd wife Bae sa Matampay, such as Dakunug of Malabang and Sharif Laut Buisan. Sharif Laut Buisan was installed as 6th Sultan of Maguindanao in 1597, and was married to the sister of Sultan Batara Shah Tengah of Sulu. Sharif Laut Buisan begot Gayang and Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat, Gayang was married of the grandson of Dimasangcay Adel, Sharif Matonding whose children's now the reigning Sultans and Bai Labi of Lanao while his brother Sharif Muhammad Kudarat was installed as 7th sultan of Maguindanao in 1619. In 1656 he reached declared a jihad against the Spanish colonialist. His sultanate was felt as far as Ternate in Indonesia and Borneo and in facts its power had reached the shore of Bohol, Cebu, Panay, Mindoro and Manila in north.