The Tausug (also spelled Tausog; natively , Jawi: ) are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the Sulu Archipelago and northeastern coastal areas of Borneo, which spans present-day Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Large Tausug populations are also found in the cities of mainland Mindanao, in particular Zamboanga City, Cotabato City and Davao City, and the island of Palawan. Smaller Tausug populations can be found in Nunukan and Tarakan in North Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Following the introduction of Islam to the Sulu Archipelago in the 14th century, the Tausug established the Sultanate of Sulu, a thalassocratic state that exercised sovereignty over the islands that bordered the Zamboanga Peninsula in the east to Palawan in the north. At its peak, it also covered areas further inland in northeastern Borneo and southwestern Mindanao. During the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines, Tausug soldiers resisted repeated Spanish invasions and the Sultanate of Sulu remained a de facto independent state until 1915, following the Moro Rebellion which resulted in the state being annexed by the United States.
Following the independence of the Philippines in 1946, the Philippines has acted as the successor state of the Sultanate of Sulu, which has led to tensions with neighboring predominantly-Christian ethnic groups. Today, the Tausug form a part of the wider Muslim-majority Moro political identity in the Philippines, and have continued their shared struggle for self-determination. This has culminated in a decades-long insurgency in Mindanao, and a territorial dispute between Malaysia and the Philippines. In Malaysia, ethnic Tausug people are known by the exonym Suluk and have more recently formed a distinct socio-political identity from Tausug refugees arriving in Malaysia due to continued conflict in the southern Philippines.
Etymology The first half of the name Tausug derives from the Tausug word tau, meaning "person" or "people." The term sūg is widely accepted to derive from the word meaning sea current, with the definition of the whole name meaning “people of the [sea] currents”.
is the modern form of the older term (meaning "[sea] currents"), which was also the old name of the island of Jolo. It is derived from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sələg (“flowing water, current”), and is a cognate of Cebuano , Tagalog , and Malay .
History
Pre-Islamic era During the 13th century, the Tausug people began migrating to present-day Zamboanga and the Sulu archipelago from their homelands in northeastern Mindanao. William Scott (1994) calls the Tausugs the descendants of the ancient Butuanons and Surigaonons from the Rajahnate of Butuan, who moved south and established a spice trading port in Sulu. Sultan Batarah Shah Tengah, who ruled in 1600, was said to have been a native of Butuan. The Butuanon-Surigaonon origin of the Tausugs is suggested by the relationship of their languages, as the Butuanon, Surigaonon and Tausug languages are all grouped under the Southern Visayan sub-family. Consequently, the Tausug language is closely related to other Southern Bisayan languages like the Butuanon language, which is still spoken in northeastern Mindanao to this day.
Prior to the establishment of the sultanate, the Tausug lived in communities called banwa. Each banwa was headed by a leader known as a panglima along with a shaman called a mangungubat. The shaman could be either a man or a woman. Each banwa was considered an independent state, like other city-states in Asia. The Tausug of the era had trade relations with neighboring Tausug banwas, the Yakan people of Basilan, and the nomadic Sama-Bajau.
The Tausug were Islamized in the 14th century and established the sultanate of Sulu in the 15th century, and eventually dominated the local Sama-Bajau people of the Sulu archipelago,
Sultanate era
In 1380, the Sunni Sufi scholar Karim-ul Makhdum, a Muslim missionary of the Ash'ari Aqeeda and Shafi'i madhhab, arrived in Sulu. He introduced the Islamic faith and settled in Tubig Indangan in Simunul, where he lived until his death. The pillars of a mosque he had built at Tubig-Indangan still stand. In 1390, Rajah Baguinda Ali landed at Buansa, and continued the missionary work of Makhdum. The Johore-born Arab adventurer Sayyid Abubakar Abirin arrived in 1450, and married Baguinda's daughter, Dayang-dayang Paramisuli. After Rajah Baguinda's death, Sayyid Abubakar became sultan, thereby introducing the sultanate as a political system (see Sultanate of Sulu). Political districts were created in Parang, Pansul, Lati, Gitung, and Luuk, each headed by a panglima or district leader. After the Sunni Sufi scholar Sayyid Abubakar's death, the sultanate system had already become well established in Sulu. Before the coming of the Spaniards, the ethnic groups in Sulu — the Tausug, Samal, Yakan, and the Bajau – were united to varying degrees under the Sulu sultanate following the Sunni Islam, they were Ash'ari in aqeeda and Shafi'i in Madh'hab as well as practitioners of Sufism.
The political system of the sultanate was patrilineal. The sultan was the sole sovereign of the sultanate, followed by various maharajah and rajah-titled subdivisional princes. Further down the line were the numerous panglima or local chiefs, similar in function to the modern Philippine political post of the barangay captain in the barangay system.
The Sulu Archipelago was an entrepôt that attracted merchants from south China and various parts of Southeast Asia beginning in the 14th century. The name "Sulu" is attested in Chinese historical records as early as 1349, during the late Yuan dynasty, suggesting trade relations around this time. Trade continued into the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), as envoys were sent in several missions to China to trade and pay tribute to the emperor. Sulu merchants often exchanged goods with Chinese Muslims, and there was also trade with Muslims who were of Arab, Persian, Malay, or Indian descent. Islamic historian Cesar Adib Majul argues that Islam was introduced to the Sulu Archipelago in the late 14th century by Chinese and Arab merchants and missionaries from Ming China. Moreover, these 7 Arab missionaries were called "Lumpang Basih" by the Tausug and they were Sunni Sufi Scholars from the Ba 'Alawi sada of Yemen.
Around this time, a notable Arab judge, Sunni Sufi and religious scholar named Karim ul-MakhdumMay be interchange to Karimul Makhdum, Karimal Makdum or Makhdum Karim among others. Makhdum came from the Arabic word makhdūmīn, which means "master". from Mecca arrived in Malacca. He preached Islam, particularly the Ash'ari Aqeeda and Shafi'i Madh'hab as well as the Qadiriyya Tariqa to the people, and thus many citizens, including the ruler of Malacca, converted to Islam. The Sulu leader Paduka Pahala and his sons moved to China, where he died, and Chinese Muslims brought up his sons in Dezhou, where their descendants live and have the surnames An and Wen. In 1380 AD,Another uncertain date in Philippine Islamic history is the year of arrival of Karim ul-Makhdum. Though other Muslim scholars place the date as simply "the end of 14th century", Saleeby calculated the year as 1380 AD corresponding to the description of the tarsilas, in which Karim ul-Makhdum's coming is 10 years before Rajah Baguinda's. The 1380 reference originated from the event in Islamic history when a huge number of makhdūmīn started to travel to Southeast Asia from India. See Ibrahim's "Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia." Karim ul-Makhdum arrived in Simunul island from Malacca, again with Arab traders. Apart from being a scholar, he operated as a trader; some see him as a Sufi missionary originating from Mecca. He preached Islam in the area, and was thus accepted by the core Muslim community. He was the second person who preached Islam in the area, following Tuan Mashā′ikha. To facilitate easy conversion of nonbelievers, he established a mosque in Tubig-Indagan, Simunul, which became the first Islamic temple to be constructed in the area, as well as the first in the Philippines. This later became known as Sheik Karimal Makdum Mosque. He died in Sulu, although the exact location of his grave is unknown. In Buansa, he was known as Tuan Sharif Awliyā On his alleged grave in Bud Agad, Jolo, an inscription reassure "Mohadum Aminullah Al-Nikad". In Lugus, he is referred to as Abdurrahman. In Sibutu, he is known by his name.
The difference of beliefs on his grave location came about due to the fact that the Qadiri Shaykh Karim ul-Makhdum travelled to several islands in the Sulu Sea to preach Islam. In many places in the archipelago, he was beloved. It is said that the people of Tapul built a mosque honoring him and that they claim descent from Karim ul-Makhdum. Thus, the success of Karim ul-Makhdum of spreading Islam in Sulu threw a new light in Islamic history in the Philippines. The customs, beliefs and political laws of the people changed and customized to adopt the Islamic tradition.
Sulu abruptly stopped sending tributes to the Ming in 1424. Antonio Pigafetta, in his journals, records that the sultan of Brunei went and invaded Sulu in order subjugate the nation and retrieve the two sacred pearls Sulu pillaged from Brunei during earlier times.Brunei Rediscovered: A Survey of Early Times By Robert Nicholl Page 45. A sultan of Brunei, Sultan Bolkiah, married a princess (dayang-dayang) of Sulu, Puteri Laila Menchanai, and they became the grandparents of the Muslim prince of Maynila, Rajah Matanda, as Manila was a Muslim city-state and vassal to Brunei before the Spanish colonized them and converted them from Islam to Christianity. Islamic Manila ended after the failed attack of Tarik Sulayman, a Muslim Kapampangan commander, in the failure of the Conspiracy of the Maharlikas, when the formerly Muslim Manila nobility attempted a secret alliance with the Japanese shogunate and Bruneiean sultanate (together with her Manila and Sulu allies) to expel the Spaniards from the Philippines. Many Tausugs and other native Muslims of Sulu Sultanate already interacted with Kapampangan and Tagalog Muslims called Luzones based in Brunei, and there were intermarriages between them. The Spanish had native allies against the former Muslims they conquered like Hindu Tondo which resisted Islam when Brunei invaded and established Manila as a Muslim city-state to supplant Hindu Tondo.