FINDING PARALLELISM BETWEEN THE

MAKKAN ARABS AND THE BANGSAMORO PEOPLE

By: DOMADALUG, Moumina Sheryne L.

This is a short comparative paper that attempts to find similarities-- herein termed
‘parallelism’-- between the pre-Islam Arabs of Makkah and the Bangsamoro people the idea
being that, given the right perspective, the latter will likewise achieve what their Arab brethren
has achieved. This idea springs from this humble writer’s inference that the two nations - bound
by the same faith - also share the same values.

“The ideal of Arab virtue as revealed by this ancient poetry was expressed in terms muru’ah,
manliness (later virtus), and ‘ird (honor). The component elements of muru’ah were courage,
loyalty and generosity. Courage was measured by the number of raids (sing. Ghazw) undertaken.
Generosity manifested itself in his readiness to sacrifice his camel at the coming of a guest or on
behalf of the poor and the helpless.” - 95, Hitti

Pride / Maratabat

“A very strong favtor in social control among Muslim Filipinos is their sense of pride,
conversely, their sense of shame. Concepts of pride and shame also operate among other Filipino
groups as well, but Moros have a reputation for stressing these concepts to an extraordinary
degree.” - 98, Growing

“...[Maratabat] is an arab loan word (martabat) which connotes rank, status, and respect that is
due [to] particular rank or status.” - 98, Growing

“The Maranao have carried the meaning beyond the Arabic and have surrounded it with many
sociological and psychological overtones. They have expanded the meaning from “rank” to
sensitivity about ranks; from “prestige” to seeking after prestige; from “status” to status honor
and status enhancement.” - Carlton Riemer )1976 as cited by Growing

“A Christian Filipino writer, F. Sionil Jose (1957: 14) captrued this in on sentence:
“Maratabat’...may make a man kill or build all by himself a mosque as grand as that ever
dreamed of by by a master architect.” Thus, there is a positive as well as a negative side to
maratabat - though, as MEdnick (1965: 190) points out, it tends to manifest itself most often in
negative terms rather than in the more positive terms of a drive for excellence or achievement.
Possibly because the “social control” aspect of maratabt developed in a context where for
centuries revenge ad retribution and other forms of “taking the law into their own hands” was the
only recourse the Maranao had in dealing with offenders of their Mores, codes, and customs.
Until formal law enforcement agencies were developed, human societies often have had to
depend on systems of private revenge to maintain order. This was true, for example, of Arabia in
the days of the PRophet Muhammad.” - 99, Growing

Clannish

Ferocity in the battlefield

Tausug saying “It is preferable to see the whiteness of your bones due to wounds than to whiten
your heel in running away from battle” 96, Growing

Divided by tribes
“Very little is actually known about the pre-Islamic peoples of Mindanao and Sulu but it is
evident that they were far from being “one people” before the coming of Islam. Centrueis of
ethnic differentiation had occurred among southern Philippine inhabitants prior to Islam’s
arrival.” - 13, Growing

“Arabian society was tribal and included nomadic, semi-nomadic and settled populations. The
settled populations had genealogies similar to those of the nomads and semi-nomads., identifying
them as either ‘northern’ or ‘southern’ through the identity of their presumed eponyms. Not only
did genealogy define the individual tribe, it also recorded its links with other tribes within
families of tribes or tribal federations, each including several or many tribes.” - 153, Robinson

Merchants

Bangsamoro

Very Strong sense of Family