Islam in the Philippines

This article is about the religion of Islam in the Philippines. For the Muslim ethnic group, see Moro (ethnic group).

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Islam in the Philippines is the second largest religion in the country,[1] and the faith was the first-recorded monotheistic religion in the Philippines. Historically, Islam reached the Philippine archipelago in the 14th century,[2][3] through contact with Muslim Malay and Arab merchants along Southeast Asian trade networks,[4] in addition to Yemeni missionaries from the tribe of Alawi of Yemen from the Persian Gulf, southern India, and their followers from several sultanates in the wider Malay Archipelago. The first missionaries then followed in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.[5] They facilitated the formation of sultanates and conquests in mainland Mindanao and Sulu.[6] Those who converted to Islam came to be known as the Moros, with Muslim conquest reaching as far as Tondo that was later supplanted by Bruneian Empire vassal-state of Maynila.[7]

Muslim sultanates had already begun expanding in the central Philippines by the 16th century, when the Spanish fleet led by Ferdinand Magellan arrived.[8] The Spanish referred to Muslim inhabitants of the Philippines as "Moros," after the Muslim "Moors" they had regarded with disdain in Iberia and the Maghreb.[4] The subsequent Spanish conquest led to Catholic Christianity becoming the predominant religion in most of the modern-day Philippines, with Islam becoming a significant minority religion.[9][10]

In the 21st century, there is some disagreement regarding the size of the Muslim population. The 2020 census conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority found that 6.4% (6,981,710) of Filipinos were Muslims,[1] up from 6.0% (6,064,744) in 2015.[11] However, it was reported in 2004 that some Muslim groups asserted that the proper number was between eight and twelve percent.[12] Presently, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) estimates Muslims constitute 11% of the total population, attributing the difference to a number of factors.[13]

Most Muslims live in parts of Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu Archipelago – an area known as Bangsamoro or the Moro region.[14] The Bangsamoro region is predominantly Muslim, with 91% of its 4.9 million inhabitants adhering to Islam.[1] Some have migrated into urban and rural areas in different parts of the country. Most Muslim Filipinos practice Sunni Islam according to the Shafi'i school with the Hanbali (Athari) school in minority.[15]

  1. ^ a b c "Religious Affiliation in the Philippines (2020 Census of Population and Housing) | Philippine Statistics Authority | Republic of the Philippines". psa.gov.ph. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  2. ^ Angeles, Vivienne S. M. "Islam in the Philippines". Oxford Biographies. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013.
  3. ^ "Bearer of the Sword". Military Review. 82 (2): 38. 2002. Islam arrived in the southern Philippines in the 14th century
  4. ^ a b "Islam in the Philippines". rpl.hds.harvard.edu. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  5. ^ Linda A. Newson (2009). Conquest and Pestilence in the Early Spanish Philippines. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-0-8248-3272-8.
  6. ^ Nicholas Tarling (1998). Nations and States in Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-521-62564-7.
  7. ^ *Scott, William Henry (1994). Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. ISBN 978-971-550-135-4.
  8. ^ Samuel Eliot Morison (1986). The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America. Oxford University Press. pp. 638–639. ISBN 978-0-19-504222-1.
  9. ^ Peter G. Gowing (1975), Moros and Khaek: the Position of Muslim Minorities in the Philippines and Thailand, Southeast Asian Affairs, Thomson Publishing (Reprinted in 2004), pp. 27–40
  10. ^ Max L. Gross (2017). A Muslim archipelago: Islam and Politics in Southeast Asia. GPO Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-16-086920-4.
  11. ^ "Factsheet on Islam in Mindanao | Philippine Statistics Authority Region XI". rsso11.psa.gov.ph. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  12. ^ "Philippines". 2004 Report on International Religious Freedom. United States Department of State. Section I. Religious Demography. The 2000 census placed the number of Muslims at 3.9 million, or approximately 5 percent of the population, but some Muslim groups claim that Muslims comprise anywhere from 2 to 5 percent of the population.
  13. ^ Taylor, Victor. "Origins of Islam in the Philippines". The Mackenzie Institute. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  14. ^ RP closer to becoming observer-state in Organization of Islamic Conference Archived June 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. (May 29, 2009). The Philippine Star. Retrieved 2009-07-10, "Eight million Muslim Filipinos, representing 4 percent of the total Philippine population, ...".
  15. ^ McAmis, Robert Day (2002). Malay Muslims: The History and Challenge of Resurgent Islam in Southeast Asia. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 18–24, 53–61. ISBN 978-0-8028-4945-8. Retrieved January 7, 2010.