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Philippines - Islam

The Spaniards called the Mohammedans in Spain Moors or Moros, and naturally gave the same name to the Mohammedans they found in the southern part of the Philippines. Centuries, possibly milennia, after Malay peoples had occupied the Philippines, the Malays of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and on the mainland of Asia, were converted to Islam by Arab missionaries. This happened not later than A. D. 1250. Certainly as early as 1400, a powerful Mohammedan Malay settlement was established on the west coast of Borneo. From this coast of Borneo adventurers and pirates brought Islam into the Philippines.

Filipino Muslims were firmly rooted in their Islamic faith. Every year many went on the hajj (pilgrimage) to the holy city of Mecca; on return men would be addressed by the honoritic "hajj" and women the honorific "hajji". In most Muslim communities, there was at least one mosque from which the muezzin called the faithful to prayer five times a day. Those who responded to the call to public prayer removed their shoes before entering the mosque, aligned themselves in straight rows before the minrab (niche), and offered prayers in the direction of Mecca. An imam, or prayer leader, led the recitation in Arabic verses from the Quran, following the practices of the Sunni sect of Islam common to most of the Muslim world. It was sometimes said that the Moros often neglected to perform the ritual prayer and did not strictly abide by the fast (no food or drink in daylight hours) during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, or perform the duty of almsgiving. They did, however, scrupulously observe other rituals and practices and celebrate great festivals of Islam such as the end of Ramadan; Muhammad's birthday; the night of his ascension to heaven; and the start of the Muslim New Year, the first day of the month of Muharram.

Islam in the Philippines has absorbed indigenous elements, much as has Catholicism. Moros thus make offerings to spirits (diwatas), malevolent or benign, believing that such spirits can and will have an effect on one's health, family, and crops. They also include pre-Islamic customs in ceremonies marking rites of passage--birth, marriage, and death. Moros share the essentials of Islam, but specific practices vary from one Moro group to another. Although Muslim Filipino women are required to stay at the back of the mosque for prayers (out of the sight of men), they are much freer in daily life than are women in many other Islamic societies.

Because of the world resurgence of Islam since World War II, Muslims in the Philippines have a stronger sense of their unity as a religious community than they had in the past. Since the early 1970s, more Muslim teachers have visited the nation and more Philippine Muslims have gone abroad--either on the hajj or on scholarships--to Islamic centers than ever before. They have returned revitalized in their faith and determined to strengthen the ties of their fellow Moros with the international Islamic community. As a result, Muslims have built many new mosques and religious schools, where students (male and female) learn the basic rituals and principles of Islam and learn to read the Quran in Arabic. A number of Muslim institutions of higher learning, such as the Jamiatul Philippine al-Islamia in Marawi, also offer advanced courses in Islamic studies.

Divisions along generational lines have emerged among Moros since the 1960s. Many young Muslims, dissatisfied with the old leaders, asserted that datu and sultans were unnecessary in modern Islamic society. Among themselves, these young reformers were divided between moderates, working within the system for their political goals, and militants, engaging in guerrilla-style warfare. To some degree, the government managed to isolate the militants, but Muslim reformers, whether moderates or militants, were united in their strong religious adherence. This bond was significant, because the Moros felt threatened by the continued expansion of Christians into southern Mindanao and by the prolonged presence of Philippine army troops in their homeland.

The cabinet-level National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) worked to promote the rights of Muslim Filipinos at both the national and local levels and supported the implementation of economic, educational, cultural, and infrastructure programs for Muslim Filipino communities. NCMF's Bureau of Pilgrimage and Endowment administers the Hajj (annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca). It is also responsible for the administration of awqaf (endowment properties) and institutions and the conduct of activities for the establishment and maintenance of Haji towns, Islamic centers, and other projects. The Presidential Assistant for Muslim Affairs helps coordinate relations with countries that have large Islamic populations and that contributed to Mindanao's economic development and the peace process.

By law public schools must ensure that the religious rights of students are protected. Muslim students are allowed to wear hijab (head coverings), and Muslim girls are not required to wear shorts during physical education classes. In many parts of Mindanao, Muslim students routinely attended Catholic schools from elementary to university level; these students were not required to receive religious instruction.

Approximately 14 percent of the Mindanao student population attended madrassah (Islamic schools). Government officials estimated there were more than 1,000 madrassah operating throughout the country. Of these more than half were located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). A total of 588 madrassah were registered with the NCMF, while 62 were registered with the Department of Education (DepEd). Registration with the NCMF or the DepEd is optional for madrassah but, if pursued, can lead to financial assistance from the government. Most madrassah did not meet the department's accreditation standards. The DepEd manages financial assistance to the madrassah system from local and international sources, and the DepEd's Bureau of Madrassah Education oversees education activities in the ARMM.

The government continued to implement its unified curriculum, designed to integrate madrassah into the national education system. In addition to the 62 madrassah registered with the DepEd, one madrassah in Mindanao was in the process of obtaining operation permits from DepEd at the end of the reporting period. DepEd ordered public elementary schools that had at least 15 Muslim students to begin offering Arabic language instruction and classes on Islamic values, but funding shortfalls and a lack of qualified Arabic teachers limited the reach of this initiative. During the 2009-10 school year, DepEd provided Arabic language instruction and Islamic values education, including textbooks on these subjects, to Muslim students in selected public elementary schools. In August 2009 DepEd began an assistance program with seed funding of 19 million Philippine pesos ($398,992) to private madrassah that have already adopted the standard madrassah curriculum. The department was still in the process of assessing grantees for possible funding support for school year 2010-11 at the end of 2011.

The government does not ban or discourage specific religious groups or religious factions. However, Muslims, who are concentrated in some of the most impoverished provinces, complained that the government had not made sufficient efforts to promote their economic development. Some Muslim religious leaders asserted that Muslims suffered from economic discrimination. The government's campaign against terrorist groups led some human rights NGOs to accuse the police and military of acting with bias in their treatment of Muslims.

The Code of Muslim Personal Laws recognizes Sharia (Islamic law) as part of national law; however, it does not apply in criminal matters, and it applies only to Muslims. Some ulama (Muslim community leaders) argued that the government should allow Islamic courts to extend their jurisdiction to criminal law cases, and some supported the MILF's goal of forming an autonomous region governed in accordance with Islamic law. As in other parts of the judicial system, the Sharia courts suffered from a large number of unfilled positions. All five Sharia district court judgeships and 39 percent of circuit court judgeships remained vacant. Aside from budget restrictions, judicial positions on the Sharia courts were particularly difficult to fill because applicants must be members of both the Sharia bar and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

Historically, Muslims have been alienated socially from the Christian majority, and some ethnic and cultural discrimination against Muslims has been recorded. Young Muslim professionals reported that some employers stereotyped Muslims as being less educated. Some Muslims reported that they had difficulty renting rooms in boarding houses or being hired for retail work if they used their real names or wore distinctive Muslim dress. Therefore, many resorted to adopting Christian pseudonyms and wearing Western clothing.

Over the past 60 years, efforts by the dominant Christian population to resettle in traditionally Muslim areas such as Mindanao have fostered resentment among many Muslim residents. Many Muslims viewed Christian proselytizing as another form of resettlement, with the intention of depriving Muslims of their homeland and cultural identity, including their religion.

Muslims, indigenous groups, and other citizens argue that electing senators from a nationwide list favored established political figures from the Manila area. Election of senators by region would require a constitutional amendment, which many Muslims and members of other groups underrepresented in the national legislature favored. There were no Muslim or indigenous senators and no Muslim or indigenous cabinet members. There were 11 Muslim members in the House of Representatives, mostly elected from Muslim-majority provinces, and one member of indigenous descent.