Sulu’s First Woman Sultan

By Nash B. Maulana

WHO says Muslim society is dominated by "male chauvinists?"

A duel in the 17th century between a Tausug krisman and a kampilan-wielding warrior from Rajah Buayan would decide the fate of a young princess who would be the first and only female sultan in the history of Mindanao and Sulu. Sultan Muawil Wasit of Sulu had inevitably called for a sword fight in 1657 to decide whether his granddaughter Sittie Kabira should be raised in Sulu, after her mother died, or be brought by her father to his homeland in Rajah Buayan, the old upriver kingdom in Cotabato Valley. The sultan’s precondition pained the young princess’ father, Rajah Balatamay, as he would be sending one of his men to a duel against any of the Tausog warriors he once led in a tribal war in North Borneo.

Balatamay’s small group would have wanted to turn its back, if only to preserve diplomatic ties and the military and economic alliance among Maguindanao, Raja Buayan and Sulu, but Balatamay’s cousin, Datu Megkap, argued that the Tausugs would not begrudge them anyway, if they won or lost in a swordfight. On the other hand, it would be a disgrace to his kingdom if they did not acquiesce to the decision of his father-in law. Datu Megkap, great, great-grandfather of the Matalamsof Maguindanao, took the challenge and won. The sultan’s warrior was killed. At the end of the fight, the sultan admitted that he had based his decision on sheer emotion. It was probably a remorseful thought of the fact that one life less could no longer be revived.

Sittie Kabira

Despite the victory, Balatamay opted for a Solomonic decision to leave his daughter under the care of her grandfather. The young princess, Sittie Kabira, better known in Maguindanao as Pangian Ampay II, was crowned the Sultan of Sulu after her grandfather died. Though not much is known today about her reign, Kabira’s name remains in an extended salawat (prayer for the Prophets and their descendants and followers) in a traditional mosque in Maimbung, Sulu. But opposition to her assumption of the "masculine" title refuses to die. The name of Sultana Sittie Kabira in the succession of Sulu traditional leadership has disappeared in the contemporary version of the Sulu Sultanate’s Tarsiah, according to some traditionalists. They point to the opposition by the sultanate’s Ruma Bichara (Council) as probably the culprit. But except for an unwritten rule of supposed "male exclusivity," the council would have no legal basis in disqualifying her to assume the title. It would seem that the qualification of a sultan is silent about gender, according to traditionalist Datu Mama Dalandag, a great, great grandson of Rajah Balatamay and Datu Megkap. Based on the tradition of tarsila or genealogy, the sultan has to be bangsawan (royal) from the lineage of four grandparents, ilmawan (educated), rupawan (blessed with wisdom), altawan (affluent) and nonawan (personable). None of these would make her ineligible to hold the title of Sultan.

Buayan Kingdom

Sittie Kabira’s father, a suspect in the killing of Jesuit Alejandro Lopez at Sultan Kudarat’s palace in Maguindanao, sought asylum in the Sulu sultanate after the signing in 1645 of the Lopez-Kudarat Treaty. He married Pangian Ampay I, daughter of Rajah Bungsu, who was later crowned Sultan Muawil Wasit of Sulu. Maguindanao’s Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat was bound by Maguindanao’s truce with Spain and had to reprimand Balatamay for the crime, even if he was a cousin, childhood friend and most indispensable ally in Rajah Buayan. But even then, Balatamay would occasionally return to his Buayan Kingdom to fight Spanish forces upriver, while Kudarat engaged the invaders downriver, to as far as the coasts of Maguindanao, Lanao and Basilan.

Important document

The Lopez-Kudarat Treaty is a very important document even among secessionists of today because it defines the territorial boundaries between Maguindanao and the Spanish-claimed territories on Islas Filipinas (Philippines Islands). It also paved the way for the building of the first Catholic Church in Tamontaka near present-day Cotabato City, in 1733. According to the Spanish chronicler Francisco Combes, Balatamay slew Lopez on his way to the guest’s dormitory in Simuay (in the present-day Sultan Kudarat town) after being summoned by the sultan. It was said that Balatamay was opposed to Spain’s condition in the treaty that an embassy they wanted established in Maguindanao would at the same time be a Christian church near an entry port in Tamontaka. Sultan Muawil Wasit appointed Balatamay,the kampilan-wielding, battle-tested ligudan (martial artist), to lead his warriors in a 17th-century tribal war in North Borneo. The victory of the Tausogs in that war won for the Sulu Sultanate the Sabah territory.

Male chauvinism

Historians may have overlooked some important details on women’s role in a society of "male chauvinism" among Muslims in Southern Philippines. "(But) I have strong reason to believe that Rajah Potri (wife of Rajah Buayan’s Datu Utto) became the regent sultan of Maguindanao between 1888 and 1901, when there was a dispute between Spain and Maguindanao on who should succeed her father, Sultan Qudaratullah Untong," said journalist Datu Amir Baraguir, an heir apparent to the Maguindanao sultanate. Datu Baraguir says that on the basis of communiqués between Maguindanao and Spain (and later with America), Maguindanao had no reigning sultan in that 13-year period, so that Rajah Potri was a de facto sultan of Maguindanao "by assuming the leadership by regency." To this day, Sittie Kabira and Rajah Potri remain a model and inspiration to Muslim woman leadership, among many female leaders known in Muslim history in Asia and the rest of the world.

Muslim women leaders

Indeed, Muslim women leaders in Maguindanao, Lanao and Sultan Kudarat are most active in performing their inherited responsibilities from traditional influence more than elective positions. Take it from former Lanao Gov. Tarhata Alonto-Lucman and her daughter Normala Lucman, who also became vice governor of that province. Hadja Bai Salma Utto-Aziz is a mere barangay captain in Datu Piang, but her influence as far as the Maguindanaoans are concerned extends to as far as Metro Manila. The same is also said of Mayor Bai Dido Karon of Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat.

Even during the early period of Islam rule, affairs of the state affecting the Ahlul Bayt (Household of the Prophet) after the Prophet Muhammad were also referred to his daughter Hazrat Fatima. In his book, "The Principles of State and Government in Islam, "Muslim scholar Muhammad Asad concluded: "The Quran, sunnah (tradition), and Islamic history provide ample evidence of women undertaking various forms of political involvement from the bai’ah (elections) to fighting in battles to influencing political decisions in shura (consultation). Ignoring the contributions of Muslim women deprives our Islamic heritage of valuable role models while continuing the stagnation of Islamic thought. To exclude women from political involvement simply because they are women is an act of tribalism based on gender." The Prophet stated: "He is not of us who proclaims the cause of tribal artisanship . . ."

Then, whoever says Muslim women have fewer rights than men in their society?