Paying Respect to Independence of the "Invisible" Muslim Filipino

Back in December when the author first arrived in the Philippines, his spoke of Muslims in Malaysia at his first dinner with his real estate agent in the local shopping mall.  The first reaction of the real estate agent, a good Catholic Filipino, born and brought up in an exclusively Catholic environment, was to express his detestation of Muslim food.  "Those Muslims are so filthy...I cannot eat their food...I'm afraid I might get sick."  His straightforward condescension toward the country's Muslim minority (less than 5%, concentrated in the deep-south island of Mindanao) was simply shocking.

But perhaps whats more interesting than the outright discrimination Muslims seem to face is that the Muslims themselves are actually nearly completely absent from mainstream Filipino public life.  While Chinese-Filipinos (at 1.5% of Filipino population) still seem to be ever present in the business and political circles, there seem to be not a Muslim in sight as far as everyday life here in Manila goes.  And as far as the author can find out, it seems that not many Catholic Filipinos come in contact with Muslims, much less have Muslims that they call good friends.

And ignorance, wise people would say, is the perfect breeding ground for hatred.  Despite Filipino Muslims being in the news repeatedly in the past couple of months (from Malaysian-brokered peace between Filipino government and the Bangsamoro Muslim independence movement down south to followers of the historical but now defunct Sulu Sultanate invading Malaysian state of Sabah), the mainstream view of Muslims among Catholic majority remains largely grounded in fundamentally anti-Muslim religious traditions of Spanish Reconquista traditions.

How can prejudice be suppressed when there are yearly festivals openly celebrating Metamoros (literally of "killing of Muslims") without a single voice of opposition from a largely detached and socially isolated Muslim community, who, in their efforts to establish their own homeland, are only becoming more and more associated with violence and terror just as they are in the rest of the world.  And without enough demographic or economic mass to influence major political decisions, the Muslim existence in the Philippines seem all but doomed to be forced into the obscurity of social second-class.

To witness such lives, the author had to trek into various areas of the great metropolis to seek out the presence of the downtrodden Muslim, leading lives of constant quiet abuse by the majority in a land that they called home for centuries as descendants of Arab traders (who monopolized the East Indies spice trade before the advent of European colonialism and Filipino Catholicism).  To no surprise, the author found them as they should be: small merchants who sells to the majority but, at the same time, fiercely maintains an independent identity and refuses to assimilate.

Unlike with some of the Chinese-Filipinos, telling apart who is Muslim, even in a crowded street market, is simple.  Their hats, scarves, and flowing white garments stand out beautifully in a sea of cheap and colorful T-shirts and jeans.  Underneath their stern cautiousness with which they survey their surroundings, they peddle perhaps the most valuable, and most organically Filipino, wares on the market.  Their pearl necklaces, made from fresh catches of the deep south, and textiles, colored in patterns unseen in most of Philippines, clearly distinguish them from a sea of apples and cheap toys.

These Muslims are by no means rich, and none has been able to attain the sort of economic dominance that the Chinese here has.  But their quiet independence and determination to not lose their own in what seems like a foreign, hostile environment are all the more respectful than any economic domination can bring.  Perhaps to the average Catholic Filipino, this does not mean all that much as they would not come across a Muslim in everyday life anyways.  But for the third-party observer, it is a sign that despite all odds, the Muslim community will continue to defy all means of assimilation.

Maybe the Catholic Filipino can learn few things from the Muslim.  The words that the real estate agent used against Muslims over dinner are exactly the same ones many condescending foreigners used against the Catholic Filipino.  In response, the Catholic Filipino developed a sense of inferiority and crumbled into a behavior of servile "friendliness."  Faced with similar situation, the Muslim Filipino stood firm in self-pride, unwavering displaying a cultural independence that are almost designed to stand out.  The author found himself unable to resist the beauty of that raggedness.

Comments

  1. Good post. The politically incorrect question to ask would be why have the Muslim minority in the Philippines not "succeeded" as well as their Chinese Filipino compatriots? But regardless, their pride in the face of open prejudice is admirable. It's a consequence of haphazard European map-drawing that they are a tiny group in a strongly Catholic country rather than part of the Muslim mass in Malaysia or Indonesia...

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  2. depends on how you define "success". If the measure is to maintain their own identity, the Muslims here are much more successful than the Chinese. The Chinese here intermarried locally so much that for most of them, its difficult to tell they are actually part Chinese unless you look at the last name...

    But, honestly, living out here in SE Asia, one realizes that the Muslims (Malays, Bruneians, Indonesians, and these Muslim Filipinos) are much much more steadfast in resisting Western (or to a lesser extent, East/South Asian) influences than non-Muslims (whether it be the Filipinos, the Chinese, the Thais, etc) It may very well be a sign that Islam is a much more self-protecting religion than say, Catholicism or Buddhism.

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  3. Yeah, I've tended to notice that too. Unfortunately, too often that often translates into spurning modern developments that are associated, rightly or wrongly, with Westernism. Just came back from Northern Nigeria, and this was why it was frustrating as hell...

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  4. Culture is really different up there, right?

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  5. salam, have you ever come across a Filipino Chinese Muslim, would appreciate a contact email, thanks

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  6. Indeed. I thought the northeast was more than a bit dangerous then, but Boko Haram's actions in the past few months has proved that the ceiling for danger in that region is quite high.

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