Читать книгу The History of Sulu - Najeeb M. Saleeby - Страница 28

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Brevity is without exception a marked characteristic of all Moro writings. Their letters, unlike those of the Malays and Arabs, are brief and devoid of compliment or detail.

It is very difficult to pick out a superfluous word or phrase from the text of the Sulu tarsila. In fact, the narrative of events throughout the manuscript is so curtailed as to be reduced to a mere synopsis of headlines. It gives a very dim view of the general subject and leaves out much that is desired. Thus, the whole question of establishing Islam in Sulu and organizing its sultanate is dispensed with in one short paragraph briefly enumerating the following facts: That Sayid Abu Bakr came to Bwansa from Palembang by the way of Bruney; that he lived with Raja Baginda and taught and established a new religion for Sulu; that he was greatly respected by the people; and that he married Paramisuli, the daughter of Baginda, and became sultan.

The traditions of the country, notwithstanding their brevity, add some further but less reliable information. It is the common belief that Abu Bakr was born in Mecca and that he lived some time at Juhur (or Malacca). Others state that it was his father, Zaynul Abidin, who came from Mecca and that Abu Bakr was born of the daughter of the Sultan of Juhur at Malacca. He came to Pangutaran first, the narrative continues, then to Zamboanga and Basilan. His younger brother, who had accompanied him, continued eastward to Mindanao, while he remained at Basilan for a short while. Having heard of Abu Bakr, the people of Sulu sent Orangkaya Su’il to Basilan to invite him to Bwansa to rule over them. This invitation was accepted and Abu Bakr was inaugurated sultan over Sulu soon after his arrival there.

From the annals of Malacca we know that Abu Bakr was a famous authority on law and religion and that his mission to Malaysia was prompted by enthusiasm for the promulgation of the doctrines of Abu Ishaq, which were embodied in a book entitled “Darul-Mazlum, or The House of the Oppressed or Ignorant.” After preaching these doctrines in Malacca with success, he evidently proceeded farther east, stopping at Palembang and Bruney and reaching Sulu about 1450. The hospitality with which he was received at Bwansa points to success in his mission to a degree that enabled him later to marry the Princess Paramisuli, the daughter of Raja Baginda. He established mosques there and taught religion and law; and the people and chiefs actually abandoned their former gods and practiced the new religion and observed its commandments. This process of reformation and conversion was no doubt slow and gradual, but it was real and sure.

There is no evidence to show that Abu Bakr had any military forces by virtue of which he could assume military authority and rule after Baginda’s death. But it is perfectly credible that Raja Baginda, being without a male heir, appointed Abu Bakr, his son-in-law and chief judge and priest, as his heir, and delegated to him all the authority he exercised over Bwansa and the Island of Sulu. This it appears was acquiesced in by the native chiefs who accepted Abu Bakr as their temporal overlord, as well as their spiritual master. Claiming descent from Mohammed, he assumed the powers of a caliph and entitled himself sultan. The Sulus as a rule refer to him as As-Sultan ash-Sharif al-Hashimi, meaning the Sultan, the Hashimite Sharif or noble. The words Mohammed and Abu Bakr are generally left out when he is mentioned in prayer or in ordinary discourse.

Having established the church, his next aim, after ascending the throne of Sulu, was the political reorganization of the government. This he undertook to frame on the same principles as those of an Arabian sultanate, giving himself all the power and prerogatives of a caliph. In enforcing such claims of absolute sovereignty, Abu Bakr declared to the people and their local chiefs that the widows, the orphans, and the land were his by right. This the people hesitated to submit to, and another measure was adopted which reconciled the interests of all parties. They agreed that all the shores of the island and all that territory within which the royal gong or drum could be heard should be the sultan’s personal property, and that the rest of the island should be divided among the subordinate chiefs and their people. The island was accordingly divided into five administrative districts, over each one of which one panglima exercised power subject to the supervision and superior authority of the sultan. These districts were again divided into smaller divisions, which were administered by subordinate officers or chiefs called maharaja, orangkaya, laksamana, parukka, etc. The districts were called Parang, Pansul, Lati, Gi’tŭng, and Lu’uk. The boundaries which it seemed necessary at that time to define were marked by large trees, none of which is living at present. Thus a sangay13 tree separated Parang from Pansul. The location of this tree was at a point near Bud Agad and the stream Agahun, which runs down from Tumangtangis toward Maymbung. A bawnu13 tree separated Pansul from Lati. This tree was located at a place called Indung, intermediate between Asturias and the walled town of Jolo. A mampalam13 tree called Tarak separated Lati from Lu’uk. It was in the vicinity of the settlement of Sū’. A variety of durian tree named Siggal-saggal formed the boundary of Lati and Gi’tŭng.

According to later usage, these districts are defined as follows: Parang is the western district lying west of a line passing through a point east of the summit of Tumangtangis and a point on the southern coast 3 miles west of Maymbung. A line passing through Mount Pula and a point a little east of Maymbung marks the boundary between Pansul on the west and Lati and Gi’tŭng on the east. The watershed is generally considered as the dividing line between Lati and Gi’tŭng. A line joining Sū’ on the north and Lubuk on the south separates Lati and Gi’tŭng from Lu’uk. A sixth district has lately been carved out and termed Tandu, forming the easternmost part of the island. A line joining Sukuban on the south and Limawa on the north divides Tandu and Lu’uk.

The government thus organized was conducted in conformity with local customs and laws modified to such an extent as not to be repugnant and contrary to Mohammedan laws and the precepts of the Quran. To preserve this consistency, a code of laws was made and promulgated by Abu Bakr. This, once established, became the guide of all the subordinate officers of the state, who, as a rule, observed it and carried out its instructions. The general lines on which Abu Bakr conducted his government seem to have been followed very closely by all his successors. Such an adventurous and aggressive man as he was could not have stopped within the limits of the island. In all probability he pushed out in various directions, but no records have so far been found which give any account of the conquests he made or the limits of his empire. Abu Bakr lived thirty years in Sulu and died about 1480.