Tawi-Tawi mosque, the country’s oldest, now a national landmark

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Residents of Tawi-Tawi were elated with the enactment of Republic Act 10573 declaring the country’s oldest Islamic worship site in the island town of Simunul a national historical landmark.

The mosque in Tubig Indangan, also called “Bohe Indangan” in the Samah dialect, was built in 1380 by Sheik Karimul Makdum, the first Arab missionary to set foot in the South to propagate Islam.

Makdum, who was also a trader in accounts of contemporary Moro historians, also established closely knit Muslim communities in Simunul and surrounding islands, which are now chartered towns of Tawi-Tawi, based on the Islamic concept of oneness of government and religion, and equality of all men, regardless of faith and race.

RA 10573 “is a big feat, a big honor for the people of Tawi-Tawi. We have prayed for this to happen,” said Tawi-Tawi Vice Gov. Hadja Ruby Sahali, who was elected representative of the province’s lone congressional district.

According to local historians, Makdum also established a strong Sharia justice system, the framework for governance that pagan leaders he convinced to embrace Islam used as guide in managing the affairs of their communities.

Simunul residents are known to have Arab descent, apparently resulting from Makdum’s intermarriage with local women. Arab missionaries who arrived after Makdum in Simunul also sired children with Samah and Tausog women, spreading further the island’s mixed-race lineage.

President Aquino, in signing RA 10573 last May 24, cited the government’s mandate to promote and popularize the country’s historical and cultural landmarks such as the Sheik Makdum Mosque.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman, who has jurisdiction over Tawi-Tawi, being a component area of the ARMM, said Makdum’s influence on Muslims in the South was so deep that many keep coming for a pilgrimage to the mosque that he built and to his grave, also in Simunul.

“But the trips to the mosque and grave of Sheik Makdum are being done only to show respect and recognition for his contributions to the building of the Muslim community in Southern Philippines, not to idolize him for idolatry is forbidden in Islam,” Hataman said.

RA 10573 enjoined the National Historical Commission to oversee and supervise the preservation of the Sheik Makdum Mosque.