Introduction of Islam

Two prominent men responsible for the rise of Islam in Sulu and Mindanao were Karimal Mahdum and Rajah Baginda. Mahdum was an Arab missionary and scholar who arrived in the Malay Peninsula and founded Islam in the city of Malacca. Having made Malacca an Islamic state, Mahdum then sailed east and reached Sulu archipelago and there laid the foundations of Islam.

Ten years after Mahdum death, Rajah Baginda, a prince from Sumatra, led an army of Muslim invaders to Sulu. He settled at Bwansa, the old capital of Sulu, and from there he preached Islam religion to the natives.

About A.D. 1450, Sayid Abu Bkar, a Muslim leader from Palembang , Sumatra, landed in Sulu and married Princes Bramisuli, a daughter of Rajah Baginda. After Baginda's death, Abu Bkar founded the sultanate of Sulu with himself as sultan. Islam rapidly spread to all parts of Sulu during his reign.

The Muslim conquest of mainland Mindanao was led by Sharif Kabungsuan, from Johore, Malaysia. He landed in Cotabato in 1475 and converted its people to Islam. He then married Putri (Princes ) Tunina, a native princes, and proclaimed himself the first sultan of Mindanao. From there Islam spread rapidly to the Visayas and even to Luzon.