Muhammad Kudarat

Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat (1581-1671) was the seventh sultan of Maguindanao in Mindanao, in the Philippines, reigning from about 1616 or 1619 until his death.¹ He was a direct descendant of Shariff Kabungsuwan, the Malay-Arab noble from Johor who brought Islam to Mindanao between the 13th and 14th centuries.¹ During his reign he successfully fought off Spanish invasions and halted the spread of Catholicism on the island, and the Philippine province of Sultan Kudarat and the municipality of Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao del Norte are named after him.¹²

After Sultan Laut Buisan died in 1616 the successor was expected by tradition to come from Lanao, but Kudarat, who aspired to the sultanate, lobbied the datus of Maguindanao and Lanao for support; Lanao seceded from Maguindanao in 1616 and the Lanao sultanates arose.¹ In 1619-1621 he allied with the Dutch East India Company, selling rice and captives, while playing the Dutch against the Spanish and aware that the Dutch meant to use him for their own imperial ends.¹ In 1637 Governor General Corcuera's expedition took his fort at Lamitan and breached its walls, but Kudarat escaped to the mountains, gathered strength and continued the fight.¹ The Arabic article reports that in 1656 Kudarat declared jihad on the Christians, and that he kept his authority undisturbed by the Spanish until his death.³

When the Spanish invaded the Maranao lands in 1639, Kudarat hurried to the datus of Lake Lanao and explained what submission to the Castilians would bind them to, appealing to Maranao pride and love of independence; within months the Spanish were forced to leave the Maranao lands and never ventured into inland Lanao again.¹ A Spanish ambassador to the sultanate recorded his famous speech, warning the men of the Lake that surrender meant slavery, the galleys and unceasing labour, and closing with the promise that all the strength of his sultanate would be used in their defence.¹ On 25 June 1645 Governor-General Diego Fajardo Chacón signed a treaty with Kudarat allowing Spanish missionaries to minister to Christians in Mindanao and a church to be built, and opening trade in the sultan's territories.¹

Kudarat died in 1671 at the age of 89-90 at Simuay, now part of the municipality of Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao del Norte.¹ Under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos he was made a Philippine national hero.²