ASAIN / FOLK LITERATURE OF THE MUSLIM CULTURAL COMMUNITIES / 1

FOLK LITERATURE OF THE MUSLIM CULTURAL COMMUNITIES

The Muslim cultural communities may be classified into thirteen (13) major ethno-linguistic groups.
These are the: Jama Mapuns of Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi; the Iranons of Cotabato; the Kaagans of Davao
del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental; the Kalibugans of Zamboanga; the Maguindanaos of
Maguindanao; the Maranaos of Marawi; the Palawanons and Molbogs of Palawan; the Samas of Tawi-
Tawi; the Sangils of Sarangani; the Tausugs of Sulu; the Yakans of Basilan, and the Bangingis of Tongkil
and Zamboanga.
The Iranon, Kaagan, Kalibugan, Maranao and Maguindanao live in mainland Mindanao. The rest
of the Muslim cultural communities such as the Jama Mapun, Palawanon, Molbog, Sama, Sangil, Tausug,
and the Yakan reside in the island provinces, except for the Bangingis, who can be found both in
mainland Mindanao, that is, in Zamboanga and in Tongkil, which is an island municipality of the
province of Sulu.
Each Muslim cultural community has its own inventory of folk literature, which, in more ways
than one, displays unique and peculiar traits, features, and qualities. These distinctions distinguish one
Muslim cultural community from another. Yet, all these communities are unified by their Islamic faith,
which has already pervaded many aspects of their folk literature since Islam is a way of life. Regardless of
cultural community, all Filipino Muslims belong to one Ummah Muslimah.
In general, the folk literature of Muslim cultural communities in Mindanao, the Philippines, may
be in prose or in verse. But the style and form of expression may vary from one Muslim cultural
community to another, what with the various languages that the people speak. These oral literary forms
may be didactic, hortatory, entertaining, instructive, or informative.
Folk literature as is literature in general is universal. All peoples on earth have their own folk
literature to speak of. Folk literature in Mindanao Muslim cultural communities as in other Filipino
groups follow the oral tradition in that folktales, myths, legends, epics, poems, riddles and proverbs are
handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Moreover, as is true of folk literature of
other peoples, folk literature in the Muslim cultural communities has a participatory audience. The
audience listens, reacts, and retells what he or she hears to another audience, thereby ensuring the
transmission of the folk literary material to others. Authorship is not individual; it is collective.
Apparently, what the Muslim cultural communities must build and develop eventually is a body of
written literature just like other Filipinos.
Folk literary genres in Muslim cultural communities may include folktales, myths, legends,
fables, ballads, poems, riddles, proverbs, and epics. Basically, the problem that easily comes to mind is
the lack of access to the textual materials of these oral genres, if not their absence. Most have yet to be
collected and documented. Some literary scholars and researchers have started doing so, but their efforts
come far between. Worse, many of these scholars hail from foreign lands. For the efforts to be sustainable,
the Filipino Muslims themselves must spearhead the move to protect and preserve their folk literature,
which is an integral part of the Filipino national literary heritage.
The people themselves are not seemingly aware that their cultural products are fast vanishing.
Literary preservation and development have seemingly taken the back seat. At present, what seemingly
preoccupy the people are mundane considerations such as politics and economics. While these are indeed
important, the Filipino Muslim cultural communities must realize the significance of their literature in
their lives in that it helps preserve the richness and uniqueness of their respective cultural identities.
Another sad reality is the difficulty in locating literary cultural bearers. Many are getting older
each day; others have moved out of their original cultural communities for one reason or another. Others
are dead. The earlier the indigenous peoples realize this, the better.
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THE FOLKTALES

The various Muslim cultural communities are indeed proud of their cultural heritage. Each one of them
has a number of cultural products such as the folktales, which are on every raconteur’s lips. From Marawi
to Tawi-Tawi, every Muslim Filipino has a story to tell, which has been transmitted to him or her by word
of mouth across generations. It can be a fairy tale, an animal tale, an anecdote, or a trickster’s tale.
Every Muslim cultural community has a number of raconteurs bearing two or three or more
folktales. You can find them in the rural Muslim cultural communities or in even urban centers. Their
stories have been transmitted to them by older members of their respective families, friends, and
acquaintances, some of whom have already died. Raconteurs can be young and old, men or women.
Besides their entertainment value, the folktales serve other purposes. They preach and prescribe.
To researchers of antiquity, they may shed light on the changes that their creators have seen, learned, and
experienced in their cultural milieu through time. This is so because the tales are of multiple existence
and authorship, and contain the cultural elements, features, or traits prevalent during which they have
been told and retold across generations even as raconteurs belonging to another time or milieu integrate
cultural features prevalent in their own age or epoch.
Folktales of the Muslim cultural communities are indeed dynamic – a far cry from their written
counterparts, that is, the modern short stories, which are dormant, whose contents remain fixed once
recorded or published. Moreover, short stories are read in the privacy of the readers’ rooms. Conversely,
the folktales are told to a lively audience, who reacts and asks questions in the process of telling or
retelling.
It seems that close geographical proximity and closely related ancestral past manifest in the way
cultural communities identify their folktales. The Jama Mapun and Sama, for example, call their tales as
kana-kana – a slight difference from how the Tausug call theirs, which is katakata. As to who imitated
whom or as to who dominated whom in the past thereby commanding the influence cannot be easily
established without getting into some prejudiced trap. Hence, it is enough to say that the Jama Mapun,
Sama, and the Tausug used to belong to the same province until former President Ferdinand E. Marcos
issued Presidential Decree No. 302 on September 27, 1973, segregating Sulu, where the Tausug live, and
Tawi-Tawi, where the Jama Mapun and Sama come from, as separate provinces.
How the Maranao, Maguindanao and Iranon call their tales is parallel to the Tausug, Sama, and
Jama Mapun experience. The Maranao call their tales as totol; the Iranon, tudtol; the Maguindanao,
tudtolan. It is improper to say which group dominates. But in the field of politics and education, the
Maranao seem to have the upper hand. The Kaagan of Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur and Davao del
Norte call their tales as oman-oman. Note that the term is reduplicated – similar to the kata-kata of the
Tausugs and the kana-kana of the Jama Mapuns and Samas. Any links? It is interesting to discover that
some Kaagans have roots in Sulu.
The most common folktales among the Tausug are those revolving around the lives of the
people’s sultan. A tale about one sultan, for example, has many variants or versions in different parts of
the province of Sulu. One version found in the municipality of Indanan is entitled Manuk-manuk
Bulawan. Other versions of this folktale are entitled Agta’ and Datu’ Dakula’. Other municipalities have,
likewise, produced new versions.
For the Maranao, the agamaniyog folktales are quite popular among the people. These tales are,
to a large extent, about their sultans and their families and their relationships with their subjects. Their
way of life, their customs and traditions, and other cultural features found in the Maranao cultural
inventory are reflected in the agamaniyog folktales.
The trickster’s tales are also common in practically all Muslim cultural communities. In Sulu,
these are identified as the Posong or Pusung tales. In the Tausug trickster’s tale, the key character Pusung
always deceives the sultan and gets away with it. He also succeeds in tricking other members of the royal
family including the sultan’s wives and his beautiful daughters. Apparently, trickster’s tales in the
Tausug community are meant to entertain by making the audience laugh. Some local analysts, however,
say that this is one way to get even on the part of the commoners, considering the immensity of the
sultan’s powers and the grandeur of his position and person.
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MYTHS AND LEGENDS

If folktales are purely secular in nature, myths and legends as far as the Muslim cultural communities are
concerned, have religious overtones. The people identify myths and legends as cut out of the same cloth.
Some would even subsume them as folktales. How they are called differs, however, from one cultural
community to the other.
Again, Muslim cultural communities having close interaction, whether social, political or
economic, make use of the terms used in a cultural community, which is fairly dominant in number.
Those who live quite far-off from the major Muslim groups have evolved their own literary terminology.
The Kaagan of Davao and Sangil of Sarangani are obvious examples. They are rather influenced by other
groups, which are geographically accessible. For instance, the Kaagan call their legends as kapunopuno
or kasugod sugod, which sounds Bisaya. Myths to them are oman-oman or gugudanun. The Sama of
Tawi-Tawi adopt the Tausug terminology. The Jama Mapun call their legends as uduhan, the term
having a slight resemblance to the Tausug’s usulan.
Striking similarity is observed among the three mainland Mindanao Muslim groups, which are
geographically proximate: the Iranon, Maguindanao and Maranao. They do not seemingly have a
distinction between myths and legends. Some Maranao would call myths and legends as toltol as they do
with folktales. In terms of legends, the Maranao call these as totolan. The Maguindanao and Iranon have
evolved a slightly different name for legends; they call these as tudtolan. Why the Iranon, use the
Maguindanao word and not the Maranao word, perhaps requires some explaining to do, which could be
in the realm of cross-cultural linguistics.
The Tausug, Maranao, and Yakan consider important landmarks in their provinces as source of
legends. They may be their highest peaks, lakes, or their very own provinces.
The Tausug call themselves as the people of the current. Tau means people and Sug means sea
current. Their favorite legend is the “kaawn of Bud Tumantangis.” Bud Tumantangis or Mount
Tumantangis is the highest peak in the province. It stands above sea level by 853 meters. Tumantangis
comes from the root word tangis, which means to cry in English, and bud means mountain. Many
Tausugs say that Mount Tumantangis is called as such because sailors almost always cry when they lose
sight of it as the ship sails away; or when they return, upon seeing even just its silhouette from afar.
The Maranao Lake is loved not only by Maranao but by other Filipinos as well because of its
grandeur and grace. Looking at it from the Mindanao State University main campus, one is prone to
think it is an open ocean. To the Maranao, it is a source not only of pride but also of their origin. They are
called Maranao because they live around this great lake.
On the other hand, it is somewhat difficult for the Iranon to associate their legend with their
province. Their legends are closely related to those of the Maranao and Maguindanao. But as other
Muslim cultural communities do have many legends about well known and favorite spots in their areas,
so certainly do the Iranon.
The Yakan call their legends, as usul, quite similar to the Tausug’s usulan. Yakan legends revolve
around their province, which is Basilan and why they are called Yakan. One informant says that the word
Basilan comes from basi’ meaning iron and lan meaning way or road, which is dan to the Tausugs.
As for the Yakan, referring to the people of Basilan, many legends are being alluded to as why
the Yakan are called as such. One informant says it is derived from Yakal, which refers to durable timber
in Yakan and which abounds in Basilan. Another stresses that it originated from Spanish source, which
relates a story about a Spaniard who met a Filipino soldier referring to a child nearby as “iyak ng iyak.”
So, the Spaniards called the people as Yakan. This has produced the present motto that Yakans are no
longer the crying tribe, but a rising tribe since the provincial leaders are now all Yakan.

EPICS, BALLADS, AND POETRY

Many informants in the Muslim cultural communities would summarily call compositions in verse as
instant compositions. This could be due to the fact these are already mastered by the chanters, reciters or
singers, who can perform at the spur of the moment. Then, too, epics, ballads, and poems are
interchangeably chanted, sung or recited, depending on what particular Muslim community the chanters,
reciters or singers belong to.
Epics in most Muslim cultural communities are yet to be found, collected, identified, and
consequently documented. Apparently, this sad reality is spawned by the lack of informants or tellers. It
could also be due to the absence of enterprising researchers. In other communities, epic bearers have died
or have moved to another place as a result of the deterioration of peace and order and other reasons.
As of the present, three major Muslim groups have identified their epics, through the help of
enterprising researchers. The Maranao have their Bantugan; the Maguindanao, Indarapatra at Solayman;
and the Tausug, Parang Sabil hi Abdulla iban hi Isara.
Some literary personages, in the case of the Tausug epic, have refuted that Parang Sabil hi
Abdulla iban hi Isara is an epic; to them, it is just a mere ballad. But we must bear in mind here that in
some communities, ballads and epics could mean the same thing. Aliyanapiya could be a possible Tausug
epic, too,but its text has yet to be found. The Parang Sabil hi Abdulla iban hi Isara could very well qualify
as a Tausug epic because it is also sung and in verse.
Ballads may be classified as folk songs, because they tell stories as they are sung. They, likewise,
belong to the narrative genre. Ballads of other nations are oftentimes lyrical. Just like other folk literary
genres, ballads are handed down by word of mouth. Ballads in the Muslim cultural communities rhyme.
They are always solo and sung with gabbang, kulintang or biyula as simple accompaniment. In the
Muslim cultural communities, ballads, more often than not, suggest a story. When we speak of ballads in
the various Muslim cultural communities, we refer to the traditional ones, which are handed down from
one generation to the next by word of mouth.
Most ballads in Muslim cultural communities are more of the historical type than lyrical. These
are usually sung and arranged in quatrains. Historical ballads usually feature important historical
personalities, whose heroic deeds inspire the natives.
Contemporary ballads as in the case of the Tausug ballads reflect recent and famous Tausugs,
who have made history in their political and ideological struggles.
It is a fact that particularly all facets of folk narratives have already been pervaded by the
people’s Islamic faith. As such, there are many religious ballads as there are many historical ballads.
These religious ballads tell of the virtues of Islam as a religion. If the ballad narrates a historical
personality and his deeds, these are oftentimes in the defense of Islam and its propagation. Religious
ballads in Muslim cultural communities are, therefore, hortatory or didactic.
The fact that epics, ballads and other poems are in verse makes some Muslim cultural
communities, if not all of them, call these by the same name. In the Tausug Muslim cultural community,
the singers would usually reel off their performance by saying “Hi tarasul ta hi kissa, in manga waktu
masa….” (let’s compose it in poems or ballads, a time long past…”) Maranao and Maguindanao
informants, when asked by what name they would call their epics, would cite the names of their epic
heroes such as Indarapatra at Sulayman or Bantugan instead of saying the equivalent of “epic” in their
own tongues.
Ballads are called in Tausug as kissa. The Jama Mapun and the Sama adopt the Tausug term. The
Kaagan call it the darangan or bayok. The Maguindanao and Iranon call their ballads as dayunday and
sometimes bayok, too. The Palawanon call their ballads as toltol, the same name they would use for
folktales. For poems, the Maranao call them bayok, and so do the Iranon. The Maguindanao call poems as
bayokan. Tarasul is the Tausug term for poems, and the Jama Mapun and Sama use the same term to
signify a body of compositions called poetry. The Kaagan call their poems as dawut by which the same
name the epics go.
Considering the various musical forms that they render, the Yakan could be considered as the
music lovers among the Muslim cultural communities. The following are various Yakan songs: the
katakata, which is a lackadaisical melody that reflects the pain and suffering of somebody who has lost a
 ASAIN / FOLK LITERATURE OF THE MUSLIM CULTURAL COMMUNITIES / 5
loved one; the lunsey, a top tune of sort that resembles the Tagalog harana; the sail, which relates a story
and may be sung during weddings and burials, the subject matter suited to the nature of the affair; the
nahana, which relates an ancestral story; the kissa, which is about royal families; and the jamiluddin,
which is a person’s name in Tausug, is a song to the Yakan, usually sung in a game called
magdarapanyu’. The katakata for the Tausug is an oral narrative, which is told to an audience. But to the
Yakan, as indicated above, it is a song.

PROVERBS AND RIDDLES

Proverbs and riddles must be very common and abound in the Muslim cultural communities. When
asked how these are called in their communities, informants would be able to give answers without
staring blankly at the sky. Proverbs and riddles in the Muslim cultural communities as are in other
cultural groups are the simplest genres of folk literature. Both forms of oral literature strike a kind of
intellectual exercise on the part of the audience. They are highly figurative in the use of language, and
they possess an intense quality that stimulates the mind.
The Kaagan of Davao, despite their distance from their fellow Muslims in Lanao, Maguindanao
and Cotabato, use almost the same term for riddles. They call them antokanon. Note that the
Maguindanao call their riddles as antoka. The Maranao have three different names for riddles:
kapamagantoka, antoka, pasoalan, or limpangan. The Iranon call their riddles as kapagantoka, which is
quite close to kapamagantoka of the Maranao. All these cultural communities live in mainland Mindanao.
Living in the islands accessible to each other, the Jama Mapun, Sama, Tausug, Molbog, and the
Palawanon of Palawan call their riddles by almost the same names, if not identical. The Palawanon call
their riddles as igum. The Tausugs Samas, and Jama Mapun call theirs as tigum-tigum. There is another
name for tigum-tigum in Sulu: tukud-tukud. Both the Sama and the Jama Mapun are, likewise, familiar
with the term tukud-tukud. Knowing why the Palawanon have shortened the reduplicated tigum-tigum
into just igum could be very interesting. Have they derived this from tigum-tigum, or is it the Tausug,
who have reduplicated igum into tigum-tigum? The migration of Muslim from one community to the
other may shed light on this development.
Just like other Muslim Cultural Communities, the Yakan also have their folk speeches such as the
proverbs and riddles. Proverbs are called saknahan or dalilan, quite different from the Tausug, who call
proverbs as masaalla or dalil akkal despite their geographical proximity. The Yakan call their riddles as
untukan, which slightly resembles the Kaagan’s antokanon and Maguindanao’s antoka.
Below are examples of Yakan proverb and riddle:

Ini ini hinang nu

Whatever you do (in life)

Aa magdimbuwa luma
Gai migkitaluwi

There are two siblings

Now, let us compare these with the Tausug proverb and riddle below:

In hinang sin baran

The act of the self

Duwa magtaymanghud
Di’ mag-kita-I

(There are) two siblings

It can be gleaned that the difference between the aforementioned examples of Yakan and Tausug
proverbs and riddles lies only on the languages used. The meanings of the proverbs and riddles cited
above are identical. To explain this similarity calls for taking into consideration the geographical
proximity of the Yakan, who live in the province of Basilan and the Tausug, who live in the province of
Sulu. Only a few miles separate the two provinces. Then, too, we must remember that there are many
Tausug in Basilan, and Bahasa Sug is one of the languages spoken in the province. Historically speaking,
we must likewise recall that Basilan used to be under the domain of the Sultanate of Sulu for a very long
time.