It was also cited that a descendant of the Arab sheikh named Maldhum Karim or Tuan Sharif 'Awliya ' arrived in Sulu in the mid-14th century. He established Islam in the country through trade in several regions of the island.
After that came an Arab preacher named Sheikh Abu Bakr or sharif al-Hashim from Makkah. He was known as knowledgeable in theology and shari’ah. His mission was to spread out the doctrines of one Abu Ishaq embodied in the book Darul Madlum (The House of Oppressed) within Malay world.
The Sheikh Abu Bakr initiated attempts to convert the inhabitants of the interior of Sulu (Buranuns) and is believed to have been successful. The coastal peoples and those of the interior of Sulu became slowly integrated into a political community under a central authority.
Sheikh Abu Bakr belongs to a sharif lineage, which is one of the descendants of Prophet Muhammad SAW. Later, he was inducted as the Sulu sultanate and ruled for 30 years in 1450-1480. The establishment of the sultanate assumes that a great number of the coastal inhabitants of Sulu had become Moslems and therefore responsive to such as Islamic institution.
Another sultanate had emerged in Mindanao by 1520 established by Sharif Kabungsuwan. Islam spread to Mindanao brought by 'Ali Zainal Abidin who was also known as "Kabungsuwan" which was a descendant of Syed' Awlawiyyah who have family ties with relatives king in Johor. 'Ali Zainal Abidin arrived in Cotabato in 1475.
All these sultanates from Sulu and Mindanao eventually lost their powers upon the establishment of a modern republican government set up by the Americans, and upon the birth of the Philippine state in 1946.
Arrival of Islam in Philippines
