Muhammad Kudarat

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Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat محمد دڤتوان كودرت‎
Bust at Rizal Park, Manila
7th Sultan of Maguindanao
Reign	1619–1671
Successor	Sultan Saifuddin Dundang Tidulay
Born	Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat 1581 Maguindanao
Died	1671 (aged 89–90) Simuay, Maguindanao
House	Al-'Aydarus
Father	Sultan Laut Buisan
Religion	Islam

Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat (or Muhammad di-Pertuan Kudrat; Jawi: محمد دڤتوان كودرت‎; 1581–1671) was the 7th Sultan of Maguindanao from 1619 to 1671.^[1]

He was a direct descendant of Shariff Kabungsuwan, a Malay-Arab noble from Johor who brought Islam to Mindanao between the 13th and 14th centuries.^[2] During his reign, he successfully fought off Spanish invasions and halted the spread of Catholicism on the island of Mindanao, much like the other Muslim rulers in the southern Philippines.

The Soccsksargen province of Sultan Kudarat is named after him, as is the municipality of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, where his descendants, who bear the title of datu, engage in present-day politics.

In the name and titles of Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat, Muhammad Dipatuan Kurlat in Maguindanaon or Muhammad di-Pertuan Kudrat in Malay, the Maguindanaon term Dipatuan is from the Malay title di-Pertuan which means "ruler" or "owner" and literally means "the one who has been made to rule".

The term Kudarat is ultimately from Arabic qudrat which means "power". This was sometimes pronounced as Kurlát in Maguindanao, following the regular sound changes from /d/ to /r/ and /r/ to /l/ for loanwords in the language, something that is also observed in other Philippine languages like Tagalog and Cebuano. This term is also present in Malay as kudrat.

In 1639, the Spaniards invaded the lands of the Maranaos. Kudarat hurried there to have a conference with the datus of Lake Lanao. He explained to them the effects of submitting to the Spaniards and appealed to Maranao pride and love of independence. In a matter of months, the Spaniards were forced to leave the lands of the Maranaos for safer parts towards Zamboanga, (Fort Pilar), and never ventured to inland Lanao again.

The famous speech of Sultan Kudarat is recorded by a Spanish ambassador to the Maguindanao Sultanate:

You men of the Lake! Forgetting your ancient liberty, have submitted to the Castilians. Such submission is sheer stupidity. You cannot realise to what your surrender binds you. You are selling yourselves into slavery to toil for the benefit of these foreigners. Look at the regions that have already submitted to them. Note how abject is the misery to which their peoples are now reduced. Behold the condition of the Tagalogs and of the Visayans whose chief men are trampled upon by the meanest Castilian. If you are of no better spirit than these, then you must expect similar treatment. You, like them, will be obliged to row in the galleys. Just as they do, you will have to toil at the shipbuilding and labor without ceasing on other public works. You can see for yourselves that you will experience the harshest treatment while thus employed. Be men. Let me aid you to resist. All the strength of my Sultanate, I promise you, shall be used in your defence! What matters it if the Castilians at first are successful? That means only the loss of a year's harvest. Do you think that too dear a price to pay for liberty?

True to the speech, the Maranao after offering patient defense, thereafter enjoyed 250 years of peace during the whole duration of Spanish withdrawal in the archipelago in 1899.

By the end of 1639, an understanding was also reached between Kudarat and Datu Maputi for a united front against the Spanish invaders. Datu Manakior, Datu of Tawlan, previously friendly with the Spaniards, at this time began to really suffer serious reverses in Mindanao with his European allies.^[3]

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  Historical marker of Sultan Kudarat in Cotabato City

Media related to Muhammad Kudarat at Wikimedia Commons

• Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat