Hadji Butu Hero

“ Deeds Make the Hero “

Hadji Butu Abdul Bagui

Hadji Butu was born in the Islamic city of Jolo in the year 1865. The exact date of his birth cannot be ascertained because the Muslim Filipinos do not keep track of time by the Gregorian calendar and also, customarily, they do not keep written records of births. Hadji Butu was of distinguished ancestry, for he was a descendant of Mantiri Asip, famous minister minister of Raja Baginda, Muslim prince from Sumatra who conquered Jolo in 1390. True to the finest tradition of his family, he served as prime minister to various sultans of Sulu.

Since early boyhood, Hadji Butu manifested his prodigious intellectuality. He began to study the Arabic language and the Qu’ran (Koran) at the age of six and

Butu was then only 16 years old. Despite his tender age, he was designated prime minister to the new sultan because of his knowledge of the Arabic language and the Qu’ranic law. A years later (1882), he accompanied Sultan Badarud on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Holy City of Islam in Saudi Arabia. This was his first visit to Mecca, and from this time on till his death he enjoyed the title of Hadji.

In Mecca, Hadji fraternized with the learned priests and scholars of Arabia, thereby improving his knowledge of the Arabic language, religion, and jurisprudence. Upon his return to Jolo (together with Sultan Badarud) in January, 1883, he came to be recognized as the foremost Taosug authority on Islamic law and theology.

On February 22, 1884, Sultan Badarud Din I died. The sultanate was plunged into the maelstrom of civil war, waged by rival claimants to the vacant throne - Raja Muda (Crown Prince) Amirul Kiram (half-brother of the deceased sultan), Datu Alipud Din, and Datu Harun al Raschid. Hadji Butu persuaded the majority of the Taosug datus to support Amirul Kiram.

The Spanish authorities intervened in the dynastic struggle and asked Raja Muda Amirul Kiram and Datu Harun to go to Manila. Amirul Kiram ignored the Spanish invitation, for he was advised by Hadji Butu not to heed the Spanish summon. “Remember what happened to Sultan Alimud Din I in 1749,” he reminded Amirul

he consistently refused Spanish demands to levy taxes In the sultanate for Spain for which reason the Spanish authorities became hostile to him. In 1892, while Hadji Butu was in Sandakan settling certain land troubles with the British government, the energetic mother of Amirul Kiram secretly intrigued with the Spanish authorities to replace Sultan Harun and exiled him to Palawan.

Upon his return to Jolo, Hadji Butu was persuaded by Governor-General Ramon Blanco to became once more prime minister of Amirul Kiram, who took the name Jamalul Kiram II when he ascended the throne in 1894. Two years later he accompanied the new sultan on a pilgrimage to Mecca. This was Butu’s second visit to Islam’s Holy City, which lasted one