Islam in Philippines: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines was occupied by Spain in 1565 andceded to the United States of America in 1898 following the SpanishAmerican War. It gained its independence from the US in 1946. It has atotal area of 340,575 sq km, consisting of 7,107 islands of which only3,144 are named. The largest is Luzon (104,688 sq km), with more thanhalf of the population and were the capital Manila and the largest city:Quezon City, are located. The second largest is Mindanao (94,630 sq km)where over a fifth of the population and two-third of Filipino Muslimslive. The largest of the remaining islands are Samar (13,080 sq km) 2% ofthe population, Negros (12,710 sq km) 5%, Palawan (11,785 sq km) 1%,Panay (11,515 sq km) 4%, Mindoro (9,735 sq km) 1%, Leyte (7,214 sq km)2%, Cebu (4,422 sq km) 3%, Bohol (3,865 sq km) 1%, Masbate (3,269 sqkm) 1%, , Catanduanes (1,492 sq km) 0.3%, Romblon (1,356 sq km),Basilan (1,282 sq km) 0.3%, Tawi-Tawi (1,087 sq km) 0.4%, Marinduque(953 sq km) 0.3% and Jolo (894 sq km) 1%.

Islam entered these Islands in 1380 through Karimul Makhdum, Arabtrader coming from Malacca in current Malaysia. Then more Muslimsfrom current Indonesia and Malaysia helped spread Islam in the Islands.Eventually three Muslim Sultanates covering the whole archipelagowere erected:

• Sulu Sultanate: was established in 1457 by Sayyid Abu Bakr Abirin,an Arab religious scholar from Johor in current Malaysia, and lasteduntil 1917. At its peak, it controlled the Malaysian state of Sabah, theSulu Archipelago, Palawan, Negros, Panay, Mindoro and Ilocosregion in northwest Luzon.
• Maguindanao Sultanate: was established in 1520 by ShariffMohammed Kabungsuwan from Johor and lasted until 1898. At itspeak, it controlled the entire Island of Mindanao.
• Manilad or Maynila Sultanate: was established in the sixteenthcentury on the Island of Luzon but ended by the Spaniards in 1571.The name Manilad was converted to the name Manilla upon theSpanish occupation, which is the current capital of the Philippines.

Based on census data and as shown in Table 2.4.7a, the Muslimpopulation increased from 0.28 million or 3.6% in 1903, to 0.44 million or4.2% in 1918, to 0.68 million or 4.2% in 1939, to 0.79 million or 4.1% in1948, to 1.32 million or 4.9% in 1960, to 1.58 million or 4.3% in 1970, to2.77 million or 4.6% in 1990, to 3.86 million or 5.1% in 2000, to 5.13million or 5.6% in 2010 and 6.06 million or 6.0% in 2015.

Assuming that the percentage of the Muslim population willcontinue to increase by a half of a percentage point each decade; then theMuslim population is expected to reach twelve million or 7.5% by 2050and eighteen million or 10.0% by 2100.

Over 90% of Filipino Muslims live in the southwest of thePhilippines, mainly in eastern half of Mindanao Island and the SuluArchipelago, while less than 0.5% of the rest of the Philippines isMuslim. Indeed, Table 2.4.7b shows the distribution and evolution of theMuslim population in the Philippines per island since 1903. Thepercentage of Muslims is increasing in virtually every island. Well over90% of the population in the Sulu Archipelago is Muslim. Close to a fifthof Mindanao’s population is Muslim, although the vast majority of themare in the east part of the island, where they constitute a third of thepopulation. Nearly a tenth of Palawan’s population is Muslim. However,the percentage of Muslims in the rest of the islands is well below 1%.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Philippines

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.