THE INSTITUTION OF THE JURAMENTADO
By: Cesar Majul
In connection with the wars between the Spaniards and the Muslims in the Philippines,
especially in the second half of the last century, there was an institution which, however, was
not fully understood by the Spaniards. This what they called “juramentado,” literally meaning
a person who had taken an oath. Originally the term was used to refer to (a) Muslim warriors
who, after specific religious rites and a night of prayer with panditas, would on the net day rush
at the Christian with the determination to kill as many as possible and not to expect to return
alive.
The overriding hope of such dedicated warriors was to merit paradise as a
recompense. The term was also used to refer to (b) Muslim warriors who battled with such
religious ferocity such that they had been judged as fanatical by their enemies. In time, the
term came to be used loosely to refer to (c) any Muslim who killed someone in the heat of
passion or (d) any Muslim who instead of committing suicide, courted death by attacking and
trying to kill law enforcement agents who were presumably Christians. Clearly, in (c) and (d),
there are no religious motives involved and the use of the term juramentado: in them represent
a departure from the original meaning. For the purposes of the following discussion, the term
will be more properly applied to.
First of all, it is necessary to make a distinction between an amuck and a juramentado. The
high degree of spontaneity, the indiscriminate choice of victims, and an absence of the
religious motive mark the former. An early account of an amuck given by a foreigner around
1605 is as follows.
If any Javan have committed a fact worthy of death and that he be pursued
by
any, whereby think he shall die, he will presently draw his weapon
and cry Amucke, which is as much (as) to say: I am resolved; not sparing
to further either man, woman, or children which they can possibly come
ordinary weapon … Which they weare is called a crise.
A later but a more elaborate description is what written by Crawford.
The spirit of revenge, with an impatience of restraint, and a repugnance to
submit to insult, more or less felt by all the Indian islanders, give rise to those
acts of desperate excess which are well known in Europe under the name of
mucks. This peculiar form of exacting revenge, unknown to all other people
yet universal in the Indian islands, and recognized throughout by the same
name, I strongly incline to suspect may at first have been an arbitrary institution,
and have spread like other general customs by the influence of one great tribe.
A muck generally means as an act of desperation, in which the individual or
individuals devote their lives, with few or no chances of success, for the
gratification of their revenge. Sometimes it is confined to the individuals who
has offered the injury; at other times it is indiscriminate, and the enthusiast, with
a total aberration of reason, assails alike the guilty and the innocent.
On other occasions, again the oppressor escapes, and the muck consists in the
oppressed parry’s raking the lives of those dearest to him, and then his own,
that they and he be freed from some insupportable oppression and
cruelty…The most frequent mucks, by far, are those in which the desperado
assails indiscriminately friend and foe, and in which disheveled hair and frantic
look, he murders or wounds all he meets without distinction until he is himself
killed… One of the most singular circumstances attending these acts of
criminal desperation is the apparently unpremeditated, and always the sudden
and unexpected manner in which they are undertaken.
Tom Pires, Ludovico de Varthema, and Ramusio made a few references to amucks
but failed to make a finer distinction between them and those “Javanese knights” who were
resolved to risk their lives in duels or instances involving their pride and honor. The genuine
amuck is ultimately a problem for psychiatry. Instances of him are frequently reported in the
Manila newspapers; frequently, disgruntled soldiers in the Philippine army or enraged jealous
husbands have run amuck and killed their loved ones for real or imagined grievances.
Proportionally speaking there is the probability that there are more amucks among the
Christians than among the Muslims in the Philippines.
A few knowledgeable Spanish officers made a distinction between Muslims warriors
who fought bravely in war from those “who had taken a bow” to kill as many Christian invaders
as possible until they themselves got killed. The latter fought individually or in a small group,
and they were the ones originally called “juramentados.” However, Spanish officers did not
know the full significance of the motives of the latter. To know this, a knowledge of some
elements of Islamic law and history is essential.
In early Islamic law, the world was conceived as having been divided into two:
Darul-Islam (the abode or territory of Islam) and dar ul-Harb (the abode or territory of war). In
Darul-Islam the sovereign was a Muslim and Islamic Law he sways. Theoretically, it was a
duty of Muslims to extend the frontiers of Darul-Islam to cover the whole world to banish
unbelief in it. A function of the Jihad was precisely this. However, as history demonstrates,
a time came when Islamic frontiers could not be extended further. In some cases, it even
receded. In places where Islam retreated, the function of the jihad was to prevent parts of da
ul-Islam from falling into the hands of unbelievers. Islamic jurists made careful distinctions
between those duties required in extending the frontiers of Islam from those defending them or
avoiding their diminution. In the first, it was not necessary to have women fight. But in the
second, participations were a positive induction incumbent on all believers.
When
Darul-Islam was invaded, its defense as collective effort normally felt under the leadership of
the khalif or sultan. But the jihad here was both an individual and collective effort.
Consequently, should the sultan fails in the organized defense of the realm, the individual was
not to consider himself relieved of the duty to resist the unbelieving invaders. Thus, in the
original and strictest sense of the word, the juramentado was merely performing such and
individual duty.
In Darul-Islam, all non-Muslims were either protected minorities (dhimmis) or under
the protection of a visa (aman); the latter was a development after it became clear that Islam
had reached its territorial limits and at the same time it was also deemed necessary to have
diplomatic and economic relations with other countries. In the 1876-78 war between the
Spaniards and the Sulus, the former was able to forcibly occupy a few points in the Sulu
Archipelago including Jolo where they were able to build a fort. In time many of the soldiers
brought their families with them to live in the fortified section of the town. Clearly, such
invaders and their families, from the standpoint of the Muslims, were neither dhimmis nor
under the protection of an aman. At the same time, since the Sulu sultan proved incapable of
preventing the occupation of Jolo, many panditas encouraged Muslims to take it as a matter of
individual duty to repel the invaders. This was to be done by attacking isolated Spanish
soldiers or their families. In some way, such efforts complemented the resistance of the
Sultan who was in the interior; but what is important to note here is that such performance of
an individual duty was a recognition of the Sultan’s ineffectual defense.
The premeditated character of the act of performing such an individual duty can
clearly be seen in the rites accompanying it, its recourse to Islamic terminology, the
symbolisms involved, and the function of the ulama in its performance. The person who had
vowed to perform the individual duty was technically called a mujahid (Lit. one who strives, or
performs jihad); upon his death, he was called shahid (Arabic martyr). On the eve of the day
set for the performance of the duty, the mujahid was completely shaved off his hair and
eyebrows.
He then went through a complete ritual bathing as a symbol of purification
followed by dressing completely in white. Sometimes, he wore a small white turban. The
color here is that of mourning, and the clothing signified the burial shroud. The mujahid would
spend the evening in prayer in the company of panditas who would not only recite Qur’anic
verses but probably other local prayers not entirely devoid of pre-Islamic elements. The work
Prang Sail-ulah (Fighting in the way of Allah) with its exhortations and description of Paradise
was read to him in his decision. He would also carry with him a few amulets, some of which
would normally contain inscriptions of a few Qur’anic verses. The reading of the Prang
Sabil-ulah, the use of amulets, and the use of white clothes were also found in similar rituals in
Acheh, Sumatra, during the war against the Dutch. Possible influences from Sumatra on the
juramentado institution in the Philippines might be the subject of closer studies.
The closest relatives of the mujahid would also be present, praying with him. In this
connection, some reports say that the permission of relatives who were dependent on the
prospective mujahid was sometimes needed. It is on the record too that becoming a mujahid
was not exclusive to men; some women also become mujahids.
After all the necessary preparations have been met, the mujahid kept himself out of
sight until he was within reach of his quarry, the Spanish soldiers after whom he went with the
intent to kill as many as possible. Sometimes he loudly announced his sortie to get all to get
all Muslims out of the way.
Evidently he had no intention to harm any but Christians.
Invariably, he was ultimately killed since he kept going on looking for Spanish soldiers right up
to to die very fort itself. After he was killed, dead mujahid was buried by the panditas in die
usual Muslims manner except that there was no ritual ablution (ghusl) or change of clothes for
the deceased. The absence of these last two requirements followed the traditional burial for
anyone considered a martyr or shahid. The idea here was that die corpse of a martyr who
died in die defense of die faith was legally pure and therefore did not require ablution. That
he was buried with his bloody clothes served as a testimony of his effort. The belief of die
panditas and die warriors was that the recompense for one who had died for die Faith is
Paradise. This is in consonance with the following Qur’anic verses among so many others.
Count not those who are killed in the way of Allah (filsabil-ullah) as dead but
living with their Lord. (Sura III, v. 163)
Let those then fight in the path of Allah (filsabil-ullah), who exchange this
present life for that which is to come; for whoever fighteth on Allah’s path
whether he be slain or conquer, we will, in the end, give him a great reward.
(Sura IV, v. 75)
Some of the Traditions (Hadith) on this point are as follows:
Allah is a sponsor for him who goes forth to fight on the road of Allah (filsabil
-ullah)
The fire of Hell shall not touch the legs of him who shall be covered with
the dust of battle in the road of Allah (filsabil-ullah).
In the last day, the wounds of those who have been wounded in the way of
Allah (filsabil-ullah) will be evident and will drip with blood, but their smell will
be as the perfume of musk.
Being killed in the road of Allah (filsabil-ullah) covers all sins, but the sin of
debt.
He who dies and has not fought for the religion of Islam, nor has even said in
his heart. “Would to Allah I were a champion that could die in the road of
Allah (filsabil-ullah), is even as a hypocrite.
Fighting in the road of Allah (filsabil-ullah), or resolved to do so, is a divine
duty. When your Imam orders you to go forth to fight, then obey him.
While such dedicated warriors were called mujahids by the sophisticated among the
panditas, they were more commonly called “fill sabil-ullah” (lit. in the way of Allah) or “sabil” for
short. In time, however, the Spanish term “juramentado” would be used in reference to them
even by some Sulus and Maguindanao.
There is no doubt that the launching of mujahids was conceived of and encouraged by
the panditas who knew enough of Islamic elements to rationalize their actions which
represented a combination of patriotism, Islamic consciousness, and hatred for the Spaniards.
Actually, their role in preparing Muslim warriors for the above task was indispensable.
Spanish officers were quite aware of this latter fact which explains why during the occupation
of Jolo, they threatened any panditasyspected of participating in the rites to prepare such
mujahids. Sultan Jamal ul ‘Azam after making peace with the Spaniards in 1878 completely
disclaimed any connection with such panditas or mujahids.
It is believed that the biggest percentage of mujahids came from the ranks of the
Buranuns. During the American regime, it became a matter of official policy of the Sukan of
Sulu to disown them officially. In 1899, the Sultan sent letters to his panglimas, stating that:
The Americans have come here in exchange for the Spaniards, they
are different people from the Spaniards, and it will not be good to
“Juramentado” against them. They did not come to take our lands, religion,
or customs. They leave us our laws, and if you love yourselves and your
country avoid coming to blows with the American, because they are like a
matchbox—you strike one, and they all go off.
Haji Buto himself went out of his way to assert that the “juramentado” system did not
fall under the Muslim religion. Actually, what he meant here was that he was willing to
accede to the point that the new concept of religious freedom needs nor include it.
During the Pax American in Sulu, panditas, with a flair for the legality, held that there
were no more real “juramentados” and those so so-called were not genuine ones. The
assumption here was that the traditional concept of Dar-ul-Islam had ceased to be operative in
the Philippines. For all practical purposes, the Sulu sultanate had ceased to exist as a
political entity. But the word “juramentado” remained to refer to any Muslim who died fighting
bravely for any cause, personal or otherwise. Some of these desired to be fortified by proper
rituals and made such demands on panditas who would immediately report such persons to
the police or government officials. That the panditas refused to sanction the action of such
juramentados was in consonance with what was happening in other parts of the world where
the concept of jihad in relations with that of dar –ul-Islam had ceased to be operative as was
shown in World War I when the Ottoman Sultan failed to get response to his universal call for a
jihad. Actually the forces of nationalism, secularization, and modernization were at work
against the Ottoman Sultan.
In time, many Sulus and Maguindanaos would turn juramentado but not in the sense
of original mujahid. To avenge an insult to his chief or persons, to escape imprisonment, to
expiate for once numerous sins, among other reasons, a few would turn juramentado and
believe or act as if there were religious sanctions for their actions. Actually, the panditas
would be the first to report them to the police. Saleeby himself was not fully aware of the
function of the mujahid, the original juramentado, in the struggle against Spanish invaders,
was actually describing a deviation of the system, when he wrote in 1913 as follows.
Juramentados are not religious fanatics. No one juramentado could say
his prayers or know the doctrines of his creed. There has been no greater
misunderstanding by Spaniards and Americans on any one subject than on
this –the juramentado question. The juramentado is not actuated by a
religious feeling. It is a fierce patriotism that excites his harshness and
provokes his craziness. A juramentado state of mind during the execution
of his purpose is a condition of frenzy or temporary insanity closely allied in
its nature to that of being amuck. A man who runs amuck in a manner
avenges himself and his personal grievances, but the juramentado avenges
his people and his chief. His chief calls for vengeance rings in his ears,
and he immediately comes forward as the hero and avenger of the datuship
and gets ready for this treacherous fray. No one, however, faces death
without religious weakening and fear, and the reckless juramentado cannot
advance towards his grave without performing the last rites of his creed.
He would not otherwise be allowed to proceed even if he wanted to.
Religion plays a secondary role in this case, and no blame can attach to the
juramentados creed.
Source: Muslims in the Philippines by Cesar Adib Majul, Manila: St. Mary’s Publishing,
1980