Blogging the Bangsa Moro It’s a collection of my blogposts — from my published newspaper and magazine articles, personal essays, excerpts from academic papers, etc. I started developing my own websites in 1996, before blogging was invented or became popular. i wrote just about everything but mostly about the Bangsa Moro (Moro Nation). I just… Read More Book that Looks and Feels like a Blog
The Mindanao problem is ultimately a POWER problem – the power of one group over another. It is a problem of colonization. The fact that there was a law called the Legislative Act 4197 or Quirino-Recto Colonization of Mindanao Act, which was enacted on 12 February 1935 is very telling. The Commonwealth considered the Act… Read More Changing Narratives: Federalism for All
When I pretended to be precocious, people started the rumor that I was precocious. When I acted like an idler, people started the rumor that I was an idler. When I pretended I couldn’t write a novel, people said I couldn’t write. When I acted like a liar, they called me a liar. When… Read More WELCOME
I was just 5 and a half years old when my father passed away, so I don’t really know much about him, esp. when he was a young man. For whatever I remember of him, he was already an old man. He was already starting to have grey hairs. He used to ask me to… Read More Portrait of My Father as a Young Man
Aug. 17, 2021 Twenty years after the Americans and its allies kicked out the Taliban from ruling Afghanistan, the Americans have left the country (except for a few troops) and the Taliban (or Students [of Islamic Knowledge]) are back in power. The US blamed the 9/11 bombing on Osama Bin Laden, who was at that… Read More The “Students” are back: 20 years after
The so-called Moro Conflict in the Philippines, which arguably does not end with the creation of the Bangsa Moro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), can be traced back to the United States of America. The various Moro Sultanates did not have a shared history with the conquered peoples of Luzon and Visayas. The Moro… Read More Americans in Moroland
While I was going through some old files, I saw a copy of a speech I gave at the University of the Philippines. In Ramadhan 2002, while I was taking my Masters in Media Studies at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, I co-organized a Colloquium on Media, Peace and Terrorism. As president of the Graduate… Read More Ramadhan: Unity in Diversity, Voices Amidst Terrorism
Mindanao could not have been the original name of Mindanao Island. Mindanao was most probably a shorter way of saying Maguindanao. Probably there was an apostrophe to indicate abbreviation – M’indanao. The Dutch, Spanish and the British usually misspell Moro names. In historical documents, the foreigners referred to Qudarat and other Maguindanao sultans as Sultans… Read More Maluku Besar: Original Name of Mindanao ?
What happened on Sept 21, 1972? Nothing of much importance. Just like any other day in the Philippines. I was in high school then. On that day, I went to school, as usual. What happened on Sept 22, 1972? Nothing of much importance. Just like any other day in the Philippines. I went to school,… Read More Martial Law 9/23/72: METROCOM, Big Brother & Me
from SAHIH MUSLIM: It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Ask me (about matters pertaining to religion)… . In the meanwhile a man came there, and sat near his knees and said: Messenger of Allah, … when would there be the hour… Read More End of the World accordg to the Hadith
Here is a newspaper article I wrote on the Torogan, the Mranao royal house. I had posted this before in my websites and in my blogs. I stopped maintaining my websites while some of my blogs just vanished for whatever reasons. This is a snapshot of my lost blog with its Torogan post: Now, it’s… Read More Mranao royal house: the Torogan
For several years now, there has been a move to have a Universal Hijri Calendar — one calendar to serve for the whole Ummah. Saudi Arabia wants to be the one to fix the dates of the Universal Calendar. But Turkey, the former Ottoman Empire, also wants to be the center of this calendar. The… Read More Eid al Adha must be timed locally as it is separate from the Hajj
The Setting Sun 
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