RAJAH SULAYMAN

Sulayman the Magnificent. Every pupil learns this name of the Rajah of Manila before the settlement fell to Spanish hands in 1571. But it must have been disconcerting to Legazpi's men, used to meeting datus with unfamiliar local names like Tupas or Sikatuna to face someone in the Far East who coincidentally shared the same name as Suleiman the Magnificent, the contemporary sultan of the Ottoman Empire whose armies were marching through Europe half a world away.

The Spanish conquest of the Philippines occurred only a generation removed from the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from centuries of Moro Rule. Forced Christianization of infidels had become a national battlecry, whether through the Inquisition inside Spanish borders or through the crusading battlefields in Morocco, Greece and Hungary where Spanish troops fought to push back the advancing Muslim Empires. These European battles would draw the Westernmost borders between Christianity and Islam.

As Legazpi's men travelled even farther westward, past the Americas and the Pacific Ocean, they would land in Manila that had by then formed the Easternmost extension of Islamic rule. The conquest and Christianization of Manila's ruling class would contain the Muslim faith to Sulu, Mindanao and Brunei, creating the Eastern border between the Christian and Muslim worlds.

The Reconquista provided Spanish colonialism with both its missionary zeal to convert natives to Catholicism and its religious intolerance especially against Muslims. While 1571 brought twin victories for the Spanish crown both against Sulayman's army Manila and against Suleiman's son's navy at Lepanto, these would be but two skirmishes in the broader sphere of Moro-Christian clashes whose viciousness continues to haunt us today. 

The irony in this historic clash of civilizations is that Sulayman could be considered the Quranic version of Solomon, the son of David who was imbued with exceptional wisdom — proving once again the shared foundations of Islam and Christianity. But sadly, neither Sulayman nor Suleiman could find a Solomonic solution to the predicament they found themselves in 450 years ago.