SULU CURRENCY DINAR AND DIRHAM START OF TOTAL INDEPENDENCE

Neldy Jolo

“Assalamu Alaikum, this is Umar Vadillo, where are you now, can we meet?” said Shaykh Prof. Dr. Umar Ibrahim Vadillo in the phone on afternoon of 27 December 2011.  

We went to meet to him with SDDI Foreign Affairs Minister cum Executive Minister, Datu Habi Sakiral Daie with the author of the book Tausug and Sulu Sultanate, Asree Sug.

After some briefing about the development in Sulu Darul Islam and about Washi or Sendong Typhoon, Shaykh Umar Vadillo feel sad and wanted to extend some help. It was from his friend that he got the story of Sendong victims before we met.

Shaykh Umar Vadillo with Tausug Kandit Siyabit or Tausug Weaved Kandit (hanged on his neck) during the visit to Jolo, Sulu Darul Islam with partners, Mr. Muhammad Esfih and Mr. Okawa. 2 January 2012. Photo by Asree Sug

It was in the evening of 28 December 2011 Shaykh Umar Vadillo met up with us again. He decided to visit Jolo, the capital of Sulu Darul Islam. In this meeting he introduced us to his friends.

They left for Sulu Darul Islam on the night between 31 December and 1 January 2011 via Manila, Philippines. They arrived to Zamboanga City, one of the Sulu Darul Islam’s capital cities.

On the 4 January 2012, TGM Staff Zamboanga reported in the SSDI Official Website, www.sulu-darul-islam, that the foreign visitors “were officially received by the SSDI Prime Minister, Datu Habib Sattiya Amilhasan and Minister of Planning Datu hadji Julmari...and ...were brought to the Astana’ Sultan or Sultan’s Palace at Banua San Roque before departed to Jolo in the evening boarding a ship”.

On 2 January 2012, Shaykh Umar Vadillo told the Tausug that "Starting today, the currency of the Tausug Citizens of the Sultanate of Sulu Darul Islam will be Dinar and Dirham."

Shaykh Umar Vadillo with Sulu Darul Islam Puntukan Mantiri (Prime Minister) at the Astana' Sultan, Zamboanga City. Photo by TGM Staff Zamboanga City.

Shaykh Umar Vadillo’s wife, Alawiyah Abdul Rahman Vadillo shared the thought of the Shaykh on their way to the airport on 31 December 2011, when he says “In travelling, you only yearn to gain proximity with Allah.”

On the 29 December 2011 meeting, Shaykh Umar Vadillo says “We will free Nusantara start from Sulu Darul Islam. Gold dinar is your weapon”.

In 2010 posted at www.alawiyahabdulrahmanvadillo.blogspot.com before we attended the launching of Dinar and Dirham in Kelantan, Shaykh Umar Vadillo about Sulu Darul Islam and wanted to reach its shores for Dinar and Dirham in the future when he said: 

“I was looking for the true sultanate of these lands. I wanted to find who are the people who had never surrendered. Who never said YES to the colonialist package. I looked and looked and looked and I found this in two areas, its Sulu and Acheh. And well, a little bit in Kelantan.”

“To become a state-hood (nation-state) according to the United Nations, it has nothing to do with independence or freedom. It is in fact slavery. In order to attain freedom or independence in the first place is to attain it FROM United Nations, NOT WITHIN the United Nations.”

“The issue of sovereignty cannot be demanded from someone who does not have it. The United Nations does not give sovereignty. It does not have it. Sovereignty belongs to Allah (swt). We ask Him for sovereignty.'”

“The Darul Islam in Nusantara will start with the independence of the Sultanate of the Sulu people.”

“The only reality that I believe in is the one in which is ' La hau la wa laa qu wata ila bilLah'. It stands out first. This is what matters to us. This is our strength. This is what we live for and this what we die for. This is our gain. It is our loss if we miss it.”

“Most important is that Allah has granted us success. As the Moro (Muslim) people of the west in Al-Andalus once wrote in the walls of Al-Hambra - 'La ghaliba ilaAllah' when they established the Deen of Islam in the Al-Andalus. We will inscribe the same.” 

Before leaving, Shaykh Umar Vadillo posted in his Facebook wall on 31 December 2011 at 9:00pm and English and also Spanish:

“Tonight I travel to Jolo, capital of Sultanate of Sulu -Dar al Islam. Tomorrow we shall meet the Sultan of the newly independent nation. In the Name of Allah we shall mint their own Dinar and Dirham of Dar al-Islam, set our brave people free from Riba and preparing the basis to root out the Philippine Central Bank and their corrupt banks and from here all Nusantara. Inshaallah. We set our goals high because we are nothing on our own, but Allah is the Akbar and with Him we are His lions. If we are sincere we might get closer to Him, that's our secret goal. Now we place our affairs with Him. Allah is our Protector and He is enough for us. You always start a fire on the edge, we are going to the edge. And Victory belongs to Him.” 

On January 4 2012, the Foreign Affairs Minister cum Executive Minister, Datu Habib Sakiral Daie was saying about the visit that:

“I must emphasize that Shaykh Umar Ibrahim Vadillo and company are doing great efforts in helping SSDI restore her sovereignty and independence without creating any trouble with anyone along the way. The sincerity of their efforts can be read even between the lines of what they are saying and doing.”

He continued to express his regrets that some Tausug do wanted the independence, he said:

“Sadly, some of our very own breed of Tausug who have been nurtured under colonial institutions seemed to love to be always a Filipino than to be who really they are and supposed to be. But it’s alright for the moment as there are still more time for them to reconsider and as there are no compulsion in Islam.”

He just put to their will if ever they wanted to have the independence sooner or later and say:

“They have the right to remain as they are, of their own choice, and in like manner, SSDI have the right to choose who should be her "ra'yat" in future. The important thing is the doors are always opened for everyone to come in or get out until such time the law determines otherwise. Lucky and happy would be the faces of those who get benefits out of their own volition, and sadness or sorry would be for them who went the other way. MashaAllah!”

A Kazakh economist, Abdalghany Aoueskhanov has written few years back about the meeting of the Tausug and Shaykh Umar Vadillo:  

“I was amazed with these people: they saw and touched gold dinar and silver dirham first time in their lives and yet I saw neither fear nor doubts in their eyes about the possibility of restoring them in Sulu. And these people face machineguns of Filipino soldiers on a daily basis.”

“I was also amazed how they treated Umar Pasha, with total respect and trust, as their own brother, although it was the first time they ever met with him. I felt I was witnessing a scene of some 500 years ago: Muslim warriors from far lands of Dar al-Islam meeting, with open hearts, with love, ready to die for each other; back then they had only one passport - La ilaha ill Allah”

Datu Habib Sakiral Daie wrote in the Facebook wall:

“At the meeting with Sultan Bantilan Muhammad Mu'izzuddin II, I could sense that if there be anyone outside the circle of Tausug affinity who should be given honorary citizenship, Shaykh Umar I. Vadillo, Mohamed Esfih and Mr. Okawa would lead the pack.”

Sultan Bantilan II, Shaykh Umar Vadillo and Mr. Muhammad Esfih. Photo by Asree Sug

“The trio went there only to ask how they could be of help, not for anything to make them great amongst men. And the Sultan couldn't hide his tears of joy for the God-sent emissary of love and development that every Tausug in SSDI have prayed for all these years. For many have the sympathy and desire to help but only them have the guts to make it a reality, Mashaallah!”

Shaykh Umar Vadillo has been telling the people of Nusantara in the muammalah website about the existence of the Tausug and Sulu Darul Islam as independent people and country:

“Sultanate of Sulu was one of the most beautiful and prosperous states in Nusantara from 1405 up until the late 19th century; stretching over Sulu Archipelago (also called Islands of Pearls) and part of Northern Borneo it had splendid culture, extensive trade system and profound Sufi traditions that brought fame to the Sultanate in the entire Muslim world and beyond.”

“The kufar wanted to bring Sulu empire on its knees for a long time: first, Spaniards tried to break Tausug people - ethnic majority of Sulu Sultanate - for more than 300 years, then Americans for nearly 50 years, then Japanese and now Philippines for over 60 years, but all in vain - Tausugs continued to fight.”

“Despite massacres perpetrated by Spanish, American and later Philippine troops, the Tausug people couldn't be christianized or subjugated, they never abandoned their language and religion, indeed the Tausugs defended the Deen with their lives when everybody else surrendered. And they still do.”

Sulu Prime Minister Datu Habib Sattiya Amilahasan, Executive Minister Datu Habib Sakiral Daie with the foreign visitors. Photo by TGM Staff Zamboanga City.

“You don't need United Nations to grant you independence; Allah has already given it to you. Malaysia or Indonesia can't help you to become an independent state because they themselves are not free states; one day you will have to free the Malay World from the oppression of Capitalism and Democracy and you'll have to free Filipinos from their horrendous and corrupt regime and make them Muslims.”

”You have the spirit of success in your genes, it were you and Aceh who fought until the end. Nationalist state under the auspices of the United Nations is not your goal and can't be your goal if you want to win; because if you say ‘nation state' then I am a foreigner in your land but if you say ‘Darul Islam' then I am one of you and your fight is my fight.”

Datu Habib Sakiral Daie tells the Tausug of his personal view on the independence of Sulu DArul Islam:

“If my judgment did not miss the point, I believe there should be no trouble between SSDI and the Philippine Government with regards to the former's desire to exercise its independence and sovereignty. The only problem encountered is the fact that many Tausug have still maintained their colonial mentality that they could no longer think of themselves as a free people and that they are already free if they wanted to.”

In the name complete brotherhood, religious affinity never matter to the Tausug. The Tausug was happy to receive their visitors as their brother. The departure of the visitors from the Jolo International Airport was bringing with them the hope and trust as well loyalty of the Tausug to Islam.

This is another beginning to the ending flight of the hegemony of the Republic of the Philippines relating to status of Sulu Darul Islam as totally independent island country of Southeast Asia.