Cesar Adib Majul

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Adib and the surname or paternal family name is Majul.

Cesar Adib Majul (October 21, 1923 - October 11, 2003) was a Philippine historian[1] best known for his work on the history of Islam in the Philippines, and on the life of Apolinario Mabini.[2]

Majul was born in Aparri, Cagayan, Philippine Islands, to an Ibanag mother and a Syrian Orthodox Christian father. He was educated at the University of the Philippines and Cornell University.[3]

Education

He acquired his primary and secondary education at the De La Salle High School. At the advent of the Second World War, he postponed his studies and only entered college after the war. In 1947, he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and afterwards, got his Master's degree in the same course at the same university, six years after in 1953. His Master's thesis advisor was Dr. Ricardo Pascual, one of the eminent Filipino philosophers. In 1957, he went to Cornell University to obtain his Doctorate degree.

Career

From 1961 to 1966, Majul was Dean of the University College at the University of the Philippines, and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1969 to 1971.

Majul studied and wrote about the Moro people[4] and the history of Islam in the Philippines.[5] He helped the future Moro revolutionary leader Nur Misuari become a lecturer at the University of the Philippines.

In 1973, Maul published his seminal work, Muslims in the Philippines, which is considered the definitive text on the subject.[6]

He converted to Islam in his adulthood, later living in the United States. He died of prostate cancer on Saturday, October 11, 2003 in his home in San Pablo, California.^[citation needed]

Awards

He received the Republic Heritage Award for "the most outstanding contribution to historical writing" during the period from May 1, 1960 to April 30, 1961, as well as the First Prize in the Biography Contest on the life of Apolinario Mabini in 1964. He also received the Distinguished Scholar Award in 1968 from the University of the Philippines.

Selected works

• Muslims in the Philippines, University of the Philippines Press (1973, 1999) ISBN 971-542-188-1
• The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution, University of the Philippines Press (1957, 1999) ISBN 971-542-115-6
• Apolinario Mabini: Revolutionary, National Historical Commission (1964)
• Mabini and the Philippine Revolution, University of the Philippines Press (1960)

See also

• Arab settlement in the Philippines
• Islam in the Philippines

References

1. Wadi, Julkipli (2010). Tadem, Eduardo C. (ed.). "Introduction - Islam and Philippine Society: The Writings of Cesar Adib Majul" (PDF). Asian Studies. 46 (1–2). Quezon City, Philippines: Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. ISSN 0004-4679.
2. Veneracion, Jaime B. (2013-02-06). "Remembering Cesar Adib Majul and Teodoro Agoncillo (University of the Philippines System Website)". web-old.up.edu.ph. Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
3. Aljunied, Syed Muhd Khairudin; Aljunied, Khairudin (2022). Shapers of Islam in Southeast Asia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-751441-2.
4. Artchil Daug (2012). Thoughts from the Mountaintop: Essays on Philippine History and other Magical Realisms. Lulu.com. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-105-66059-7.
5. Leon Ma. Guerrero (19 July 2012). The First Filipino: The Award-Winning Biography of Jose Rizal. BookBaby. p. 400. ISBN 978-1-62309-293-1.
6. Donoso, Isaac (2022). "Narrating Islamic Origins in the Philippines: From Princess Urduja to Alexander the Great". International Journal of Islam in Asia. 2 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1163/25899996-20221031. ISSN 2589-9988. S2CID 253130294.