MUSLIM MARANAO WOMEN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AMONG FEMALES
Written By: Raisa Alip Marohombsar
MSU, Marawi City, Philippines
May 18, 2024
A Maranao woman? She is a conservative woman of mind and moral intellect. A socially flashy classic and resilience of any genre. A woman of beauty with fragile-whitey smooth skin toned with pearly glows under the light of the sun, stunningly beautiful by her feminine soft physical moves but terribly tough in inner system cloaked by wisdom to turn a man strong, courageous, bold, and leadership-like of a husband when she gets married to a man with more flexible in thinking and stands of life. There is a wise saying among the Maranao tribe which says: “Bae a pakadato sa darudupa iyan”. In English, “Behind a man’s success is a woman of prowess and intellect”. Sometimes when oldies among the elder group talk seriously about whom their young male is to preferably marry among the young women in the clan or tribe, we can hear astoundingly suggested energetic remarks like “Bai a marapatik-a dove woman, not a swan woman who keeps on clamoring endlessly about life and whose only measure to the success of life retorts to kind of foods she or her family have for meals”.
Maranao women are always expected to act not less than what the Muslim cultural feminism approach as well as what their norms approve for them as they publicly show out and participate in public affairs of the Maranao Muslim society for livelihood and for education, either or both for Arabic or English education even at this contemporary era. Even upon the fusion of Islamic religion and ways of life to the lives of the ancient Maranaos, the good traditional life attitude and characteristics that are expected from them in the society are still aggressively being lived up to now by themselves regardless of what kind and bigger successes they gain in their life journey, they must not stop practicing the mentality and good values of Maranao women since that is how they differ from the rests of the women in the entire islands of the Philippines.
Characteristics of a Maranao Muslim Woman
In today’s epoch, Maranaos are interchangeably addressed as being Muslims since a learned Maranao woman or man will never allow to be miscalled as Maranao only, leading to an assumption that he is not God-fearing, which may solicit doubts and mistrust from other Islamic practicing individuals in their locality. Only since their high regard and respect for their religion, Islam is as important as how God-Allah s.w.t. will provide them with material success as well as immaterial wealth.Muslim Maranao women are known for their conservatism, brought about by the ethos of the cultural and traditional lifestyles of the people. Every family, especially the mother, is very particular, committed, and ambitious enough to push her children upward to gain a better education in both English and Arabic. It is therefore normal that the first training ground for her children will be under their tutelage, both the father and the mother within the family, which we call the enculturation period, before eventually transporting them to the stage of the acculturation process where the theory of socialization with other beings will start. There is a saying that sometimes in the early days of her life, her parents, especially her mother, would treat her like a very fragile princess. She is only allowed to stay in the houses of her aunts and uncles near her home, but with listless reminders not to cause trouble to others, she stays tamed while playing with her cousins, who are also girls. A Muslim practicing mother carefully teaches her little girl not to badmouth or speak ill words to others. She is always reminded to wear her veil and a long dress or, if not, soft pants with a long upper shirt to keep her body covered for religious obeisance and protection from the coldness of the home place, the Ranao itself. Maranao children are always taught the value of closer family ties. The essence and value of unity and solidarity are well injected in their minds to validate what Allah s.w.t. has ingrained into the Muslim world: the practice of loving, caring, helping, and uniting them into one “ummah.” Maranao children are always taught the value of closer family ties. The essence and value of unity and solidarity are well injected in their minds to validate what Allah s.w.t. has ingrained into the Muslim world: the practice of loving, caring, helping, and uniting them into one “ummah.” Thus, in their family or clan’s gathering for the purpose of “visitation, religious festivity, mourning the death of a member of the family, or gathered for aqiqah, a newborn baby,” a woman is always expected to attend to the preparation of foods to give comfort to their visiting relatives. If the young lad has already reached the pubertal stage, she already knows that she has to be secluded from her male relatives, since there is a chance that a first cousin or distant cousin may like her and could land into marriage, as this is a common marital practice in Muslim Maranao society.
Her daily life is confined only to school and home, and vice versa. When she goes to school, she will be accompanied and brought back home after classes. She is not easily allowed to go out at home during weekends for any school activities to be conducted at her classmate’s house, not unless her mother has confirmed where she and her classmates will be gathered for a certain project or classroom practice. She is also instigated by her parent or guardian about whom the male classmates are involved with as well as their behaviors. Then the listless instructions are commanded to her for the purpose of teaching her the correct ways of being at the house of non-relatives, the expected good behavior to show with respect, and the time she will go home or be fetched by her mother. A Muslim Maranao mother is also very ambitious by helping her daughter with all motivating words to uplift and inspire her to gain academic recognition in school. She and her husband would do well to support their children morally, emotionally, financially, physically, and wholly, just to turn her into a very successful teacher, doctor, lawyer, aleema [Doctor of Islam Studies], or any degree of profession that would bring pride, fame, reputation, and socio-political-economic power for their families or clan.
When a lad is at home, she is taught of household chores like cleaning her room and some parts of the house, washing her clothes, help attending her younger siblings, preparing the family’s foods by perhaps watching her mother what and how to cook a dish, pray when it’s time for prayer, read, study, and rest herself to gain another energies for the coming days ahead.
A young Maranao girl or lady experiences these cycles of work until she completes her high school education, senior high studies, and college years. In college, she gains some autonomy by attending classes alone when she enrolls in a university or private college in Marawi City, but she is still under the supervision of her parents, particularly her older brothers, male cousins, and uncles. Young Maranao women are constantly reminded of the Muslim Maranao life slogan, which is that she must follow the Islamic correct path for success by being grateful and pious to Allah s.w.t. and toil hard in her studies by burning eyebrows night after night in order to graduate as a dignified, reputable, and respected woman of her family and community. She is not allowed to be in a romantic relationship since she is a Muslim Maranao and her parents will find her the proper man or a man from another family who wants to become her future spouse.
Therefore, a woman’s only significant contribution to her career development from the moment she begins working is to study and, if at all possible, graduate with honors. Her parents would strongly advise her to pursue postgraduate studies when she graduates from college in order to secure a higher earning position, such as one with the government. As she rises to a prominent position in the government, she will continue to fulfill her roles as a married woman, a woman who is customarily crowned in her tribe, and a fearless and bold woman who engages in political activities at the barangay or city level. Therefore, a woman’s only significant contribution to her career development from the moment she begins working is to study and, if at all possible, graduate with honors. Her parents would strongly advise her to pursue postgraduate studies when she graduates from college in order to secure a higher earning position, such as one with the government. As she rises to a prominent position in the government, she will continue to fulfill her roles as a married woman, a woman who is customarily crowned in her tribe, and a fearless and bold woman who engages in political activities at the barangay or city levels.
The challenge of juggling multiple roles at once is typically assumed by feminine figures of high status and value in society. This is also true of Maranao Muslim woman, who has recognized that in order to be considered a good Muslim, a woman must not only be spiritually wealthy and knowledgeable about the afterlife, but also strongly motivated to preserve the beautiful aspects of Maranao Pride, or Maratabat. This requires, of course, strong support to her less fortunate relatives, who must be provided a certain measure of succor with both material and moral support.
