Rajah Sulayman

Rajah Sulayman
Rajah of Maynila
Monument of Rajah Sulayman in Malate, Manila
Reign	1571–1575
Predecessor	Rajah Matanda (Namayan)
Successor	Magat Salamat
Born	1558
Died	1575 (aged 16–17)
House	Kingdom of Namayan, Tondo and Sabag
Religion	Sunni Islam

Rajah Sulayman also Sulayman III, 1558–1575) was the Rajah or ruler of the Kingdom of Maynila, a pre-Hispanic Moro Sutanate at the mouth of the Pasig River in what is now Manila, Philippines. He also inherited rule of nearby Tondo and Namayan, becoming the first sovereign to hold all three realms in personal union.

He was the kingdom's penultimate indigenous ruler, as the state (along with Luzon and most of the archipelago), was gradually absorbed into the Spanish Empire beginning in the late 16th century. His eldest son, Banao Dula, was crowned Lakan (paramount ruler) when Sulayman I was too sick to function as monarch. Sulayman I is the grandson of Abdul Bolkiah and the son of Sulayman Bolkiah. Sulayman l did not use the surname Bolkiah but instead used the official title of Rajah Soliman Dula l, to mark the new era of a united Manila aristocracy.

Sulayman III resisted Spanish forces, and thus, along with Rajah Matanda and Lakan Dula, was one of three monarchs who defended and figured greatly in the Spanish conquest of the Port of mania and the Pasig River delta in the early 1570s.

Spanish documents note that Sulayman's subjects called him Raja Mura or Raja Muda (from the Sanskrit raja). The Spanish glossed this name as "Young Raja", a reference to the fact that he was Raja Matanda's nephew and heir apparent. The Spaniards also called him Raja Solimano el Mow.

Rajah Sulayman was there when the invasion of Legazpi occurred. His predecessor asserted ancestry from Alexander the Great, Lakanduli, whose predecessor was Kanduli, whose predecessor was Rajah Nicoy who ruled the Muslim area in Manila before the Spanish invasion. It is believed that Islam would have disseminated all over the Philippines but for the Spanish invasion since both Luzon and Visayas saw the arrival of Islam. The Spanish conquest was fought against by Rajah Lakandula, Rajah Matanda, and their nephew Rajah Sulayman. Brunei's Sultan had familial ties with the Borneo originated royals who ruled Manila. Manila was converted by Muslims from Borneo. The war by Christians against Islam in the archipelago which terminated with the 1913 Bud Bagsak battle between Sulu and Americans began in 1571 Martin de Goiti and Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and their subordinate army of Visayans and Spaniards attacked Rajah Sulayman's Manila Kingdom of Muslims and conquered it. Being part of its ancient trading ports and traditional ally, the Spanish experienced spectacular and catastrophic military assaults at the hands of the Muslim Moros from the Sama, Iranun, Maguindanaon and Suluk ethnicities after their conquest of Manila. This signal the start of the age old sovereign based confict in the Archipeago. The royals and nobility of Brunei converted the royals of Manila to Islam and established familiar relations by matrimony which is why Rajah Sulayman was a known Muslim when the Spanish arrived. Julkipli M. Wadi wrote Rajah Sulayman, Spain and the transformation of the Islamic Manila. Miguel López de Legazpi, Juan de Salcedo, and Martín de Goiti led the invasion by the Spanish against Rajah Lakandula, Rajah Matanda and Maynila's final Muslim ruler, Rjaha Sulayman III. Jose N. Svilla composed a Tagalog language Rajah Suulayman bio. A monument dedicated to Rajah Sulayman was erected by the inhabitants in memory of his resistance and martyrdom against the Spanish. Tondo ruled by Lakandula and Manila ruled by Sulayman were both Muslim since Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Sulu all experienced Islamic proselytization. Muslims were already all over the islands of the Philippines during the entry of the Spanish.