By Julkipli Wadi
The painting with green color of Jose Rizal`s historic house in Calamba, Laguna, by the National Historical Institute (NHI) brings to fore an issue about the name of the Filipino national hero, particularly his surname. According to the NHI, green was chosen as the color because “the surname `Rizal` is derived from the Spanish word for `green fields`, that is why the house should be painted the color of rice fields.”
How accurate is this view?
In April 2002, after a 30-day stint with the International Visitors Program, an educational and cultural tour program of the United States, I visited Dr. Cesar Adib Majul who was one of the leading specialists on Jose Rizal. He lived in the US after his retirement from the University of the Philippines in 1980.
To my surprise, the man I long wanted to meet was very happy to see me. Despite his old age, he went to fetch me at Oakland Airport and invited me to be with him for two or three days, where I stayed most of the time at his residence conversing and learning intently like a novice at the feet of his teacher.
That meeting started our late but intimate friendship almost a father-son relation as shown through our letters and emails containing mostly his feelings and other advices, including his sending of books, research materials and other rare documents, personal writings, his calligraphies carved by himself, prayer books and Qur`anic readings in cassette tapes and others that he entrusted to me and kept sending until a few days before he passed away in San Pablo, California on October 11, 2003.
After exchanging salam and other pleasantries at the airport he reminisced his days in the Philippines especially his research on Muslims in the Philippines, Apolinario Mabini, Jose Rizal and many more. On our way to Pusod, a Filipino non-government organization in Berkeley, I vividly remember to have asked him about the etymology of the word “rizal.” And Dean Majul responded: “there are two theories about it. The one is, the word “rizal” comes from “roz”, Spanish and Arabic word for rice or from Spanish “ricial” to mean green field. The other one is Arabic word rijāl (men), which is the plural form of rajul (man).”
When I interjected that the word “rizal” must possibly be “rijāl,” Majul gave a light smile and snapped back: “it`s understandable but either way beware in falling into propaganda.” It means that while Majul is probably more convinced of his second theory, yet, because of his objectivity and sense of fairness, Majul provides space to other assumptions. From his answer, I learned as much as Rizal`s etymology as the value of objective scholarship in understanding Philippine history from one of the country`s respected scholars.
It is known that the full name of Jose Rizal is José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. The name “Rizal” was adopted as Jose`s surname when in 1849 Governor-General Narciso Claveria ordered all Filipino families to choose new surnames from a list of Spanish family names.”
Accordingly, a Spanish provincial governor who was “a friend of the family” suggested to Jose`s father, Francisco Mercado (originally Lam-co), to adopt the surname “Rizal” which was originally Ricial, which means “the green of young growth or green fields.”
Whether or not the name “Rizal” is in the list of Catálogo alfabético de apellidos which supposedly contained the “family names and the imposition of the Spanish naming system” in the mid-19th century, the question is why of all names the word “rizal” was suggested and why the Mercado family seemed to willingly accept it. The rice or green field theory (roz or ricial) which apart from “the green of young growth or green fields” also means “growing again” applying more to “the after crop of corn” and “cut green for the feed of cattle” provides an idea that the word “rizal” is Spanish as well as Arabic.
The question which language influenced another is irrelevant, except that Arabs ruled Spain for more than 700 years before Ferdinand Magellan accidentally landed in the Philippines in 1521.
Whether the word “rizal” comes from Arabic/Spanish “roz” or “ricial,” well, it is good to know; but the value of both words in relating to “rizal” stops there. They cannot be substantiated by clearer etymological and historical explanation – a reason why Dean Majul considered other etymology particularly the Arabic word “rijāl.” Finally, another Arabic term – risāla (message) also with similar root as rasūl (messenger) – is not mentioned by Majul but instructive, too, as possible source of the word “rizal.”
These rich Arabic words as possible sources of “rizal” should not surprise people because Tagalog language has many Arabic loan words particularly pertaining to Filipino spirituality, places and expressions like “kaluluwa” (from Arabic ruh which means soul or spirit), “ala eh” (Allāh: God) “simbahan” (subha: praise), “Manila” (amānillah: blessing from God), (“mabalacat” (barakah: grace), “salamat” (salam: peace), “hukom” (hukm: judgment) “mamatay” (mawt: death) “buhay” (hay: life), hence, the famous Tagalog expression “mabuhay” (There is indeed life!), and thousands of more Arabic words in Philippine languages and dialects.
To say the least, despite centuries of Spanish colonialism, religious medievalism and historical parochialism, these Arabic loan words – with their underlying philosophy and worldview – continued to shape Filipino psyche, history and identity; they have never been muted and weeded out of their essential significance. In his article, “Our Islamic Heritage,” Michael Tan of the Philippine Daily Inquirer encapsulated this point more clearly:
When the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, Islam had already reached different parts of the islands, including Manila. Catholicism eventually became the dominant religion but, ironically, became another channel for Islamic influences. Spain, after all, was once occupied by the Muslims or Moors, who left a strong influence in the arts, from architecture to music. Alicia Coseteng writes in “Spanish Churches in the Philippines” about the Muslim influence in churches in the provinces of Bohol and Cebu. One church in Carcar, Cebu, even has those onion-shaped domes or cupolas and four-cornered hat roofs that we usually associate with Islamic architecture.
The strength of Majul`s second etymological theory on “rizal” as “rijāl” is backed up by history. The name “Rijāl” was a famous name among Malays with the influence of Islam and Arabic language in Southeast Asia since the 10th century. So that when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi wrestled Manila from a budding Islamic sultanate on 17 May 1571, Manila was already under the sway of Brunei particularly the fifth sultan of Brunei named Sultan Seifu r-Rijāl (roughly translated as valiant king of men or king of valiant men) who was related to Muslim chiefs namely Rajah Matanda of Pasig, Rajah Sulayman of Manila, and Rajah Lakandula of Tanduh (corrupted later to Tondo).
It is not therefore difficult to point out that apart from his Chinese blood, Rizal`s indigenous lineage dated back to pre-Hispanic Manila. And knowing such lineage is significant because as pointed out by Austin Craig the mother of Jose Rizal – Teodora Alonzo – traced her root to Rajah Lakandula through Eugenio Ursua (Teodora`s great grandfather) and Atty. Manuel de Quintos (Teodora`s grandfather).
Moreover, it is not impossible to consider that until the latter part of Spanish rule the name Rijāl (popularly known as Rizal) continues to ring a bell in Manila and the rest of the Philippines, a reason probably why Jose and the Mercado family accepted it. With Spanish ricial as a homonym of rijāl it is not difficult for that Spanish provincial governor to suggest the name “Rizal” as the Mercado family`s new surname.
It is not clear however whether that governor knew that the word “rizal” has etymological affinity with Arabic or has historical antecedent with early Islamic Manila. It can only be surmised that Spanish officials assigned to the Philippines in the latter part of Spanish colonialism must have already been moderated unlike the early wave of Conquistadores who carried strong antipathy against Islam. Through time the situation has become even more different in Spain especially today. Spanish government has been relentless in preserving Islamic legacy particularly the majestic Alhambra Mosque in Granada and other Moorish architectural masterpieces in Cordova and Seville and other areas. These places have been major sources of tourism industry in Spain. It is ironic that while Spain has long embraced back and preserved her Islamic past, the Philippines continued to run from it.
Anyhow, if “rizal” is “rijāl,” how do we explain the fact that the Arabic “rijāl” (men) is actually plural form of “rajul” (man) which by grammatical construction the latter should have been the more appropriate surname as it refers to single person?
If the name “Seifu r-Rijāl” which was actually more of a title of the Brunei Sultan and correctly constructed in Arabic grammar was probably popular among early Muslim inhabitants of Manila, such title must have been thought as a person`s name and subsequently used by other people as such. Besides, Malays who are not fully Arabic speaking people are least concerned with grammar, a reason why many Indonesian and Malaysian and even some Filipinos today continue to carry Rizal as their names.
What bears important to mention is that by changing the surname from Mercado to Rizal the Spaniards thought they had extirpated the indigenous identity of Jose and his family. Truth is, it made Jose Rizal even more closer to his Asian heritage making him worthy of the title “the pride of the Malay race.” Except that, the NHI by callously painting Jose Rizal`s house green using colonial interpretation of Philippine history bordering on what Dean Majul referred to as propaganda, defiles such epic contribution of the man to the formation of Asian heritage.
And no less than Jose Rizal himself was against such shallow understanding of Philippine history exhorting his people to be inclusive with their past including most certainly the struggle of his ancestors who like himself fought hard for freedom and justice four centuries before he was born while reminding not to forget them. In the conversation between Ibarra (or Elias?) and Basilio in the “Noli Me Tangere,” Rizal wrote: “Nothing will remain of me…I die without seeing the sun on my country. You who are to see the dawn, welcome it, and do not forget those who fell during the night.”
While, of course, this reminder by Jose Rizal applies to different circumstances and to a different place and time and can be interpreted from different perspectives by different people including Philippine Muslim themselves, this view should not create an impression that the latter are simply hungry for recognition appearing, as it were, that they are begging for a place in Philippine history. Never!
If Philippine Muslims and their history are not appreciated, it`s not their problem. Besides, they have a different framework of history with separate tract of historical line, their history remains largely in the making, and thus, its fulfillment relies not on others but on themselves.
At the minimum, what is being demanded is for dominant interpreters of Philippine history to be objective and inclusive of their historical appraisal not because other people and their history demand it but no less than truth requires it. This way they do not only enrich themselves but would avoid, too, in committing more flaks and other idiosyncrasies. By being inclusive, they would fully know who they are.
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Julkipli Wadi is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman
Source: http://www.mindanews.com
