Biography
Dr. Cesar A. Majul was one of the foremost historians and thinkers of Filipino Nationalism, the Philippine Revolution and the sociopolitical thought of national hero Jose Rizal and revolutionary leader Apolinario Mabini. He is responsible for groundbreaking scholarship on Islam in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, the relations of Philippine Islam and the Malay World and the Mindanao conflict. His interdisciplinary work had been a reliable reference that has contested Hispano-centric historiography by incorporating discourses on Asian values and humanities and enabling a common framework that encompasses Philippine nationalism and Moro struggle.
Majul spent his life in academia as Dean of University College, University of the Philippines (1961–1966); Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines (1969-1971); co-founder and Dean of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Philippine Center for Advanced Studies, UP System (1974-1979); a visiting professor at the Cornell University (1966–67 and 1973–74). His specialisation served an important role in the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front. He joined the government panel in talks in Jeddah, Cairo, Tripoli, Aswan and Riyadh.
Majul’s works include Islam and Conflict Resolution: Theories and Practices (as co-author, 1998), The Contemporary Muslim Movement in the Philippines (1985), Muslims in the Philippines (1971), Apolinario Mabini: Revolutionary (1964), Mabini and the Philippine Revolution (1960) and The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution (1957).
Majul studied philosophy and political science at the University of the Philippines and Cornell University. Majul converted to Islam later in his life. A few days before he died, he finished his last book titled Remembrance and Forgetfulness in the Holy Qur’an (2003).
Born in 1923 in Aparri, Cagayan, Majul lived and worked in the Phillippines and United States.
