AbstractThis article presents an analysis of the only known official Arabic document from the Sultanate of Sulu (Philippine Archipelago), a royal response by Sultan ʿAẓīm al-Dīn I (Alimudín) to the Spanish King Philip V, dated September 12, 1747. Among the consequences of this correspondence was a sojourn to Manila and the conversion of the sultan to Christianity. An edition of the Arabic text is herewith supplied, together with an edition with variant readings of the historical Spanish translation and, finally, a modern English translation of the original Arabic text.
“Letter on the appearance of the twelfth caliph” (Risāla fī ẓuhūr al-khalīfa al-thānī ʻashar). Edition of the Arabic Text with English Translation