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Railblazing Moro Academic Cesar Majul, 79, Dies |
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Written by Samira Ali Gutoc
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Monday, 13 October 2003 |
Another prominent figure in Moro history passes away during this month just before the Holy Month of Ramadhan. In the past three months, two leading Moro figures, MILF chair Salamat Hashim and Bangsamoro League Movement founder and now Education Usec. Macapanton Abbas.
Probably the most prominent academic luminary among this generation's Muslim-Filipinos, 79-year old Cesar Majul died of prostate cancer at a Los Angeles hospital in the United States, Saturday 3 pm American time. Popularly known as Dean Majul, he was to have celebrated his 80th birthday at the US this October, said fellow academic Higher Education Commissioner Roqaya Maglangit.
In the UP archives' website, www.upd.edu chronicling one of its outstanding alumni, Cesar Adib Majul was born in Aparri, Cagayan, Philippines, on October 21, 1923. He was educated at the University of the Philippines and Cornell University. He has been a member of the faculty of the University of the Philippines since 1948. From 1961 until 1966, he was Dean of the University College, University of the Philippines, and from 1969 until 1971, he was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines. He served on the Board of Regents of the University of Mindanao between 1961 and 1962. During the spring term of the academic year 1966-67, he was Visiting Professor at Cornell University.
He received the Republic Heritage Award for "the most outstanding contribution to Historical Writing during the period from May 1, 1960 to April 30, 1961," as well as the First Prize in the Biography Contest on the Life of Apolinario Mabini in 1964. From the University of the Philippines, he received the Distinguished Scholar Award in 1968.
He is best known for his works entitled, The Contemporary Muslim Movement in the Philippines (1985), Muslims in the Philippines (1973). Other major works are The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution (1957, 1968), and Mabini and the Philippine Revolution (1960), and Apolinario Mabini: Revolutionary (1964). The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution is an important attempt at examining and interpreting the ideas that brought about the Philippine Revolution, determined its conduct, and shaped its objectives. It is based on the doctoral dissertaion which he presented to the Graduate Faculty of Cornell University. His essays on Islam have been translated by Dr. Nabil Tawil Subhi into Arabic and published in Beirut as Al-Islam Fil-Sharqil Aqsa (1966). This new book which could have been written only by him, adds a new dimension to an already distinguished career.
Dean Majul also co-authored a book with Ralph H. Salmi and George K. Tanham entitled Islam and Conflict Resolution: Theories and Practices published by the University Press of America (1998). A number of his articles were published in several local and international journals.
"An author, scholar, educator and a prominent muslim leader, he founded the Institute of Islamic Studies and became its First Dean from 1974 up to 1980," the UP website further wrote.
At his passing away ,he was living with his wife, Wiena, and daughter, Christine, in San Pablo, California.
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