Misuari’s biography surfaces

FORMER REBEL Chieftain Nur Misuari’s colorful life is now on paperback. 

 

In a book originally published eight years ago by Tom Stern entitled “Nur Misuari: An Authorized Biography,” the 294-page publication detailed the former Libyan firebrand’s rise to power - beginning with Misuari’s childhood and his early political career with the author narrating the political and intellectual maturity of an eventual leader of the secessionist group Moro National Liberation Front or MNLF.

Stern’s biographical account of Misuari comes at a crucial point when Moro history needs to be revisited and the lives of its key personalities call for reappraisal.

Twenty-three chapters comprise the book’s contents, along with five appendices that present important documents that defined Misuari’s political career, such as the Tripoli Peace Agreement and the 1996 Peace Agreement between the MNLF and the Philippine government.

The author also narrates Misuari’s role in the onset of negotiations with Manila, the break between the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the changed political atmosphere following the rise to power of President Corazon Aquino. Misuari’s relations with the succeeding presidents, most importantly with President Fidel Ramos, form the content of the subsequent chapters.

And Chapter 1 sets the tone for the biography by recounting Misuari’s acceptance of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Peace Prize in Dakar in 1998.

But Chapter 16 presents a radical turn in Misuari’s trajectory as he became a government official in his capacity as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The last two chapters present the author’s view regarding the future not just of Misuari, but of the larger peace process in Mindanao.

Stern, who is a California-based medical doctor and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, said he consulted key personalities who worked with (and against) Misuari at the height of his career from Ramos, Imelda Marcos, and Sultan Esmail Dalus Kiram II.

Kindle edition of the biography sells for $8.

Influential Moro

Misuari is also among 500 of the world’s most influential Muslims for 2020. He is included in the prestigious book “The Muslim 500 – World’s 500 most influential Muslims 2020” alongside religious scholars and heads of state that make up this 283-page, full color prints. 

In its introductory, “The Muslim 500 – World’s 500 most influential Muslims 2020” says: “Nur Misuari is a revolutionary leader of the Bangsamoro. He began his campaign for better treatment of the people of Mindanao by the Manila government through the Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM) in the 1970s, which later became the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).” 

“Under Misuari’s leadership the MNLF challenged the government until the Tripoli Agreement was negotiated in 1976. Misuari and members of the MNLF were charged in connection to the deadly 20-day attack in Zamboanga city in September 2013, which left nearly 200 people dead, but in 2016, Misuari was granted a temporary suspension of his arrest and asked for his help in the peace negotiations in Mindanao.” 

The “The Muslim 500 – World’s 500 most influential Muslims 2020” print sells for $29.95 while the digital copy is $4.95. 

According to its publisher, the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center, the publication is part of an annual series that provides a window into the movers and shakers of the Muslim world. 

It highlights people who are influential as Muslims, that is, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the fact that they are Muslim. It gives valuable insight into the different ways that Muslims impact the world, and also shows the diversity of how people are living as Muslims today, 

The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center is an independent research entity affiliated with the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought which is an international Islamic non-governmental, independent institute headquartered in Amman, Jordan. 

“The selection of people for this publication in no way means that we endorse their views; rather we are simply trying to measure their influence. The influence can be of a religious scholar directly addressing Muslims and influencing their beliefs, ideas and behaviour, or it can be of a ruler shaping the socio-economic factors within which people live their lives, or of artists shaping popular culture,” the publisher said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Like Us on Facebook: The Mindanao Examiner
Like Us on Facebook: The Zamboanga Post
Follow Us on Twitter: Mindanao Examine
Mirror Site: Mindanao Examiner Blog
Digital Archives: Mindanao Examiner Digital
Media Rates: Advertising Rates