Sultan Abdullah of Manila (Maharlika Timeline)

Sultan Abdullah of Manila (Jawi: عبدالله سلطان ءڠ ماينيل), also known by his full Tagalog regnal name Raja Muda Gat Abdullah Anak ni Bontoyan was the founder of the Sultanate of Manila.

Born in the Kingdom of Manila, to the Maginoo class, Abdullah is descended from Rajah Sulayman, and was already destined to become the Rajah of Manila. His father, Rajah Bontoyan, had partook in a fierce attack against the Spaniards in Cavite.

Upon the death of Rajah Bontoyan, Rajah Abdullah helped quash a rebellion against the Sultan of Brunei, therefore the Sultan of Brunei granted Manila, Tondo and Namayan their independence. Rajah Abdullah proclaimed himself as "Ang Sultan ng Maynila", thereby officially turning Manila from a Folk Islamic rajahnate under Bruneian vassalage, into a full-pledged Islamic sultanate, where non-Muslims of the Maginoo, Maharlika and Mangintowan classes were given dhimmi status, and required to pay the jizyah tax to the Sultan.

As the Sultan of Manila, and the Paramount Ruler of the Muslims of the Pasig, Abdullah introduced Arabic and proper Qur'an studies, via contact with the Moro sultans of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. It is Sultan Abdullah who made Arabic the state language of the sultanate, with the intent to turn Manila into a "Tagalog Malacca", and important center for Muslims all across the globe. It is Sultan Abdullah who befriended the Portuguese, and allowed the Portuguese to take vassalage over the Pasig kingdoms. a

After Sultan Mohammad of Sugbu befriended the Portuguese, the Visayan sultan reached out to Sultan Abdullah, and wrote a letter to him in Malay, warning him of the costs that the Cavite Offensive had on the Moros, and that the Moros would fare better under Portuguese vassalage against the Spaniards, since the Portuguese also possessed the same type of advanced weaponry and firepower that the Spaniards had enjoyed for decades. The main intent of Sultan Mohammad was that the Portuguese were powerful, and respected the right of the Malays to continue practicing Islam, therefore they could do the same for the Moros and Maharlikas.

Sultan Abdullah had to deal with two major rebellions. The 1652 Manila Rebellion was initiated by Datu Aman, who prominent member of Sultan Abdullah's Maharlika Court. Sultan Abdullah quashed this rebellion. In 1673, a year after befriending the Portuguese Empire, as a powerful cushion against the Spanish Empire (who was very anti-Muslim), Datu Badr al-Dun Sulayman, who married into the Maginoo by marrying one of the sultan's daughters, who feared that the Portuguese would become just like the Spaniards, attempting to overthrow Sultan Abdullah, until another Maharlika datu, Dikrullah Gahasa, reported to Sultan Abdullah, allowing him to quash the rebellion.