By : Paolo Paddeu
Source : http://www.webalice.it/paopadd

FLAG OF THE MAHARAJA OF JOLO
This is a rank flag, Maharajah was a title who can be translated as "Governor " or "State Official

FLAG OF THE MAHARAJA OF SIASI, SULU ISLANDS
This flag is very interesting because have some different symbols on it.

FLAG ( REVERSE ) OF THE MAHARAJA OF SIASI , SULU ISLANDS
The alligator or the lizard is a common symbol on some flags of the Sulu area. This symbol remainds to the pre-islamic era..

MORO BATTLE FLAG WITH STAR AND CRESCENT
Moro battle flag with stars and crescent brought in U.S.A. in 1902 ; probably in Northern Ohio by an american officer , Army surgeon: Dr. Van Dusen

MORO BATTLE FLAG 1
This moro battle flag with crescent and star is in the collections of the Flag Heritage Foundation, U.S.A.; the flag was obtained in 1976 by Dr. Clarence R. Rungee, he obtained the flag probably in 1950 from a family witch had saved it as a war souvenir from someone who served during the moro insurrections of 1898 - 1906. The crescent appears on flags only after 1899.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 2
This flag , now in a private collection in Orem, , Utah was reputedly captured by Captain Frank W. Jennings , Battery C, 1st Utah light Artillery . . The shape of the stars (in this case four pointed stars )seems do not have particular meaning; sometimes it depends on the fancy of the people who made the flag.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 3
Kris and spear are (with the barung ) some of the traditional arms of the Sulu area. On the moro battle flag or Sultanate of Sulu battle flag we can find them in two different positions: crossed or with kris and spear parallel

MORO BATTLE FLAG 4
This moro flag is in a Museum of Chicago, U.S.A. we can note the stylized shape of the spear and the stars.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 5
This is the only (known ) sample of moro battle flag with flowers. The stylized flowers are very common in the flags of the Sultanate before 1899; sometimes the four or five petals of the flowers are in number of five (the five territories of the Sultanate of Sulu ) but always on the white stripe at the hoist of the flag.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 6
Another typical Sultanate battle flag with kris , simbilan and five stars; note the blue canton parallel to the blue stripe at the hoist. In an american museum there is a similar flag very interesting, is the only one with an inscription on the central star . The inscription, in arabic letters but in tausug language can be translate in this way : "This flag has the mark of the Sultan".

MORO BATTLE FLAG 7
The canton of this flag differs to the other moro battle flags; it is in dark blue cotton with square of white cotton having four squares cut in each quadrant. We can't find out the five stars but we find the crescent added to the kris and spear.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 8
This interesting moro battle flag doesn't have the traditional five stars on the blue canton in the hoist, instead of them there is a symbol like a flower with four petals, with a red center made in silk.
On the field of the flag there are three symbols, without identification and the "Zul-fiqar" or "sword of Ali ", who according to the legend was given to Ali by the Prophet Mohammed to fight against the unfaithfuls.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 9
The flag, donated in may 23, 1922 by Mr. Arthur R. Fergusson now is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institute, U.S.A. Is a classic Battle flag of the Sultanate with an unknown symbol on it.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 10
This flag has crossed spear and kris. The kris is one of the traditional symbols of the Sultanate of Sulu. It represent the male element and has got a magic and ritual meaning. WE have three types of kris : the kalis seko,with fully wave blade, the kalis taluseko with half waved/half straight blade and the kalis tulid with straight blade. On the moro battle flags the most represented is the kalis tulid, the kris with straight blade.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 11
The symbol on this flag is an enigma, for some scholars it represent a white cotton flowering and leaved plant having a black cotton center; for someone it represent an helmet with feathers , typical of the moros derived from the spanish" morion " . The feathers are represented by the okir or ukil motifs. The black symbol is an enigna too.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 12
This sultanate flag has three differents kind of symbols : on the left side we find the " zul -fiqar" or "sword of Ali " , in the central position there is a white building, maybe the Sultan's palace, surrounding by a floreal arc. For some scholars this symbol is the royal platform inside the palace of the Sultan ; for someone else it represents the Mecca Door surrounding by okir motifs. On the right side the crossed kris and budjak (spear ) are some of the traditional symbols of the Sultanate after 1899.

MORO BATTLE FLAG 13
A particular type of moro flag, note the white disc with two parrallel stripes on it.

MORO BATTLE FLAG
This flag, at present in my private collection of flags is similar to the flag shown in an old picture of 1933 taken in Sulu by Aleko Lilius and published in The National Geographic Magazine the same year. The verical blue stripe in some moro battle flags derived by the pre-1899 flags where the stripes of blue, black or white at the hoist were very common .

MORO BATTLE FLAG 15
(THE FLAG OF BUD DAJO ) In march five,1906 hundreds of moros trekked towards the crater of Bud Dajo or Bud Daho, an extint volcano , to fight in that who will become :" a heroic stand against american role ..." After some days of resistance the soldiers of the United States,with mortars and machine-guns killed more than 600 moros armed with krisses, barungs and spears in one-sides fight who many peoples called "the Bud Dajo massacre ". Some of the american soldiers bring to U.S.A. one of the moro's flag like trophy; at present it is in a californian museum and it has the typical symbols and colors of this type of flags but it is the only one with a green star, symbol of the islamic faith. The moros called the Bud Dajo battle "the battle of the clouds" because the crater of the volcano was fringed with clouds .

MORO BATTLE FLAG 16
This battle flag, who its symbols are described in the Home page of this web site at present is in California, the owner of it is the scholar Datu Daranda Mabagani , web master of the site :"Moro Historical Research". The flag presents the typical structure of all the Sultanate battle flags.