The illustrious ancestors of Rashid Lucman include Sharif Kabungsuan and Angintabu, daughter of the chieftain of Malabang, Lanao del Sur, who bore Rashid Lucman’s father, Sharif Maka‑alang (who succeeded as chieftain).
He fought under the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) during World War II, organizing the first guerrilla force in Mindanao which fought fierce battles against the Japanese. His war record led to his appointment as deputy governor for Lanao del Sur in 1944.
He worked in 1949 as newspaper correspondent for the Manila Chronicle but returned to politics in 1953. He was elected congressman of Lanao del Sur in 1961 and served until 1969. He also served as regional development officer of the Convention on National Integration at Marawi City from 1959 to 1961. He served as Lanao del Sur congressman from 1961 to 1969.
As deputy governor, Lucman worked for the surrender of loose firearms in his province and helped bring in the Tausug outlaw Kamlon in the 1950s. He helped rescue non‑Muslims and Subanons from what was then a flourishing slave trade in Mindanao.
In 1968, Lucman, then already a congressman, called for the impeachment of President Ferdinand Marcos for the latter’s responsibility in what later came to be known as the Jabidah massacre. It turned out that the Philippine government had secretly trained Muslims to implement a clandestine plan to invade the island of Sabah. The Muslim trainees had rebelled over miserable training conditions in Corregidor island. As a result, 68 Tausug trainees were killed.
Lucman failed to generate the support he expected from Congress, and became convinced that Muslims should rule themselves in Muslim Mindanao. He supported the training of young Muslim men for armed resistance and raised funds abroad, particularly from Muslim countries, for Muslim self-rule. He sent young men to be trained in guerrilla warfare under a special Malaysian force. Among them was Nur Misuari, later to become the guerrilla leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
He chaired the Union of Islamic Forces and Organization from 1968 to 1972 and at the same time was a member of the Military Council. He also chaired the Supreme Revolutionary Council from 1970 to 1972, and the Bangsa Moro Liberation Organization (BMLO) from 1976 to 1984. The BMLO later joined forces with Nur Misuari’s MNLF.
In 1974, Lucman was declared second paramount sultan of Mindanao and Sulu. Here he raised the call for self‑rule for the Bangsa Moro of Mindanao. Lucman left for Saudi Arabia in 1976. In 1984, he was elected vice‑president of the Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM) in San Francisco, California.
He pursued his campaign for unity among Muslim members of the various opposition political forces, including the underground resistance movement led by the Left and Filipino opposition groups in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. He died in Riyadh in 1984.
