''Thimuay'' (also spelled ''thimuway'', ''timuay'', and ''thimuway'', among other variations) is the name of the most senior ancestral leader among the Subanon people of the Zamboanga Peninsula in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Less senior ancestral leaders are called "datu", just as they are elsewhere in the Philippines. ''Thimuay'' is equivalent to the titles " lakan", "

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

", or " rajah" in other Philippine cultures. A greatly honored ''thimuay'' is sometimes additionally called a ''thimuay labi'', with the word "labi" simply being a descriptor meaning "highest" or most senior. In predominantly Muslim Subanon communities, the term ''solotan'' is sometimes used instead of ''thimuay''.

Prominent ''thimuay''

Perhaps the most prominent modern-day (20th century) ''thimuay'' was

Thimuay Imbing Timuay Imbing (sometimes referred to as "Timuay Beng Imbing" or "Timuay Labi Beng Imbing"; with the personal name sometimes spelled ''Mbeng'') was the Timuay or ancestral leader of the Subanen people the Zamboanga peninsula in the Philippines du ...

(sometimes spelled Mbeng), who led the Subanon people from Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur during the Philippines' American colonial period. He is perhaps best known for his role in introducing

Evangelical Protestantism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...

(through the

Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines The Christian And Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines (CAMACOP) is a Christian evangelical group in the Philippines that originated from The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). It is one of the largest evangelical groups in t ...

) to the Subanon of

Lapuyan Lapuyan ( ceb, Lungsod sa Lapuyan; Subanen: ''Benwa Dlepuyan''; Chavacano: ''Municipalidad de Lapuyan''; tl, Bayan ng Lapuyan), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has ...

Prominent ''thimuay''

See also