Religion

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The Bajau people are a Muslim tribe known as sea gypsies of Muslim by the sea. They were forces to see the see due to oppression by other Muslim tribes. When you walk the streets of Davao City you might experience a tapping on your back by a begging Bajau. They were known by other Muslim tribes as “palap” or “Tumaan” (God forsaken); the Bjau developed an inferiority complex about their class within the Muslim tribes

Claims to religious piety and learning are an important source of individual prestige among the coastal Bajau, and the title of salip/sarip (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad) are shown special honor in the local community. Some of the Bajau lack mosques and must rely on the shore-based communities such as those of the more Islamized Аrabic or Malay peoples. The Ubian Bajau, due to their nomadic marine lifestyle, are much less adherent to orthodox Islam, and practice more of a Syncretic folk hybrid, revering local sea spirits, known in Islamic terminology as Jinn.

 Almost all Bajau today claim to be Sunni Muslim. They believe that among their people are direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed
Yet many — predominantly the seafaring, nomadic Bajau — retain spiritually based religious practices that pre-date any major religion. In their religion designated spirit mediums communicate with the spirit world in ritual ceremonies of celebration, worship and exorcism — in which, for example, spirit boats are sailed into the open seas to cast the offending spirit away from their community. They also worship the God of the sea, Omboh Dilaut. 


Sources
 
Christian Reichel/ Ranty Islam
     2013 We're No Longer Able to Understand Our World http://www.dw.de/were-no-longer-able-to-understand-our-world/a-16730817 accessed April 21

The Messenger: The Sea Gypsies http://www.pfwb.org/clergy/documents/Messenger/July-August2010.pdf
http://gamma.sil.org/silewp/2011/silewp2011-009.pdf accessed April 21