T'Boli is a town in the province of South Cotabato, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 60,693 people in 12,679 households.

T'boli is politically subdivided into 25 barangays.

The T'bolis are of proto-Malayan stock and are found in the mountain ranges of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces. They have been known for their wealth of craft, elaborate traditional dresses, and vivacious dances and music.

Today, they are also known for their unusual tie-dyed and woven abaca cloth called tinalak used for dresses during ceremonies and festivities. The intricate process in making the tinalak includes dyeing and painstaking weaving on back-strap looms. They are also known for their brass casting of human and animal figures, bells, and metal boxes.

Christian conquistadors arrived in the Philippines during the 16th Century. During the subsequent decades, they attacked the Muslim Sultanates and pagan settlements, following the same pattern of plunder and destruction used in Central and South America. Eventually, they succeeded in conquering most of the North and Central Philippines forced the inhabitants to convert to Christianity and destroyed all traces of Islam in the Northern region. But the Muslims of Mindanao and Sulu, whom the Spanish called Moros, were never completely subdued by Spain.

During the late 19th Century, war broke out between the United States of America and Spain resulting in the cession of the Philippines to the United States on Dec. 10, 1898. A Filipino revolutionary movement fought against American rule for three years until its leader, Aguinaldo was captured and shortly thereafter appealed to his countrymen to accept U.S. rule. The Muslims in the south continued to resist until a 20th-century U.S. army finally subdued them.

Some of the indigenous tribes of the South, like the T'boli, B'laan and Ubo, remained untouched by these developments as their settlements were in the interior, away from the coastal cities and towns. They believed in Fun Koyu, the spirit of the trees, Funel, the spirit of water and Fun Bulol, the spirit of the mountains as gods who showered blessings on them through food and the other luxurious gifts of nature. They led a very simple life.

During the population explosion in the North of the Philippines in the early 1950's, waves of Christian settlers came South and rapidly spread into the areas occupied by the indigenous tribes, the T'bolis, B'laan and the Ubo. These settlers claimed all the vacant land adjacent to settlements of the aboriginal tribes.Being uninformed of the legal concept of owning property and unaware of the intentions of the Christian settlers, the indigenous tribes willingly allowed them to occupy their vacant ancestral lands. Slowly but surely the aboriginals became a minority in their own areas and many were driven further inland as land-hungry settlers crowded them out.

Father Arroz, a Protestant priest, was the first to introduce Christianity to the people of Lake Sebu and the town of T'boli in the 1950's. In 1960, Datus (nobles) of the T'boli tribe, invited some missionaries to introduce the Catholic interpretation of Christianity to the T'bolis.

These missionaries established schools, churches and clinics to serve the people. They also introduced and financed livelihood projects like the raising of cattle. Most importantly; free education was provided to the children of the T'bolis. The Santa Cruz Mission School Inc. established 19 primary schools, 3 high schools and one college.

Initially there was a great wave of conversions to Christianity. However, later on it became apparent that while on the one hand the Church provided all these benefits, on the other hand it had managed to take control of virtually all the T'boli lands leaving the majority landless. Added to this, a series of corrupt activities by some of the priests led to a collapse of the provision of the facilities and a gradual decline in the number of T'bolis joining the Catholic religion.

In the early 90's, Ali Akbar Salam, a Muslim T'boli, invited Brother Ismael Abubakar and his wife Bay Cabaybay Abubakar, the President of the Shariff Kabunsuan College in Cotabato City, to introduce the religion of Islam to his people. Since then, Islam gradually crept into the hearts and minds of the T'bolis and the number of conversions has been continually increasing by the hundreds.

Two concrete mosques have been built; one on Lake Sebu and the other in the town of T'boli. An Imaam has also been appointed for each mosque to lead the prayers and teach the congregation the basics of Islam. The Barangays (villages) also have temporary mosques made of bamboo and wood.

However, the needs of the new community were great. Economic as well as educational projects were and are needed to help the budding community survive and grow.

The T'Boli Scholarship Programme is one such Project. It has already played a significant role in the strengthening and purifying the existing Islaamic community as well as spurring the further spread of the deen, and has potential to do much more.