His extensive contacts with religious scholars there enabled him to be regarded as the foremost Tausug authority on Sharia law and Islamic theology by the time he and the Sultan returned to Jolo in 1883.

[1] Under Hadji Butu's advice, Sultan Harun ran into trouble with his Spanish backers for refusing their demands to levy taxes on his subjects for Spain.

In 1892, while Hadji Butu was in Sandakan settling land disputes with the British government in Sabah, Amir ul-Kiram's mother conspired with the Spanish to oust Sultan Harun, exiling him to Palawan.

[1] After the Americans occupied Jolo following the outbreak of the Philippine-American War, Hadji Butu, acting on behalf of the Sultan, concluded the Kiram-Bates Treaty with General John C. Bates on August 20, 1899.

[1] In 1915, Hadji Butu was appointed by Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison to the Philippine Senate, representing the 12th Senatorial District, comprising the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, Mountain Province, Baguio, and Nueva Vizcaya.

[1] Upon the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth, President Manuel L. Quezon appointed him to the National Language Institute as representative for Mindanao, Sulu and the Tausug people, in 1936.