king of samudra pasai

Samudera Pasai Kingdom

1.      The History

Samudera Pasai Kingdom was located in Aceh and became the first Islamic kingdom in Indonesia. This kingdom was established by Meurah Silu in 1267 A.D. The archeological proof of the existence of the Samudare Pasai kingdom was the discovery of Pasai Kings‘ graveyard in Geudong village, North Aceh. This graveyard is located near the ruin of Samudera Kingdom center in Beuringin village, Samudera Sub-district, about 17 km in the west of Lhokseumawe. Among the kings‘ graveyard, there was a name of Sultan Malik al-Saleh, the first Pasai king. Malik al-Saleh was Meurah Silu‘s new name after embracing Islam, and he was the first Moslem Sultan in Indonesia. He ruled about 29 years (1297-1326 A.D). Samudera Pasai Kingdom is the merger of Pase and Peurlak Kingdoms whose first king was Malik al-Saleh.

A Moslem wanderer from Maghribi, Ibnu Bathutah visited Pasai in 1346 A.D. He told that when he was in China, he saw Pasai Sultan‘s ship in China. Actually, China sources told that Pasai representative frequently came to China to give the tribute. Other information also said that Pasai Sultan sent its representative to Quilon, West India in 1282 A.D. It proved that Pasai had a pretty large relation with foreign kingdoms. On its victorious period, Samudera Pasai was an important trade center in that area, and it was visited by merchants from many countries, such as China, India, Siam, Arab, and Persia. The main commodity was pepper. As a big trading port, Samudera Pasai issued golden coin called dirham. This currency was used legally in the kingdom. Besides as the trade center, Samudera Pasai was also the center of development of Islam.

Along with the development, Samudera Pasai declined, until it was conquered by Majapahit Kingdom around 1360 A.D. In 1524 A.D, it was conquered for the second time by Aceh kingdom.

2.      The Kings of the Kingdom

Sultan Malik al-Saleh (1267-1297 A.D)

Sultan Muhammad Malikul Zahir (1297-1326 A.D)

Sultan Ahmad Laidkudzahi

Sultan Zainal Abidin Malik al-Zahir (1383-1405 A.D)

Sultan Shalahuddin (1405-1412 A.D)

3.       The Kingdom Period

The kingdom period of governing of Samudera Pasai lasted about 3 centuries, from the 13th until the 16th century.

4.       The Kingdom Territory

Pasai territory encompassed Aceh area at that time.

5.      The Kingdom Structure

(In the process of data collecting)

6.       Social-Cultural Life

It had been mentioned before that Pasai was a big kingdom which also became a trade and Islamic development center. As a big kingdom, the community which produced well writing work also developed. A creative minority group succeeded in using Arabic letters which was brought by Islam to write their work in Malay language. Then, it is now called as Jawi language, and the letters are called Jawi-Arab. Among those writing work, there is Hikayat Raja Pasai (HRP). The beginning of this text was predicted to be written around 1360 A.D. HRP showed the beginning of classic Malay literary development in Indonesian archipelago. Malay language then was also used by Syaikh Abdurrauf al-Singkili when he wrote his books.

Along with it, Islamic mysticism also developed. One of Islamic mysticism books which was translated into Malay language was Durru al-Manzum, written by Maulana Abu Ishak. This book then was translated into Malay language by Makhdum Patakan, as the request of Malaka Sultan. The information above tells a small role which was done by Samudera Pasai in its position as Islamic development center in Southeast Asia at that time.