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The Great Mosque of      a leading empire in Maluku after the    The integration of Islam and the political            was getting stronger footholds within   all the royal officials and general people
          Sang Cipta Rasa at the   arrival of Malay and Javanese traders   dynamics of the kingdom may be further                society’s socio-cultural life. This turned   to embrace Islam after he himself had
          Kasepuhan Palace,        who were looking for spices. In fact, in its   explained by the pattern of the initial        the kingdoms into political bases of   converted to Islam.
          Cirebon.                 later development, precisely after the fall   Islamization process. Islamization took         more intensive Islamization and the
          Source: Directorate of   of Malacca, the kingdom was also visited   place in tandem with the establishment             institutionalization of Islamic values.   The Establishment of Kingdoms:
          History and Cultural     by international traders, especially Arabs   of kingdoms, based on the intensive              The religious institutions that were   Political Bases for the Spread of
          Values, Ministry of      and Persians, who tried to find the main   involvement of various Nusantara                   established in the kingdoms functioned   Islam
          Education and Culture    spices producing regions. Through this   regions in the long distance trade in                effectively as means to disseminate    Ever since the early days of their
          of the Republic of       development, Ternate saw such rapid     the Indian Ocean after the beginning of               Islamic teachings.                     development in the 13  and 14
                                                                                                                                                                                            th
                                                                                                                                                                                                   th
                                                                                th
          Indonesia.               growth in the economy and in politics   the 13  century. The establishment of                 In addition, another important factor   centuries, the Samudera Pasai and
                                   that it surpassed the other kingdoms in   Samudera Pasai on the northern coast                that brought about the emergence of    Malacca had shown that they played
                                   Maluku: Tidore, Jailolo, and Bacan. At   of Sumatra and Malacca at the Malay                  kingdoms in the Islamization process   important roles in the Islamization
                                   the same time, the ruler of the kingdom,   Straits—to mention only two cases—                 of the archipelago was the political   process. The rulers of both kingdoms
                                   Raja Zainal Abidin, converted to Islam. It   clearly shows this pattern of Islamic            culture that stressed the dominant     are recorded to have paved the way for
                                   is said that during his rule in Ternate he   development. Local sources about both            role of the kingdom in societal life. In   the development of Islam in the Malay
                                   had enough time to study Islam in Sunan   Islamic empires, the Hikayat Raja-                  the Malay world, political culture was   world, a development that  hardly met
                                   Giri’s Pesantren in Gresik.             Raja Pasai and the Sejarah Melayu,                    institutionalized within the “royal” political   any significant obstacles. The most
                                                                           illustrate that the initial establishment             system, which, as translated by A.C.   significant thing was that the Malay kings,
                                   Kingdoms and the Islamization           of the kingdoms of Samudera Pasai                     Milner,  was “the condition of having   in line with their political and economic
                                   of the Archipelago                      and Malacca took place in line with                   a king”. In this political system, the   interests, invited international Muslim
                                                                           the acceptance of Islam by the Malay                  king had a decisive role that exceeded
                                   The development of Islam in the         community. In fact, the Hikayat Raja-                 political life in the kingdom and included   traders to conduct their business in their
                                   archipelago seems to have been a very   Raja Pasai emphasized that the                        the existence of his subjects. Thus    kingdoms. According to Tomé Pirés, it
                                   prominent phenomenon. M.B. Hooker,      acceptance of Islam was an existential                in Islamization, this political culture   was said that the kings of Malacca had
                                   an expert on the history of Islamic law in   foundation of the Samudera Pasai                 appears to have been the cultural basis   established socio-religious facilities
                                   Southeast Asia, came to the conclusion   kingdom it described. In this situation,             for Malay society easily acceptance of   such as mansions and mosques for
                                   that Islamization in the archipelago    the Islamization of the archipelago                   Islam as its new religion. The conversion   international Muslim traders so that they
                                   appears to have been “a political       not only involved important roles for                 of the Malay kings’ to Islam became    could come and sojourn in the kingdom.
                                   phenomenon”. According to him, it was in   kingdoms, but, later, the development              an invaluable political force for the   This kind of policy, although highly
                                   the kingdom that progress in economic   of the political structures in these                  Islamization of the community inside the   political and economic, had important
                                   development occurred, and also where    kingdoms which also took place                        kingdoms. In the Sejarah Melayu, for   implications in the process of
                                   the local people became acquainted with   in line with the contemporaneous                    example, it is told that Sultan Mahmud   Islamization. The Muslim traders in
                                   Islam as brought by international traders.   intensification of Islamization which            Shah of Malacca immediately ordered    Malacca formed a social force and



          94   Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives                                                                                                                    Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives  95
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