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Another work that also recorded the     suggested that Semarang be entrusted                  saints and how they spread Islam in    described as the manifestation of a
                                   Islamization process in Java is the Serat   to his younger brother, Raden Ketip.              Java, including the cultural obstacles   power that totally defines social life.
                                   Kandaning Ringgit Purwa, which spells   When he told of his plan to the Sultan of             they encountered and the clashes they   Thus, the pattern of Islamization
                                   out the story of the early spread of Islam   Demak, he approved and installed Raden           had with local beliefs.                illustrated above is an effort to
                                   in Java through the roles of saints at the   Ketip in the new position. 23                                                           contextualize Islam within a society
                                   end of the Majapahit era. In canto 414 we   Another part of the Serat Kandaning               Some Notes                             with a kingdom-based cultural system.
                                   are told that after the construction of the   Ringgit Purwa reveals that Sunan                The excerpts from these traditional    This becomes even more evident in
                                   mosque in Cirebon had been completed,   Ngampel was not only a great leader of                historiographic works explain several   the formulation of the legal system that
                                   the saints gathered in the mosque in    missionary activities, but also a principal           things. First, they describe the       is in force. In Malacca, this regulation
                                   Demak and discussed the preparations    figure in the ancestral bonds between                 Islamization in the early periods,     is found in another text, Undang-
                                   to take up battle against Majapahit.    the saints who spread Islam in Java.                  especially in the Malay regions. This   Undang Malaka (the Malacca Legal
                                   Sunan Giri proposed that each of them   Moreover, it was Sunan Ngampel who                    is especially the case with works
                                   sent one of their sons to join the army, so   eventually sent Muslim successors to            like the Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai       Code). The text starts by saying that
                                                                                                                                                                        all regulations are extensions of the
                                   that ordinary people could directly see   the locations where they would later                and the Sejarah Melayu, which are      power of the kings of Malacca and
                                   their involvement. Raden Putra Sabrang   built their palaces. One of the persons              strongly colored by mythological       simultaneously the institutionalization
                                   Wetan, the grandson of the Adipati of   who brought Islam to the palace was the               elements. They must be understood-
                                   Bintara, named Raden Madi Pandan,       Princess of Cempa, but the person who                 --just as historians say--- not as the   of the continuing political behavior of
                                                                                                                                                                        the kingdom. Furthermore, the text also
                                   took part in the expedition leading 300   yielded Islamic authority was the son of            historical reconstruction of the ongoing   gives the king the right to be in control
                                   troops. Also in canto 414, it is recalled   Sunan Ngampel’s older sister. Meanwhile,          Islamization process in the Malay
                                   that after their first victory over Majapahit,   the other important center of Islamic        regions, but rather as the expression   of law enforcement and that every legal
                                   Sunan Bonang suggested that Raden       missionary activities was Ampel Denta.                of the local Malay community of their   institution---including that of the “Kadi”
                                                                                                             24
                                   Madi Pandan, who here is for the first                                                        acceptance of Islam. It appears that a   mentioned in the Sejarah Melayu--- falls
                                   time referred to as “Ki Pandan Arang”,   Like the Serat Kandaning Ringgit Purwa,              mythological way of expression was     under the regal system.
                                   was sent to Pulo Tirang to teach Islam   the Serat Darmo Gandhul also contains                used to explain the ongoing religious   Second, along with the Islamization
                                   to the pagan hermits and to cultivate the   extraordinary stories of the spread of            changes in a society that centered     process, trans-regional relationships
                                   land because, as he predicted, it would   Islam in Java. It was originally written by         around its king. The royal political   allowed Muslim groups and Islamic
                                   become a great city. Ki Pandan Arang    Ronggo Warsito who wrote it under the                 system in the Malay world, even        kingdoms to feel much closer to other
                                   became Prince Pandan Arang and Pulo     pseudonym Ki Kalam Wadi. It is written                since pre-Islamic times, should be     Muslim groups and Islamic polities.
                                   Tirang became Semarang. Finally, after   in prose and relates the trips of several            understood in the sense of A.C. Milner   The Hikayat Banjar, for example,
                                   he reached the position of the Ruler of   23.  J.J. Ras, “Tradisi Jawa mengenai Masuknya      –a anthropologist on Malay --- as “the   mentions how Demak accepted Islam
                                   Semarang, Pandan Arang decided to       Islam di Indonesia,” in Nico Kaptein, Beberapa        condition of having a king”---which    and how the King of Demak helped to
                                                                           Kajian Indonesia dan Islam, Kumpulan Karangan,
                                   retreat to the village of Bayat to deepen   (Jakarta: INIS, 1999), p. 132-135.                played a decisive role in social life. In   Islamize Banjarmasin. It also mentions
                                   his life with religious activities. He   24.  Ras, Tradisi Jawa ... p. 127.                   a monarchy, the king or the ruler is   the Javanese role in establishing Kota



          72   Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives                                                                                                                    Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives  73
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