Page 107 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

served as agents of the Islamization a very devout worshipper and that he Aceh had subdued Pidie, Pasai and Deli, regions within the domain of Islam (dar
process in the local communities. The highly respected the scholars who lived all of which produced spices. Efforts al-Islam) and those outside (dar al-harb).
traders conducted commercial activities in his kingdom. They often sat together at of conquest were also taken further to The Aceh authorities increasingly used
and simultaneously acted as preachers the royal mosque to read the Qur’an and the western part of Sumatra like Tiku, the concept of jihad which had slowly
who introduced Islamic teachings into to study Islamic sciences. In other words, Pariaman and Bengkulu, areas famous been introduced by the increasing growth
the Malay community. By doing so, the this Malay king was very supportive for gold mining and agriculture. In the of Islamic influence.
Malay kings not only managed to ensure of the dual role of the international Malay Peninsula regions like Kedah, The rapid development of Islam in
that the kingdoms made significant Muslim traders in his kingdom. He not Pahang and Perlak also bowed to Aceh was possible because of several
progress in the economy and in politics, only supported Muslim merchants’ Aceh after the hegemony of the Johor reasons. B.J.O. Schrieke, assumed
at the same time they also became the economic activities, by the set of rules sultanate had been crushed. that to some extent it was due to the
centers of Islamic propagation in the mentioned above, but also their activities In line with economic growth, Aceh early process Christianization that had
archipelago. Moreover, the Malay kings to propagate Islam among the local later came up as a prominent Muslim been conducted due to the presence
were also recorded to have applied communities, including the royal court. political power in the Malay-Indonesian of Europeans in the archipelago. This
sets of rules designed for the benefit After the fall of Malacca in 1511, the Archipelago since the 16 century. Aceh theory is supported by W.F. Wertheim,
th
of the business activities of Muslim basis of Islamization switched to Aceh. had its glory under the reign of Sultan who saw the upsurge of European
merchants. For instance, in the Laws of Established in around 1514 under Ali Iskandar Muda (1607—1636), that was Christianization as one of the driving
Malacca, it is stated that Muslim traders’ Mughayat Shah (reigning until 1530), the time when Islam was institutionalized factors behind the more intensive
business interests were protected Aceh immediately made important as a socio-cultural and political force. Islamization of the Archipelago. However
by legal provisions. The text, for progress in the economy, politics and If during the first two Islamic kingdoms some recent studies show the important
example, contains the terms for trading religion, similar to that of the first two of Samudera Pasai and Malacca Islam relationships that had increasingly
transactions, lending venture capital, Islamic kingdoms above. The fall of was more prominent in terms of trade interwoven between the Malay-
market surveillance mechanisms, and Malacca had little implications for and economic activities, in Aceh the Indonesian Archipelago and the centers
other rules intended on securing trading the trading volume or for maritime force of the influence of Islam could of Islam in the Middle East especially
activities. trade activities in the archipelago. be felt in almost all important aspects Mecca and Medina. Anthony Reid, a
For these reasons, the Malay kingdoms, The international Muslim traders who of social life. In the development of the historian of Southeast Asia, may be
more precisely Malacca, were not only previously went to Malacca now simply kingdom’s political structure, Islam had regarded as the leading scholar behind
described, such as written in Tomé Pirés’ found a new, more developed trade become the most dominant element as the introduction of this assumption.
record, as places with a remarkably level center in Aceh. This was primarily proven by the establishment of religious He noted that in line with its intimate
of international mercantile visits, where a due to the success of the Acehnese institutions, that played important relations with the Islamic world, during
large variety of languages was spoken. kings in expanding their territories and roles in the implementation of Islamic Aceh’s heydays Islam in the archipelago
Ibn Batutta, a the North African wanderer by so doing ensuring the supply of teachings in public life. Islam also began went through its most crucial stage
in the 14 century, described Malik al- the commodities international traders to be taken as a social ideology that of development. It was characterized
th
Zahir, the ruler of Samudera Pasai, as wanted. On the east coast of Sumatra, determined the dividing line between mainly by the occurrence of a “religious

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