Aceh, Nusantara and the Islamic Khilafah (Part One)

Indonesia, formerly known as Nusantara (meaning Archipelago), is the largest Muslim country in the Muslim world. Long before its independence, Indonesia was the homeland of many Islamic kingdoms which were the centers of Islamic power in Nusantara, extending from the Sultanate of Aceh in the west to the Sultanate of Ternate in the east.

Historical records prove that these Islamic sultanates were not independent on their own, rather they had a very close relationship with the Khilafah Islamiyah in Turkey (Uthmani Khilafah). This paper will review briefly some historical evidence that describes the unity and relationship between the Islamic sultanates in Nusantara  with the Khilafah Islamiyah.

Recognition of the Islamic Khilafah

The effect of the presence of the Khilafah (also referred to as Daulah Islamiyah or Islamic State) on the political life of the archipelago had been felt since the early days of its establishment. The muslims were successful in the futuhat (conquests or openings) of the Persian Empire and soon after  large parts of the Eastern Roman Empire, such as Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. Under the leadership of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the Daulah Islamiyah had became the world superpower since the 7th century AD. When the Khilafah was under the rule of the Umayyads (660-749 AD), the rulers of the Indonesian archipelago were still the Hindus – who still embraced Hinduism – eventhough they recognized the greatness of Khilafah.

The recognition of the glory of Khilafah was proven by two letters sent by Maharaja of Srivijaya to the Khilafah during the reign of the Umayyads. The first letter was sent to Muawiyyah, and the second letter was sent to Umar bin Abdul Aziz.¹ The first letter was found in a diwan (archive) of Bani Umayyads by Abdul Malik ibn Umayr and was delivered to Abu Ya’yub Ats-Tsaqofi, which was then delivered to Al-Haytsam ibn Adi. Al-Jahizh who heard about the letter from Al-Haytsam, who told about the introductory part of the letter as follows:

“From the King of Al-Hind whose animal cages have one thousand elephants, (and) whose palace is made of gold and silver, who is served by the kings’ daughters, and who has two great rivers that irrigate the aloe trees, to Muawiyah ….” ²

The second letter was documented by Abd Rabbih (H/860-940 246-329 AD) in his composition known as Al-Iqd Al-Farid. The fragment of the letter was as follows:

“From the King of Kings …: who is the descendant of a thousand kings … to the King of Arabia (Umar ibn Abdul Aziz) who does not associate God with other gods. I had sent you a gift, which was actually not much, but it was just a sign of friendship, and I wanted you to send me someone who can teach me Islam, and explain to me its laws. ” ³

In addition, Farooqi found an archive of the Uthmani containing a petition from the Sultan Ala al-Din Riayat Shah to Sultan Sulayman Al-Qanuni which was brought by Huseyn Effendi. In this letter, Aceh recognized the Uthmani leadership as Khilafah Islam. In addition, the letter also contained an account of the Portuguese military activities which posed a big problem for the Muslim traders and the pilgrims en route to Makkah. And that the assistance of the the Uthmani was urgently needed to save the Muslims who were being slaughtered by the infidel Farangi (Portuguese). ⁴

Sulayman Al-Qanuni H/1566 died in 974 AD. However, the petition of Aceh gained support from Sultan Selim II (974-982 H/1566-1574 AD), who issued the command to undertake a military expedition to Aceh. Around September 975 H/1567 AD, Kurtoglu Hızır Reis, the Turkish Admiral in Suez, sailed to Aceh together with a number of rifle experts, soldiers and artillery. The troops were ordered to be in Aceh as long as they were required by the Sultan.⁵  However this large fleet only partially reached Aceh since they were diverted during the journey to quell the uprising in Yemen that ended in 979 H/1571 AD.⁶  According to historical records, the Turkish army who arrived in Aceh in 1566-1577 AD were only around 500 soldiers, including firearms, rifles, and technical experts. With this assistance, Aceh was able to strike back against the Portuguese in Malacca in 1568 AD.⁷

The presence of Kurtoglu Hızır Reis with his fleet of army was greeted with great ceremony by the Muslims of Aceh. Kurtoglu Hızır Reis was later given the title as governor (wali) of Aceh,⁸ who was the official delegation of khalifah posted in the area. This suggests that the relationship between Nusantara and the Uthmani Khilafah was not only brotherly relations but also political relations of the state. The presence of the guardianship of Turkey in Aceh shows that that Aceh was an integral part of the Khilafah Islamiyah.

On the other hand, there were many Malay political institutions in the Archipelago which received the title of sultan from certain rulers in the Middle East. In 1048H/1638 AD, the Mayor of Banten, Abd al-Qodir (ruled from 1037 to 1063H/1626-1651 AD) was awarded the title of Sultan by Sharif of Makkah as a result of a special mission he sent to the Holy Land. Meanwhile, the Sultanate of  Aceh was known to have close ties with Turkish authorities and Haramayn Ustmani. Likewise, Palembang and Makassar also had a special relationship with the ruler of Makkah.⁹ At that time, the rulers of Makkah were an integral part of the Uthmani Khilafah based in Turkey.

Judging from the use of the terms, the Islamic sultanates of the archipelago associated themselves as an inseparable part of the Khilafah. Some Javanese classical books mentioned this matter. The Kings of Pasai (pp. 58, 61-62, 64), for example, called the official name of the Sultanate of Samudra Pasai as “Samudra Dar al-Islam”. The term of Dar al-Islam was also used in the books of law to refer the Sultanate of Pahang. Nur al-Din al-Raniri, in Bustan al-Salatin (eg, on pp. 31, 32, 47), called the Sultanate of Aceh as Dar al-Salam. The term was also used in Pattani when the local authorities, Paya Tu Naqpa, converted to Islam and took the name Sultan Ismail Shah Zill Allah fi-Alam who reigned in the land of Pattani Dar al-Salam (Tale of Patani, 1970:75).

In classical Islamic political science, the world was divided into two, namely Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb. Dar al-Islam is an area that applied the Islamic law and the security is in the hands of the Muslims, while Dar al-Harb is the opposite of Dar al-Islam. The use of the term “Dar al-Islam” or “Dar al-Salam” indicates that the Malay rulers accepted geopolitical Islamic conception of the division of the two world regions. This geopolitical concept was further crystallized during the establishment of European nations initiated by “the Peringgi” (Portuguese) then followed by other European nations. Later on, especially the Dutch and the English started to become rampant in the Indian Ocean and the Straits of Malacca (Sulalat al-Salatin, 1979 :244-246). They undertook physical colonization and spread Christianity through missions and missionaries.

Uthmani Empire, as mentioned by Hurgronje (1994, pp. 1631) ¹⁰, was pro-active in paying attention to the plight of Muslims in Indonesia by opening a representative government (consulate) in Batavia at the end of the 19th century. To the Muslims in Batavia, the Turkish consul promised to fight for the emancipation of the rights of Arabs to be equal to those of Europe. In addition, Turkey urged that all Muslims in the Dutch East Indies Dutch  be free from oppression.

Above all, Aceh was much visited by scholars from different parts of the Islamic world. Sharif of Makkah sent an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abdullah Kan’an, as teacher and preacher to Aceh. In around 1582, two great scholars of Arab countries, Sheikh Abdul Khayr and Shaykh Muhammad Yamani arrived in Aceh. In addition, in Aceh itself there were a number of scholars, such as Al-Sumatrani Shamsuddin and Abdul Rauf al-Singkeli. ¹¹

Abdul Rauf al- Singkel  received an offer from the Sultan of Aceh, Safiyat al-Din Shah, to fulfill the post of a Qadi whose title was Qadi al-Malik al-Adil which had been vacant for some time since Nur al-Din al-Raniri returned to Ranir (Gujarat). After due considerations, Abdul Rauf accepted the offer. ¹² Then, he officially became a Qadi with the title of Qadi al-Malik al-Adil. Furthermore, as a Qadi, Sultan Abd Rauf was asked to write a book as a benchmark (qaanun) of the application of the Shari’a Law.¹³ The title of the book is Mir’at al-Tullab.

These various historical facts further confirms the recognition and the close relationship between Aceh and the archipelago with the Uthmani Khilafah. In fact, the relationship was not limited to brotherly relationship or friendship one but also a ‘unity’ relationship as an integral part of the Uthmani Khilafah (Dar al-Islam).
The Guardian of  Hajj Journey in Archipelago

The existence of the Uthmani Khilafah as an Islamic khilafah, especially after it’s successful conquest of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire in 857 H/1453, made the name of Turkey well remembered in the hearts of Muslims in the archipelago. The renowned name for Turkey in the archipelago was “Sultan of Rum.” ¹⁴ The term “Rum” was to refer to the Uthmani Turkish Empire. Since this period, the political and cultural supremacy of Rum (Uthmani Empire) spread to various parts of the Muslim world, including in Nusantara.¹⁵

The political and military power of the Uthmani Khilafah began to rise in the Indian Ocean in the early 16th century. As the Muslim Khilafah, the Uthmani Empire had a position to be The Khadimul Haramayn (The Guardian of the Two Holy Lands, ie Makkah and Medina). With this position, the Uthmani Khilafah took special measures to ensure the safety of the pilgrimage. The entire pilgrimage route was under the territories and control of the Uthmani Khilafah. The caravans of Hajj could directly go to Makkah without any troubles or fear of the Portuguese. In 954 H/1538, Sultan Sulayman I (ruled in 928 H/1520-1566 AD) sent a strong fleet under the command of the Governor of Egypt, Khadim Sulayman Pasha, to liberate all ports occupied by the Portuguese to secure the sea voyage of the pilgrimage to Jeddah.¹⁶

The Uthmani also secured the route of pilgrimage from the western side of Sumatra by placing its navy in the Indian Ocean. The presence of the military fleet of Uthmani in the Indian Ocean after 904 H/1498 AD did not only secure the Muslim pilgrimage in the archipelago, but also led to bigger Turkish share of trade in the region. In turn, this provided an important contribution to the growth of economic activity as a side effect of the Hajj journey. At the same time, The Portuguese also increased the presence of their fleet in the Indian Ocean, but the Uthmani fleet in the region was capable of enforcing its supremacy in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean throughout the 16th century. ¹⁷

In terms of the security of the pilgrimage route, Selman Reis (died in 936 H/1528 AD), the Turkish Admiral in the Red Sea, continued to monitor the advance of the Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean, and reported  to the central government in Istanbul. One of the reports, cited by Obazan, was as follows:

“(Portuguese) also control the port of (Pasai) in a large island called Syamatirah (Sumatra) … It is said that they have 200 infidels in there (Pasai). With 200 infidels, they also control the ports of Malacca facing to Sumatra. … Therefore, when our ships are ready, and, God’s willing, we are ready to fight againts them, then their total destruction is inevitable, because one fort could not sustain another, and they cannot form a joint confrontation. ” ¹⁸

This report was quite reasonable because in the year 941 AD H/1534 AD, a squadron of the Portuguese commanded by Diego da Silveira had to face a number of naval ships from Gujarat and Aceh off the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb in the mouth of the Red Sea.[]

Footnotes :

[1] Uka Tjandrasasmita, “Hubungan Perdagangan Indonesia-Persia (Iran) Pada Masa Lampau (Abad VII-XVII M) dan Dampaknya terhadap Beberapa Unsur Kebudayaan” Jauhar Vol. 1, No. 1, Desember 2000 pp. 32.

2 Azyumardi Azra, Jaringan Ulama Timur Tengah dan Kepulauan Nusantara Abad XVII dan XVIII, Edisi Revisi (Jakarta: Prenada Media, 2004) pp. 27-28. 3Ibid. pp. 28

4 Farooqi, “Protecting the Routhers to Makkah,” hal. 215-6, quoted from Ibid pp. 44.

5 Metin Innegollu, “The Early Turkish-Indonesian Relation,” in Hasan M. Ambary and Bachtiar Aly (ed.), Aceh dalam Retrospeksi dan Reflkesi Budaya Nusantara, (Jakarta: Informasi Taman Iskandar Muda, tt), pp. 54.

6 Azyumardi Azra, op.cit. pp. 44

7 Marwati Djuned Pusponegoro (eds.), Sejarah Nasional Indonesia, Jilid III (Jakarta: Balai Pustaka, 1984), pp. 54.

8 Metin Innegollu, op.cit. pp. 54

9 Azyumardi Azra, Renaisans Islam Asia Tenggara ; Sejarah wacana dan kekuasaan. (Bandung : Rosda, 1997), pp. 116-118).

10Snouck Hurgronje, 1994, Nasehat-nasehat C. Snouck Hurgronje semasa kepegawaiannya kepada pemerintah Hindia Belanda; 1889 -1936. (Jakarta : INIS), pp. 1631.

11 Peunoh Daly, ‘Hukum Nikah, Talak, Rujuk, Hadanah dan Nafkah dalam Naskah Mir’at al-Tullab Kaarya Abd Raauf Singkel,” Dissertation of Faculty of Sharia IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah (Jakarta, 1982). Pp. 15-16.

12 Ibid. pp. 32

13 Ibid pp. 36

14 The khalifahs of Uthamani are often called as “Sultan Rum” due to occupying Constantinopel which was used to be the Eastern Roman Empire. This is the result of the interview of the Team of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia with Prof.Dr. Uka Tjandrasasmita, Tuesday, 11 January 2005.

15Azyumardi Azra, 2004, op.cit. pp. 36.

16 Ibid pp. 38

17 Ibid. pp. 36

18 Saleh Obazan, quoted from Azyumardi Azra, op.cit. pp. 40-41.