Malacca Sultanate
The Malacca Sultanate (Malay: Kesultanan Melaka; Jawi script: کسلطانن ملاک) was a Malay sultanate based in the modern-day state of Malacca, Malaysia. Conventional historical thesis marks c. 1400 as the founding year of the sultanate by King of Singapura, Parameswara, also known as Iskandar Shah,[1] although earlier dates for its founding have been proposed.[2][3] At the height of the sultanate's power in the 15th century, its capital grew into one of the most important transshipment ports of its time, with territory covering much of the Malay Peninsula, the Riau Islands and a significant portion of the northern coast of Sumatra in present-day Indonesia.[4]
Sultanate of Malaccaکسلطانن ملاک
Kesultanan Melaka
Kesultanan Melaka
As a bustling international trading port, Malacca emerged as a centre for Islamic learning and dissemination, and encouraged the development of the Malay language, literature and arts. It heralded the golden age of Malay sultanates in the archipelago, in which Classical Malay became the lingua franca of Maritime Southeast Asia and Jawi script became the primary medium for cultural, religious and intellectual exchange. It is through these intellectual, spiritual and cultural developments, that the Malaccan era witnessed the establishment of a Malay identity,[5][6] the Malayisation of the region and the subsequent formation of the Malay world.[7]
In 1511, the capital of Malacca fell to the Portuguese Empire, forcing the last Sultan, Mahmud Shah (r. 1488–1511), to retreat south, where his progenies established new ruling dynasties, Johor and Perak. The political and cultural legacy of the sultanate has endured for centuries, where Malacca has been held up as an exemplar of Malay-Muslim civilisation to this day. It established systems of trade, diplomacy, and governance that persisted well into the 19th century, and introduced concepts such as daulat—a distinctly Malay notion of sovereignty—that continues to shape contemporary understanding of Malay kingship.[8]
History[edit]
Early foundation[edit]
The founding of Malacca is generally taken to be c. 1400.[2] The region was dominated by the Srivijaya empire centered on Palembang in Sumatra until it was weakened by the Chola Empire in the 11th century. By the end of the 13th century, the Javanese Singhasari followed by the Majapahit had become dominant.
According to the Malay Annals, a prince from Palembang named Seri Teri Buana who claimed to be a descendant of Alexander the Great and Rajendra Chola I, stayed on Bintan Island for several years before he set sail and landed on Temasek in 1299.[9] The Orang Laut, known for their loyal services to Srivijaya, eventually made him king of a new kingdom called Singapura. In the 14th century, Singapura developed concurrently with the Pax Mongolica era and rose from a small trading outpost into a centre of international trade with strong ties to the Yuan dynasty.
In an effort to revive the fortune of Malayu in Sumatra, in the 1370s, a Malay ruler of Palembang sent an envoy to the court of the first emperor of the newly established Ming dynasty. He invited China to resume the tributary system, just like Srivijaya did centuries earlier. Learning of this diplomatic maneuver, King Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit sent an envoy to Nanking and convinced the emperor that Malayu was their vassal, and not an independent country.[10] Subsequently, in 1377—a few years after the death of Gajah Mada, Majapahit sent a punitive naval attack against a rebellion in Palembang,[11]: 19 which caused the diaspora of the Palembang princes and nobles.
By the second half of the 14th century, the Kingdom of Singapura grew wealthy. However, its success alarmed two regional powers at that time, Ayutthaya to the north and Majapahit to the south. As a result, the kingdom's fortified capital was attacked by at least two major foreign invasions before it was finally sacked by either Ayutthaya or Majapahit in 1398.[12][13][14] The last king of Singapura then fled to the west coast of the Malay Peninsula.
Malay and Portuguese sources give different accounts of the fall of Singapura and its last king. In Portuguese sources, he is referred to as Parameswara and originated in Palembang but usurped the throne of Singapura, but in Malay sources he is Iskandar Shah, a descendant Seri Teri Buana who became the fifth king of Singapura.[15] Parameswara fled north to Muar, Ujong Tanah and Biawak Busuk before reaching a fishing village at the mouth of Bertam River (modern-day Malacca River). The village belonged to the Orang Laut who were left alone by Majapahit's forces that not only sacked Singapura but also Langkasuka and Pasai. As a result, the village became a safe haven and in the 1370s it began to receive a growing number of refugees fleeing Majapahit's attacks. By the time Parameswara reached Malacca in the early 1400s, the place was already cosmopolitan feel with Buddhists from the north, Hindus from Palembang and Muslims from Pasai.[16]
Legend has it that Parameswara saw a mouse deer outwit his hunting dog into the water when he was resting under the Malacca tree. He thought this bode well, stating, "this place is excellent, even the mouse deer is formidable; it is best that we establish a kingdom here". Tradition holds that he named the settlement after the tree he was leaning against while witnessing the portentous event. Today, the mouse deer is part of modern Malacca's coat of arms. The name "Malacca" itself was derived from the fruit-bearing Melaka tree (Malay: Pokok Melaka) scientifically termed as Phyllanthus emblica.[17] Another theory to the origin of Malacca's name is that it originated from Arab merchants, during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah (r. 1424–1444), who called the kingdom "Malakat" (Arabic for "congregation of merchants:) because it was home to many trading communities.[18]
Islam and Malay culture[edit]
Whether the first ruler of Malacca, Parameswara, converted to Islam is unknown as there is no evidence to suggest that he had. The 16th-century Portuguese writer Tomé Pires explicitly mentioned that Parameswara was succeeded by his son, Megat Iskandar Shah who only converted to Islam at age 72. On the other hand, the Malay Annals noted that it was during the reign of the third ruler Muhammad Shah (r. 1424–1444), that the ruling class and their subjects began accepting Islam. While there are differing views on when the Islamization of Malacca actually took place, it is generally agreed that Islam was firmly established during the reign of Muzaffar Shah (r. 1445–1459).[71]
Islamisation in the region surrounding Malacca gradually intensified between the 15th and 16th centuries through study centres in Upeh, the district on the north bank of the Malacca River. Islam spread from Malacca to Jambi, Kampar, Bengkalis, Siak, Aru and the Karimun Islands in Sumatra, throughout much of the Malay Peninsula, Java and the Philippines. The Malay Annals mention that the courts of Malacca and Pasai posed theological questions and problems to one another. Of the so-called Wali Sanga responsible for spreading Islam on Java, at least two, Sunan Bonang and Sunan Kalijaga, are said to have studied in Malacca.[71] Tomé Pires mentions in his Suma Oriental that the rulers of Kampar and Indragiri on the east coast of Sumatra converted to Islam as a result of Sultan Muzaffar Shah's influence and went on to study the religion in Malacca. The Malay Annals also mentions a number of scholars who served at the Malacca royal court as teachers and counselors to the various sultans. Maulana Abu Bakar served in the court of Sultan Mansur Shah and introduced the Kitab Darul Manzum, a theological text translated from the work of an Arab scholar in Mecca. A scholar by the name of Maulana Kadi Sardar Johan served as a religious teacher to both Sultan Mahmud Shah and his son. In addition to Kitab Darul Manzum, the Malay Annals also mentions the Kitab al-luma' fi tasawwuf ('Book of Flashes'), a tenth-century treatise on Sufism by Abu Nasr al-Sarraj.[72]
Certain elaborate ceremonies that blend Islamic traditions with local culture were also created in the Malacca Sultanate. One example was recorded during the reign of Muhammad Shah. A special ceremony was held that marked the celebration of the 27th night of Ramadan, the Laylat al-Qadr. It began with a daytime procession, led by the Temenggung on elephant-back, conveying the Sultan's prayer mat to the mosque for Tarawih performed after the mandatory night prayers. On the following day the Sultan's turban would be carried in procession to the mosque. Similar ceremonies accompanied the grand celebrations of both Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Hari Raya Aidiladha. Apparently Malaccan Malay society had become so infused with the Islamic worldview that on the eve of the fall of Malacca, warriors at the court requested copies of two Islamic heroic epics, the Hikayat Amir Hamzah and the Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiah, to inspire them in battle the next day.[72]
The rise of Malacca as a centre of Islam had a number of implications. Firstly, Islam transformed the notion of kingship so that the Sultan was no longer viewed as divine, but as God's Khalifah. Secondly, Islam was an important factor in enabling Malacca to foster good relations with other Islamic polities, including the Ottoman Empire, thereby attracting Muslim traders to Malacca.[72] Thirdly, Islam brought many great transformation into Malaccan society and culture, and ultimately it became a definitive marker of a Malay identity.[5][6] This identity was in turn enriched further through the standards set by Malacca in some important aspects of traditional Malay culture, notably in literature, architecture, culinary traditions, traditional dress, performing arts, martial arts, and royal court traditions.[73] Over time, this common Malay cultural idiom came to characterise much of Maritime Southeast Asia through Malayisation.
Legacy[edit]
The Malacca Sultanate heralded the golden age of the Malay world and became an important port in the far east during the 16th century. It became so rich that Tomé Pires said "Whoever is lord of Malacca shall have his hands on the throat of Venice.".[74] Within a span of a century, the sultanate left a lasting and important legacy, especially within Malay culture and the History of Malaysia. Malacca was the first Malay Muslim state that achieved the status of a regional maritime power. Despite the existence of earlier Muslim kingdoms such as Kedah, Samudra Pasai and Aru, which also possessed well-established ports, none of them came close in challenging Malacca's success in expanding its territory and influence in the region. Malacca also contributed to the evolution of a common Malay culture based on Islam by incorporating native and Hindu-Buddhist ideas and layered them extensively with Islamic ideas and values.[75] Through its traditions, laws, and royal rituals and customs, the Malaccan court set an example for later Muslim sultanates in the region to follow.
Malacca is important to the modern nation of Malaysia as it was the first centralised polity that consolidated the entire Malay Peninsula under its rule. Because of these roles, Malacca is considered by many to be the spiritual birthplace of Malaysia.[76] After the Sultanate of Malacca fell to Portugal in 1511, Mahmud Shah retreated to Kampar, Sumatra, he left behind a prince named Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah II who went on to establish the Sultanate of Johor.
The Malacca Sultanate also emerged as the primary base in continuing the historic struggles of its predecessors, Singapura and Srivijaya, against their Java-based rivals.[77] By the mid-15th century, Majapahit found itself unable to control the rising power of Malacca which had begun to gain effective control of the Strait of Malacca and expand its influence to Sumatra. As a major entrepôt, Malacca attracted Muslim traders from various part of the world and became a centre of Islam, spreading the religion throughout Maritime Southeast Asia. The expansion of Islam into the interior of Java in the 15th century led to the gradual decline of Majapahit, before it finally succumbed to the emerging local Muslim forces in the early 16th century. At the same time, the literary tradition of Malacca developed the Classical Malay that eventually became the lingua franca of the region. The advent of Islam coupled with flourishing trade that used Malay as medium of communication, culminated in the domination of Malacca and other succeeding Malay-Muslim sultanates in Maritime Southeast Asia. As noted by certain scholars, the historic Malay-Javanese rivalry in the region, has persisted into modern times, and continues to shape the diplomatic relations between the Malay-centric Malaysia and the Java-based Indonesia.[77]