- Pasai
::"for the town in Burma see
Pasai, Burma "Pasai, also known as Samudera and Samudera-Pasai sometimes called Samudera Darussalam was a Muslim harbour kingdom on the north coast ofSumatra from the 13th to the 15th centuries CE. It was believed the word Samudera derived from Samudra meaning ocean in Sanskrit. According toHikayat Raja-raja Pasai , it was said Merah Silu saw an ant as big as a cat, he caught it and ate it and he named the place Samandara. King Merah Silu later converted to Islam, known asMalik ul Salih , he was the sultan in year 1267 CE.History
Pasai exported its culture, and most importantly its language — an early form of Malay written in the
Jawi alphabet — to a number of islands. Later, this language became thelingua franca among traders in what is nowIndonesia andMalaysia . Pasai is believed derived from Parsi, Pase or Parsee, immigrants of Parsi-Indian to the west coast of India namely Gujarat, and later to northern Sumatra of today's Aceh province.Arab andIndia nMuslim s had traded in Indonesia andChina for many centuries. A Muslim tombstone in eastern Java bears a date corresponding to1082 . But substantial evidence ofIslam in Indonesia begins only in northernSumatra at the end of the 13th century. Two small Muslim trading kingdoms existed by that time at Pasai andPeureulak or Perlak. A1297 royal tomb at Samudra is inscribed entirely in Arabic. By the 15th century several harbour kingdoms developed, all ruled by local Muslim princes, from the north coast of Java and elsewhere to as far east asTernate andTidore inMaluku .Marco Polo spent five months here, he had Ferlec, Basma, and Samara (Samudera) mentioned in his travel story. Another famous travellerIbn Battuta on his way to China stayed 15 days at Samudera.The establishment of the first Muslim centres in Indonesia was probably a result of commercial circumstances. By the 13th century the collapse of
Srivijaya n power, drew foreign traders harbours on the northern Sumatran shores of the Bay of Bengal, safe from the pirate lairs at the southern end of theStrait of Malacca . Northern Sumatra had a hinterland rich in gold and forest produce, and pepper was being cultivated at the beginning of the 15th century. It was accessible to all the merchants of the archipelago who wanted to meet ships from theIndian Ocean . By the end of the 14th century, Samudra-Pasai had become a wealthy commercial centre, giving way in the early 15th century to the better protected harbour ofMalacca on the south-west coast of theMalay Peninsula .Majapahit attacked and looted the place in the middle of the 14th century.Pasai's economic and political power depended almost entirely on foreigners. Muslim traders and teachers probably participated in its administration from the beginning and were bound to introduce religious practices that made them feel at home. The first Muslim beachheads in Indonesia, especially Pasai, were to a considerable extent genuine Muslim creations that commanded the loyalty of the local population and encouraged scholarly activities. Similar new harbour kingdoms formed on the northern coast of Java.
Tomé Pires , author of the "Suma Oriental", writing not long after1511 , stresses the obscure ethnic origins of the founders ofCheribon ,Demak ,Japara , andGresik . These Javanese coastal states served commerce with India and China and especially with Malacca, an importer of Javanese rice. The rulers of Malacca, despite their prestigious Srivijayan origin, accepted Islam precisely in order to attract Muslim and Javanese traders to their port.The Portuguese occupied Pasai in 1521, 10 years after their conquest of Malacca.
ee also
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Malik ul Salih
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