Alauddin Ri'ayat Syah Sayyid al-Mukammal
Alauddin Ri'ayat Syah Sayyid al-Mukammal | |
---|---|
Sulṭān of Acèh Darussalam | |
Reign | 28 June 1589–1605 |
Predecessor | Sultan Buyung |
Successor | Ali Ri'ayat Syah III |
Born | Banda Aceh, Aceh Sultanate (now Indonesia) |
Died | 1605 Banda Aceh, Aceh Sultanate (now Indonesia) |
Issue | Maharaja Diraja Ali Ri'ayat Syah III Sultan Husain Sultan Abangta Merah Upah Raja Puteri Puteri Raja Inderabangsa |
House | Darul Kamal |
Father | Almalik Firman Syah bin Muzaffar Syah |
Sultan Alauddin Ri'ayat Syah Sayyid al-Mukammal (died 1605) was the tenth
.Rise to power
Sultan Alauddin was reportedly a descendant of the old rajas who governed in Aceh in the fifteenth century. His father was Almalik Firman Syah, a son of Muzaffar Syah (d. 1497). This branch seems to have been entirely obscured by the lineage of Ali Mughayat Syah. In his youth he was a fisherman but rose in the ranks of the kingdom due to his valour and military prowess, becoming a military commander. He allegedly murdered Sultan Alauddin Mansur Syah in 1585/86 but acted as the protector of the sultan's young grandson Raja Asyem. Whether he was also responsible for the murder of Sultan Buyung in 1589 is not clear. At any rate he was enthroned under the name Sultan Alauddin Ri'ayat Syah and also known as Sayyid al-Mukammal. In order to eliminate a possible future rival he murdered Raja Asyem.[1] He therefore provoked the hostility of Johor on the Malay Peninsula, since the boy's father was the sultan of that place.
In spite of the murky circumstances of his rise, the chronicle Hikayat Aceh praises Sultan Alauddin as righteous and pious, and characterizes his reign as prosperous.
Affairs with the Malay states
However, Aru on the east coast, precursor of the later
The arrival of the Dutch
Dutch, English and French ships began to arrive in the area during Sultan Alauddin's reign. This created a new strategic situation since these seafaring nations were rivals to the Portuguese with whom Aceh momentarily lived in an uneasy state of peace. The Dutch commander Cornelis de Houtman arrived to Aceh in June 1599. The communication between the Dutch and the court were initially friendly, but Portuguese intrigues caused the Acehnese to attack the ships. Although they were eventually pushed back, De Houtman was killed and his brother Frederik de Houtman was captured. In November 1600 the commander Van Caerden arrived with two ships and was friendly received by Sultan Alauddin. Some of the Dutch prisoners were released while others escaped and reached Van Caerden's ships. However, Van Caerden suspected that the Acehnese planned something, and confiscated all the pepper in the harbour. The Acehnese opened fire and Van Caerden left the port after having burnt a Portuguese and some other vessels.[5]
The sultan's friendship with the Portuguese cooled when they asked for permission to build a fort at the estuary of the
End of the reign
The reign of Sultan Alauddin marked the beginning of an era of centralization of the kingdom. The sultan suppressed the mercantile elite, the orang kayas, who had gained undue influence in succession affairs in the period 1579–89, killing many of them and preventing them from asserting power. In this he was strongly supported by the local qadi. His use of power symbols is seen from his cap (seal) from 1601, which reads: "Sultan Alauddin ibn Firman Syah; he who puts faith in God, who has chosen him to hold kingdoms and is pleased with him, Allah makes his glory endure and helps all his followers".[8] Dissent rather came from within the sultan's family. Alauddin was deposed in April 1604 at an advanced age. Alternatively he is said to have abdicated of free will since he became ill. He died a year later. He was succeeded by his second son Sultan Muda alias Ali Ri'ayat Syah III, although there was reportedly an opinion to enthrone his strong-willed grandson Iskandar Muda. He had four sons and two daughters:[9]
- Maharaja Diraja, d. before his father
- Ali Ri'ayat Syah III
- Sultan Husain, vassal ruler of Pidië
- Sultan Abangta Merah Upah, d. before his father
- Raja Puteri (daughter)
- Puteri Raja Inderabangsa (daughter), married Mansur Syah, mother of Iskandar Muda
See also
- Acehnese-Portuguese conflicts
References
Literature
- Andaya, Leonard Y. (2010) Leaves of the Same Tree: Trade and Ethnicity in the Straits of Melaka. Singapore: NUS Press.
- Djajadiningrat, Raden Hoesein (1911) 'Critisch overzicht van de in Maleische werken vervatte gegevens over de geschiedenis van het soeltanaat van Atjeh', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 65, pp. 135–265.
- Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch Indië, Vol. 1 (1917). 's Gravenhage & Leiden: Nijhoff & Brill.
- Hadi, Amirul (2004) Islam and State in Sumatra: A Study of Seventeenth-Century Aceh. Leiden: Brill.
- Iskandar, Teuku (1958) De Hikajat Atjeh. 's Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff.