Note 10 — Chapter XII · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.

Tradition represents Islam as having been introduced into Sumatra from Arabia. But there is no sound historical basis for such a belief, and all the evidence seems to point to India as the source from which the people of Sumatra derived their knowledge of the new faith. Active commercial relations had existed for centuries between India and the Malay Archipelago, and the first missionaries to Sumatra were probably Indian traders.10 There is, however, no historical record of their labours, and the Malay chronicles ascribe the honour of being the first missionary to Atjeh, in the north-west of Sumatra, to an Arab named ʻAbd Allāh ʻĀrif, who is said to have visited the island about the middle of the twelfth century; one of his disciples, Burhān al-Dīn, is said to have carried the knowledge of the faith down the west coast as far as Priaman.11 Untrustworthy as this record is, it may yet possibly indicate the existence of some proselytising activity about this period; for the Malay chronicle of Atjeh gives 1205 as the date of the accession of Jūhan Shāh, the traditionary founder of the Muhammadan dynasty. He is said to have been a stranger from the West,12 and to have come to these shores to preach the faith of the Prophet; he made many proselytes, married a wife from among the people of the country, and was hailed by them as their king, under the half-Sanskrit, half-Arabic title of Srī Padūka Sulṭān. For some time the new faith would in all probability have been confined to the ports at which Muhammadan merchants touched, and its progress inland would be slower, as here it would come up against the strong Hindu influences that had their centre in the kingdom of Menangkabau.