Note 13 — Chapter XII · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.

Marco Polo, who spent five months on the north coast of Sumatra in 1292, speaks of all the inhabitants being idolaters, except in the petty kingdom of Parlāk on the north-east corner of the island, where, too, only the townspeople were Muhammadans, for “this kingdom, you must know, is so much frequented by the Saracen merchants that they have converted the natives to the Law of Mahommet,” but the hill-people were all idolaters and cannibals.13 Further, one of the Malay chronicles says that it was Sultan ʻAlī Mug͟hāyat Shāh, who reigned over Atjeh from 1507 to 1522, who first set the example of embracing Islam, in which he was followed by his subjects.14 But it is not improbable that the honour of being the first Muslim ruler of the state has been here attributed as an added glory to the monarch who founded the greatness of Atjeh and began to extend its sway over the neighbouring country, and that he rather effected a revival of, or imparted a fresh impulse to, the religious life of his subjects than gave to them their first knowledge of the faith of the Prophet. For Islam had certainly set firm foot in Sumatra long before his time. According to the traditionary account of the city of Samudra, the Sharīf of Mecca sent a mission to convert the people of Sumatra. The leader of the party was a certain Shayk͟h Ismāʻīl: the first place on the island at which they touched, after leaving Malabar, was Pasuri (probably situated a little way down the west coast), the people of which were persuaded by their preaching to embrace Islam. They then proceeded northward to Lambri and then coasted round to the other side of the island and sailed as far down the east coast as Aru, nearly opposite Malacca, and in both of these places their efforts were crowned with a like success. At Aru they made inquiries for Samudra, a city on the north coast of the island, which seems to have been the special object of their mission, and found that they had passed it. Accordingly they retraced their course to Parlāk, where Marco Polo had found a Muhammadan community a few years before, and having gained fresh converts here also, they went on to Samudra. This city and the kingdom of the same name had lately been founded by a certain Mara Silu, who was persuaded by Shayk͟h Ismāʻīl to embrace Islam, and took the name of al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ. He married the daughter of the king of Parlāk, by whom he had two sons, and in order to have a principality to leave to each, he founded the Muhammadan city and kingdom of Pasei, also on the north coast.15