Note 42 — Chapter XII · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.

The news of the conversion of the inhabitants of Queda by Shayk͟h ʻAbd Allāh reached Atjeh, and the Sultan of that country and a certain Shayk͟h Nūr al-Dīn, an Arab missionary, who had come from Mecca, sent some books and a letter, which ran as follows:—“This letter is from the Sultan of Atjeh and Nūr al-Dīn to our brother the Sultan of Queda and Shayk͟h ʻAbd Allāh of Yaman, now in Queda. We have sent two religious books, in order that the faith of Islam may be firmly established and the people fully instructed in their duties and in the rites of the faith.” A letter was sent in reply by the Raja and Shayk͟h ʻAbd Allāh, thanking the donors. So Shayk͟h ʻAbd Allāh redoubled his efforts, and erected additional small mosques in all the different villages for general convenience, and instructed the people in all the rules and observances of the faith. The Raja and his wife were constantly with the Shayk͟h, learning to read the Qurʼān. The royal pair searched also for some maiden of the lineage of the Rajas of the country, to be the Shayk͟h’s wife. But no one could be found who was willing to give his daughter thus in marriage because the holy man was about to return to Bag͟hdād, and only waited until he had sufficiently instructed some person to supply his place. Now at this time the Sultan had three sons, Raja Muʻaz̤z̤am Shāh, Raja Muḥammad Shāh, and Raja Sulaymān Shāh. These names had been borrowed from the Qurʼān by Shayk͟h ʻAbd Allāh and bestowed upon the princes, whom he exhorted to be patient and slow to anger in their intercourse with their slaves and the lower orders, and to regard with pity all the servants of God, and the poor and needy.42