Alauddin al-Qahar (also spelled Alauddin al-Qahhar, in Achehnese Alaidin Kha) was a Sultan of Acheh who reigned from about 1540 to 1567, and is numbered among the princes who, in the words of Snouck Hurgronje, “shed the greatest prosperity and lustre” over the land of Acheh. He is also referred to in the Achehnese chronicles and on the royal ninefold seal as Sultan Sayyidi al-Mukamnal (pronounced in Achehnese Sidi Meukamay) and was popularly known as Sidi Mukamil or Mukamal.
Reign and Achehnese tradition
Alauddin al-Qahar belongs to the earliest phase of Achehnese greatness following the consolidation of the sultanate in the early sixteenth century. Native chronologies are not agreed on the exact limits of his reign: some authorities give 1540–1570, while the version inscribed on the ninefold seal of the later pretender Sultan Muhamat Dawot gives “from 1530 to 1552 or 1557 thereabouts”. Whatever the precise dates, his reign is recalled as one of the high points of Achehnese royal grandeur — a grandeur that consisted, on close examination, less in solid institutions than in the enlargement of territory, the strengthening of authority over the ports (the seats of civilization and wealth in all Malayan countries), and the consequent increase of revenue that supported greater splendour at court.
Alauddin al-Qahar is one of the four sultans whose names recur on most Achehnese ninefold seals — the others being Meukuta Alam (Iskandar Muda), Tajul-alam (Sapiatodin), and Sultan Ahmat Shah (Amat Shah Juhan). These four are remembered in Achehnese tradition as the rulers to whom the former prosperity of Acheh and her adat-institutions are generally ascribed.
Comparative lustre
In Snouck Hurgronje’s judgement, the brilliance of Alauddin al-Qahar’s reign — like that of his successor Iskandar Muda — was largely superficial. In no period of Achehnese history, he observes, can one find “order and repose”; even under these most illustrious princes there was no “serious effort towards the establishment of solid institutions such as survive the overthrow of dynasties”. The only attempts at centralisation of authority, or at social, political, or religious reformation, are the very sarakata (royal edicts) — such as those collected and published by Van Langen and supplemented by Snouck Hurgronje — which themselves show how little the new elements they purport to introduce ever passed “from document into actuality”.
Place in the Achehnese memory
Alauddin al-Qahar’s memory survives principally through the continued ceremonial use of his name on the sultans’ seals and in formal letters patent. The Achehnese tendency, noted by Snouck Hurgronje, to refer all that has become customary law to the Sultans in general (raja-raja poh matee-meunan) and to Meukuta Alam in particular, also attaches itself by extension to the great founders of the dynasty, of whom Alauddin al-Qahar is among the most prominent.
Sources
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
Sultan of Acheh, reigned approximately 1540-1567, one of the earlier rulers of the Acehnese sultanate during its rise to regional power. The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906. Sultan Sayyidi al-Mukamnal — pronounced in Achehnese Sidi Meukamay, and identical with the monarch known in Achehnese tradition as Alaedin al-Qahhar — was one of the greatest sultans of Acheh. The native chronicles variously give his reign as from 1530 to 1552 or 1557, while others place it between 1540 and 1570. He is one of the four monarchs whose names recur on virtually every chab sikureu’eng — the ninefold seal of the sultans of Acheh. The ninefold seal, as described by C. Snouck Hurgronje, consists of a large central circle bearing the name of the reigning sultan, surrounded by eight smaller circles each containing the name of a celebrated predecessor. The four names that recur on almost every seal are those of the rulers to whom the former prosperity of Acheh and her adat-institutions were generally ascribed: Sidi Meukamay (Alaedin al-Qahhar), Sultan Meukuta Alam (Iskandar Muda, 1607–1636), Sultan Tajul-alam (Sapiatodin, the first sultana, 1639 or 1641–1675), and Sultan Ahmat Shah (the first prince of the present dynasty, 1723 or 1726–1735). Alaedin al-Qahhar is remembered in Achehnese tradition as a conqueror and consolidator, the second of the great sultans who raised Acheh to its position as a leading Mohommedan power of the Eastern Archipelago. The embassy which he sent to the Sultan of Turkey at Stambul — bearing pepper as tribute and returning with the celebrated cannon Lada Sichupa — is one of the best-known legends of his reign, and is said to have given rise to the special importance attached by the Achehnese to the feast of the Maulud. His name is mentioned in the same breath as Iskandar Muda’s, the latter being the prince of old Acheh par excellence. The chronological details of the reigns of the Achehnese kings are, as Snouck Hurgronje observes, “very variously given in the different native authorities”; the footnote to the description of the ninefold seal records that “some have it that Sidi Meukamay reigned from 1540 to 1570 A.D.” This uncertainty need not detain us, since the political importance of Alaedin al-Qahhar lies less in the precise dates of his reign than in the enduring place he holds in the Achehnese royal imagination. His mediation (afwah) is invoked in the preamble of the sultans’ letters patent alongside Meukuta Alam Iskandar Muda, Tajul-alam Sapiatodin, Alaedin Ahmat Shah, Alaedin Mahmut Shah, Alaedin Muhamat Shah, Alaedin Jauhar al-Alam Shah, and Alaedin Manso Shah.
See Also
- Sultan Sayyidi al-Mukamnal
- Sultan Meukuta Alam
- Sultan Tajul-alam
- Sultan Ahmat Shah
- Sarakata (royal edicts of Acheh)
- Letters patent with the ninefold seal to Panglima Meuseugit Raya
- Acheh
- Sarakata with chab sikureu’eng
- Embassy from Acheh to the Sultan of Turkey
- Maulud (Mo’lot)
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
Alauddin al-Qahar (also spelled Alauddin al-Qahhar, in Achehnese Alaidin Kha) was a Sultan of Acheh who reigned from about 1540 to 1567, and is numbered among the princes who, in the words of Snouck Hurgronje, “shed the greatest prosperity and lustre” over the land of Acheh. He is also referred to in the Achehnese chronicles and on the royal ninefold seal as Sultan Sayyidi al-Mukamnal (pronounced in Achehnese Sidi Meukamay) and was popularly known as Sidi Mukamil or Mukamal.
Reign and Achehnese tradition
Alauddin al-Qahar belongs to the earliest phase of Achehnese greatness following the consolidation of the sultanate in the early sixteenth century. Native chronologies are not agreed on the exact limits of his reign: some authorities give 1540–1570, while the version inscribed on the ninefold seal of the later pretender Sultan Muhamat Dawot gives “from 1530 to 1552 or 1557 thereabouts”. Whatever the precise dates, his reign is recalled as one of the high points of Achehnese royal grandeur — a grandeur that consisted, on close examination, less in solid institutions than in the enlargement of territory, the strengthening of authority over the ports (the seats of civilization and wealth in all Malayan countries), and the consequent increase of revenue that supported greater splendour at court.
Alauddin al-Qahar is one of the four sultans whose names recur on most Achehnese ninefold seals — the others being Meukuta Alam (Iskandar Muda), Tajul-alam (Sapiatodin), and Sultan Ahmat Shah (Amat Shah Juhan). These four are remembered in Achehnese tradition as the rulers to whom the former prosperity of Acheh and her adat-institutions are generally ascribed.
Comparative lustre
In Snouck Hurgronje’s judgement, the brilliance of Alauddin al-Qahar’s reign — like that of his successor Iskandar Muda — was largely superficial. In no period of Achehnese history, he observes, can one find “order and repose”; even under these most illustrious princes there was no “serious effort towards the establishment of solid institutions such as survive the overthrow of dynasties”. The only attempts at centralisation of authority, or at social, political, or religious reformation, are the very sarakata (royal edicts) — such as those collected and published by Van Langen and supplemented by Snouck Hurgronje — which themselves show how little the new elements they purport to introduce ever passed “from document into actuality”.
Place in the Achehnese memory
Alauddin al-Qahar’s memory survives principally through the continued ceremonial use of his name on the sultans’ seals and in formal letters patent. The Achehnese tendency, noted by Snouck Hurgronje, to refer all that has become customary law to the Sultans in general (raja-raja poh matee-meunan) and to Meukuta Alam in particular, also attaches itself by extension to the great founders of the dynasty, of whom Alauddin al-Qahar is among the most prominent.
See Also
- Sultan Sayyidi al-Mukamnal
- Sultan Meukuta Alam
- Sultan Tajul-alam
- Sultan Ahmat Shah
- Sarakata (royal edicts of Acheh)
- Letters patent with the ninefold seal to Panglima Meuseugit Raya
- Acheh
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.