Sultan of Acheh, reigned 1726-1727, ruling in the same turbulent period contested by the Arab pretender Poteu Jeumaloy.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Shamsul-alam
Shamsul-alam (also written Shamsul Alam or Shamsu’l-ʿAlam) was a Sultan of Acheh who, according to the Achehnese chronicles, reigned for a period of only one month in 1726–1727. Despite the brevity of his reign, his name is preserved in Achehnese memory chiefly because one of the most important sarakata (royal edicts having the force of law) is ascribed to him. Together with the edicts of Meukuta Alam (Iskandar Muda, 1607–1636), this sarakata of Shamsul-alam formed the chief documentary source from which Van Langen constructed his account of the Achehnese system of government in the Atjehsch Staatsbestuur.
The sarakata ascribed to Shamsul-alam is one of the few surviving monuments of the centralising legislation of the Achehnese sultans. As Snouck Hurgronje observes, the only attempts at centralisation of authority, or reformation whether social, political or religious, to be found in Achehnese history are precisely these very edicts of Meukuta Alam and Shamsul-alam. Examined closely, the royal grandeur of even the greatest sultans — Alaudin al-Qahar (1540–1567), Meukuta Alam, and their successors — is found to consist in enlargements of territory, increase of authority over the ports and consequent increase of revenue, which gave rise to greater splendour at court, but no serious effort towards the establishment of solid institutions such as survive the overthrow of dynasties.
The sarakata of Shamsul-alam expressly recognised the ordeal of peulieh beusoe (“licking the hot iron”), one of the ordeals used by Achehnese uleebalangs in cases where the guilt of a suspected person could not be otherwise established. This ordeal — like the cognate peulieu ie (boiling of oil) and peumatee beulacok (bolting of raw rice) — required for its success that he who administered it should be able to do so in the proper manner and should know by heart the necessary incantations; then, it was believed, the hand of the guilty person and none other would be scalded. The express recognition of such an ordeal in a royal edict shows that the adat of the uleebalangs had, by Shamsul-alam’s time, achieved a formal place alongside the hukom (religious law) in the official legislation of the Sultanate. Snouck Hurgronje refers the reader to Van Langen’s Atjehsch Staatsbestuur, p. 469, for the text of this edict.
The brevity of Shamsul-alam’s reign — one month, according to the chronicles — did not prevent his name from being attached to one of the most cited of the Achehnese sarakatas. The explanation is probably that the edict ascribed to him was, like others of its kind, a re-issue or revival of an earlier model: the sarakata of Jamalul-Alam dated 1689 was revived by Alaedin Juhan in 1752, and similar revivals are recorded of other sultans. The sarakata of Shamsul-alam is thus to be regarded less as the personal act of a one-month Sultan than as one of the standard forms of Achehnese royal legislation, preserved and revived under his name.
The choice of Shamsul-alam, together with Meukuta Alam, as the two sultans whose sarakatas were taken by Van Langen as his chief sources, has fixed their names in the European literature on Acheh; but the actual historical personality of Shamsul-alam, beyond the fact and brevity of his reign, remains almost wholly unknown.
See Also
- Acheh
- Alaedin Ahmat Shah
- Alaedin Juhan
- Alauddin al-Qahar
- Iskandar Thani
- Jamalul Alam
- Poteu Jeumaloy
- Sultan Meukuta Alam
- Van Langen
Source
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.
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 of Acheh, reigned 1726-1727, ruling in the same turbulent period contested by the Arab pretender Poteu Jeumaloy.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Shamsul-alam
Shamsul-alam (also written Shamsul Alam or Shamsu’l-ʿAlam) was a Sultan of Acheh who, according to the Achehnese chronicles, reigned for a period of only one month in 1726–1727. Despite the brevity of his reign, his name is preserved in Achehnese memory chiefly because one of the most important sarakata (royal edicts having the force of law) is ascribed to him. Together with the edicts of Meukuta Alam (Iskandar Muda, 1607–1636), this sarakata of Shamsul-alam formed the chief documentary source from which Van Langen constructed his account of the Achehnese system of government in the Atjehsch Staatsbestuur.
The sarakata ascribed to Shamsul-alam is one of the few surviving monuments of the centralising legislation of the Achehnese sultans. As Snouck Hurgronje observes, the only attempts at centralisation of authority, or reformation whether social, political or religious, to be found in Achehnese history are precisely these very edicts of Meukuta Alam and Shamsul-alam. Examined closely, the royal grandeur of even the greatest sultans — Alaudin al-Qahar (1540–1567), Meukuta Alam, and their successors — is found to consist in enlargements of territory, increase of authority over the ports and consequent increase of revenue, which gave rise to greater splendour at court, but no serious effort towards the establishment of solid institutions such as survive the overthrow of dynasties.
The sarakata of Shamsul-alam expressly recognised the ordeal of peulieh beusoe (“licking the hot iron”), one of the ordeals used by Achehnese uleebalangs in cases where the guilt of a suspected person could not be otherwise established. This ordeal — like the cognate peulieu ie (boiling of oil) and peumatee beulacok (bolting of raw rice) — required for its success that he who administered it should be able to do so in the proper manner and should know by heart the necessary incantations; then, it was believed, the hand of the guilty person and none other would be scalded. The express recognition of such an ordeal in a royal edict shows that the adat of the uleebalangs had, by Shamsul-alam’s time, achieved a formal place alongside the hukom (religious law) in the official legislation of the Sultanate. Snouck Hurgronje refers the reader to Van Langen’s Atjehsch Staatsbestuur, p. 469, for the text of this edict.
The brevity of Shamsul-alam’s reign — one month, according to the chronicles — did not prevent his name from being attached to one of the most cited of the Achehnese sarakatas. The explanation is probably that the edict ascribed to him was, like others of its kind, a re-issue or revival of an earlier model: the sarakata of Jamalul-Alam dated 1689 was revived by Alaedin Juhan in 1752, and similar revivals are recorded of other sultans. The sarakata of Shamsul-alam is thus to be regarded less as the personal act of a one-month Sultan than as one of the standard forms of Achehnese royal legislation, preserved and revived under his name.
The choice of Shamsul-alam, together with Meukuta Alam, as the two sultans whose sarakatas were taken by Van Langen as his chief sources, has fixed their names in the European literature on Acheh; but the actual historical personality of Shamsul-alam, beyond the fact and brevity of his reign, remains almost wholly unknown.
See Also
- Acheh
- Alaedin Ahmat Shah
- Alaedin Juhan
- Alauddin al-Qahar
- Iskandar Thani
- Jamalul Alam
- Poteu Jeumaloy
- Sultan Meukuta Alam
- Van Langen
Source
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.
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.