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A Reputed Acehnese Sarakata of The Jamal Al-Lail Dynasty
A Reputed Acehnese Sarakata of The Jamal Al-Lail Dynasty
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*The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to Dr. Aly Hasjmy, the
IAIN ar-Raniry, Dar al- Saiam, Banda Aceh, for sending a photocopy of the sarakata
here from his private collection and for clarifying many difficult points of Acehnese ter
The authors have contracted many scholarly debts while undertaking the research for t
and would like to thank the numerous colleagues in Holland and Australia who have
help with the Malay and Acehnese of the document reported here. The research for
was made possible by the Australian-American Education (Fulbright) Foundation whic
Dr. Crecelius to Australia during the 1977 academic year.
2The sarakata can best be defined as a type of royal edict issued by the Sultans of Ac
stressing their importance as "the only attempts at centralization of authority," the
Dutch scholar C. Snouck Hurgronje nevertheless maintained that "... hardly a sing
the innovations they comprise has passed from document into actuality." C. Snouck H
The Achehnese, translated by A. W. S. O'SuIlivan (Leyden: E. J. Brill, and London
Co., 1906), Volume I, 4-5. Not much work has been done on sarakatas since Snouck H
and his Dutch contemporary K. F. H. van Langen introduced them to the scholarly co
in the late nineteenth century. A translation of individual sarakatas can be found i
Hurgronje, op. cit., Vol. 1, 190-193 ; van Langen, "De Inrichting van het Atjehsche Staat
onder het Sultanaat," BKI 37 (1888), 463-471 ; G. L. Tichelman, "Een Atjehsche S
(Afschrift van een besluit van Sultan Iskandar Moeda)," TBG 73 (1933), 369-373 ; G.
man, "Samalangasche Sarakata's," TBG 78 (1938), 351-358.
3Snouck Hurgronje, op. cit., Vol. I, 129-130, and G. P. Rouffaer, De Hmdostansche Oo
van het "Negenvoudig" Sultans- Zegel van Atjeh," BKI 59 (1906), 349-384, discuss the
cap sikureueng. Snouck Hurgronje discusses points raised in Rouffaer's article in
keningen op G. P. Rouffaer's Opstel over Atjehsche Soeltanzegels," BKI 60 (1907), 52
cap sikureueng was the "nine-fold" seal usually attached to sarakatas, so called becau
the reigning Sultan's name in the centre were placed eight circles, each containing th
a previous Sultan. On the present sarakata, however, the seal attached is not the cap sik
but is in the form of the one pictured in Snouck Hurgronje, The Achehnese, Vol. I,
fortunately, both seals on the present sarakata are illegible in the photocopy.
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52
SPanglima Polêm means "Lord Elder Brother." According to Acehnese traditjjon the first
holder of this office was the elder brother of the first Sult^iah, Seri Ratu Taj al- 'Alam Çafiyat
al-Dîn (1641-1675). Their father was the famous Makota 'Alam, but the mother of the Panglima
Polëm was only a slave-girl. The Panglima Seutia Shaikh 'Ulama' apparently includes the word
shaikh (or siah in Acehnese) in his title because an earlier Panglima in this office was learned in
legal matters. The word Imeum. in the title of the Panglima Imeum Muda likewise indicates
that an earlier holder of this office was an imeum. See Snouck Hurgronje, The Achehnese, Vol. I,
133-137; Anthony Reid, op. cit., 4; van Langen, op. cit., 393; and J. Kreemer, Atjeh (Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1923), Vol. II, 192.
9This narrow strip of territory, which Snouck Hurgronje identifies as being "seven great fathoms
wide on either side of the Aceh River, is called by the Acehnese wakeueh, indicating that at
some stage the area was probably encumbered in waqf by the Sultans as a means of maintaining
their control over it. See Snouck Hurgronje, The Achehnese, Vol. I, 121-125.
l°It was the continuing struggle between the Sultans of Bandar Aceh, their rivals, and the rajas
of other Acehnese ports that caused so many incidents with European merchants trying to carry
on trade in northern Sumatra and eventually led the latter to seek military intervention to protect
their economic interests.
1 !On the deterioration of the office of Qadî al- Malik al - Adii see Snouck Hurgronje, The Achehnese,
Vol. I, 98, He even suggests that by the late nineteenth century there was no longer any single
person who actually held the office Kãrkun KZttib al-Muluk, though sarakatas, including the
present one, continued to make reference to this office. The Achehnese, Vol. I, 124-125.
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12This Meccan dynasty has not received much attention from scholars. Amo
sources see R. H. Djajadiningrat. op. cit., and M. Junus, op. cit.
13For a cursory note on this Meccan embassy, see C. Snouck Hurgronje, "Een Mekkaansch
Gezantschap Naar Atjeh in 1683," BKI 37 (1888), 545-554. M. Junus, op. cit., 47, states that
the delegation visited Aceh to ascertain the truth about unfavorable reports concerning the state
of Islam under a woman ruler.
14M. Junus, op. cit., 48.
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55
56
20See Aly Hasjmy, 59 Tahun Aceh Met deka di bawah Pemerintahan Ratu (Jakarta: Bulan Bintang,
1977), 124-125. The evidence appears to come from another Teungku di Mulé' document.
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The original document of the photocopy from which the authors worked is
reported to be slightly damaged and dirty. Sections of the document are smudged,
the scribe has had to write over some mistakes he has made, and the document
has lost approximately one centimeter along the whole right hand side, leaving
parts or all of the first word of each line missing, on both sides. It has neverthe-
less been possible to reconstruct the missing letters or words for most lines on
21 The following definitions have been derived mainly from Raden Hoesein Djajadiningrat, Atjehsch-
Nederlandsch Woordenboek (Batavia: 1934), 2 vols. Also consulted were Snouck Hurgronje's
The Achehnese and J. Kreemer, Atjeh (Leiden: Brill, 1923), 2 vols.
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Transliteration
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Translation
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24The next three li nès are an attempt to translate the above Qur'anic verse into Malay. Too many
of the words are obscured to permit a meangingful translation from the Malay into English.
2$In the text, it first appears that the copyist has made the serious mistake of referring to himself
as "the worshipper, or servant, of the unfortunate one," But in Malay manuscripts the first
article of compounds is usually omitted. The word gharib seems to refer here to the foreign
origin of the writer's family.
26This genealogy of the beneficiary is at once revealing and suspect. _No other source verifies
this genealogical statement on the parentage of Sultan Badr al-Munîr. See the commentary
in the introduction.
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three muktms Kayèë Adang. These are the words of Raja Tuanku
that is, the ruler at the present time in Aceh, in the city of the Sultan o
Aceh, Bandar Aceh, Dãr al-Salãm, and its dependencies, that is, our lord
as Paduka Seri Sultan 'Ala' al-Dïn (Mansür) Shãh Jahãn, Sovereign
shadow of God on earth. This is a royal document clarifying (the statu
dry fields (huma) and wet rice fields (blang) of Sikeumeu, the open fie
the forest land for (collecting) firewood, located in the area of the mu
Kayèë Adang, that is, in Lam Kruët Lambarõ and in Lambarõ, begi
the grave of Wandi Kebo' Sîdï al-IJabïb Sharif Mahmüd Al Jamal al
sign is at the grave, the marker (being) a glum pang tree. The huma an
the open fields, and the forest (for collecting) firewood, that is, east a
highland and lowland, north and south, and bordered by the Aceh River
leading to the estuary, and the blang of Lambarõ and Lheue, (that)
blang of Sikeumeu, and the open land where the sipahis train, and the
forest land, all the abovementioned lands are owned by and are the
property of Paduka Seri Sultan Badr al-'Alam Sharif Hãshim Jamal
Jamal al-Lail Bã* 'Alawï al-blusainï, who was king in the land of Aceh,
Dãr al-Salãm, from the year 1111 AH to the year 1121 AH.27
In the village of Lheue, in the village of Lambarõ, and in the village
Kruët Lambarõ, in these three villages, the people are (were) ordered to
look after the huma, to plant sugar cane, and to cut firewood. Every p
(to be) given land by the Sultan.28 Every month (obsc.) Aceh ringgits,
food expenses (will be) given by the Sultan, and clothing four times ev
that is, every three months. And on the "days preceding feasts, that is,
the Fast, preceding Shawwãl (breaking of the Fast), preceding the festi
Hajj, every subject (will be) given meat worth one rial because his (t
subjects are obedient to their lord (the ruler).
These are the names of the subjects of Paduka Seri Sultan Badr
Sharif Hãshim Jamãl al-Dïn Ã1 Jamal al-Lail Bã' 'Alawï al-Husainï:
remain the same as in the transliteration.)
In this royal document we make known and clarify, in accordance w
royal decision (and) with (that of) the ulèëbalangs of the three sagis and
balang panglima of the III mukim Kayèë Adang, Pocut Hajjï, and t
al-A'zam Panglima Polëm Seri Muda Perkasa Panglima XXII, and th
al-Ghazzï Seri Muda Panglima XXVI, and Qâdï Malik al-'Alam Se
CU Adam al-Shaikh 'Ulamã', Panglima XXV, and Qâdï al-Malik al-'A
the 'ulama* (obsc.) in the land of Aceh (and) the three sagis, Bandar
Salãm, that these lands which are the private property of Paduka Se
27Sultan Badr al-'Alam Sharif Hãshim ruled only from 1111-1113 AH (1699-170
king- lists, however, have him reigning to 1121 AH (1709), as does this sarakata.
Zainuddin, op. cit., 409.
28This statement may not mean that each subject was actually given his own private land
bering that the land is claimed as the private property of Sultan Badr al-'Älam Shar
and is being claimed by the four inheritors, this phrase probably indicates an allotmen
was assigned for the completion of duties specified in the sentence immediately above.
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30 The document ends here, though there is space on the page for comp
Sultan.
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