The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith

by Sir Thomas Walker Arnold

The history of the spread of Islam in Indo-China is obscure; Arab and Persian merchants probably introduced their religion into the sea-port towns from the tenth century onwards, but its most important expansion was due to the immigrations of Malays which began at the close of the fourteenth century.[48] [[377]]

We must now go back several centuries in order to follow out the history of the conversion of Java. The preaching and promulgation of the doctrines of Islam in this island were undoubtedly for a long time entirely the result of the labours of individual merchants or of the leaders of small colonies, for in Java there was no central Muhammadan power to throw in its influence on the side of the new religion or enforce the acceptance of it by warlike means. On the contrary, the Muslim missionaries came in contact with a Hindu civilisation, that had thrust its roots deep into the life of the country and had raised the Javanese to a high level of culture and progress—expressing itself moreover in institutions and laws radically different to those of Arabia. Even up to the present day, the Muhammadan law has failed to establish itself absolutely, even where the authority of Islam is generally predominant, and there is still a constant struggle between the adherents of the old Malayan usages and the Ḥājīs, who having made the pilgrimage to Mecca, return enthusiastic for a strict observance of Muslim Law. Consequently the work of conversion must have proceeded very slowly, and we can say with tolerable certainty that while part of the history of this proselytising movement may be disentangled from legends and traditions, much of it must remain wholly unknown to us. In the Malay Chronicle, which purports to give us an account of the first preachers of the faith, what was undoubtedly the work of many generations and must have been carried on through many centuries, is compressed within the compass of a few years; and, as frequently happens in popular histories, a few well-known names gain the fame and credit that belongs of right to the patient labours of their unknown predecessors.[49] Further, the quiet, unobtrusive labours of many of these missionaries would not be likely to attract the notice of the chronicler, whose attention would naturally be fixed rather on the doings of kings and princes, and of those who came in close relationship to them. But failing such larger knowledge, we must fain be content with the facts that have been handed down to us. [[378]]

In the following pages, therefore, it is proposed to give a brief sketch of the establishment of the Muhammadan religion in this island, as presented in the native chronicle, which, though full of contradictions and fables, has undoubtedly a historical foundation, as is attested by the inscriptions on the tombs of the chief personages mentioned and the remains of ancient cities, etc. The following account therefore may, in the want of any other authorities, be accepted as substantially correct, with the caution above mentioned against ascribing too much efficacy to the proselytising efforts of individuals.

The first attempt to introduce Islam into Java was made by a native of the island about the close of the twelfth century. The first king of Pajajaran, a state in the western part of the island, left two sons; of these, the elder chose to follow the profession of a merchant and undertook a trading expedition to India, leaving the kingdom to his younger brother, who succeeded to the throne in the year 1190 with the title of Prabu Munding Sari. In the course of his wanderings, the elder brother fell in with some Arab merchants, and was by them converted to Islam, taking the name of Ḥājī Purwa.

On his return to his native country, he tried with the help of an Arab missionary to convert his brother and the royal family to his new faith; but, his efforts proving unsuccessful, he fled into the jungle for fear of the king and his unbelieving subjects, and we hear no more of him.[50]

In the latter half of the fourteenth century, a missionary movement, which was attended with greater success, was instituted by a certain Mawlānā Malik Ibrāhīm, who landed on the east coast of Java with some of his co-religionists, and established himself near the town of Gresik, opposite the island of Madura. He is said to have traced his descent to Zayn al-ʻĀbidīn, a great-grandson of the Prophet, and to have been cousin of the Raja of Chermen.[51] Here he occupied himself successfully in the work of conversion, and speedily gathered a small band of believers around him. [[379]]Later on, he was joined by his cousin, the Raja of Chermen, who came in the hope of converting the Raja of the Hindu Kingdom of Majapahit, and of forming an alliance with him by offering his daughter in marriage. On his arrival he sent his son, Ṣādiq Muḥammad, to Majapahit to arrange an interview, while he busied himself in the building of a mosque and the conversion of the inhabitants. A meeting of the two princes took place accordingly, but before the favourable impression then produced could be followed up, a sickness broke out among the people of the Raja of Chermen, which carried off his daughter, three of his nephews who had accompanied him, and a great part of his retinue; whereupon he himself returned to his own kingdom. These misfortunes prejudiced the mind of the Raja of Majapahit against the new faith, which he said should have better protected its votaries: and the mission accordingly failed. Mawlānā Ibrāhīm, however, remained behind, in charge of the tombs[52] of his kinsfolk and co-religionists, and himself died twenty-one years later, in 1419, and was buried at Gresik, where his tomb is still venerated as that of the first apostle of Islam to Java.

A Chinese Musalman, who accompanied the envoy of the Emperor of China to Java in the capacity of interpreter, six years before the death of Mawlānā Ibrāhīm, i.e. in 1413, mentions the presence of his co-religionists in this island in his “General Account of the Shores of the Ocean,” where he says, “In this country there are three kinds of people. First the Muhammadans, who have come from the west, and have established themselves here; their dress and food is clean and proper; second, the Chinese who have run away and settled here; what they eat and use is also very fine, and many of them have adopted the Muhammadan religion and observe its precepts. The third kind are the natives, who are very ugly and uncouth, they go about with uncombed heads and naked feet, and believe devoutly in devils, theirs being one of the countries called devil-countries in Buddhist books.”[53] [[380]]

We now approach the period in which the rule of the Muhammadans became predominant in the island, after their religion had been introduced into it for nearly a century; and here it will be necessary to enter a little more closely into the details of the history in order to show that this was not the result of any fanatical movement stirred up by the Arabs, but rather of a revolution carried out by the natives of the country themselves,[54] who (though they naturally gained strength from the bond of a common faith) were stirred up to unite in order to wrest the supreme power from the hands of their heathen fellow-countrymen, not by the preaching of a religious war, but through the exhortations of an ambitious aspirant to the throne who had a wrong to avenge.[55]

The political condition of the island may be described as follows:—The central and eastern provinces of the island, which were the most wealthy and populous and the furthest advanced in civilisation, were under the sway of the Hindu kingdom of Majapahit. Further west were Cheribon and several other petty, independent princedoms; while the rest of the island, including all the districts at its western extremity, was subject to the King of Pajajaran.

The King of Majapahit had married a daughter of the prince of Champa, a small state in Cambodia, east of the Gulf of Siam.[56] She being jealous of a favourite concubine of the King, he sent this concubine away to his son Arya Damar, governor of Palembang in Sumatra, where she gave birth to a son, Raden Patah, who was brought up as one of the governor’s own children. This child (as we shall see) was destined in after years to work a terrible vengeance for the cruel treatment of his mother. Another daughter of the prince of Champa had married an Arab who had come to Champa to preach the faith of Islam.[57] From this union was born Raden Raḥmat, who was carefully brought up by his father in the Muhammadan religion and is still [[381]]venerated by the Javanese as the chief apostle of Islam to their country.[58]