Aceh: History, Politics and Culture

1. The Sultanahs of Aceh, 1641–99

1 tHe SultanaHS of aceH, 1641–99 Sher Banu A. L. Khan IntroductIon Aceh is perhaps best known as a staunchly Islamic kingdom in the north of the island of Sumatra and as a major trading centre for pepper. Pepper propelled Aceh’s ascendancy in the sixteenth century and it became the main Muslim commercial centre, supplying pepper to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea, and rivalling the Portuguese (Reid 2005, p. 6).1 The reign of Iskandar Muda (r. 1607–36) inaugurated a “golden age”, when Aceh’s influence expanded and reached as far south as Padang in Sumatra and Johor on the Malay Peninsula. During this period, in a little-known episode, four female monarchs in succession ruled this Muslim kingdom for over half a century from 1641 to 1699). Female rule seems a curious phenomenon in an Islamic state, yet these four queens were not only accepted by the majority of the orangkaya (aristocratic elite) and the ulama (religious leaders) but they were able to maintain Aceh’s peace and prosperity in exceptionally challenging times. This was a time when indigenous polities suffered increasing interference and influence from Dutch and English companies. Most Malay and Muslim coastal polities in maritime Southeast Asia fell into European intruders’ hands. Under its queens, Aceh was by far the most effective in maintaining its own independence and its own trade networks, and in engaging and counteracting the influence of the Europeans. The four queens were Sultanah Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah (r. 1641– 75), Sultanah Nur Alam Naqiatuddin Syah (r. 1675–78), Sultanah Inayat 4 Sher Banu A. L. Khan Zakiatuddin Syah (r. 1678–88) and Sultanah Kamalat Zainatuddin Syah (r. 1688–99). Women’S PoSItIon In aceH Queens are rare in the wider Islamic world,2 but not in Muslim Southeast Asia. One of the features which distinguishes Southeast Asia as a region is the comparatively high position of women within its societies (Reid 1988, p. 146). Besides Aceh, Patani — a Malay Muslim polity in what is now southern Thailand — was also ruled by four women in succession, from 1584 to 1688. There were several more instances of female rulers in the region: in Sukadana between 1608 and 1622, in Jambi between 1630 and 1655, and in Solor from 1650 to 1670 (Cheah 1993, pp. 1–2). It is also not surprising, that Sultanah Safiatuddin was far from being the first queen in Sumatra. A pair of gravestones — one written in Old Javanese and one in Arabic — was found in the village of Minye Tujoh in Aceh, inscribed with the dates of death 781 and 791 AH (AD 1380 and 1390) respectively (Stutterheim 1936, pp. 276–77). According to Ibrahim Alfian (1994a, p. 2, the stones mark the grave of a Queen Nur Ilah, with the appellation “Queen of the Faith … who has rights on Kadah [Kedah] and Pase [Pasai].”3 In what is now the district of North Aceh, another gravestone made of marble with exquisite Arabic calligraphy and Quranic verses was found. The Arabic calligraphy reads (in English) as “this is the grave of a brilliant holy woman, a Queen respected by all … Nahrasiyah … who died on 17 Zulhijah 823 (1428)” (Ibrahim Alfian 1994b, p. 16). These inscriptions indicate that female rulers were not just an innovation of the seventeenth century. By the late seventeenth century, it appears that women rulers were not at all exceptional in Acehnese politics. In fact, Dampier remarked that a queen rather than a king had ruled Aceh for so long that the English residents there were of the opinion that a queen had ruled Aceh since the beginning. From the antiquity of the present constitution, it was believed that the Queen of Sheba had been a queen of this country (Dampier 1931, p. 99)!4 Europeans who visited royal courts in the archipelago during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries report that palace women served as emissaries, advisors and guards. John Davis, who visited Aceh in 1599, claimed that Sultan Ala al-Din Riayat Shah al-Mukammil’s (r. 1589–1604) “chiefest counsellers” were women (Markham 1880, p. 150). The women guards used “bowes, arrows, javelings and swords as their weapons.” Al-Mukammil also had a woman laksamana (admiral) since “hee will trust no men” (Markham 1880, p. 150). Even the great Iskandar Muda (father of Sultanah Tajul Alam The Sultanahs of Aceh, 1641–99  Safiatuddin Syah) relied on female guards for...