ISLAM DI NUSANTARA: BERMULA DARI PERMOHONAN MAHĀRĀJA ŚRĪWIJAYA PADA ABAD KE-10 MASEHI

Abstract

Since the first century of Hijriah or 7^th century A.D, South East Asia has been introduced to Islamic “tradition” despite the low frequency. The introduction continued along with the presence of Moslem merchants at divers’ locations in South East Asia. The oldest evidences of the existence of Moslem “community” in South East Asia are two graves dated 5^th century of Hijriah/11^th century A.D found in Pandurangga (now it is Panrang, Viet Nam) and in Leran (Gresik, Indonesia). The obvious presence of Islam in archipelago happened to be around 13^th century A.D, approved by the grave of Sultan Mālik as-Saleh who ended up his reign in Ramadhan month, 696 Hijriah/1297 A.D. It denotes the existence of Islamic kingdom institution in the 13^th century A.D. Moslem merchants have been trading since 7^th century A.D. Some of Hindu and Buddhist Kingdoms in the archipelago ran diplomatic and trade relations with Moslem kingdoms in Middle East. Archeological evidences supporting the trend were discovered in Java Sea close to Cirebon. Amongst the trade commodities derived from Middle East, an Islamic indicator was found, that is a mould with asma’ul husnah written on it. In spite of most Indonesians follow the main stream of Sunni; residents of Sumatra and Java Island today are practically Syi’ah believers. Archeological data indicates the provenances of Islam infiltration in the archipelago came from Persia through Gujarat, and then it was carried by the merchants sailing to South East Asia, particularly to archipelago and Malay Peninsula.