Kedah Sultanate

"We lack authoritative contemporary external sources on the adoption of Islam by the Indonesian states from the end of the thirteenth century on­ wards. However, the conversions were naturally not ignored by the in­digenous chroniclers and it was thought worth while to gather together some of the material which these chroniclers have to offer, and to present it as far as possible in their own words; the value of these accounts lies in the fact that they are indigenous, that they are the products of the same cultural tradition, not so much in their worth as “history” in the Western sense.... ...it might be prudent to content ourselves with the statement that the conversion of Kedah would have taken place in the latter half of the fif­teenth century. The conversion myth for Kedah is recorded in a Malay text called the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa. This is known only from comparatively late manuscripts—late nineteenth century—and the available published Malay romanized version derives from a manuscript copied as late as 1898.11 Butan English translation was published half a century earlier,19 from a Malay manuscript that must have existed in about 1821 A.D.20 The following has been adapted and paraphrased from the Malay text: ...“ ’What religion do you and your people in this country of Kedah follow?’ asked Shaikh Abdullah. ’Our religion,’ replied the king, ’is what the men of old handed down to us—we all worship idols.’ Replied Shaikh Abdullah ‘Then you and your subjects must be informed that this is the era of the religion of the Prophet Muhammad, Apostle of God of the present time. We, the later communities to whom religion has been revealed, must all uphold the religion of Islam in accordance with the Qur’an which was revealed by God (Praise be to Him the Exalted) to his Apostle the Prophet Muhammad, Apostle of God in the city of Mecca (and whose tomb is at Medina); for the former faiths were false and untrue. My lord must un­derstand that it was owing to false faiths that the devil was able to come and cause trouble.’ Pra Ong Mahawangsa requested to be taught about the true religion of Islam. “This delighted Shaikh Abdullah. He embraced and kissed the ruler, and they conversed. He taught the ruler the creed: ’I testify that there is no god but Allah alone, nothing is to be associated with Him, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and His apostle.’ Pra Ong Mahawangsa recited this, and forthwith ordered his vessels of liquor to be fetched and poured out on to the ground, till none was left. He ordered that his idols of gold and silver, porcelain, wood and clay, human figures, be brought and piled up before them. With an axe and a sword Shaikh Abdullah proceeded to smash them to smithereens, after which they were burnt."