Kedah Sultanate


The Kedah Sultanate is a Muslim dynasty located in the Malay Peninsula. It was originally an independent state, but became a British Protectorate in 1909. Its monarchy was abolished after it was added to the Malayan Union but was restored and added to the Malayan Union's successor, the Federation of Malaya.
The information regarding the formation of this sultanate and the history before and after its creation comes from the "Kedah Annals". The Kedah Annals were written in the eighteenth century, over a supposed millennium after the formation of the Kedah Kingdom. It describes the first king of Kedah as arriving on the shores of Kedah as a result of an attack by a mythical gigantic beast. It states that the nation was founded by the offspring of Alexander the Great; who maintained ties with Rome throughout his reign.
The Kedah Annals also gives unreliable information on the sultans of Kedah. Listing the first sultan of Kedah as Sultan Mudzafar Shah I centuries before the partitioning of the Abbasid Caliphate into distinct sultanates and almost three centuries prior to the contradicting claims of the Terengganu Inscription Stone. This claim also directly contradicts the fact that the Buddhist Srivijaya kingdom was in direct control of Kedah at the time that Sultan Mudzafar Shah I allegedly converted the region to a sultanate. Kedah may have remained Hindu-Buddhist until the 15th century.

History

Around 788 BCE, a systematic government of a large settlement of Malay native of Kedah had already established around the northern bank of Merbok River. The state consisted a large area of Bujang Valley, covering Merbok and Muda river branches about 1000 square miles area. The capital of the settlement was built at the estuary of a branch of Merbok River, now known as Sungai Batu river. Around d 170 CE groups of Malay native of Hindu faith from Sumatra and Java developed settlements in Malay Peninsula, including Kedah, joining them soon were peoples from nearby islands and from the northern Mon-Khmer region. At the same time traders from India, Persia and Arab, arrived the brink of the Malacca Strait, using Gunung Jerai the Kedah Peak as marking point Ancient Kedah covered the areas of Kuala Bahang, Kuala Bara, Kuala Qilah and Merpah, and the inhabitants of Kedah appointed Tan Derma Dewa and Tun Perkasa as their village chiefs.

The king from Gombroon

According to At-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah, written by Muhammad Hassan bin Dato' Kerani Muhammad Arshad, 1928, in about 630 CE, Maharaja Derbar Raja of Gombroon in Persia was defeated in battle and escaped to Sri Lanka, and he was later blown off course by a storm to the remote shores of Kuala Sungai Qilah, Kedah. The inhabitants of Kedah found him to be a valiant and intelligent person, and they made him the king of Kedah. In 634 CE, a new kingdom was formed in Kedah consisting of Persian royalty and native Malay of Hindu faith, the capital was Langkasuka.

Conversion to Islam

Based on the account given in Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, the Sultanate of Kedah when King Phra Ong Mahawangsa converted to Islam and adopted the name Sultan Mudzafar Shah. At-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah described the conversion to Islamic faith was started in 1136 AD. However, historian Richard Winstedt, quoting an Acehnese account, gave a date of 1474 for the year of conversion to Islam by the ruler of Kedah. This later date accords with an account in the Malay Annals where a raja of Kedah visited Malacca during the reign of its last sultan seeking the honour of the royal band that marks the sovereignty of Malacca Empire on a Muslim ruler.

British colonisation on Penang and Seberang Perai

In 1770, Francis Light was instructed by the British East India Company to take Penang from Kedah. He achieved this by giving assurance to Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin II that his army will protect Kedah from any Siamese invasion. In return, the Sultan agree to hand over Penang to the British. In 1786, Light negotiated with the new Sultan of Kedah Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah over the cession of Penang to BEIC. However, Light made the agreement without the consent of his superiors in India. BEIC did not provide military support, as promised by Light, when Siam attacked Kedah. The Sultan demand Light to return Penang back but Light was reluctant to hand it back. Light offer compensation for the damage but was refused by the sultan. In 1790, Sultan Abdullah planned to launch an amphibious invasion of the Island of Penang to recapture it. The BEIC with the help of British military made a preemptive strike and attacked Kedah's navy and fort in Seberang Perai, damaging them. The Sultan signed a ceasefire agreement in 1791 with Light. On 6 June 1800, George Alexander William Leith and Sultan Dziaddin Mukarram Shah II signed a peace agreement and allowed the BEIC to occupy Seberang Perai and name it as Province Wellesley. In exchange for the acquisition, the annual payment to the Sultan of Kedah was increased from 6,000 to 10,000 Spanish dollars per annum. To this day, the Malaysian federal government still pays Kedah, on behalf of Penang, RM 10,000 annually as a symbolic gesture.

Partition of Kedah

After the death of Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah the 20th Sultan of Kedah in 1797, the thrones were given to his half brother Sultan Dziaddin Mukarram Shah II. However Sultan Dziaddin was forced to abdicate in 1803 by the King of Siam and was replaced by his nephew Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin II. This sparked a succession crisis as crown prince, Tunku Bisnu claimed to be the rightful heir to the throne. Fearing civil war, the Siamese Kingdom reconciled the two parties by appointing Tunku Bisnu as ruler of Setul, thus establishing the Kingdom of Setul Mambang Segara in 1808. In 1892, the kingdom was reunified with Kedah Sultanate. However the assimilation of Siamese people and culture in Setul had weakened Kedah rule over it. The Anglo-Siamese Treaty in 1909 finally ended Kedah rule over Setul, as the Siamese and British agreed to exclude Setul from Kedah jurisdiction, thus separating Kedah and Setul.

List of rulers

The list of rulers of Kedah as given here is based to some extent on the Kedah Annals beginning with the Hindu ruler Durbar Raja I. According to the Kedah Annals, the 9th Kedah Maharaja Derbar Raja converted to Islam and changed his name to Sultan Muzaffar Shah, thereby started the Kedah Sultanate. A genealogy was compiled in the 1920s, Al-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah Darul Aman or Kedah Genealogy. The historicity and the dating of the list of rulers however is questionable as Kedah may have remained Hindu-Buddhist until the 15th century when its king converted to Islam.

Hindu era

The following is a list of kings of Kadaram, nine in total. Each used the Hindu title of Sri Paduka Maharaja. The exact dates of each king's reign are not known.
  1. Durbar Raja I
  2. Diraja Putra
  3. Maha Dewa I
  4. Karna Diraja
  5. Karma
  6. Maha Dewa II
  7. Maha Dewa III
  8. Diraja Putra II
  9. Darma Raja
  10. Maha Jiwa
  11. Karma II
  12. Darma Raja II
  13. Durbar Raja II

    Islamic era

The beginning of the use of the title sultan in Kedah is attributed to a visit by a Muslim scholar from Yemen, Sheikh Abdullah bin Ja'afar Quamiri, to Durbar Raja II's palace at Bukit Meriam in 1136. The audience resulted in the king's conversion to Islam. He adopted the name "Mudzaffar Shah" and established the sultanate of Kedah, which continues to rule today.
The source for the list of sultans given here is the official genealogy given for the Sultan of Kedah. There are however discrepancies with the Kedah Annals as it lists only 5 sultans from the first convert Mudzaffar Shah to Sulaiman Shah who was captured by Aceh in 1619, in contrast to the twelve listed here. The rest of the list largely follows as that given in the Kedah Annals with the exception of a few changes and more recent updates in the 20th and 21st century.
NumberSultanReign
1Mudzaffar Shah I1136–1179
2Mu'adzam Shah1179–1202
3Muhammad Shah1202–1237
4Muzzil Shah1237–1280
5Mahmud Shah I1280–1321
6Ibrahim Shah1321–1373
7Sulaiman Shah I1373–1423
8Ataullah Muhammad Shah I1423–1473
9Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin Mu'adzam Shah I1473–1506
10Mahmud Shah II1506–1547
11Mudzaffar Shah III1547–1602
12Sulaiman Shah II1602–1626
13Rijaluddin Muhammad Shah1626–1652
14Muhyiddin Mansur Shah1652–1662
15Dziaddin Mukarram Shah I1662–1688
16Ataullah Muhammad Shah II1688–1698
17Abdullah Mu'adzam Shah1698–1706
18Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah I1706–1710
19Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin Mu'adzam Shah II1710–1778
20Abdullah Mukarram Shah1778–1797
21Dziaddin Mukarram Shah II1797–1803
22Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II1803–1821
–Siamese invasion of Kedah1821–1842
Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II1842–1845
23Zainal Rashid Al-Mu'adzam Shah I1845–1854
24Ahmad Tajuddin Mukarram Shah1854–1879
25Zainal Rashid Mu'adzam Shah II1879–1881
26Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ll1881–1943
27Badlishah Shah1943–1958
28Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah1958–2017
29Sallehuddin2017–present

Culture

Nobat

The Nobat musical instruments of Nagara and Nepiri were introduced to Kedah by Maharaja Derbar Raja. The instrument is also called semambu. The band is led by the king, and it consists of drums, a gong, a flute and a trumpet. Today, Nobat is a Royal orchestra, played only during royal ceremonies such as inaugurations, weddings, and funerals. The building which houses the instruments and where the ensemble rehearses is known as the Balai Nobat, literally the Office of Nobat, in Alor Setar city proper.