THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT archaeological traces that hint at a vibrant historical past in Penang. From the discoveries of the Penang Woman at Guar Kepah dated circa 4th millennia BCE, to the finding of structures and artefacts from the prosperous Bujang Valley at Kota Aur and Cherok Tok Kun circa 6th to 12th centuries CE, this area had been evidently settled by complex and developed societies in its distant past.

The arrival of Islam, through Middle Eastern and South Indian Muslim maritime voyagers, marked a transformative period, beginning with the mass conversion of the Kedah Sultanate in 1136 CE^[1], as recorded in Al-Tarikh Silsilah Negeri Kedah (ATSK). This period saw economic, cultural and religious development that continued into the early modern era, and whose legacy may still be seen to date.

The Finding of Early Islamic Gravestones

Old Kedah, connected through coastal and riverine (Muda-Perai) corridors to Penang, was described by Arabic and Chinese sources as a thriving cultural and economic centre. This is evidenced by the discovery of numerous ancient Islamic gravestones scattered across Penang Island and the mainland.

A pair of such gravestones, marking an 18th-century, Arab-Sumatran aristocratic settlement, was first discovered in 2004 at Masjid Melayu Lebuh Aceh by academicians Daniel Perret and Kamaruddin A. Razak. Between 2016 and 2019, I found more gravestones in Bagan Jermal, Perai that date back to as early as the 15th century CE. The rest—at least 20 ancient graves—were mostly from the 17th to 19th century and were equally distributed on both geographical sides of Penang. The dating of these artefacts was confirmed based on morphological typology produced by Othman Yatim (1988), Daniel Perret and Kamaruddin A. Razak (1999, 2004).

These ancient gravestones, blending Islamic and Hindu-Buddhist stonework traditions, were crafted from durable stone materials like andesite, sandstone and granite, and are the most important remains from Penang’s early Islamic period, suggesting the affluence and skills of the society of the time. Based on both archaeological remains and supplementary historical references like ATSK and Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (HMM), the masonry tradition is believed to have first taken root in the northern Malayan peninsula and northern Sumatran kingdoms.

The presence of these gravestones in Bagan Jermal highlights Penang’s significance as a maritime hub as early as in the 15th century, which connected the Samudera-Pasai Sultanate in northern Sumatra across the Strait of Malacca to the Malay Peninsula. The Samudera-Pasai Sultanate, socio-politically related to the Sultanate of Kedah circa 13th to 15th centuries CE, was an early manufacturer of Islamic gravestones.^[2] Furthermore, a significant number of gravestones with similar morphology were also found in Kedah’s Bukit Meriam, Sungai Mas, Kuala Muda, Permatang Pasir, Seberang Tok Soh and Pantai Chichar (further upstream at Kuala Ketil)—suggesting Penang’s role as a socio-political and economic outlet of ancient Kedah and the greater Andaman and Indian Ocean region. The estuary of Perai River, an important littoral zone since the early centuries CE, continued to be a strategic trade route during the Islamic period as trans-peninsular trade happened up and down Muda River. Commodities from the east coast bound for mercantile ships at the estuary and coastal harbours were also transported along this river.

As an economically promising and well-connected trading site, Penang attracted aristocrats and traders alike. While no grave inscriptions explicitly identifying its owner could be found on these southern Kedah gravestones, historians believe these to be the gravestones of Kedahan royals who ruled from the southern administrative capital of Kedah at Kuala Muda around the 14th century CE.

Acehnese Presence in Penang

The Aceh Sultanate, which succeeded the Samudera-Pasai Sultanate in northern Sumatra, like its predecessor exerted its cultural influence on neighbouring kingdoms across the strait, such as Kedah and Penang. It had also inherited the gravestone culture of Samudera-Pasai circa early 16th century CE, and further improved on its artistic characteristics. Remains found from this period were mainly associated with the grave of Datuk Keramat Tua in Kampung Dodol, Jalan Perak, who according to oral tradition, was an Acehnese-Kedahan of Indo-Arab (Merican family) heritage.

Datuk Keramat Tua had established a local settlement in Sungai Pinang circa 1690s, which was, in 1785, recorded by a British correspondent to have flourished, boasting thousands of inhabitants until they were expelled by the Sultan of Kedah in the 1710s for alleged piracy.

Coinciding with the same period of time circa 1710s, a traditional account tells of the arrival of a Pathan (Afghan) Muslim group at Bagan Dalam, Perai. They were led by two Islamic scholar brothers, Sheikh Aqil Muhammad Khan and Sheikh Ghulam Khan, whose graves can still be found today in a private cemetery near Rumah Pangsa Sri Bagan. Like other newcomers, they were said to have arrived first in Aceh, then migrated to Kedah. The account also claims that the brothers were granted permission by the Sultan of Kedah to settle in Penang after vanquishing local piracy. Their presence added to the already multicultural community in Penang, with living descendants still existing to date.

The cosmopolitan nature of the area was mainly encouraged by the policies of Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin II of Kedah (r. 1710-1778), who according to different historical accounts, was famously well-travelled. This made him welcoming of foreign scholars, skilled men and artisans.

Sayyid Hussain, who would abdicate in favour of his son, Sultan Sharif Saif al-Alam Shah (r. 1815-1818), after a one-month reign in 1815, was the founder of an Acehnese-Malay settlement at Lebuh Aceh and Kebun Lama sometime around the 1780s to 1790s. The royal family was expelled from Aceh by political rivals, and permanently settled in Penang. Their presence in Penang attracted the international mercantile community, contributing significantly to the early socio-political and economic development of the state. Under the community leadership of Sayyid Hussain al-Aidid, the settlement was a political refuge as well as a trading emporium for the Muslim community in Penang, and the luxuriously carved gravestones of Sayyid Hussain, his family members and retinues can still be found inside the mosque complex endowed by them.

In the transfer of power from the absolute suzerainty of the Kedah Sultanate to that of colonial administration, local Malay chiefs retained much of their socio-political dominance among their grassroots subjects, while their autonomy was mutually respected by the new government they served. This status quo became the basis for the existential integrity for most of the early local settlements in Penang.

Today, Penang’s cosmopolitan, Islamic heritage is reflected within the descendants of the Muslim (and Malay) communities in Penang. Though many unique characteristics of these people may have been lost or forgotten over the course of time and in the process of assimilating into local culture, these diverse communities have still left their mark on Penang society, be it in the form of mosques, cuisines, language-dialects or traditional art.

Footnotes
[1] Other accounts, for instance by R.O. Winsted (1938), suggest 1474 CE as the date of conversion of Old Kedah instead.

[2] According to textual and historiographical analysis of various classical Malay literatures like Sulalat al-Salatin (HSS), Hikayat Raja Pasai (HRP) and the oral story of Puteri Lindungan Bulan.