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Batu Bersurat, Terengganu (Inscribed Stone of Terengganu)

Inscribed 2009

What is it

The Inscribed Stone of Terengganu provides the earliest evidence of Jawi writing (Malay written in an Arabic script) in the Muslim world of Southeast Asia.

Why was it inscribed

The Stone is a testimony to the spread of Islam, offering an insight to the life of the people of the era and depicting the growing Islamic culture reflected in religious laws.

Where is it

Terengganu State Museum, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

With the arrival of Islam in Southeast Asia in the 10th or 11th century, an Islamic way of living based on the teachings of the Koran and the Hadith (practices of the Prophet) became widespread, and with this, the use of the Jawi script. It heralded a new age of literacy, when converts to the new faith gradually replaced the previous Hindu-derived script with Jawi, as a way of expressing their new belief. As a testimony to the spread of Islam that emanated from the Middle East, the Inscribed Stone offers more than just a glimpse of the life of the people of the era. This historical artefact also depicts the growing Islamic culture reflected in a set of religious laws. A feature of this historic movement was the growth of maritime commerce that centred around Kuala Berang, the place where the Batu Bersurat was found in 1887 and whose significance was recognized in 1902. The Inscribed Stone alludes to regional trade that flourished in the course of Islamization, with its trading patterns and the related movement of peoples.

While the Islamization of Terengganu (a state on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula) was pursued effectively, it did not put an end to the old way of life. The Batu Bersurat bears witness to a new way of thinking that did not jeopardize the previous way of life unnecessarily – indeed, the Inscribed Stone also contained a number of Sanskrit terms, a memorial to Southeast Asia’s Hindu past.

The Stone is 89 cm in height, 53 cm in width at the top, and weighs 214.8 kg. All of its four sides have inscriptions in Malay written in the Jawi script, and dated AH 702 (1303). The promulgation of Islamic laws established Islam as the state religion of Terengganu, the first recorded state in the Malay Peninsula to do so, and defined a new way of life for the people. The first side records this recognition of Islam as the state religion, while the other sides record commandments and regulations.

The front of the Stone of Terengganu, with the Jawi script going horizontally across its face.

One side of the Inscribed Stone of Terengganu, with the Jawi script running vertically.

The Inscribed Stone of Terengganu has assumed additional importance, especially in the context of understanding the political and social history of Southeast Asia, and the transformation of the religious and economic life of its people associated with trade and commerce of the era. The presence of traders from various Asian regions illustrates not only the variety of cultures that interacted in the area, but also the migratory patterns of the time.

This translation of the text on the front of the Stone establishes its great significance:

Behold the Prophet of God and his apostles.

Praise the God Almighty for giving us Islam.

With Islam, truth revealed to all Thy creatures.

On this land the religion of the Holy Prophet shall prevail.

The Holy Prophet, the upholder of truth in Thy kingdom.

Hear ye kings, these messages.

Messages from the Almighty, ye doubt not.

Goodwill, with thee fellow men, saith the Almighty.

Be it known, the land of Terengganu, the first to receive message of Islam.

On the noon on Friday in the month of Rejab whilst the sun was in the north by religious reckoning.

Seven hundred and two years after the demise of the Holy Prophet.