Sultan Alauddin Ahmad Syah (died 1735) was the twenty-third

sultan of Aceh The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam (; Jawi alphabet, Jawoë: ), was a List of Muslim states and dynasties, sultanate centered in the modern-day Indonesian province of Aceh. It was a major regional power in the 16th ...

in northern

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. He ruled from 1727 to 1735 and inaugurated the

Bugis The Bugis people, also known as Buginese, are an Austronesian ethnic groupthe most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sula ...

Dynasty of Aceh which would remain on the throne until the end of the sultanate in 1903.

From official to sultan

The original name of the future sultan was Zainul Abidin. He was of

stock; the Bugis from

South Sulawesi South Sulawesi () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province in the South Peninsula, Sulawesi, southern peninsula of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital and largest ci ...

migrated to all parts of the

East Indian Archipelago The East Indian Archipelago is an area designated by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). It encompasses twelve seas, two gulfs, and one strait in the East Indies (Southeast Asia). Seas In draft 4 of the IHO's publication S-23 '' L ...

after 1667 and were well regarded as traders, sailors and soldiers. His father Abdurrahim and grandfather Mansur had been respected men in the kingdom. Under the troubled reign of Jamal ul-Alam Badr ul-Munir (1703–1726) he served as an official with the title Maharaja Lela. According to one version he performed the

hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

but returned to Aceh in order to help his badly cornered master. When the three ''sagis'' (regions) of Aceh rebelled against Jamal ul-Alam in the fall of 1726, Maharaja Lela was ordered to hold the fortress of the capital until matters had been settled. However, Jamal ul-Alam had to flee in November and a period of chaos ensued. Meanwhile Maharaja Lela loyally held the fortress against the other parties and vainly asked Jamal ul-Alam, who had withdrawn to Pidië, for assistance. Finally, in January 1727 the three ''sagis'' unanimously offered the throne to Maharaja Lela. Since Maharaja Lela did not wish to commit treason, he sent message to Jamal ul-Alam and asked how to act. The ex-sultan, realizing that his case was lost, enjoined Maharaja Lela to accept the offer.

House of Royal Buginese Wajoq-Aceh

Maharaja Lela now stepped on the throne under the name Sultan Alauddin Ahmad Syah. All his descendants on the throne bore reigning titles that included the name Alauddin ("nobility of faith"). After the enthronement the ''panglimas'' (headmen of the three ''sagis'') returned to their respective regions. This made an end to the chaos that had reigned for some time. Batubara on the east coast, lost under Jamal ul-Alam, was regained for the time being. The Acehnese chronicles convey the impression that Alauddin Ahmad Syah's reign was relatively peaceful. This is not entirely confirmed by

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

reports. In 1731 the Dutch found 15 ships with thousands of men lying in the

Aceh River The Aceh River on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia flows from mountains that include the 2,780-metre high Mount Peuët Sagoë for some 200 kilometres northeastward to reach the junction of the Indian Ocean and the Andaman Sea at Banda Aceh, the ...

. "They had not arrived for any other reason than to settle certain disputes between two Acehnese kings who had waged war on each other for some time." The Dutch also worried about the support that the king of Aceh gave to a

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see bel ...

prince who tried to build a power base around the important port town

Barus Barus is a town and ''kecamatan'' (district) in Central Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Historically, Barus was well known as a port town or kingdom on the western coast of Sumatra where it was a regional trade cente ...

in 1734. On the other hand the reign of Alauddin Ahmad Syah saw some positive economic trends. Trade with the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

took off again after a period of decline. This coincided with the rise in the British trade with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

and

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

was sold to Aceh in exchange for Southeast Asian produce which was then brought to China. Products such as opium were so valuable in Aceh that the ruler could retail them for four times the price he had paid. Sultan Alauddin Ahmad Syah sired four sons:Djajadiningrat (1911), p. 200. * Pocut Auk, later Sultan Alauddin Johan Syah, born from the chief consort * Pocut Kleng, born from a co-wife * Pocut Sandang, born from a co-wife * Pocut Muhammad, born from the chief consort The sultan died in late May or early June 1735. He had admonished his eldest son to respect the ex-sultan Jamal ul-Alam Badr ul-Munir. However, Jamal ul-Alam's political interference after his death led to a new spate of political infighting in Aceh.

References

Literature

* Djajadiningrat, Raden Hoesein (1911) 'Critische overzicht van de in Maleische werken vervatte gegevens over de geschiedenis van het soeltanaat van Atjeh', ''Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'' 65, pp. 135–265. * Goor, R. van (1988) ''Generale missiven van Gouverneurs-Generaal en Raden aan Heren XVII der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie''. ''Vol. 9: 1729–1737.'' Den Haag: M. Nijhoff. * Lee Kam Hing (1995) ''The Sultanate of Aceh: Relations with the British, 1760–1824''. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. * Zainuddin, H.M. (1961) ''Tarich Atjeh dan Nusantara, Jilid I''. Medan: Pustaka Iskandar Muda. {{s-end Sultans of Aceh 1735 deaths 18th-century Indonesian people Year of birth unknown