Abstract

The advent of Islam to Southeast Asia led to the emergence of Malaysia as a Muslim nation, as we know it today. In the Malaysian context, while Kelantan is considered as the most Islamic state having an Islamic party (PAS) as the ruling government for a relatively long time and strong attachment to Islam among its population, Kedah, a northern state in the Malay Peninsula was the first to receive Islam, in the 10th century CE. The actual process of Islamization of Kedah however, occurred only two centuries later following the conversion of the Kedah ruler, Maharaja Derbar Raja Phra Ong Mahawangsa to Islam in the hands of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qumairi Al-Yamani. Previously a Hindu kingdom, Kedah consequently became an Islamic Kingdom under the rule of the Sultan, with Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qumairi as the Advisor. Applying content analysis and library research methods, this study seeks to highlight the role of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qumairi in the Islamization of Kedah and his connection with the trans-Indianica maritime networks tradition i.e., trade and the role of Kedah as the stopping point for traders coming from the Middle East. Additionally, there will be a discussion on the socio-cultural, political and economic changes in Kedah as a result of the Islamization process. While the whole Islamization process of Kedah may be less impactful than the effects of the Islamization of the Malacca Sultanate in the 15th century, the former can arguably be said to have provided the foundation for the later susceptibility to Islam among the people of the Malay Peninsula.  

Keywords: Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qumairi, Kedah, Malay Peninsula, Islamization of Malaya, Trans-Indianica Maritime Networks