It goes on to relate the history
of the two sons Al-Dhahir and Al-Mansur. Another version is given in the
history of Pasei already alluded to, with such differences as might be
expected when the oral traditions of several centuries came to be written
down.
Ibn Batuta, about 1346, on his way to China, spent fifteen days at the
court of Samudra, which he calls Samathrah or Samuthrah. The king whom
he found there reigning was the Sultan Al-Malik Al-Dhahir, a most zealous
Mussulman, surrounded by doctors of theology, and greatly addicted to
religious discussions, as well as a great warrior and a powerful prince.
The city was 4 miles from its port, which the traveller calls Sarha; he
describes the capital as a large and fine town, surrounded with an
enceinte and bastions of timber. The court displayed all the state of
Mahomedan royalty, and the Sultan's dominions extended for many days along
the coast. In accordance with Ibn Batuta's picture, the Malay Chronicle
represents the court of Pasei (which we have seen to be intimately
connected with Samudra) as a great focus of theological studies about this
time.
There can be little doubt that Ibn Batuta's Malik Al-Dhahir is the prince
of the Malay Chronicle the son of the first Mahomedan king. We find in
1292 that Marco says nothing of Mahomedanism; the people are still wild
idolaters; but the king is already a rich and powerful prince. This may
have been Malik Al-Salih before his conversion; but it may be doubted if
the Malay story be correct in representing him as the founder of the
city. Nor is this apparently so represented in the Book of the Kings of
Pasei.
Before Ibn Batuta's time, Sumatra or Samudra appears in the travels of Fr.
Odoric. After speaking of Lamori (to which we shall come presently), he
says: "In the same island, towards the south, is another kingdom, by name
SUMOLTRA, in which is a singular generation of people, for they brand
themselves on the face with a hot iron in some twelve places," etc. This
looks as if the conversion to Islam was still (circa 1323) very
incomplete. Rashiduddin also speaks of Sumutra as lying beyond Lamuri.
(Elliot, I. p. 70.)
The power attained by the dynasty of Malik Al-Salih, and the number of
Mahomedans attracted to his court, probably led in the course of the 14th
century to the extension of the name of Sumatra to the whole island. For
when visited early in the next century by Nicolo Conti, we are told that
he "went to a fine city of the island of Taprobana, which island is called
by the natives Shamuthera." Strange to say, he speaks of the natives as
all idolaters.
