Ali Mughayat Syah

Ali Mughayat Syah
Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah's tomb in Banda Aceh
Sulṭān of Acèh Darussalam
Reign	c. 1514 - 1530
Predecessor	sultanate established
Successor	Salahuddin
Died	7 August 1530(1530-08-07)
Burial	Kutaraja (Banda Aceh)
Consort	Sitt Hur
Father	Syamsu Syah

Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah (died 7 August 1530) was the first sultan of Aceh in northern Sumatra, reigning from about 1514 until his death. Although he was not the first ruler of the Aceh heartland, he is considered the founder of the greater Aceh kingdom. His time also saw the emergence of the long struggle with the Portuguese for the political and economic supremacy in the Melaka Straits. Sultan Ali's life and career are nevertheless ill-chronicled, and have to be pieced together from various Acehnese, Malay and European accounts.

In the fifteenth century, three port kingdoms dominated northernmost Sumatra. Samudra Pasai had been a Muslim sultanate since the late thirteenth century, controlling part of the inter-Asian trade that went through the Melaka Straits. However, by the early sixteenth century it was wrecked by political turmoil. Another important state was Pidië which was a prominent producer of pepper and befriended the Portuguese since 1509. A third one was Daya (possibly at present-day Calang) where the Portuguese founded a settlement in the early sixteenth century.

The origins of Aceh are disputed. According to the Hikayat Aceh two bidadaris (heavenly nymphs) married two princely brothers from Lamuri and gave rise to the royal dynasty. Other stories speak of Minangkabau, Arab or even Seljuq origins for the royal line. According to the Sejarah Melayu a prince of Champa called Syah Poling (Pau Ling), the son of the King of Champa Syah Pau Kubah, fled Champa when the Vietnamese sacked the capital, Vijaya in 1471. He founded the royal line in Aceh. Indeed, Acehnese is the only non-Chamic relative in the subgroup Aceh-Chamic languages. At any rate, Aceh does not seem to have been a prominent kingdom before 1500. At the end of the fifteenth century a Raja Inayat Syah, son of Abdullah Almalik Almubin, reigned over Dar al-Kamal, the direct predecessor of Banda Aceh. He had two sons, namely Alauddin (d. 1508) who was king of Daya, and Sultan Muzaffar Syah who succeeded his father. Muzaffar was probably expelled by the king of Pidië and died in 1497. When the Portuguese arrived some years later they heard that Aceh was a vassal under Pidië. At this time it was governed by Syamsu Syah, son of Munawwar Syah. Syamsu Syah later had to abdicate in favour of his son Ali Mughayat Syah, and died in 1530. Ali was married to Sitt Hur (d. 1554), a daughter of Alauddin of Daya (alternatively, with Puteri Setia Indera, daughter of Raja Inayat Syah), thus binding the two lines of Aceh rulers together. He was strongly supported by his brother Raja Ibrahim, who was a prominent military commander. According to the authoritative chronicle Bustanus Salatin, he was the first sultan of Aceh.