Monday, July 22, 2013

Terengganu Inscription Stone



Memorial Batu Bersurat is located at Kuala Berang (around 3 km from Kuala Berang town).. The stone proved that Islam had reached Terengganu around year 13xx i.e about 700 years ago.  It was found here at the Kuala Berang riverbank somewhere around 1899. However, we can only find the replica of the stone here. According to the locals, the real inscribed stone is now placed at the State Museum in Kuala Terengganu,.   
HISTORY INSCRIBED STONE OF TERENGGANU                                        
After the flood, the villagers found a huge stone at the mouth of Sungai Teresat. The villagers then shifted the stone to a mosque at Kampung Buluh in Kuala Berang. The Batu Bersurat, Terengganu or Inscribed Stone of Terengganu constitutes the earliest evidence of Jawi writing  in the Malaya Muslim world of Southeast Asia. The Stone is a testimony to the spread of Islam offering an insight to the life of the people of the era as well as depicting the growing Islamic culture subsumed under a set of religious laws.
  . The Islamic Inscription on the Inscribed Stone of Terengganu is a profound statement of Terengganu's Islamic Past. The Stone, which dates as far back as the early 14th Century, is known to be the earliest piece of inscription in Malay using the Jawi script which states Islam as the official religion of Terengganu, along with an Islamic law guide pertaining to misdeeds and sanctions.
The artifact proves that Islam reached Terengganu earlier than 1326 or 1386. It was accidentally discovered near Teresat River at Kuala Berang, Terengganu, Malaysia by an Arab trader named Sayid Husin bin Ghulam al-Bokhari in 1899 after a flash flood hit Kuala Berang.
 In 1902, a gold and tin miner named Syed Hussain bin Ghulam Al Bukhari from Riau - Lingga and Engku Pengiran Anum arrived at Kuala Berang. They saw the inscribed stone and brought it back to Kuala Terengganu where they presented it to Sultan Zainal Abidin, who was then the Sultan of Terengganu. Sultan Zainal Abidin kept the inscribed stone from many years as no one understood the Jawi writings that was inscribed on the stone. Thus an Englishman who was working in Terengganu send photographs of the inscribed stone to history language specialists in Singapore and London. In the end, the inscriptions on the stone was able to be read clearly.
 The inscribed stone weighed about 215 kilograms, 84 centimeters in height, 53 centimeters wide at the top and 27 centimeters wide at the bottom. The thickness of the stone is 24 centimeters and is made of granite which cannot be easily broken. The inscriptions are in Arabic - Malay believed to be written on the 22nd February 1303. Among the inscriptions on the stone are the ten Islamic laws and their punishments. With the discovery of this stone, historians felt that Islam has reached Terengganu before the 14th century. The inscribed stone also proved that a government existed in Terengganu long before Melaka was founded. Even after Melaka was founded, Kuala Terengganu still remained an important port

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