The Demise and Rise of Singora’s Sultan Sulaiman Lineage
Abstract
This article presents research findings from a project seeking to plug gaps in accounts of Muslim actors in Siam between the early 17th and the mid-19th century, between the reigns of King Prasat Thong (r. 1629–1656) and King Rama III (r. 1824-1851). We limit ourselves to the legacy of the descendants of Sultan Sulaiman (r. 1620–1676), which—for comparative purposes—we juxtapose with Sheikh Ahmad Qomi. We begin by contextualising both of these by documenting Siam’s administrative structure and culture. This is followed by the succession, rebellion and rehabilitation of Sultan Sulaiman’s eldest son, Mustapha (between 1676 and 1692), before considering the administrative and military careers of Hussein (d. 1693) and Hasan (d. 1691), and the range of contributions by the descendants of Mustapha, Hussein and Hasan. These reveal hitherto overlooked connections between South and Central Thailand, similarities between these Muslim lineages, their mixed fortunes, the contributions of the Sultan Sulaiman lineage to the military, the side forms that co-option by Ayutthaya and Bangkok took, that led some to forsake the religion of these lineages for Buddhism.
References
Adis Idris Raksamani. “Multicultural Aspects of the Mosques in Bangkok.” Manusya: Journal of Humanities 16 (2008): 114–34.
Amirell, Stefan. “The Blessings and Perils of Female Rule: New Perspectives on the Reigning Queens of Patani, C. 1584–1718.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 42, no. 2 (2011): 303–23.
Ampan Na Pattalung. Sai-Sakul Sulatan Sulaiman B.E. 2145–2531 [the Lineage of Sultan Sulaiman A.D. 1602–1988]. Bangkok: Amarin Printing Group, 1988.
Aphornsuvan, Thanet. “History and Politics of the Muslims in Thailand.” 2003.
Ardrugsa, Winyu. “’Stranger’ / ‘Home-Land’: Muslim Practice and Spatial Negotiation in Contemporary Bangkok.” The Open University, 2012.
Baker, Chris, and Pasuk Phongpaichit. A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. doi:doi: 10.1017/9781108120197.
———. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Bassett, D. K. “Anglo-Malay Relations, 1786–1795.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1965): 183–212.
Bhanuwongse, Oudaya. “Bunnag Family Lineage Club.” http://www.bunnag.in.th/english/index.html.
Bhawan Ruangsilp. Dutch East India Company Merchants at the Court of Ayutthaya. Tanap Monographs on the History of the Asian-European Interaction. Edited by Leonard Blussé. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Bisalputra, Pimpraphai, and Jeffery Sng. “The Hokkien Rayas of Songkhla.” Journal of the Siam Society 108 (2019): 43–72.
Bougas, Wayne A. Islamic Cemeteries in Patani. Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Historical Society, 1988.
———. The Kingdom of Patani. Between Thai and Malay Mandalas. Bangi: Institute of the Malay World and Civilization, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 1994.
———. “Patani in the Beginning of the Xvii Century.” Archipel 39 (1990): 113–38.
———. “Some Early Islamic Tombstones in Patani.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 59, no. 1 (1986): 85–112.
Bradley, Francis R. Forging Islamic Power and Place: The Legacy of Shaykh Da’ud Bin ‘Abd Allah Al-Fatani in Mecca and Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory. Edited by David Chandler and Rita Smith Kipp. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2016.
———. “Siam’s Conquest of Patani and the End of Mandala Relations, 1786–1838.” In The Ghosts of the Past in Southern Thailand: Essays on the History and Historiography of Patani, edited by Patrick Jory, 149–60. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2012.
Burney, Henry. The Burney Papers. V vols. Vol. II (January to June 1825), Bangkok: Vajiranna National Library, 1911.
Chaiwat Meesantan. “Minoriti Melayu Di Bangkok Dan Kawasan Sekitarnya: Antara Survival Dan Kejayaan [the Malay Minority in Bangkok and the Surrounding Area: Between Survival and Success].” University of Malaya, 2017.
Cho, Hung-Guk. “Thai-Malay Conflicts in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.” International Area Studies Review 2, no. 2 (1999): 47–68.
Choungsakul, Srisuporn. “The Role of Chinese Traders on the Growth of Songkhla, 1775–1912.” Manusya: Journal of Humanities 9, no. 2 (2006): 44–65.
Dalrymple, Graham H., and Christopher Mark Joll. “The Muslim Sultans of Singora in the 17th Century.” Journal of the Siam Society 109, no. 1 (2021): 37–62.
Dhiravat na Pombejra. “The Eulogy of King Narai.” The Journal of the Siam Society 107, no. 2 (2019): 1–16.
———. “A Political History of Siam under the Prasatthong Dynasty 1629–1688.” SOAS, 1984.
Dunn, Samuel. A New Directory for the East-Indies. London: Meffs Glibert and Wright, 1791.
Farouk Bajunid, Omar. “The Muslims in Thailand: A Review.” Southeast Asian Studies 37, no. 2 (1999): 210–34.
Feng Yu, and Suchart Setthamalinee. “The Diversity of Chinese Muslim Identities: A Special Hui in Yunnan.” In Hui Muslims in China, edited by Gui Rong, Hacer Zekiye Gönül and Zhang Xiaoyan, 113–26. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2016.
Findlay, Alexander George. A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Archipelago, China, and Japan, from the Straits of Malacca and Sunda, and the Passages East of Java: To Canton, Shanghai, the Yellow Sea, and Japan, with Descriptions of the Winds, Monsoons, and Currents, and General Instructions for the Various Channels, Harbours, Etc. London: RH Laurie, 1878.
Forbes, Andrew D. W. “The Cin-Ho (Yunanese Chinese) Muslims of North Thailand.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 7, no. January (1982): 173–86.
———. “The “Cin-Ho”( Yunnanese Chinese) Caravan Trade with North Thailand During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries.” Journal of Asian History 21, no. 1 (1987): 1–47.
———, ed. The Muslims in Thailand. Volume 1. Historical and Cultural Studies. Edited by Andrew D. W. Forbes. Bihar: Centre for South East Asian Studies, 1988.
———. “The Yunnanese (“Ho”) Muslims of North Thailand.” In The Muslims of Thailand. Volume 1. Historical and Cultural Studies, edited by Andrew D. W. Forbes, 87–104. Bihar: Centre for South East Asian Studies, 1988.
Formichi, Chiara, and R. Michael Feener, eds. Shiʿism in South East Asia: ‘Alid Piety and Sectarian Constructions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Gilquin, Michel. The Muslims of Thailand. Translated by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002.
Halikowski-Smith, Stefan, ed. Two Missionary Accounts of Southeast Asia in the Late Seventeenth Century: A Translation and Critical Edition of Guy Tachard’s Relation De Voyage Aux Indes (1690–99) and Nicola Cima’s Relatione Distinta Delli Regni Di Siam, China, Tunchino, E Cocincina (1697–1706). Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2019.
Horsburgh, James. India Directory, or Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, New Holland, Cape of Good Hope, Brazil and the Interjacent Ports. 3. Ed. Kingsburg, 1827.
Horstmann, Alexander. “Pilgrimage and the Making of Identities in the South of Thailand.” In Thai South and Malay North: Ethnic Interactions on a Plural Peninsula, edited by Michael J. Montesano and Patrick Jory, 275–91. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2008.
Ibrahim Syukri. History of the Malay Kingdom of Pattani. Translated by Trans. by, C. Bailey and J. Miksic. Athens, OH.: Center for International Studies, Ohio University., 1985.
Ishii, Yoneo. “A Note on the Cham Diaspora in the Ayutthayan Kingdom.” In Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past, edited by Geoffrey Phillip Wade and Tana Li, 241–45. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012.
Jansaeng, Apiradee. “Local Autonomy: Chinese Community in Songkhla During Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” Australian National University, 2010.
Joll, Christopher Mark. Muslim Merit-Making in Thailand’s Far-South. Muslims in Global Societies. Edited by Gabriele Marranci and Bryan S. Turner. Dordrecht: Springer, 2011.
Joll, Christopher Mark, and Srawut Aree. “Kling Muslims in Sixteenth-Century Ayutthaya: Towards Aggregating the Fragments.” TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 10, no. 1 (2022): 1–15.
Jory, Patrick, ed. The Ghosts of the Past in Southern Thailand: Essays on the History and Historiography of Patani. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2012.
Julispong Chularatana. “Aqa Muhammad Astarabadi: The Iranian Vizier in the King Narai Court.” ศิลปวัฒนธรรม (Art & Culture Magazine) 20, no. 4 (1999): 108.
———. “Indo-Persian Influence on Late Ayutthaya Art, Architecture, and Design.” The Journal of the Siam Society 105 (2017): 43–72.
———. “The Monarchy and Thai Muslims During the Traditional Era (from the Ayutthaya to the Rattanakosin Era).” In The Monarchy and Muslims in Thailand, edited by Stephen Lorriman and Adisra Katib, 7–56. Bangkok: Internal Security Operations Command, 2017.
———. “Muslim Community During Ayutthaya Period.” Manusya: Journal of Humanities 10, no. 89–107 (2007).
———. “The Shiʿite Muslims in Thailand from Ayutthaya Period to the Present.” Manusya: Journal of Humanities 16, no. 37–58 (2008).
Khoo Salma Nasution. “Once Upon a Time in Phuket: Changing Identities among the Baba Chinese and Thai Muslims in a Tourist Paradise “ In Reflections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity [The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows], 24–38: API, 2007.
KijangMas Perkasa. Patani: Behind the Accidental Border: The Search for Elusive Peace. Kuala Lumpur: Orion Solutions Sdn Bhd, 2010.
Kotmai Tra Sam Duang: Lem 1 [Three Seals Code: Vol. 1]. Bangkok: Khurusabha, 1962.
La Loubère, Simon de. A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam by Monsieur De La Loubere Envoy Extraordinary from the French King, to the King of Siam, in the Years 1687 and 1688. Wherein a Full and Curious Account Is Given of the Chinese Way of Arithmetick, and Mathematick Learning. In Two Tomes. Illustrated with Sculptures. Translated by A. P. Gen R.S.S. London: Francis Leach, 1693.
Loos, Tamara Lynn. Subject Siam: Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006.
Luang Siworawat. Phongsawadan Mueang Phatthalung [the Chronicle of Phatthalung]. Prachum Phongsawadan [Collected Chronicles]. Vol. Book 12, vol. 15, Bangkok: Khurusapha, 1964.
Marcinkowski, Christoph. From Isfahan to Ayutthaya. Contacts between Iran and Siam in the 17th Century Contemporary Islamic Scholars Series. Singapore: Pustaka Nasional Pte Ltd, 2004.
———. “The Iranian-Siamese Connection: An Iranian Community in the Thai Kingdom of Ayutthaya.” Iranian Studies 35, no. 1-3 (2002): 23–46.
———. “Persian Historical Writing under the Safavids (1501–1722/36).” In The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume 3: 1400-1800, edited by J. Rabasa, M. Sato, E. Tortarolo and D. Woolf, 173–91. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2014.
———. Persians and Shiʿites in Thailand: From the Ayutthaya Period to the Present. Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Working Paper. Vol. 15, Singapore: Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, 2014.
———. “The Safavid Presence in the Indian Ocean: A Reappraisal of the Ship of Solayman, a Seventeenth-Century Travel Account to Siam.” Iran and the World in the Safavid Age 2 (2012): 379–406.
———. “Selected Historical Facets of the Presence of Shiʿism in Southeast Asia “. The Muslim World 99, no. 2 (8-12 January 2009): 381–416.
———. “Shiʿism in Thailand: From the Ayutthaya Period to the Present.” In Shiʿism in South East Asia: ‘Alid Piety and Sectarian Constructions, edited by C. Formichi and M. Feener, 31–46. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Masudi, Mallika, Adis Idris Raksamani, Srisaman Raksamani, and Sukre Sarem. “The Monarchy and Muslims in Thailand During Siam’s Transition to Modernity.” In The Monarchy and Muslims in Thailand, edited by Stephen Lorriman and Adisra Katib, 57–85. Bangkok: Internal Security Operations Command, 2017.
McDaniel, Justin Thomas. “Ethnicity and the Galactic Polity: Ideas and Actualities in the History of Bangkok.” [In English]. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 49, no. 1 (Feb 2018 2020-11-17 2018): 129–48.
Muhammad Rabi ibn Muhammad Ibrahim. The Ship of Sulaiman. Translated by John O’Kane. Persian Heritage Series. London: Routledge, 1979.
Mulor, Nasra. “A Study of Islamic Institutions in Thailand and Their Contribution to Islamic Learning.” Aligarh Muslim University, 2018.
Neale, Frederick Arthur. Narrative of a Residence at the Capital of the Kingdom of Siam; with a Description of the Manners, Customs, and Laws of the Modern Siamese. London.: Office of the National illustrated library, 1852.
Paret Athawiphat. “พระเจ้าตาก กับบทบาทของนายหมุด (จักรีแขก) “ทหาร” มุสลิมคู่พระทัย [Lord Tak and the Role of Nai Pueng (Chakri Khaek) “Soldier”, a Loving Muslim].” Silapawatthanatham [Arts and Culture] 38, no. May (2017). https://www.silpa-mag.com/history/article_20986.
Penchan Phoborisut. “Understanding the Identity of the Thai Muslim Community of Kudi Khao in Thonburi, Bangkok.” Manusya: Journal of Humanities 11, no. 4 (2008): 68–81.
Rabibhadana, Akin. “The Organization of Thai Society in the Early Bangkok Period.” Ph.D, Cornell University, 1969.
Reid, Anthony M. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680. Volume Two: Expansion and Crisis. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
Reynolds, Craig J. “Rural Male Leadership, Religion and the Environment in Thailand’s Mid-South, 1920s–1960s.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 42, no. 01 (2011): 39–57.
Reynolds, Craig J. Power, Protection and Magic in Thailand: The Cosmos of a Southern Policeman. Asian Studies Series Monograph. Vol. 12, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2019.
Scupin, Raymond. “Islam in Thailand before the Bangkok Period.” Journal of the Siam Society 68, no. 1 (1980): 55–71.
———. “The Socio-Economics Status of Muslims in Central and North Thailand.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 4, no. 2 July (1981): 162–89.
———. “Thai Muslims in Bangkok: Islam and Modernization in a Buddhist Society.” University of California, 1978.
Scupin, Raymond, and Christopher Mark Joll. “Buddhist–Muslim Dynamics in Siam/Thailand.” In Buddhist-Muslim Relations in a Theravada World, edited by Iselin Frydenlund and Michael Jerryson, 101–35. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillian, 2020.
Scupin, Raymond, and Mark Woodward. “Muslims in Thailand and Burma.” In Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives, edited by Ronald Lukens-Bull and Mark Woodward, 595–617. Cham: Springer, 2021.
Setthamalinee, Suchart. “The Transformation of Chinese Muslim Identities in Northern Thailand.” Journal of Social Sciences of Chiang Mai University 19, no. 2 (2008): 22–58.
Simmonds, E. H. S. “Francis Light and the Ladies of Thalang.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1965): 213–28.
———. “The Thalang Letters, 1773–94: Political Aspects and the Trade in Arms.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 26, no. 03 (1963): 592–619.
Skinner, Cyril, and Justin J. Corfield, eds. Rama Iii and the Siamese Expedition T O Kedah in 1839: The Dispatches of Luang Udomsombat, Monash Papers on Southeast Asia,, vol. 30. Clayton, Vic.: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1993.
Smith, John. “State, Community, and Ethnicity in Early Modern Thailand, 1351-1767.” University of Michigan, 2019.
Songsiri Putthongchai. “What Is It Like to Be Muslim in Thailand? A Case Study of Thailand through Muslim Professionals’ Perspectives.” University of Exeter 2013.
Soonthornpasuch, Suthep. “Islamic Identity in Chiengmai City: A Historical and Structural Comparison of Two Communities.” University of California, Berkeley, 1977.
Sternstein, Larry. “The London Company’s Envoys Plot Siam.” Journal of the Siam Society 81, no. 2 (1993): 8–95.
———. “Low’s Description of the Siamese Empire in 1824.” Journal of the Siam Society 78, no. 1 (1990): 8–34.
Suwannathat-Pian, Kobkua. Thai-Malay Relations: Traditional Intra-Regional Relations from the Seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries. East Asian Historical Monographs. Edited by Wang Gungwu. Singapore: Oxford University Press., 1988.
Teeuw, A., and David K. Wyatt. Hikayat Patani. The Story of Patani. Bibliotheca Indonesica,. 2 vols. The Hague,: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970.
Terpstra, H. De Factorij Der Oostindische Compagnie Te Patani. Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1938.
van Roy, Edward. “Bangkok’s Bunnag Lineage from Feudalism to Constitutionalism.” The Journal of the Siam Society 108, no. 2 (2020): 17–46.
———. “Contending Identities: Islam and Ethnicity in Old Bangkok.” Journal of the Siam Society 104 (2016): 169–202.
———. Siamese Melting Pot: Ethnic Minorities in the Making of Bangkok. Singapore/Chiang Mai: ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute/Silkworm Press, 2017.
Vatikiotis, Michael K. J. “Ethnic Pluralism in the Northern Thai City of Chiang Mai.” Oxford University, 1984.
Vickery, Michael. “Thai Regional Elites and the Reforms of King Chulalongkorn.” Journal of Asian Studies 29, no. 4 (1970): 863–81.
