172 THE ADVENT OF MUHAMMADANISM. 



tradition that Iskandar Shah of Malacca married a princess from 

 Muhammadan Pasai. The Chinese records chronicle that the 

 Malays of Malacca had become Mnhammadans by the year 1409 

 A.D. Anyhow all tradition describes Sultan Muhammad Shah as 

 the first Muhammadan prince of Malacca. That prince ascended 

 the throne in 1403 A.D. and died in 1414 A.D. In that century 

 Malacca succeeded Pasai, as Pasai formerly had succeeded Kedah, 

 as the chief centre of sea-trade. The port of Malacca was filled 

 with foreigners, Arabs. Indians. Javanese, missionaries, traders, 

 mahouts and so on. And the path of the Muhammadan missionary 

 was still hard. Witness some of the stories told against him in 

 the Sejarali Melayu : 



"A boat came from Jeddah to Malacca. In it was a man of 

 great religions learning, by name Manlana Sadar Jahan. Sultan 

 Mahmnd Shah became his pupil and ordered his son Raja Ahmad 

 also to take lessons. One night the Bendahara Sri Maharaja sat 

 discussing religion with the missionary, when Sri Rama a con- 

 firmed drinker entered the worse for liquor. The Sultan bade his 

 servants bring food for Sri Rama : and they brought it in a silver 

 bowl, covered with an embroidered cloth. Sri Rama saw the Benda- 

 hara Sri Maharaja talking with the Arab teacher, and remarked, 

 ' Come on, I'll have a lesson too.' The Bendahara invited him to 

 be seated. Sadar Jahan saw that Sri Rama was drunk and noticed 

 that his breath smelt of spirits: so he observed in Arabic, ' Drink 

 is the mother of all beastliness.' Sri Rama retorted, ' Covetousness 

 is the mother of all beastliness, and you came here in search of 

 profit.' The missionary was exceedingly wroth and went home, 

 refnsing all efforts of the Bendahara to detain 111111/' 

 And again : — 



" Tun Mai, whose nickname was The Hairy Caterpillar, took 

 lessons from the Arab teacher. He was not apt at learning, be- 

 cause it is hard for a Malay to pronounce harsh Arabic sounds. 

 So the teacher was upset and remarked, l Your pronunciation is 

 very bad : I make one sound and you another.' Quoth Tun Mai, 

 i Yes, I find it very hard to pronounce Arabic, as it is not my own 

 language. If you talked Malav, you would be in a similar case/ 

 The teacher replied, * What difficulty is there in the pronunciation 

 of Malay that I cannot master.' Quoth Tun Mai, ' Sav Jcuching / 

 The Arab said ' Rusing.' Quoth Tun Mai, 'Wrong! Sav hunyit.' 

 The Arab said ' Kuzit: i Sav nyiru/ Tbe Arab said niru. Said 

 Tun Mai the Hairy Caterpillar, ' A pretty notion you have of 

 pronouncing Malay! Just like my notion of pronouncing Arabic/ 

 Then Sadar Jahan was exceedingly angrv and declared, ' Never 

 again will I give lessons to Tun Mai the Hairy Caterpillar/' 1 



All sorts of merchandise came to Malay ports like Malacca 

 from Arabia, India, Persia; and references to such novelties are 

 frequent in Malay folk-tales, the Hi. Airang Sul'ong, the fit. Serr 

 Ita ma and so on : — 



Jour. Straits Branch 



