الملك الصالح

Malik al-Salih (RH)

Sultan al-Malik al-Salih

Also known as: Malikussaleh, Merah Silu, Malik al-Saleh

c. 637–696 AH · c. 1240–1297 CE

Reigned c. 1267–1297 CE

Rulers Samudera Pasai Sultanate

First Muslim ruler of Samudera Pasai, whose gravestone of 1297 is early evidence of a Muslim kingdom in the archipelago.

According to the Hikayat Raja Pasai, Merah Silu, a chief on the north coast of Sumatra, embraced Islam after dreaming of the Prophet ﷺ and meeting a preacher sent from Makkah, and took the name al-Malik al-Salih. He founded Samudera Pasai, which grew into a port of the Indian Ocean trade and a centre of Shafi'i learning.

His gravestone at Pasai, dated 696 AH (1297), is one of the oldest records of a Muslim ruler in Southeast Asia. Ibn Battuta, who visited in 1345, praised the piety of the Pasai court and its love of learned debate.

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