Quand un sultan d’Aceh devient turc à la suite du tsunami [Épigraphie islamique d’Aceh. 1

Abstract

The first note shows how tradition can supersede history. In Banda Aceh, an ancient sacred tombstone locally thought to be that of a Syrian or Turkish gunner was, after the tsunami, transformed by the Turkish Red Crescent into a large cemetery of “ Ottoman commanders and soldiers” supposed to have come to Sumatra to fight the Portuguese on the side of Aceh. Yet, the Arabic inscription still reads that the grave belongs to an Acehnese Sultan of the 16th century. The second one draws attention on two other sacred tombstones of the 16th century in Aceh which present the typical “ Chinese” style of the Islamic funeral art of Brunei.