Batu Bersurat - Terengganu Inscription stone!

here's a 360 view of monument replica of the famous Batu Bersurat in the heart of Kuala Tengganu



The Batu Bersurat, Terengganu or Inscribed Stone of Terengganu constitutes the earliest evidence of Jawi writing (writing based on Arabic alphabets) 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. It is an icon not only in Terengganu, but in southeast Asia aswell.

Historians believed it to be written on the 22nd February 1303. Proving that Islam reached Terengganu earlier than 1326 or 1386.

In Unesco International Advisory Committee meeting in Barbados on July 13, the 700-year-old inscribed stone have been listed as an item eligible for such recognition. ( according to Wikipedia )

It was actually accidentally discovered near Sungai Tersat 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. The inscription on the stone proclaims Islam as the state religion of Terengganu

Kuala Berang is situated about 33 kilometers from Kuala terengganu and it is an historical place. Kuala Berang became famous when an inscribed stone was discovered here. The inscribed stone found was the earliest record of Islam in Peninsular Malaysia.

the inscribed stone was brought back to Kuala Terengganu where it was presented 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. 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 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.

additional info source : www.tourismterengganu.gov.my ( thanks! )