Zainal Abidin (born Tidore Wonge or Gapi Buta) was the eighteenth (or nineteenth) ruler of the Ternate kingdom in Maluku in modern-day Indonesia. His life is only described in sources dating from the 16th century or later. According to these sources he was the first ruler of Ternate to use the title Sultan rather than Kolano, or king, and enacted a number of changes in the government, based on Islamic Law, technically transforming Ternate into an Islamic kingdom.
Tidore Wonge and the Muslim Javanese princess
By far the oldest account is provided in a Portuguese text from c. 1544, A treatise on the Moluccas. It says that Islam came to Maluku about 80–90 years previously, brought by Malay, Javanese and other merchants. Along with them arrived a Muslim Javanese woman of high birth who subsequently married the King of Ternate, Tidore Wonge. The king was then converted for her sake. A variant version provided by the same text says that Tidore Wonge, who had recently accepted Islam, travelled to Melaka and Java to learn about foreign lands and to be confirmed in his fate. On his return journey he married the Javanese princess whose influence paved the way for the new religion. After his death, Tidore Wongi was succeeded by his son Abu Lais (Bayan Sirrullah).
The Malay Annals, which narrate the history of the Melaka Sultanate, also tell of a Raja of Maluku who made a westward journey. He arrived to Melaka in the reign of Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah (r. 1477-1488) and did homage to him. In return he was given robes of honour and other fitting gifts. Raja Maluku was an expert on Malay football (sepak raga) and readily played with the young nobles of the kingdom. He was also a man of great strength, as he could cut through a mature coconut palm with a single stroke of his sword. He was among the favourites of Sultan Alauddin and returned to his country after a successful visit. It seems likely that Raja Maluku means the ruler of Ternate.
The versions of Valentijn and Hikayat Tanah Hitu
According to the more elaborated version by François Valentijn (1724) the future Sultan was the son of Kolano Marhum, the eighteenth king of Ternate. Other chronicles say that his father was the seventeenth ruler Gapi Baguna II (Ngolo-ma-Caya) while his mother was a lady from the Sula Islands. Valentijn indicates that Marhum was the first recorded convert to Islam, and as such provided the young prince with an Islamic education. Under Marhum's rule, the first tenets of Islam were preached by a merchant-cum-cleric from Java named Dato Maulana Hussein who stunned the as-yet illiterate Ternatans with his reading skills. Some traditions, including the oldest chronicle Hikayat Tanah Hitu by Rijali (written before 1657 and later revised), nevertheless hold that Zainal Abidin himself first converted to the new religion. The Hikayat relates that a prince and missionary from Samudra Pasai in Sumatra, Mahadum by name, travelled to Maluku via Melaka and Java, successfully converting the rulers of Jailolo, Tidore and Ternate in turn. Mahadum stayed in Ternate and died there, his son marrying Zainal Abidin's daughter. Valentijn gives Zainal Abidin's regnal years as 1486-1500, though it is unclear what this is based on. Another European author, Georg Rumphius (1678) says that the sultan passed away around 1510.
Islamization of Ternate
Ternate was one of the four traditional kingdoms in North Maluku, the others being Tidore, Bacan and Jailolo. Of these, Ternate emerged as the stronger component at an early date, though it was severely contested by the others. As soon as he was appointed ruler, according to Valentijn, Zainal Abidin had to deal with aggression from the powerful Jailolo kingdom that was based in Halmahera and allied with Tidore. Eventually the warring parts made peace in 1488, leaving the ruler free to bring Ternate on the track to ordered Islamic governance. Many Muslim Javanese traders frequented Ternate at the time and incited the king to learn more about the new creed. In c. 1495, he traveled with his companion Hussein to study Islam in Giri (Gresik) on Java's north coast, where Sunan Giri kept a well-known madrasa. While there, he won renown as Sultan Bualawa, or Sultan of Cloves. He was well respected, known as a valiant warrior and pious scholar, and developed friendships which developed into strong alliances. One story told of his time there is that he stood up to a crazed killer on the rampage while others fled, beheading him with a single stroke.