Memorial Batu Bersurat is located at Kuala Berang (around 3 km from Kuala Berang town).. The stone proved that Islam had reached Terengganu around year 13xx i.e about 700 years ago. It was found here at the Kuala Berang riverbank somewhere around 1899. However, we can only find the replica of the stone here. According to the locals, the real inscribed stone is now placed at the State Museum in Kuala Terengganu,.
HISTORY INSCRIBED STONE OF TERENGGANU
After the flood, the villagers found a huge stone at the mouth of Sungai Teresat. The villagers then shifted the stone to a mosque at Kampung Buluh in Kuala Berang. The Batu Bersurat, Terengganu or Inscribed Stone of Terengganu constitutes the earliest evidence of Jawi writing 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.
. The Islamic Inscription on the Inscribed Stone of Terengganu is a profound statement of Terengganu's Islamic Past. The Stone, which dates as far back as the early 14th Century, is known to be the earliest piece of inscription in Malay using the Jawi script which states Islam as the official religion of Terengganu, along with an Islamic law guide pertaining to misdeeds and sanctions.
The artifact proves that Islam reached Terengganu earlier than 1326 or 1386. It was accidentally discovered near Teresat River 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.
In 1902, a gold and tin miner named Syed Hussain bin Ghulam Al Bukhari from Riau - Lingga and Engku Pengiran Anum arrived at Kuala Berang. They saw the inscribed stone and brought it back to Kuala Terengganu where they presented it 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. Thus 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 inscriptions are in Arabic - Malay believed to be written on the 22nd February 1303. Among the inscriptions on the stone are the ten Islamic laws and their punishments. With the discovery of this stone, historians felt that Islam has reached Terengganu before the 14th century. 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.
Inscribed Stone
Description:
The Stone is 89cm in height, 53cm in width at the top, and weighs 214.8 kg. All of its four sides (sections) have inscriptions written from opposite directions.
The inscription is in Malay written in the Jawi script, and dated 702 Hijrah (1303). The promulgation of Islamic Laws established Islam as the state religion of Terengganu, and defined a new way of life for the people.
The Inscribed Stone has 3 facades and the following is a translation of the Arabic on each façade
(1)
1. Behold the Prophet of God and his apostles.
2. Praise the God Almighty for giving us Islam.
3. With Islam, truth revealed to all Thy creatures
4. On this land the religion of the Holy Prophet shall prevail.
5. The Holy Prophet, the upholder of truth in Thy kingdom.
6. Hear ye kings, these messages.
7. Messages from the Almighty, ye doubt not.
8. Goodwill, with thee fellow men, saith the Almighty.
9. Be it known, the land of Terengganu, the first to receive message of Islam.
10. On the noon on Friday in the month of Rejab whilst the sun was in the north by religious reckoning.
11. Seven hundred and two years after the demise of the Holy Prophet.
(2)
1. Brethren of lands distant.
2. Cometh hither to tell ye. The Forth Commandment for debtors.
3. Take ye not, lose ye not, gold in thy hands.
4. Fifth Commandment give thee alms and pay thy tithes.
5. Take thee not, gold of others.
6. If take thee the gold, return it.
7. Peril be to adulterers.
8. To repent, the following be done, command the Almighty.
9. A hundred whips, for free man, a wife hath.
10. A married woman, to be buried.
11. To the waist and stoned to death.
12. Ignore thee not. Be it the daughter of a prophet.
(3)
1. Singles, the fine, ten and a half ‘saga’
2. A gentry not married, the fine, seven ‘tahils’……
3. Two and a half ‘saga’, the fine for older singles……
4. Seven ‘tahils’ to the treasury if……
5. Free man. The Seventh Commandment; dowry for woman should…….
6. Deny her husband, if she commit adultery.