Fatahillah, Fadhillah Khan, or Falatehan (Portuguese writing) was a commander of the

Sultanate of Demak The Demak Sultanate (کسلطانن دمق) was a Javanese Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present-day city of Demak. A port fief to the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom thought to have been found ...

who is known for leading the conquest of Sunda Kelapa in 1527 and changing it name to

Jayakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

. The conquest of Sunda Kelapa was one of his missions to spread

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...

. He is a national hero in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. Fatahillah Square in Jakarta and the

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, , Indonesian National Military-Naval Force, TNI-AL) is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol ...

ship KRI Fatahillah (361) were named after him.

Family background

There are several opinions about the origin of Fatahillah. According to H. J. de Graaf, Fatahillah came from the

Samudera Pasai Sultanate The Samudera Pasai Sultanate (), also known as Samudera or Pasai or Samudera Darussalam or Pacem, was a Muslim harbour kingdom on the north coast of Sumatra from the 13th to the 16th centuries CE. The kingdom was believed to have been founded ...

in what is now

North Aceh Regency North Aceh Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Utara) is a regency in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (Aceh Special District), in Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra. The regency covers an area of 3,236.86 square kilometres and had a population of ...

, who then left it after the Portuguese capture of Malacca in 1511. Fatahillah went to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...

, then to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Demak Sultanate The Demak Sultanate (کسلطانن دمق) was a Javanese Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present-day city of Demak. A port fief to the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom thought to have been founded i ...

, during the reign of Sultan Trenggana. There is another opinion that says Fatahillah was the son of the king of Mecca who married the royal princess of Pakuan Pajajaran, capital of the Sunda Kingdom. Another opinion says Fatahillah was born in 1448 to Sultan Syarif Abdullah Maulana Huda, an Egyptian ruler of

Banu Hashim ) , type = Qurayshi Arab clan , image = , alt = , caption = , nisba = al-Hashimi , location = Mecca, Hejaz Middle East, North Africa, Horn of Africa , descended = Hashim ibn Abd Manaf , parent_tribe = ...

descent from Palestine, with Nyai Rara Santang, daughter of the king of Pakuan Pajajaran, Raden Manah Rasa. But it is not clear from which tradition these three opinions originate. There are historical sources that say he was born in Central Asia, perhaps

Samarqand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

, studied in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, and devoted himself to the Ottoman Sultanate, before joining the Demak Sultanate. But this opinion is of unclear origin.

Children

* Kiai Bagus Abdurrahman, he handed down the title Kiagus - Nyayu Sultanate of Palembang Darussalam * Kiai Mas Abdul Aziz, he handed down the title of Kemas - Nyimas Palembang Darussalam Sultanate *Ratu Darah Putih, he sent down the kings of the Keratuan Darah Putih and the Keratuan Melinting

Lampung Lampung ( Lampung: ), officially the Province of Lampung ( id, Provinsi Lampung) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and ...

* Maulana Abdullah *Prince Sendang Garuda

Relationship between Sunan Gunung Jati and Fatahillah

Recent research shows

Sunan Gunung Jati Sunan Gunungjati (1448–1568) was one of the Wali Songo, or nine saints of Islam revered in Indonesia. He founded the Sultanate of Banten, as well as the Sultanate of Cirebon on the north coast of Java. Gunungjati was born Syarif Hidayatulla ...

is not the same as Fatahillah. Sunan Gunung Jati is a great cleric and preacher born from generation to generation of clerics of Muhammad's grandson, Imam Husayn. Sunan Gunung Jati's real name is Syarif Hidayatullah son of Syarif Abdullah son of Nurul Alam son of Jamaluddin Akbar. Jamaluddin Akbar is a great traveler from Gujarat, India who led his sons and grandchildren to preach to Southeast Asia, with Campa (the edge of the Mekong delta, now Kampuchea) as headquarters. One of the sons of Sheikh Jamaluddin Akbar (better known as Sheikh Maulana Akbar) is Sheikh Ibrahim Akbar (father of Sunan Ampel). Whereas Fatahillah was a Commander of Pasai, named Fadhlulah Khan, the Portuguese pronounced it as Falthehan. When Pasai and Malacca were captured by the Portuguese, he moved to Java to strengthen the fleet of Islamic sultanates in Java (Demak and Cirebon) after the death of Raden Abdul Qadir bin Yunus (Pati Unus, the son-in-law of Raden Patah the first Sultan of Demak).

References

16th-century Indonesian people People from Java 16th-century soldiers {{Portal, Jakarta, Indonesia