REKONSTRUKSI FANSUR DAN LATAR INTELEKTUAL HAMZAH FANSURI DALAM EKONOMI POLITIK KESULTANAN-KESULTANAN ACEH

Abstract

For over a century, the historiography of Hamzah Fansuri has rested on the assumption that Fansur is identical to Barus on the west coast of Sumatra, a premise widely accepted yet never tested through a multidisciplinary approach, leaving uncertainty about the geographical and intellectual background of his thought. This article aims to reconstruct the geographical identity of Fansur and to explain Hamzah Fansuri's intellectual background within the genealogical political economy of the Acehnese sultanates, from Peureulak and Samudra Pasai to Aceh Darussalam. The study employs the historical method with a critical historiographical approach, drawing on comparative analysis of primary and secondary sources, including manuscripts, inscriptions, archaeological reports, and historiographical literature on Aceh and Malay maritime trade networks. The findings indicate that the identification of Fansur with Barus remains historically problematic, whereas Ujong Pancu on the coast of Aceh Besar is more consistent with the commercial and political center dominated by merchant oligarchy. The study further reveals that the advancement of Peureulak, Samudra Pasai, and Aceh Darussalam cannot be understood solely through the lens of Islamization, but must be situated within a sustained maritime political-economic framework. It is thus concluded that Hamzah Fansuri's thought developed within a cosmopolitan port environment that brought together trade networks, political authority, and the Islamic intellectual tradition of the Malay world.