When history comes full circle

From the Tengku Ampuan of Pahang, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, it is stated that Sultan Abdul Ghaffar Muhyiddin Shah, Caliph of the Blessed State, was just, wise and accomplished. This description appears in the colophon of Manuscript E of the Hukum Kanun Pahang, which was composed under his authority in 1591. The words struck the author as being profoundly reverential, yet she never imagined the deep personal significance the words would hold later in her life.

She embarked on a Master's degree journey focused on the Hukum Kanun Pahang manuscript, which eventually led her to Sultan Abdul Ghaffar Muhyiddin Shah. She discovered that this man was not merely a patron or compiler of a legal text, but a ruler who understood the inseparability of justice, law, Islam and kingship. The manuscript revealed Sultan Abdul Ghaffar as a great constitutional ruler of the Malay world.

However, he had largely slipped from popular historical memory. The author's journey became one of recovering this legacy. Her research strengthened her belief in Divine Decree, particularly when she learned that her husband would confer her Master's degree upon her. Little did they know, Sultan Abdul Ghaffar Muhyiddin Shah was a descendant of Puteri Fatimatuz Zahra, a daughter of Sultan Saiful Rijal, and a great ruler of Brunei.

Their marriage united two important Malay-Muslim royal houses. From this union came Raja Abdullah, who married a Princess of Perak, and their daughter, Puteri Fatimah Puteh, who married Sultan Muzaffar Shah II, the tenth Sultan of Perak. Through this bloodline, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah of Perak became a descendant of Sultan Abdul Ghaffar Muhyiddin Shah.

This revelation filled the author with awe, realizing that the circle would soon close as her descendant would confer the degree earned through her research.