He arrived in Aceh in 1637 and enjoyed the patronage of
Iskandar Thani (reigned 1636–1641) in quality of jurist consult (Arabic:
mufti) and later of the highest-ranking religious office of
Shaykh al-Islām. He denounced his predecessors at the Acehnese court,
Hamzah Pansuri and Syamsuddin of Pasai, for what he saw as their heresy in violation of the Islamic belief that God was unchanged by his creation. He ordered their books to be burned, while he wrote numerous works setting what he insisted were orthodox religious standards. Besides undertaking mystical practices as a
Sufi, he was also a
faqih, learning and applying sharia regulations for use in practical day-to-day application. His most notable work was the
Bustan as-Salatin ("The Garden of Kings"), begun in 1638 and written in
Malay based on
Arabic sources. It is a seven-volume encyclopedic work, covering the history of the world from the creation through the period of prophets of Islam and the Muslim kings of the Middle East and the Malay area, as well as several sciences. Ar-Raniri's works were translated into other Indonesian languages, and had considerable influence in Malay literature. He lost favour with the court of Iskandar Thani's successor, his widow
Taj ul-Alam, and left Aceh in 1644, and died in India in 1658. ==See also==