Ali Mughayat Syah (died 7 August 1530) was the first Sultan of Aceh Darussalam in Northern Sumatra, reigning from about 1514 until his death.

[1][2] Despite his accomplishments, Ali Mughayat's life is poorly documented and must be pieced together from various Acehnese, Malay and European accounts.

Samudra Pasai had been a Muslim sultanate since the late 13th century, controlling part of the inter-Asian trade that went through the Melaka Straits.

Another important state was Pidie (located on the present Pedie Regency) which was a prominent producer of pepper and befriended the Portuguese since 1509.

According to the Hikayat Aceh two bidadaris (heavenly nymphs) married two princely brothers from Lamuri and gave rise to the royal dynasty.

Aceh enjoyed a strategic location at the northern tip of Sumatra, which gave it access to trade in the Indian Ocean area and the Red Sea.

[10] However, Acehnese-Ottoman relations seem to belong to a later period, during the reign of Sultan Ali's son Alauddin al-Kahar.

In his geographical work Suma Oriental (c. 1512–1515) the Portuguese writer Tomé Pires writes that the king of Aceh also ruled over Lamuri and lorded over Biheue.

[11] Other kingdoms on the north coast at that time included Pidie, Lide (unknown location), Peudada, and Pasai.

[12] The first direct contact between Aceh and the Portuguese took place in 1519 when Gaspar da Costa arrived by ship but was captured by the inhabitants.

The next year, Sultan Ali and his brother Raja Ibrahim began a series of military campaigns to dominate the northern part of Sumatra, which would soon draw in the Portuguese in a deadly struggle.

His first campaign was to Daya, on the northwest coast, which, according to Tomé Pires, had not yet been Islamized (although this can only be partly true since members of the Acehnese sultan's family ruled the place).

In 1527, Captain Francisco de Mello sank an Acehnese vessel at the roadstead outside the capital and killed its crew.

In the next year, Simão de Sousa Galvão was forced to seek shelter in Aceh due to a storm.

Sultan Ali began to negotiate peace, with the outcome being that preparations for a joint expedition by Aru and the Portuguese were halted.

According to the testimony of his gravestone he died on 7 August 1530, exactly one month before his abdicated father Syamsu, and was buried in the palace compound of Kutaraja (Banda Aceh).