Zainal Abidin of Ternate

Zainal Abidin (Jawi: زين العابدين‎); born Tidore Wonge (تدوري وڠي‎) or Gapi Buta (ݢاڤي بوت‎)) was the 18th or 19th ruler of the Ternate Sultanate of Maluku, located in modern-day Indonesia.

Along with them arrived a Muslim Javanese woman of high birth who subsequently married the King of Ternate, Tidore Wonge.

A variant version provided by the same text says that Tidore Wonge, who had recently accepted Islam, travelled to Melaka and Java to learn about foreign lands and to be confirmed in his fate.

Raja Maluku was an expert on Malay football (sepak raga) and readily played with the young nobles of the kingdom.

[5] Under Marhum's rule, the first tenets of Islam were preached by a merchant-cum-cleric from Java named Dato Maulana Hussein who stunned the as-yet illiterate Ternatans with his reading skills.

[6] Some traditions, including the oldest chronicle Hikayat Tanah Hitu by Rijali (written before 1657 and later revised), nevertheless hold that Zainal Abidin himself first converted to the new religion.

[7] The Hikayat relates that a prince and missionary from Samudra Pasai in Sumatra, Mahadum by name, travelled to Maluku via Melaka and Java, successfully converting the rulers of Jailolo, Tidore and Ternate in turn.

As soon as he was appointed ruler, according to Valentijn, Zainal Abidin had to deal with aggression from the powerful Jailolo kingdom that was based in Halmahera and allied with Tidore.

Eventually the warring parts made peace in 1488, leaving the ruler free to bring Ternate on the track to ordered Islamic governance.

[19] Zainal Abidin's reign coincided with the rise of the noble houses of Tomaitu and Tomagola who were instrumental in spreading the political influence of Ternate.

[23] Zainal Abidin had two known consorts, a Javanese aristocrat and a lady from soa Marsaoli, and several children,[24] including: Kaicil Leliatu succeeded his father as the second Sultan, with the title Bayan Sirrullah.