| Abstract: |
This contribution concerning the Islamic inscriptions of Brunei the first part of which has been published in the BEFEO n° 90-91 forms part of a larger research project in progress on Islamic epigraphy in the Malay world. In this article are recorded, described and translated all the epigraphs dated prior to the year thousand (Hegira) all of them epitaths that have been found in the sultanate of Brunei, most of them never before published. They constitute a unique set of primary sources for the early history of Brunei, especially for the history of the islamicization of this sultanate. Compared with those of other regions of the Malay Archipelago, theses tombstones display considerable variation, not only in the composition of the texts, but also in the use of the Malay language beside Arabic, in the use of square kufic characters and in their various decorations: floral motifs, Chinese ornamentation, etc. These unique features reflect the peculiar position that Brunei has held in the past among the Malay sultanates.
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