Sulṭāna Taj ul-Alam Safiatuddin Syah (1612 – 23 October 1675; born Putri Sri Alam) was the fourteenth ruler of Aceh. She was the daughter of the sultan Iskandar Muda and the wife of his successor, Iskandar Thani. She became sulṭāna upon the death of her husband and ruled from 1641 to 1675, being the first of four women to hold the position in succession. Marriage and accession The future sultana was originally named Putri Sri Alam Permisuri. In 1617, her father Iskandar Muda conquered Pahang on the Malay Peninsula. A son of the defeated sultan, the future Iskandar Thani was brought as a prisoner to Aceh where he was raised as the foster son of Iskandar Muda. In 1619, when he was 9 years old, he was married to Putri Sri Alam Permisuri. The couple was provided with a palace next to that of the sultan, called Sri Warna. After the death of Iskandar Muda, Iskandar Thani succeeded to the throne but died after a short reign on 15 February 1641. The news of his demise created grave disturbances among the grandees of the kingdom and some people lost their lives. However, after three days it was agreed that the sultan's widow would be enthroned. Female rule in Aceh Putri Sri Alam ascended the throne and took the title Sultana Taj ul-Alam Safiatuddin Syah. Taj ul-Alam Safiatuddin literally meaning "world crown, purity of the faith". She became first of four queens regnant or sultanas who sat on the throne in the period 1641-1699. Given the strongly Muslim profile of Aceh, this has evoked considerable debate among historians. The enthronement of Taj ul-Alam has been seen as an effort of the Acehnese nobility to weaken royal power following Iskandar Muda's administrative reforms aimed to undermine them. According to this view, these efforts were largely successful. From her reign on the sultanate became a weak symbolic institution, whose authority was limited to capital city itself. Meanwhile, real power was held by the hereditary rulers of outlying districts (the uleëbalang set up by Iskandar Muda) and the religious leaders (imam or ulama). However, it has also been suggested that old Southeast Asian tradition, which acknowledged inheritance on the female line, was more important here than orthodox Muslim principles. This would have been the reason for the enthronement of Taj ul-Alam, rather than a conscious strategy by the grandees to weaken the power of