Encountered at his residence some time ago, Grandpa Sarong who looks still fit to fluently tell the history of Aceh in general and Bireuen in particular. Tgk Sarong had been a Medan Field battle commander in 1946, who was then given the title of Kowera (Medan Area War Commander).
The father of three children and a number of these grandchildren, once offered to become a teacher of Ngaji in Saudi Arabia, when he and his wife performed the pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the 60s. However, the offer was rejected because unfortunately the wife who must return to Aceh without a companion. "That's the romance of the past. But, here (Aceh-red) I also become a teacher of Ngaji he he he ..., "he said with a chuckle
According to historians who are fluent in Arabic and English, "Bireuen is derived from Arabic from the word Birrun, meaning virtue, and who gave the name also Arabs at the time the Dutch are still in Aceh. At that time, Arabs residing in Aceh held a feast at the current Meuligoe Regent. At that time, the Arabs moved from the village of Pante Gajah, Peusangan, then they held a feast. The thrill is a virtue when entertaining the Dutch troops. The Arabs call the feast Birrun. Since that time the name Bireuen became known, "said a brown-skinned man who claimed to have been an Arabic teacher at a school in Aceh tempoe doeloe.
Excitedly, Tgk Sarong Sulaiman recounted, before Bireuen became the name of the current Bireuen City, formerly called Cot Hagu. After that event, the name Cot Hagu became the name Bireuen. "So Bireuen is not what he says from bi reuweueng (give space / vacancy or slit), but, Birrun is the origin of the name Bireuen City now," said the man who claimed to have succeeded in repelling the Dutch Colonial troops when fighting against colonialism.