Searching for Islamic Manuscripts in Western Sumatra
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RESEARCH No original writing tradition in Minang – the language of the Minangkabau ethnic group of Western Sumatra – existed before the coming of Islam. The Jawi, or Arabic Malay, Islamic writing tradition, which developed over the 17th and 18th centuries, became the main conduit of Sufi learning on Sumatra, producing manuscripts that have since become quite rare. At the beginning of the 21st century, Irina Katkova undertook a journey to find still existing examples of this almost vanished tradition. Searching for Islamic manuscripts in Western Sumatra Irina R. Katkova prominent sheikhs of Mecca and Medina gone before and exhibited itself in a highly 1757 indicates a variety of instructional dealing with Shattariyah Brotherhood doc- who were adherents of Shattariyah were al- syncretistic form. One of the main means matters available to Shattariyah pupils, trine, such as Mizan al-Qulub (‘The Meas- ccording to the Association of Malay Qushashi (d.1660) and al-Kurani (d.1691). of Islamic penetration to the Minang- such as notes on Arabic grammar, syntax ure of Hearts’), and a history of Muslim AManuscripts, about 15,000 Malay Their Indonesian disciples had a strong kabau highlands was the surau, which in and commentaries on the Koran, Malay penetration into Minangkabau, Kitab Men- manuscripts are not included in Indone- preference for this tariqah, so for several fact already existed before the coming notes on medicine and Islamic astrologi- erangkan Perkembangan Agama Islam di sia’s library and archive catalogues and generations Indonesian seekers of knowl- of Islam. During the pre-Islamic Hindu- cal treatises (hisab). These works belong Minangkabau semenjak dahulu Syeh Bur- are disseminated across the archipelago. edge in Arabia studied with al-Kurani’s Buddhist period, a surau was used for to the repertoire of Jawi manuscripts pre- hanuddin sampai ke zaman kita sekarang In May 2006, in Minangkabau, Western successors and sought initiation into the ascetic practices and praying, and as a served in many surau and private collec- (‘A book narrating the history and devel- Sumatra, I sought out Malay Islamic and Shattariyah. home for young single men. Thus, in tions, including examples of the Koran, opment of the Muslim faith in the land Sufi manuscripts written in Arabic and Malay, ‘surau’ can mean a house for pray- tafsir (tafsir Jalalain, tafsir al-Qurtubi) and of Minangkabau since the time of Syeh Jawi, most of which date back to the 18th Thus we find a number of unrelated ing; a dormitory where post-pubescent historical treatises. Burhanuddin to the present day’). Sheikh century, by visiting several Shattariyah branches of Shattariyah in Java and young unmarried men lived away from al-Khatib worked not only as a writer but surau, Islamic study centres led by Sufi Sumatra. Although the mystical teaching the ancestral house (the dwelling place of Most of these manuscripts were composed also as a copyist of famous sheikhs’ trea- sheikhs (or buya in Minang): surau Pase- of Shattariyah spread throughout a vast women and children) in the matriarchal or copied in the 18th and 19th centuries on tises, thus preserving the literary Sufi herit- ban, Surau Baru, Nurul Huda and Lubuk proportion of the Islamic world, it was a system of the Minangkabau people; a vil- European or locally made paper (dluwang). age. I met al-Khatib at Batang Kabung, but Ipuh in Ulakan. native Sumatran, Sheikh Abd ar-Ra’uf as- lage Koranic school; or an Islamic studies The most unique example, dealing with owing to illness he was unable to grant me centre guided by a teacher of a Sufi broth- the history of Minangkabau and written in an interview. He died on 12 October 2006 erhood. Therefore, surau was an important nash, one of the six classical Arabic styles and was buried on the territory of surau facet of life in any Minangkabau village. of handwriting, is a beautifully decorated, Nurul Huda. seven-meter-long scroll. Unfortunately, Islam constructed a whole edifice of learn- most of these manuscripts are in a very According to the latest data from local ing on the basis of the pre-Islamic surau. poor, almost unreadable state because of Minangkabau scholars, one year after the Large surau attracted hundreds of pupils the humid climate and insects. Attempts to death of Sheikh al-Khatib only several Jawi and consisted of many buildings, but most preserve them have included storing them language copyists, and no writers, con- were small, built on high piles and looked in the building of ritual practice (such as at tinue the tradition of handwriting in some like small inns. There can have been little surau Paseban), inside a wall or in the ceil- old surau near Padang (in the coastal city change from the two previous centuries. ing (Batang Kabung), or in a special sepa- of Pariaman). Thus Sheikh al-Khatib was Not much has not as changed in the two rate wooden or stone house (Lubuk Ipuh, in fact the last Minangkabau Jawi language centuries since. Usually a small surau con- Surau Baru). In some surau Shattariyah writer. Having composed 22 manuscripts, sists of two or three buildings used for pupils are taught not only to read religious he contributed much to Minangkabau Sufi rituals, lodging for pupils and sheikhs books but also to write in Jawi. Copying the Islamic literature. (tuanku in Malay; buya in Minang) and manuscripts is one of the most important preserving manuscripts. Some surau are parts of teaching at Sufi surau, as well as Dr Adriyetti Amir (Dean of Philological situated near the mausoleum of a local a religious duty (ibadah). The process of Faculty of Andalas University in Padang) wali, such as Surau Baru, located near the writing and copying manuscripts is con- cites only two more people who wrote grave of Sheikh Muhammad Nasir. sidered to be almost magical in Muslim and copied manuscripts in Jawi: H. K. tradition, as it takes a special mystical atti- Deram (d.1997) and Mukhtar Abdullah Pupils at Shattariyah surau were exposed tude to undertake, as if one is performing (d.2000). They were not sheikhs of Shatta- to the full gamut of Islamic learning, espe- an act pleasing to God. riyah but recipients – orang surau in Malay; cially in the field of fikh, Islamic law. Abd urang siak in Minang – of surau Islamic ar-Ra’uf’s treatises show considerable The last Jawi writer education. Sheikh Abd al-Munaf al-Khatib, (d.2006), was the last Minangkabau Jawi language writer respect for the syari’at, or Islamic law based in Western Sumatra on religious revelation rather than on cus- During my field work, there was still one It is difficult to cite the total number of tom. Thus there are many books on fikh in living representative of traditional writing manuscripts in Western Sumatra, as there From India to Indonesia: Singkeli (1620-1693), who most influenced surau collections, such as the most popu- in Jawi among Shattariyah sheikhs of West- are numerous surau and many private col- the Shattariyah Brotherhood its history. He spent 19 years in Arabia as a lar handbook of Minangkabau, Minhaj al- ern Sumatra: Imam Maulana Abdulmanaf lections; 16 manuscripts are in the collec- The dissemination of the Muslim writing disciple of al-Qushashi and al-Kurani and talibin or Kitab Fikh (al-Haitami). However, Amin al-Khatib from surau Nurul Huda tion of Adityawarman Museum in Padang tradition in Arabic and Jawi on Western in 1661 returned to Acheh as a Shattariyah in response to the increase in the number in Batang Kabung (Tabing). According to and another nine are exhibited in the Sumatra is intertwined with Sufi brother- khalifa, or deputy with the authority to initi- of pilgrims leaving Minangkabau for the his 2002 autobiography, he was born on Philological Faculty of Andalas University. hoods, mainly the Shattariyah, whose cen- ate new followers. To the present day Abd holy land in the latter part of the 18th cen- 8 August 1922 and was initiated into tar- According to my investigations based on tres continue to keep the Jawi writing tra- ar-Ra’uf (Tuanku di Kuala) is venerated as tury, different Shattariyah surau began to iqah Shattariyah via bai’at, the ritual initia- visiting several surau, approximately 50 dition alive. The Shattariyah silsila, or Sufi a wali, or Muslim ‘saint’, and Indonesian specialise in different branches of learn- tion oath of fidelity to the brotherhood, by manuscripts are preserved in Lubuk Ipuh chain of spiritual succession, was intro- national hero. ing. Surau Kamang specialised in ilmu alat Sheikh Paseban in 1936. He copied manu- at Ulakan, approximately 80 at Surau Baru duced to India in the 15th century from (Arabic language); surau Kota Gedang spe- scripts and wrote, and was undoubtedly a and the largest collection, more than 100, Transoxiana where it was called ‘Ishqiya. Shattariyah doctrine was introduced to the cialised in ilmu mantik maana (the logical real treasure of Islamic spiritual tradition. belongs to surau Paseban. Hence surau are Shah ‘Abdu’llah (d.1485), a descendant of western part of Sumatra, Minangkabau, by exposition of the meaning of the Koran); He maintained a vast network throughout Sumatra’s so-called scriptorium, or places Sheikh ‘Umar Suhrawardi, is credited with Abd ar-Ra’uf’s disciple Sheikh Burhanud- and surau Kota Tua housed a scholar from the surrounding surau and taught many of Islamic manuscript preservation, espe- having changed the brotherhood’s name din of Ulakan in the late 17th century. It Acheh who had come to teach ilmu tafsir pupils. Among his 20 books are a series cially given that some surau are no longer from ‘Ishqiya to Shattariyah, a derivation subsequently spread via trade routes to (commentaries on the al-Qur’an).