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M. Laffan Raden Aboe Bakar; An introductory note concerning Snouck Hurgronje's informant in Jeddah (1884-1912)

In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 155 (1999), no: 4, Leiden, 517-542

This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access MICHAEL LAFFAN Raden Aboe Bakar An Introductory Note Concerning Snouck Hurgronje's Informant in Jeddah (1884-1912)1

Introduction

The nineteenth century brought the Arabian peninsula more fully into the global economy, first with the introduction of steam shipping and then, in 1869, with the opening of the Suez Canal. Coupled with this, the increasing economie prosperity of elites in the Dutch East Indies, particularly in Java and Sumatra, made the pilgrimage to Mecca a more commonly performed religious duty among Southeast Asians (Vredenbregt 1962). In Mecca the pilgrims came into contact with Muslims from every part of the world and also interacted with a sizeable community of their own people in residence there. There would have been a sharp difference between long- and short-timers, between pilgrims and resident scholars {'ulama'), who had a greater opportunity to integrate with the wider Muslim community. In legal matters, these 'ulama'' were the final arbiters for their countrymen by virtue of their physical location and their ability to consult with other 'ulama' of the Muslim world. Letters came to them from every part of the archipelago, where local 'ulama' would have already tried to resolve the important matters touched on in them and finally pronounced themselves

1 This research note is a preliminary introduction to Raden Aboe Bakar Djajadiningrat, whose relationship with C. Snouck Hurgronje, whilst he was employed by the Dutch consulate in the Hijaz from 1884 to 1912, intersects with aspects of my dissertation, The umma below the winds, currently in progress at the University of Sydney. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the conference 'Emerging trends in Islamic thought' at the University of Melbourne, 11- 12 July 1998. I would especially like to thank Dr Jan Just Witkam and Drs Hans van der Velde for their unstinting advice and help in the course of my research at the Leiden University Library, as well as Dr Nico Kaptein of the International Institute for Asian Studies, which I would like to thank also for making a room available for me - at the generous suggestion of Jos van Lent - during my stay in The Netherlands.

MICHAEL LAFFAN, a graduate from the Faculty of Asian Studies at the ANU, is currently a doc- toral candidate at the University of Sydney. Having a special interest in Islam and nationalism in colonial Indonesia, he has previously published 'Watan and negen; Mustafa Kamil's "Rising Sun" in the Malay world', Indonesia Circle 69 (1996):156-75. Mr Laffan may be contacted at 5/51 Freda Bennett Cct., Nicholls, ACT 2913, Australia.

BK] 155-4 (1999) Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 518 Michael Laffan unqualified to give a juridical opinion (fatwa, p\.fatawa).2 Whereas we might imagine that these letters carried the seeds of rebellion and contained calls to Holy War, most of them centred on far more domestic, though equally important and contentious, issues. One result of this constant correspondence is a published bilingual compendium of fatawa relating to bilad al-Jawa (Southeast Asia), entitled al- Muhimmat al-nafa'is. This compendium was first published in 1892 and remained in print until the 1920s or 1930s (Kaptein 1997:17). That it remained available for so long is a testament to the continuing relevance of the issues resolved by 'ulama' in the 1870s and 80s, when the Dutch were starting to 'round off' their island empire. The majority of these fatawa were the out- come of disputes in the wider Indies involving legal points on which clari- fication of the law was required. Whilst many of the questions concerned are set against a colonial back- drop, resistance to (established) Dutch rule is not a marked characteristic of the Muhimmat al-nafa'is. Nonetheless, the Dutch figure prominently as the cause of some disputes and clearly remain the infidel (kafir) other. This other- ness is emphasized in Ahmad Dahlan's fatwa that Muslims should avoid wearing any article of dress that was connected specifically with infidels (kuffar) (Kaptein 1997:71-2, 199). Even so, the validity of no decision by a Muslim in authority where that authority derived from appointment by (Dutch) infidels, or directly from them, was contested, as long as it did not contravene the shari'a (Kaptein 1997:193,198). Meanwhile, for European colonial society Mecca, as the one place closed to Europeans, became the focus of fears 0aquet 1980:289). No doubt these fears were deepened by the recent memory of the events of 1857-58 in British India, together with the massacres of Christians in Jeddah in 1858 (Ochsenwald 1977) and Damascus in 1860 (Hourani 1983:63). Officials like the Dutch Consul in Jeddah, J.A. Kruyt (1878-85), saw a connection between such disparate phenomena as the Sanusiya tariqa of North Africa and the Wahhabi movement in the Arabian peninsula and worried about the influence of the former in the East (Kruyt to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 15 August 1883, ARA A.74, box 148) - particularly in Aceh, where a Dutch force remained effectively prisoner behind its lines on the coast. In the Indies, the Dutch press was relatively free to spread increasingly wild and shocking tales of rising fundamentalism. In 1885, two leading Indies papers, the Java-Bode and De Locomotief, reported that the 'ulama'of Cianjur and Sukabumi had formed a secret society in order to plan a revolt

2 The report of the Dutch Consul in Jeddah of 18 December 1882 mentions several deliveries of such letters with the arrival there of 'Saëed and Joesoef Katan with letters for the oelama of Mecca from the panghoeloe of Batavia; Mohamed Said Mehebat and Shaykh Abdul Wahab with letters as per above from Semarang; [... ]' (ARA A.74, box 148).

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access Raden Aboe Bakar 519 along the lines of the Sepoy Mutiny (Steenbrink 1993:80). At the same time the press in general was under close restriction when it came to any reports that might be critical of colonial policy, public officials, or the traditional aris- tocracies in partnership with those officials. This is not to say that Dutch anxieties were entirely without foundation. Ibrahim (1996:158) has observed that many of the Jawa living in Mecca studied at the Sawlatiya madrasa. This institution was founded in 1874 by Muhammad Khalil Rahmat Allah Kayrnawi (1818-90), an activist from the Sepoy Revolt of 1857-58 who later enjoyed the favour of the Turkish Sultan for a work (Izhar al-haqq) attacking the inconsistencies of Christian theology (Snouck Hurgronje 1906 11:345 note 1; Ochsenwald 1984:89). In addition, Muhammad Nafis al-Banjari - a Jawi3 then living in Mecca - had urged jihad against all colonial powers (Ibrahim 1996), and at that time there could be no safer place to make such a declaration. The monitoring of Islam was now seen by the Dutch as the key to their continued control of the Netherlands East Indies. What the Dutch government needed to know in the 1880s was the precise nature of the influence of the pilgrimage on its Asian subjects, little serious study having been done on the pilgrimage up till then. Hence Kruyt, who met the young Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) while on leave in The Netherlands in 1884, requested that he be appointed to do research on the pilgrimage in relation to pan-Islamism and the mystical orders in the Indies. What Snouck Hur- gronje was to produce was not simply a statistical survey of the raw numbers of pilgrims, but a description of the function of these pilgrims as a community and the currents to which they gave rise back in their homelands. Snouck Hurgronje arrived at the small Dutch consulate in Jeddah to com- mence his research in August 1884. From this base he set about interviewing groups of pilgrims as they passed through the consulate with their passports. Here he would have interviewed the pilgrims and local informants whilst continuing his studies of Malay, which was considered crucial for the suc- cessful completion of his mission (Van Koningsveld 1988:60).

A profitable encounter: Aboe Bakar Djajadiningrat becomes established in Jeddah

Shortly after his arrival in Jeddah, Snouck Hurgronje made the acquaintance of Aboe Bakar Djajadiningrat, who had been living in Mecca for about five years, whom he engaged to teach him Malay. For both men this meeting was

3 In conformity with Arabic practice I have used the name Jawa (a) for the island of Java and (b) for people from Java or Southeast Asia in general, and Jawi as (a) an adjective and (b) the sin- gular noun for a person from this area.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 520 Michael Laffan to prove crucial to their future. It brought Aboe Bakar life-long employment and security in the Hijaz and ensured Snouck Hurgronje's enduring reputa- tion. Two years previously, in September 1882, foliowing a visit to the newly established quarantine station at the mouth of the Red Sea, Consul Kruyt had suggested that East Indies pilgrims be required to register with the Nether- lands consulate and had made a request to his superiors for the appointment of a dragoman to help cope with the increasing workload that this would entail. Outlining the skills and chara.cteristics such a functionary would need to possess, he specifically suggested that he be 'a civilized native of the first rank', proficient in Javanese, Malay and Arabic (Kruyt to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 27 September 1882, ARA A.74, box 148). This employee would also be useful in matters of surveillance, as previous intelligence gathered by paid informants had often proved far-fetched and even false (Schmidt 1992:76). An official like this could bridge the gap between the colonial authorities, the Jawi community of Mecca and the annual - rising - flood of pilgrims to the Hijaz by his ability to faithfully represent the standpoints of the various sides. For this position Aboe Bakar was an ideal candidate. As a brother of the regent of Pandeglang, in West Java, and the son of the previous regent, Raden Adipati Natadiningrat4, he was in a sense already part of the colonial order, with his family in Banten committed to continued collaboration with the Dutch. According to the fragmentary information provided in his nephew's memoirs (Djajadiningrat 1996), Aboe Bakar was bom some time after 1854. As a minor son at the court of Pandeglang, he set out on a career devoted to the study of Islam, perhaps, like the young Achmad Djajadiningrat, who was named by him, with the ultimate intention of becoming a great teacher. As a member of the Bantenese priyayi elite, his colonial credentials would have remained intact, despite his inclination to study in Mecca. Yet, his standing within his own class would have been much undermined by the declining financial strength of his own extended family (Djajadiningrat 1996). Aboe Bakar thus needed work, and. the colonial bureaucracy seemed the one path open to him apart from teaching. Little did he realize that his aspirations to return to a career in the Indies would never come to fruition. Aboe Bakar's five years of study in Mecca also marked him as a member

4 Natadiningrat rose from the lowest priyayi (elite) rank as magang (clerk) in Sajira, in the regency of Serang, to that of vice-regent, and finally regent of Pandeglang, in central Banten. He was regent from c. 1850 till his retirement in 1870, when he was succeeded by his eldest son, Raden Adipati Murawan Sutadiningrat. Aboe Bakar Djajadiningrat (also known as Djajadinata) was the fourth son of Natadiningrat's fourth wife, Raden Ayu Wargakusuma. This information was kindly provided by Madeion Djajadiningrat-Nieuwenhuys, personal communication, July 1998.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access Raden Aboe Bakar 521 of its Jawi community, and he clearly feit more comfortable with the world of Islamic scholarship than with 'Frankish' letters, which he admitted were difficult for him (Aboe Bakar to Snouck Hurgronje5, 27 April 1885, Cod. Or. 8952). This proclivity was also reflected in the clothes he wore - photos taken at the Dutch consulate typically show him in Arab-style dress - and in his use of Arabic almost always in his correspondence with Snouck Hurgronje.

Aboe Bakar, c. 1884. Judging from the caption, this photograph (Cod. Or. 12.288: K2/AR 4774) was apparently intended for inclusion in Snouck Hurgronje's Bilderatlas (1889), but in the event was not published.

It seems that Aboe Bakar made a very favourable impression on Snouck Hurgronje, who, after meeting him at the consulate, recorded in his diary that Raden Aboe Bakar, [...] who has acquainted himself with the sacred sciences in Mecca for the past five years, is the most amenable individual with whom I have come ihto contact. With prospects of moral backing to attain an official position (his father was and his brother is Regent of Pandeglang), he is bent on collecting

5 Hereafter abbreviated as AB and SH in references to correspondence between the two, now kept at the Leiden University Library under Cod. Or. 8952, with the exception of one letter in Cod. Or. 18097, File 32.

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all the publications, procuring all the information and providing any help one can imagine. He has already looked after me from Mecca by providing an important number of books dealing with Naqshbandijja activities, and furthermore has told me all he knew about the organization of education in the Masjid al-Haram. Without apparent extraordinary intelligence or special cunning, he appears to have profited tolerably well from a very good upbringing.and by his own effort, with unusual singleness of purpose and industry, has gathered practical 'useful knowledge'. I have no doubt that he will prove to be of the greatest use when he returns here for a few days after the completion of the Haj. (Cod. Or. 7112:10-1.)6

Initially Aboe Bakar was unsure of himself and his status at the consulate. At first Kruyt paid him little heed, and later there was some suspicion that Aboe Bakar was not being entirely open with him. As a result, Aboe Bakar asked Snouck Hurgronje to write to the Consul to assure him of his complete loyalty to 'our Sultan William III' and convince him that any apparent unwill- ingness to be entirely open with him was intended to avoid 'inappropriate language -being a lot of empty words (banyak bicara kosong)' (AB to SH, 25 April 1885, Cod. Or. 18097, file 32). In the end, the matter seems to have been resolved. Aboe Bakar met with Kruyt between the end of April and early May 1885, and they found each other agreeable, although Aboe Bakar still feit isolated. He described his first meeting with Kruyt in a letter to Snouck Hurgronje in Mecca as follows:

[...] your servant [Aboe Bakar] has entered upon and tried himself at his duties; yet [...] I have become greatly confused [murtabak7] for lack of a close friend [//ƒ]. Perhaps after a few days at it, little by little, God willing, I shall become familiar with my work and understand it, for it pleases Mr van der Chijs8 to work as fast as if he were a train! So I ask you to pray for a remedy for my situation so that, God willing, I shall be able to do this work. I had an interview with the Consul and found him to be a fine and decent person. He greeted me affably, inviting me to sit beside him [...]. The Consul desires [...] to learn to speak Malay, which I teach him during my leisure hours. By God's will he already understands the basics, as he has learned previously from books and at that time was able to communicate with a Malay who understood a little Dutch. I suspect that he likes me because of our acquaintance. What good luck that his servants knew us! (AB to SH, 18 Rajab 1302 (4 May 1885), Cod. Or. 8952.)

6 The English translations of the quotations from the Malay /Dutch /Arabic correspondence between Snouck Hurgronje and Aboe Bakar or others are mine. 7 Aboe Bakar clearly writes miirtabash here, which I have read as murtabak on the advice of Associate Professor Ahmad Shboul, who has encountered a similar tendency among Hadramis to replace the Arabic letter kaf with a shin. This may indicate that Aboe Bakar's early tuition in Arabic took place in the Indies under a Hadrami teacher. 8 P.N. van der Chijs was Aboe Bakar's immediate superior at the consulate and occasionally acted as consul in Kruyt's absence. He also operated the Red Sea shipping company that employed Aboe Bakar's friend Raden Saleh.

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Aboe Bakar then enquired about Snouck Hurgronje's ongoing studies in Mecca. Indeed, Snouck Hurgronje was collecting a great deal of material through his contacts with Aboe Bakar, among others. What remained for him to do was to flesh out the observations contained in this material with fine detail and facts. Thereafter Aboe Bakar settled in to the consulate and his career there, which not only saw him translating for various consuls but regularly travelling to Mecca to keep an eye on the pilgrims and the Jawi community. As Aboe Bakar was to observe later, all the activities he undertook, either at the consulate or in the field, were within the bounds of 'politics' (AB to SH, 3 March 1892, Cod. Or. 8952), 'in order to monitor the activities of our noble government's people - be they correct, difficult, or good' (AB to SH, 9 August 1893, Cod. Or. 8952). It appears that Aboe Bakar had little trouble accepting Dutch rule over his Muslim fellow-countrymen and often spied on those who had worked against it. What was important to him was that the Muslims of his home country were free to perform their religious duties under the benevolent supervision of the Dutch Crown. For the minor son of an aristocrat whose household used some Dutch - as is testified by a later letter (AB to SH, 14 September 1895, Cod. Or. 8952) - the Dutch had long been part of the natural order of things. Aboe Bakar was to do his political work regularly in a way described by Consul Spakier in 1891 as follows:

At this point I should report, with the highest praise, that I might only fulfil my duties with difficulty [were it not for] the dragoman of this consulate, Raden Aboe Bacr. [...] His visit to Haji Sapioedin9 has given a new insight into his loyalty to the Netherlands government. As an official attached to the consulate, he makes his way to Mecca and performs his tasks with exceptional discretion and tact, so that the Turkish authorities are but belatedly aware of his repeated visits to the holy city. In Iight of this, he also takes care not to lose the trust of his fellow-countrymen. [...] I need not remark on the imperative for his work to remain secret. [...] In order to encourage Raden Aboe Bacr to continue in his efforts, it might be appro- priate for Your Excellency to show him in some way how his efforts are appreciated also by the Government in [Netherlands] India. (Spakier to Governor- General, 25 November 1891, no. 700, ARA A.74, box 148.)

Aboe Bakar remained a most loyal and valued employee of the Dutch government, and Spakler's encomium earned him due recognition from the authorities. In 1892 the Governor-General sent a note of congratulation to the consulate, to be read aloud. Ever humble, Aboe Bakar gave the credit to Snouck Hurgronje, his distant patron, asserting that '[...] all praise given to me is due to your unique self' (AB to SH, 3 March 1892, Cod. Or. 8952). The importance of Aboe Bakar's role at the consulate is indicated also by

9 Haji Sapioedin (Safi al-Din) had been active in the Lampung rebellion.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 524 Michael Laffan its inefficiency in his absence. In 1894 he went on leave to Java for nine months, having made his superiors aware of the urgent need for an assistant. No assistance was forthcoming, however. Aboe Bakar described the situation thus: You will no doubt be aware of the need for a staff increase in the Jeddah consulate to take care of the affairs of this world, which grow daily more demanding. In this connection, Monsieur Spakier has approved the appointment of a doctor Jawa to assist us, in the same way as Doctor 'Abd al-Razzaq at the English consulate. This is because there is some work that requires regular travel to Mecca, where I usually stay for a few days to attend to it. Meanwhile, in Jeddah the work outside the consulate piles up, whilst that connected with the local government requires my attendance at sessions of [courts of] disputation. [Likewise,] during my absence there are delays in the work at the consulate itself. [...] Thus, when Monsieur De Sturler arrived in Jeddah [in 1894], he found the work of the consulate, inside and out, to be seriously obstructed, such that the report giving the list of pilgrims for 1894 was not sent to our government until I arrived in Jeddah, and then [only as] an attachment to the report of [18]95. In addition, there was a reprimand from the Tuan Besar [that is, the Governor-General] in Bogor, whereupon Monsieur [De Sturler] apologized to him in his reply, claiming that [the delay] was caused by my absence on leave in Java. (AB to SH, 31 March 1896, Cod. Or. 8952.)

Aboe Bakar's rise and growing authority at the consulate can also be traced in his handwriting and use of language. The early letters of the 1880s are difficult to read - his writing is obscure and his use of Arabic unnatural. However, by the early 1910s, his letters are remarkable for their clarity and their precise, albeit formulaic, language. Such is only to be expected from a dragoman, who would have been effectively responsible for all official liais- ing between the European consular staff and the authorities in the Hijaz. It can thus be seen that Aboe Bakar, by his work in Jeddah and his regular trips to Mecca, remained vitally important in offering an official insight into the pilgrimage and the Jawi community through his reports to his superiors and his letters to his friend Snouck Hurgronje. Yet he was more than just a friend to Snouck Hurgronje, he was his valued informant. Without his help, friendship, and connections, Snouck Hurgronje might not have had the experiences in Mecca that he did.

Snouck Hurgronje's meeting with 'Abd Allah al-Zawawi and Ahmad Dahlan

On 1 January 1885, Snouck Hurgronje moved to Aboe Bakar's house in Jeddah, whereafter, according to Van Koningsveld (1988), he was instructed in Islam. At this time, too, he broke off open relations with the Dutch consulate, which were jeopardizing his political aims. He departed for Mecca on

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access Raden Aboe Bakar 525 the evening of 21 March 1885. Seven weeks earlier, Aboe Bakar had written his first letter to him asking for news of his '(Muslim) brother' (AB to SH, 5 February 1885, Cod. Or. 8952). This letter also gives an indication of the preparations being made for the arrival of Aboe Bakar's esteemed patron in Mecca, including the rental of a house and the search for a place in a local school. Snouck Hurgronje's journey to Mecca was thus smoothed by Aboe Bakar, and he set out in the knowledge that accommodation there had already been arranged for him and that mutual friends would meet him and introducé him to Meccans of note. In lectures given in the United States in 1913, the scripts of which were republished after his death, Snouck Hurgronje described his first morning in the sacred city and his meeting with the then Mufti of the Shafi'ites, Ahmad Dahlan. It is interesting to note the many Javanese hands that guided him while in Mecca's holiest mosque, the Haram. The first time I saw the Mufti was one of the last days of March 1885, after attending the public morning service accompanied by some Javanese friends. [...] I wanted my friends to explain to me the particulars of the Haram, as the Temple of Mecca is styled, where I had performed my 'tawaf of arrival' the preceding night without being able to make observations at my ease. [...] I had not yet taken my bearings to my satisfaction, as my companions [...] pressed on me to go home with them for breakfast. I complied with their prosaic desire on the condition that, before leaving the mosk [sic], we were to go through the colonnades surrounding the central open space of the Haram from one end to the other. On this walk we came upon old Sayyid Dahlan, a mummy-like figure, a skeleton covered with a skin of brownish yellow parchment, the head bent forward as if it would touch the ground if he were not supported on one side by a staff and on the other by the shoulder of one of the two Javanese servants without whose assistance the Mufti was not able to move in his own room. My friends told me, as they saw the great man advancing, that I had to follow the custom of kiss- ing the right hand of the venerated one while passing by. With the abrupt voice of an asthmatic the Rector addressed questions to the newly arrived student of sacred science, and with evident benevolence was contented with the scanty information that he came from 'the Western parts', that he had studied a good deal, but that he wished to increase his learning by attending the lectures of the famous professors of the Haram [...]. (Snouck Hurgronje 1941:4-5.)

Ahmad Dahlan was probably the most important figure for Southeast Asians at the time as the acknowledged head of the legal school to which most of them belonged. Indeed, as the Mufti of the Shafi'ites he was probably the most powerful 'alim in Mecca, given that the Shafi'ite school was the largest of the four orthodox legal schools. This is not to deny the indubitable authority of the Jawi cw/(?mfl'among their own people, but it simply gives recognition to Dahlan's position in Mecca. Dahlan's association with the Jawa evidently went deeper than his employment of two Javanese assistants. Kaptein

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(1997:4-5) reports, for instance, that his biography, written by his pupil, Abu Bakr Shatta, was published at the expense of a Javanese from Semarang ('Aqib ibn Muhammad Salih) and that it contained an elegiac poem written by a Sumatran graduate of al-Azhar from Palembang ('Abd Allah ibn Muhammad). Dahlan was a very approachable figure, whose classes, though apparently uninspiring, were a major source of baraka (blessing). Snouck Hurgronje was later invited to attend the ancient shaykh's classes at his home, thus to obtain an invaluable view of the functioning of the man at whose 'leathery' hands so.many Jawa were to receive new names on being introduced to a new life in international Islam (Snouck Hurgronje 1931:237- 8). If Snouck Hurgronje had access to Dahlan, then he must have had access to the majority of the latter's (Jawi) students. We may therefore wonder whether Snouck Hurgronje, if thus surrounded by Javanese friends, may not occasionally have observed Mecca through very Javanese spectacles. Even though he was not with Aboe Bakar, Snouck Hurgronje's impres- sions on his personal encounter with Mecca and its inhabitants were thus strongly coloured by his connection with the Javanese of the Hijaz. And this was not without cost to himself. Immediately after his encounter with the aged Mufti, Snouck Hurgronje was warned by his Javanese companions that this now precluded any contact with any of this Mufti's rivals, such as Muhammad Hasab Allah, another distinguished contributor to the above- mentioned Muhimmat al-nafa'is. Nevertheless, these divisions, whilst significant, did not preclude all such contacts. One of Ahmad Dahlan's rivals in the Haram - and an ally of the Ottoman governor - was the teacher Sayyid 'Abd Allah al-Zawawi, with whom Snouck Hurgronje formed a long-lasting friendship (Snouck Hur- gronje 1941). A key link to this relationship again is seen to be Aboe Bakar, who had been taught by Sayyid 'Abd Allah. Snouck Hurgronje mentions the two men one after another in his diary, so that he may have been made aware of Sayyid 'Abd Allah in his first interview with Aboe Bakar, prior to 14 September 1884 (Cod. Or. 7112:11-2). Aboe Bakar, in his first letter to Snouck Hurgronje, furthermore, suggested that he might approach Sayyid 'Abd Allah's father, Muhammad Salih al-Zawawi, on Snouck Hurgronje's behalf about a particular point of jurisprudence (AB to SH, 5 February 1885, Cod. Or. 8952). Moreover, there is some probability that Snouck Hurgronje entered Mecca under Sayyid 'Abd Allah's protection (Van Koningsveld 1988:110). Nevertheless, 'Abd Allah al-Zawawi was not to remain unassailable in Mecca; he was later forced to quit the Hijaz. We shall briefly turn to the impli- cations of this below, after considering the report written by Aboe Bakar which was to enhance Snouck Hurgronje's Meccan experience.

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Aboe Bakar and the Tarajim 'ulama' al-Jawa; A new reading of 'Jawi community'

That Snouck Hurgronje was able to write such a comprehensive and author- itative two-volume work about Mecca, its people, its history, and its culture after a visit of only five months has often been a source of incredulity. It would indeed be impossible for any one individual to absorb such a vast amount of information without help, although Snouck Hurgronje had the advantage of his earlier studies on the pilgrimage (published in 1880 as Het Mekkaansch feest). Even before his Meccan venture he had made notes in his diary on the Jawi 'ulama 'he would soon meet. The source of this information was, as we have seen, his friend Aboe Bakar. After Snouck Hurgronje's return to The. Netherlands, where he began writing up his account, he received a series of detailed letters from Aboe Bakar in Jeddah. Most of the information contained in these letters would have been gathered during Aboe Bakar's visit to Mecca for the 1885 pilgrimage - the very pilgrimage that Snouck Hurgronje was unable to perform due to his expulsion from the Hijaz by the Ottoman authorities (see De Vicq to Minister of Colonies, 13 September 1885, no. 153, ARA A.74, box 148). Van Koningsveld (1988:16) asserted in 1979 that Snouck Hurgronje's two- volume work Mekka was to a crucial extent based on the notes sent to him by Aboe Bakar, so that the claim that he was a participant observer of Islam was 'unjustified'. On the face of it this would indeed seem to be true, as one long text entitled Tarajim 'ulama'al-Jawa (Biographies of the Jawi 'ulama'; Cod. Or. 7111), which was received by Snouck Hurgronje on 17 December 1887, forms the factual basis for the biographies in his final chapter of Mekka. Other materials sent to him in Leiden range from details of marriage rites to information on saints' feasts, which Aboe Bakar described in so much detail that Snouck Hurgronje was able to use them as a primary source. According to Van Koningsveld (1988:114), 100 of the 393 pages of the original German version of the book were based directly on Aboe Bakar's observations. To ver- ify these assertions, it is necessary to compare parts of Aboe Bakar's report on the Jawa with Snouck Hurgronje's published account. Aboe Bakar devotes separate sections to each of thirteen 'ulama' and refers indirectly to six others. All these are likewise described by Snouck Hurgronje. Aboe Bakar moreover places his biographies in the typical frame of traditional Arabo-Islamic biographical writing, in which the authenticity of the transmission of the religious knowledge in question is emphasized by an enumeration of the teachers of the individual concerned. Of the thirteen 'ulama' he describes at length, there is a formidable contingent from his home region of Banten, namely Nawawi, Marzuq, Isma'il, 'Abd al-Karim, Arshad bin 'Alwan, and Arshad bin As'ad. Aboe Bakar is clearly proud of his Bantenese heritage, claiming that 'Banten is unlike any other country as

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 528 Michael Laffan regards the number of its people who seek a detailed knowledge of [Arabic] grammar, apart from those studyingin Mecca' (Tarajim 'ulama'al-Jawa, Cod. Or. 7111). He also describes the men from Garut (Sunda), Hasan Mustafa and Muhammad; the Batavians Junayd, Mujtaba and 'Aydarus; and the two Sumbawans, Zayn al-Din and 'Umar. All thirteen 'ulama' had in turn been students of the former great Jawi 'ulama', 'Abd al-Ghani Bima of Sumbawa, Isma'il Minangkabau, and Ahmad Khatib Sambas of Borneo. Aboe Bakar's report is for the most part concerned with such facts as the age of these 'ulama', their periods of residence in Mecca, and their connections with other 'ulama'-both Jawi and Arab. On occasion, it also gives snip- pets of information on the character and behaviour of these men, such as 'Umar Sumbawa's jealousy of his teacher Zayn al-Din for marrying the woman he desired, or Haji Marzuq's jaunts in the Indies in search of a suit- able partner. Such details indicate the degree of Aboe Bakar's familiarity with his subjects, or conversely, the notoriety of these subjects in the community. These biographies also contain oblique references to the community's social structure, its relationship with the Sufi orders, and its unity. This mine of information has been efficiently quarried by Snouck Hurgronje for his Mekka. For the sake of comparison, let us begin by looking at the section on Nawawi Banten in Aboe Bakar's account. Shaykh Nawawi has [...] written books and given lessons in his home to educate his poor students and their desperate teachers in Mecca for more than twenty-five years. Even now he continues to give lectures on 'Hm al-alat and fiqh. He begins his classes at the second Arab hour [around 8 a.m.] until before the noon prayers. During that time he does not use just one book but many, where this art requires a great deal of time and most 'ulama'- whether Jawi or Arab - use the whole time for but one book. He usually gives classes after each prayer. Likewise he continues to write, and his works have been published in Egypt - as you saw there - and some have been published on the Miriya press in Mecca. Also, as you saw, he appears as a pauper, for he is indeed poor. Yet there is something in particular that marks him as being special. I went to him one night at about the sixth hour and found him working on a tafsir of the Quran. He was sitting on a tiger skin under a window or skylight with a little pewter lamp for illumination. The light from that lamp was so weak that most people would be unable to write by it. Yet he paid it no heed and did not ask any of his children or servants to adjust it, even though there were many people prepared to attend to him. (Tarajim 'ulama' al- Jawa, Cod. Or. 7111.)

At the level of straight detail, where Aboe Bakar refers to his encounter with Nawawi Banten in a direct way, Snouck Hurgronje (1931:268-72) gives ele- ments of this information in a second-hand marmer. An example is the pas- sage about the pewter lamp, where Snouck Hurgronje explains that such a

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lamp was only fit for showing guests out - something he had probably observed on his own visits. However, there is no mention in Mekka of Nawawi working on his tafsir seated on a tiger skin. Here it would seem that Snouck Hurgronje did not simply transpose Aboe Bakar's account of his experiences into his own work, but rather fused it with his own Méccan observations. In this sense, then, perhaps it is unfair to deny him the status of a participant observer. Rather, he supplemented his own memories with Aboe Bakar's information to fill in the details. Perhaps Aboe Bakar's anecdote about the lamp stirred Snouck Hurgronje's memories of how he would leave Shaykh Nawawi's home, which stood on a hill overlooking the Haram.10 Naturally thére are also differences of perception, and where Aboe Bakar describes Nawawi as adopting the garb of a pauper - in the tradition of Sufi divines - , Snouck Hurgronje's recollection concentrates on the latter's poor personal hygiëne (Snouck Hurgronje 1931:270). Aside from the issue of how Snouck Hurgronje used Aboe Bakar's reports, the structural coherence of his redaction of the Tarajim is complicated when we consider Aboe Bakar's use of the name Jawi and its two plurals, Jawa and Jawiyin. The first (Jawa) is a broken plural, used most commonly to describe Southeast Asians in general, whilst the second (Jawiyin) is a sound plural that is less common and takes on a very specific meaning in Aboe Bakar's report. Whereas it is possible to use Jawiyin also in the sense of 'all Southeast Asians', Aboe Bakar quite consistently uses it, as we shall see, to refer to inhabitants of the island of Java - whether Bantenese, like himself, Sunda- nese or Javanese. All such people used the term kiain to describe their 'ulama', although Aboe Bakar points out that the term was replaced in Mecca.

It is said by the Javanese that the Javanese community in Mecca has no 'alim, [even] if such a person is occasionally called an 'alim in their own lands. When such a person comes to Mecca, then he hears of this. The situation is [such ...] that [these teachers] are not referred to by KS Javanese [my emphasis, M.L.] as kiai (here I mean tuan gum). Indeed, there are few so learned, and such are commonly called by us orang mengerti [knowledgeable person]. [Yet] a person is not usually described as being so-and-so mengerti. Nor is one ever called an orang mengerti in such a way that it becomes an epithet or a name, like kiai. {Tarajim 'ulama'al-Jawa, Cod. Or. 7111.)

This terminological issue is rendered all the more complicated by the fact that Jawa as the geographical term for Java is indistinguishable from the sound plural noun for the people of the area. However, Aboe Bakar is usually quite

10 Chaidar's biography of Nawawi features two photos taken at Nawawi's home in 1976 (Chaidar 1978:47-8). 11 This is a term of respect used primarily for religious teachers or custodians of traditional knowledge, such as the dalang (puppeteer of the Javanese shadow theatre).

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 530 • Michael Laffan unambiguous in his geographical references, where he often gives a further specification, such as 'the people of Batavia' or 'the Malays, and the people of Sumbawa and Bali'. When referring to Java, Aboe Bakar writes of the balad al-Jawa (the land of Java), and once arad al-]awa (the lands of Java). In the Tarajim the term bilad al-Jawa also clearly refers to the wider archipelago - including the non-Muslim kingdoms of Siam and Bali. Nawawi Banten's brother-in-law, the widely travelled Haji Marzuq, is an interesting example of an 'alim with experience of a large segment of the bilad al-Jawa. As he got older he [Marzuq] travelled more frequently to the districts of the lands of the Jawa - whose people he does not [wholly] regard as belonging to his race due to the absence of any moral advantage in the land of Bali and in Siam, where he found groups of Muslims and of idolaters.12

Unlike Aboe Bakar's, his vision of the bilad al-Jawa was defined in religious terms alone, rather than in terms of a shared regional ethnicity as attributed to them by Arabic speakers.13 Despite this confusing terminology, where the names for the region, Java, and for the people, Jawa, are often indistinguishable if used out of context, Aboe Bakar is unambiguous when he refers to the language, a crucial binding factor in a community. In the Tarajim the term al- lugha al-Jawiya (Jawi language) is to be read as 'Javanese', and not 'Malay', which the author calls al-lugha al-Malayuwiya.u This distinction is all the clearer in a short appendix on the elementary education of the Jawa immediately following the biographies. Aboe Bakar here describes the process by which the Jawa, 'whether Sundanese or Javanese', learn Arabic, namely by reciting Arabic sentences by heart with their explanations in 'ngoco' Javanese15 or lisan al-Jawa (the tongue of Java). Likewise he speaks of interlinear translations in the Javanese script (lafz Jawa marsum bi khatt aw kita- ba Jawiya). Meanwhile, he explains, native Malay speakers folio wed the same method, but using Malay interlinear translations.16 It may thus be seen that it is an overstatement, when talking of the lan-

12 Haji Marzuq's trips seem to mirror those of 'Abd Allah bin Muhammad al-Misri (d. 1847), who worked for the Dutch in the first part of the nineteenth century and wrote accounts of his travels in Siam and Bali in the Hikayat Maresekalek (c. 1815), Cerita Siam (c. 1824) and Hikayat tanah Bali (c. 1825). 13 Even in Saudi Arabia today, Filipino guest workers are referred to (slightingly by some) as 'Jawa'. 14 This may be compared with 'Abd al-Ra'uf Singkel's definition of Malay in the seventeenth century as al-lugha al-jawiya al-samatra'iya - the Jawi language of Sumatra (Snouck Hurgronje 1906 11:129 n. 2). 15 This is Aboe Bakar's gloss for low Javanese in Roman script. 16 Aboe Bakar's appendix on language learning among the Jawa of Mecca seems to have been used more explicitly by Snouck Hurgronje in his ethnography of the Acehnese (Snouck Hurgronje 1906 11:5).

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guage of instruction for Southeast Asia, to say that Malay was the primary language of Southeast Asian Islam in the nineteenth century, as Snouck Hurgronje seems to do in his Mekka. In the bilad al-Jawa it rather shared that status with Javanese. In this light the title of Aboe Bakar's report can now equally be read as 'Biographies of the 'ulama' of Java'. It should nevertheless be noted that Aboe Bakar did categorize the people of the archipelago as a whole as Jawa rather than Jawiyin. Jawa for him is a fluid category. The correct interpretation may thus only be made contextually. Hence the inclusion of Zayn al-Din Sum- bawa in the current generation of 'ulama'and Ahmad Khatib Sambas in the previous one in the Tarajim 'ulama'al-Jawa, indicates that this title should still be read as 'Biographies of the Jawi 'ulama", though Aboe Bakar's view of the community in 1887 had a distinctly pan-Javanese character. It may be seen here, then, that the Jawi Aboe Bakar was a member of the people of Java (al-Jawiyin) who presented a wider view of his own community (al-Jawa), taken by Snouck Hurgronje in an inclusive sense. Snouck Hurgronje's overlooking, as an outsider, of the subtle difference between Aboe Bakar's Jawiyin and Jawa, therefore, is important both as an indication of colonial percep- tions of the Meccan community and for our own retrospective view of that community. That Snouck Hurgronje made influential friends and collected important information with Aboe Bakar's help is clear. What we may wonder is whether Snouck Hurgronje's narrative was partially derived from a very Javanese angle on what the Jawi community comprised, based on both Aboe Bakar's perception of and connections with that community. The presence of 'ulama' from islands other than Java is noted but understated. Were the Sumatrans looked down upon by the Javanese in Mecca at this time? If they were, this may explain why Snouck Hurgronje's work focuses on the Javanese - and especially Bantenese and Sundanese 'ulama' (Snouck Hurgronje 1931:264). Indeed, Snouck Hurgronje is at best dismissive if and when he refers to Sumatrans in 1885, although he does note that this was a situation amenable to change in the future (Snouck Hurgronje 1931:288). If the relations between the sub-groups of the Jawa are unclear in Snouck Hurgronje's Mekka, so too are the feelings of the Jawa towards their Arab hosts - whose views, on the other hand, are made clear here. At one point Aboe Bakar says that Nawawi's brother, 'Abd Allah, seldom attended the lectures of the Arab teachers, which hints at the ongoing debate in Mecca about the superiority of the Arabs as guardians of Islamic knowledge. Evidently some Arab teachers had scant regard for the Jawi 'ulama', who in turn resent- ed their patronizing attitude (Hamka 1958:50-2). Jawi indifference may easi- ly have been interpreted by the Arabs as modesty, and Snouck Hurgronje (1931:186) refers obliquely to this in Mekka where he quotes an Arab inform-

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ant on the supposedly shy nature of the Jawa. It is also clear that the Javanese 'ulama'oi Mecca had little regard for their fellows in Java, who had received their education solely in the traditionallocal pesantren. Achmad Djajadining- rat (1996:27) observes that at the turn of the nineteenth century in Banten a teacher could win the title kiai af ter acquiring proficiency solely in Arabic grammar. For the 'ulama' of Mecca, one had to earn one's title in the Holy City. Perhaps an Arab/Jawi dichotomy is also hinted at in the story of 'Abd al- Shakur Surabaya, who spent his youth in the service of Muhammad Shatta, the father of Ahmad Dahlan's pupil, Sayyid Abu Bakr Shatta. It was thus at home, where ['Abd al-Shakur] was responsible for procuring food from the market, to the point that, if it pleased the great shaykh to purify himself for prayer at whatever time of the day, then Shaykh 'Abd al-Shakur would be called on to dash off for the water. And we have heard that sometimes he even slept on the threshold of the bathroom [bayt al-mal or near the cistérns [mahal al- wudu ], to be awakened by the opening of the door [...]. It went so far that once the great shaykh tripped over Shaykh 'Abd al-Shakur [...] - who arose at once, ready to do his bidding. Things went on in this degrading [my italics, M.L.] way for him, although he was aware of - and even enjoyed - these methods, to the point that he became linked to thes/iaj/Jr/i'sfortune. (Tnrajim 'ulama'al-Jawa, Cod. Or. 7111.)

On the other hand, Snouck Hurgronje in Mekka portrays 'Abd al-Shakur's selfless devotion in touching terms, despite his noting that the latter's suc- cessive marriages to his Arab master's daughters were regarded as misal- liances. The very next night old Shatta stumbled over his pupil'* figure, invisible to him in the dark, upon which the latter hastily kissed his feet and fetched him the water of purification. When the divine apologised for the kick which he unintentionally gave the youth, the student begged him most fervently to wake him thus every night when necessary. The Sheikh, deeply touched, embraced his unselfish dis- ciple. (Snouck Hurgronje 1931:283-5.)

Aboe Bakar, whilst implying a paternal relationship between 'Abd al-Shakur and his master - which reflects the idealized servitude of a Sufi to his master -, does not mention their embracing. Indeed, he describes the situation as shameful (mahana), though ultimately beneficial, to 'Abd al-Shakur as a willing participant. Here it would seem that Snouck Hurgronje had heard the same story in Mecca from another Jawi, or perhaps even an Arab, who added the hug. The embrace may indeed have taken place, but Aboe Bakar's earlier remarks serve well to illustrate his contempt for the selfless devotion of 'Abd al-Shakur and to distance him from the Sufi orders in Mecca.

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The mixed community ofMecca

Aboe Bakar also refers to a fair amount of mixing between Arabs and Jawa in Mecca, however. Some teachers, like 'Umar and Zayn al-Din from Sumbawa or 'Abd al-Shakur Surabaya, were noted for their fluency in Arabic after long years of association with the people of Mecca. Such extended periods of residence often also resulted in marriages between Jawi men and Arab women - the reverse of the situation in the Indies, where Hadrami men often took Jawi wives. Aboe Bakar himself, like Agoes Salim after him, took a local wife. And it was the daughter of a match like this who was the cause of rivalry between the two Sumbawan 'ulama' Zayn al-Din and 'Umar. The children of such marriages often grew up to assume positions as mediators between the two communities, either as guides or by following in their father's footsteps in trade and education. Such was the case with the sons of Shaykh Junayd of Batavia, who had married an Egyptian woman; they both began a career in Mecca as teachers of students from Batavia, Sumbawa, and Bali. Likewise it was children like this who would mediate between the Arab and Jawi strands of Islamic discourse in the Southeast Asian context. This was particularly notable in Singapore - the colonial entre- pot and major staging post for the pilgrimage - , where the Jawi peranakan would later play an important role in the genesis of an indigenous press. Many of these children, if they remained in Mecca, identified themselves as Meccans, however, or even as Egyptians, if their mothers were from Cairo - as many were. Moreover, many were keen to hide their foreign origin in the face of the acrimony with which foreigners were treated in the streets of Mecca. Aboe Bakar referred to this tendency in a report to the Dutch Consul regarding a certain Shaykh Dahhan in 1913. Those who have lived in Mecca for several generations do not like to speak of their origins, but rather say that they are Meccan - even people of British India who are not Arabs. It is normal for peranakan born in Mecca of an Egyptian parent to say angrily, if their much abused people of origin are mentioned, that they are Cairene (Masri) and to use the Maghribi epithet 'only good for tripe, dribble and gravy [al-kirsha wal-mirsha wal -maraqa fa'ida]' to [describe] British India. Indeed, with reference to the Indies they say 'Maksoer al-gadahl' [broken cup17] and to Java 'JaT

If marriages between Arabs and Jawa in Mecca strengthened the links

17 This is perhaps an epithet for 'beggar'. 18 This expression was evidently in use in the 1880s, and Snouck Hurgronje (1931:225 note 4) notes that it was probably inspired by the Sundanese passion for eating eels.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 534 Michael Laffan between the respective regions, the friendships formed between Jawi students in Mecca would also later have led to marriages between their children back in the Indies. Such personal networks should also be considered when one explores the nature of change in the bilad al-Jawa. The child of a marriage between a Javanese and a Malay must have feit a wider affinity with the region as a whole, and this is a process that continues in Indonesia today. This can be viewed as an extension of what Snouck Hurgronje (1906 1:54) later observed in Aceh, where the former ban on intermarriage between members of different clans gradually weakened and a stronger Acehnese identity emerged. However, for 1885, if we read the Tarajitn using our particular interpretation of Aboe Bakar's terminology, the fragmented nature of the community is an implicit fact. This is reflected in his description of Isma'il Banten and the activities of the Qadiriya order. Isma'il Banten has also withdrawn from society in general - be it for study or whatever else, such as the numerous feasts ['azima] of the Javanese living in Mecca, which are often held about three times a month, particularly during the month of the mawlid of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon Him).19 These 'azima are frequented by all Javanese of both note and rank. Because of this, they host them in rotation and do not neglect to invite the Javanese teachers. For it is as though God had chosen to overwhelm this month with celebrations! It is necessary to mention the 'azima here because they are a part of the public entertain- ment and are held by all teachers and learned Javanese. (Tarajim 'ulama'al-Jawa, Cod. Or. 7111.) At such gatherings, the unity of Islam was stressed with recitations of famous Sufi poems for the assembled community. Nevertheless, such feasts were not always so inclusive. Membership of the tariqat was to a high degree region- ally specific: Bugis were usually members of the Sanusiya, Sundanese of the Naqshbandiya, and Bantenese of the Qadiriya-Naqshbandiya tariqat (AB to Wolff, 12 December 1913, Cod. Or. 18097, file 48). When Aboe Bakar describes in the Tarajim certain feasts held by the Jawa every ten days or so, he might well be describing the Javanese slametan (a similar ceremony in the Malay world being known as kenduri). These feasts would have served as gatherings for more limited Jawi communities in Mecca, although no doubt Jawa from other regions would also have been welcome guests. Thus Acehnese - or people from Minangkabau, Patani or Sambas - would each gather to enjoy the favourite foods of their respective regions. It is also clear from Aboe Bakar's reports that Jawi students had a marked-

19 Snouck Hurgronje (1931:274-5) chooses this point in his narrative to introducé a description of the mawlid feasts of the Javanese, for which, he observes, Isma'il Banten's home used to be a centre.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access Raden Aboe Bakar 535 ly regional focus in their academie activities. Certain teachers - such as Haji Mujtaba Batavia - catered more specifically for Sundanese, for Malay, or for Batavian students. After lectures, friendships formed in class would be strengthened in the social domain. After one or two years under a Jawi shaykh, these students would move on to the circle of one of the great Arab teachers, such as Muhammad Hasab Allah. It is here then that Jawi students, whose Arabic by now would have been fluent enough for them to understand lectures by such teachers, would have experienced a greater sense of the unity of the Muslim community by participating in the 'sacrament' of reading the religious texts of Islam.20 We may therefore wonder about the community Snouck Hurgronje saw through Aboe Bakar's eyes in 1887 when viewed under the influence of his own memories of 1885. The Jawa were seen by their fellow-Muslims as a unitary community. Within that community there were obvious tensions, however, as in any group. Yet, over the years a realization of the advantages of such unity would grow stronger, in turn to affect the development of an independence movement around the Java Sea. Aboe Bakar's letters to a distant and admired friend provide a small window on the early development of the ideas in question.

The constraints of a changing Mecca in maintaining a colonial network

In 1885 the literary and cultural elites of Mecca were divided between two camps, namely the supporters of the incumbent Grand Sharif 'Awn al-Rafiq, such as Ahmad Dahlan, and the supporters of his principal rival, the Ottoman viceroy (vali) Osman Nuri Pasha, such as Hasab Allah. Snouck Hurgronje's relations with the one party barred any contacts with the other. Likewise there were sharp divisions on points of doctrine or personality among the 'ulama'. This raises the issue of what relationship Snouck Hurgronje's Javanese friends who guided him in Mecca had with the different camps. Were they, too, partisans of either of the Meccan elites? One such friend, who was later to suffer for his partisanship, was 'Abd Allah al-Zawawi. Snouck Hurgronje's friendship with him is also attested by a letter intended for The Times in London which was found among Snouck Hurgronje's notes. In this letter, which arrived at Weltevreden in August 1896, 'Abd Allah al-Zawawi complained of the 'oppression in Mecca' under 'Awn al-Rafiq and Ahmad Ratib Pasha, which had forced him to quit the

2Ü The idea of reading as a sacramental activity was outlined in a lecture ('Reading as com- munion; Textuality and religiosity in the Islamic tradition') given by Todd Lawson of McGill University at the University of Sydney on 29 October 1998.

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Hijaz in 1893 (Cod. Or. 18097, file 16). Eventually al-Zawawi had accepted an offer of Dutch-assisted exile in the Netherlands East Indies made to him through Aboe Bakar in 1895. As for Sayyid 'Abd Allah al-Zawawi, your praiseworthy endeavour to exposé [those who] slander [him] is appreciated. In this connection a letter has come to the Consul in Jeddah from the Governor-General granting him asylum [in the Indies] in the event of an emergency, in line with your recommendation [...]. (AB to SH, 4 November 1895, Cod. Or. 8952.)

Snouck Hurgronje would see his protégé return to the Hijaz after the Turkish revolution of 1908 and three years later secure the position once occupied by Ahmad Dahlan (Snouck Hurgronje 1941:15). If political constraints were one factor in the production of Snouck Hurgronje's narrative, then his relations with the Malays was another. Aboe Bakar indicates at several points in the Tarajim that Snouck Hurgronje never met some of the 'ulama'he describes, noting on occasion that one 'alim spoke better Arabic than another - as Snouck Hurgronje had 'heard'. Perhaps then we may attribute Snouck Hurgronje's lack of interaction with these teachers - such as Zayn al-Din Sumbawa, whose Arabic he had evidently not heard - directly to the political divisions mentioned above or to Aboe Bakar's own friendships. According to some observers, the most notable omission from Snouck Hurgronje's Mekka is that of the young Minangkabau scholar Ahmad Khatib (c. 1860 - c. 1915). In his case we must return to Aboe Bakar, who would later send Snouck Hurgronje some of Khatib's writings.21 It would appear, judg- irig from the dates of publication, that in 1885-7 Ahmad Khatib had yet to make his mark in the Jawi community, and indeed the wider legal community. After all, Snouck Hurgronje was primarily interested in fully-fledged 'ulama' who had made a contribution to the discourse of the day, not their unproductive students - such as Aboe Bakar, who also does not appear in the pages of Mekka. Whilst Ahmad Khatib is naturally absent from the pages of

21 The first five works written by Khatib and noted by Snouck Hurgronje (Gobée and Adriaanse 1957-1965 11:1846, 1853, 1914-16) as being sent from Jeddah were: 1. al-]awahir al-naqiya fi 1-a'amal al-jaybiya, Cairo 1892; 2. Rnwdat al-hussab fi 'Urn al-hisab, Cairo 1893; 3. nl-Manhaj al-mashru' tarjamat kitnb al-da'i al-m asm u' pada hoekoem orang yang menjalahi- sarint pada poesaka [...], Cairo 1893 (Translation of al-Da'i al-m asm u' fi 1-radd 'ala man yawar- rithu al-ikhwa wa azvlad al-akhaioat ma'a wujud al-usul wa-al-furu', Cairo 1892); 4. al-Riyad al-wardiya, Cairo 1894; 5. Dhu 1-sirajpada menyatakan citra isra'dan mi'raj, Mecca, 1894. This does not include another work published before 1894 (Sulh al-jama'atayn bi-jaivaz ta'addud al-jum'atayn, Mecca 1894), which is now kept by the Leiden University Library.

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Mekka, the attention he won in the 1890s points to the declining importance of Aboe Bakar in Jeddah and his limited connections with the Malays of Mecca - and thus to the limitations on colonial networks as a whole as they related to the wider Indies. There is no mention of Khatib in the available correspondence until June 1895, when Aboe Bakar informs Snouck Hurgronje that he has sent him a recent work by the former (AB to SH, 11 June 1895, Cod. Or. 8952). Perhaps Aboe Bakar feit that here was something valuable for his Muslim patron in the colonial apparatus, who had asked him to forward any new publications. It thus came as a great surprise to Aboe Bakar when in September 1895 an alarmed Consul De Sturler noted Khatib's anti-colonial sentiments. As you already know, Monsieur De Sturler told me that he had received a journal stating that Ahmad Khatib Padang had written a work on sabil Allah. So I said that perhaps this did not exist and that maybe it was made up. Could it be that he was slandered in the journal? Then he instructed me to get all of the aforemen- tioned Ahmad's works - including those sent to you. [...] So far we have come across four books, two in Malay and two in Arabic - the latter being light works on astronomical calculation and trigonometry. (AB to SH, 14 September 1895, Cod. Or. 8952.)

In a marginal note Aboe Bakar seems to confirm his own suspicions: 'I sent you the books soon after my arrival in Jeddah, having found nothing [sub- versive] in them, which seems to bode well'. It would seem, then, that he had not read Khatib's work on the Night Journey (Dhu 1-siraj pada menyatakan citra isra'dan mïraf), which had been sent to Snouck Hurgronje from Jeddah the previous year, when he had been on leave. To give an idea of Khatib's hostile mentality (geest), Snouck Hurgronje quoted at length from Dhu 1-siraj in a letter to the First Government Se- cretary of 18 November 1895 (Gobée and Adriaanse 1957-1965 11:1914-16). It was clear that Khatib needed close watching, and Aboe Bakar now took personal responsibility for the collection of relevant material. [...] I received Your Noble Excellency's letter of 4 September [18]95 in reply to what your servant [Aboe Bakar] wrote on 28 July and 15 August. [... As for] your wish that I collect new works, / have been very busy acquiring these, and am not endeavonring to do so through the mediation of anyone e/se, so that no mistakes will be made, as in the past [my italics, M.L.]. When the opportunity presents itself I will visit Mecca personally. (AB to SH, 4 November 1895, Cod. Or. 8952.)

It looks as though Aboe Bakar's effectiveness as a colonial agent was dimin- ishing at this time - especially when we consider how over-worked he was. He may well have found himself increasingly compromised as his cliënt relationship with the Dutch became evident in the Hijaz. No doubt any Jawa

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 538 Michael Laffan with hostile feelings towards the colonial powers (such as Khatib) would have suppressed these in his presence. Although Aboe Bakar could no doubt move freely among his fellow-countrymen, he may no longer have enjoyed what he believed was their fullest confidence. Back in 1885, as a confidant of the Javanese 'ulama' and a distant associate of Dahlan, Aboe Bakar had not really moved in the same circles as the young Ahmad Khatib. This is underscored by his concentration on Javanese and Sundanese 'ulama'in the summaries he sent to Snouck Hurgronje. It was only later, as Ahmad Khatib became an increasingly significant figure in the Haram, that Aboe Bakar was required to keep a close watch on him.

A classic relationship between Oriëntalist and informant?

Aboe Bakar's letters currently available at the Leiden University Library are often personal and possess a consistent tone of undoubted deference and amity towards his patron. After relating the latest events of the day, many concentrate on Aboe Bakar's hopes for his son and his desire for retirement at some post in Java, or at least as an assistant. In line with the Standard epis- tolary practice of the times, Snouck Hurgronje is addressed and referred to in the most laudatory terms. Yet these effusions more likely than not reflected Aboe Bakar's true feelings towards his patron. Furthermore, Aboe Bakar never seems to have had any doubts about Snouck Hurgronje's conversion to Islam. After all, Aboe Bakar, too, worked for the colonial government and never seems to have feit that his own faith was compromised by this. The varied materials in Snouck Hurgronje's folders, kept at the Leiden University Library, allow one to chart the compilation of Mekka, including as they do Zamzam water samples, photos, musical lyrics, and Aboe Bakar's letters side by side with Snouck Hurgronje's own notes. What Snouck Hurgronje did was not so unusual for his time. As an agent of the colonial system and an ethnographer he is perhaps more typical than atypical in his use of the results of another person's work without giving that person credit. This is not strange in view of the power relations between them. The production of Oriëntalist studies in general depended to a cru dal ex tent on the help of indigenous informants, whose value was only fully realized by the Oriëntalist scholars themselves. It was possible for Aboe Bakar, as an employee and a 'native', to keep up a friendship with Snouck Hurgronje the European scholar, but this relationship was something separate from the world of European scholarship. It was only in the Hijaz that Aboe Bakar was able to attain a high position in the system and rise to the rank of vice-consul. Nonetheless, Aboe Bakar should be seen as an active agent for the colonial government, whose labours were well rewarded by the standards of the

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day, rather than as merely a passive victim of his patron's exploitative behaviour. Aboe Bakar's letters seem to have continued until at least 1912. Most likely more exist, especially in view of the fact that there are gaps between let- . ters, varying from hours to years, and of references to other letters so far not seen by the present writer. These letters also contain references to other work-related materials used by Snouck Hurgronje in his official capacity as adviser to the Dutch government, such as Aboe Bakar's 1896 reports on the Acehnese community in Mecca (AB to SH, 19 July 1896, Cod. Or. 8952). Unfortunately Snouck Hurgronje's bequest is dispersed throughout the Lei- den University Library, so that it is difficult to assess immediately the enor- mous influence of his work. Over two thousand books and manuscripts were added to the collections here under Snouck Hurgronje's aegis22, many of which were forwarded to him by Aboe Bakar and his informants and friends. Aboe Bakar seems to have truly feit that the Hijaz was his stamping- ground, although he always had a longing for his childhood home (AB to SH, 3 March 1892, Cod. Or. 8952) and often intimated a hope for retirement there. He even hinted at the difficulties of separation from his son Jassien and from his extended family back in the Indies (AB to SH, 31 March 1896, Cod. Or. 8952), his visit to whom in 1894 had resulted in the effective breakdown of the consulate's intelligence-gathering activities. Meanwhile Snouck Hurgronje proved a powerful aid to Aboe Bakar. From 1895 Aboe Bakar even regularly called him 'my protector' (maladhï), as indeed he was. Likewise Snouck Hurgronje often praised his Jawi partner, as in a letter to Julius Euting, where he stated that for years Aboe Bakar had been 'my faithful informant and, during my stay in Arabia, my faithful helper through all adversities' (Van Koningsveld 1988:34). It was a relationship that was of mutual benefit. At times Aboe Bakar feit free to use his connection with Snouck Hurgronje for his family's benefit, as when he wanted his son Jassien admitted to a school in Serang. There Aboe Bakar hoped Jassien would become competent in Dutch, with a view to furthering his education in Batavia, after which he wanted him to return to Mecca to learn Arabic (AB to SH, 9 May 1896, Cod. Or. 8952).23 Aboe Bakar was not averse either to requesting help when his

22 According to a statement in 1997 by Dr Jan Just Witkam, the present custodian of the Oriental Manuscript Collection at the Leiden University Library. Snouck Hurgronje's files also contain two lists of works - written by Ahmad Dahlan, Abu Bakr Shatta, and Nawawi Banten - sent to him by Aboe Bakar in 1885 (Cod. Or. 7111). 23 According to Aboe Bakar's family tree he had three sons and a daughter by two marriages. Given that Jassien's title does not include the title Haji, I am inclined to doubt that he ever made it to Mecca. Jassien died in 1909, and his death caused a now broken Aboe Bakar to throw him-

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 07:24:56PM via free access 540 Michael Laffan family was in financial trouble (AB to SH, 14 September 1895, Cod. Or. 8952). Nor did he hesitate to recommend his nephew, Muhammad, for the position of assistant dragoman in Jeddah in 1896 (AB to SH, 31 March 1896, Cod. Or. 8952). It is also this personal connection that provides the key to two other of Aboe Bakar's nephews, Hoesein (1886-1960) and Achmad (1877-1943), being taken under Snouck Hurgronje's wing in the Indies. Achmad Djajadiningrat, after being the first 'native' admitted to the King William III School in Batavia, ad vaneed in the government service as the influential regent of Serang and later published his memoirs (see Djajadiningrat 1996). Hoesein became the first Indonesian to do a doctorate at Leiden University, where he defended his thesis on the Sejarah Banten in May 1913 (see Poeze 1990:38). Both were certainly capable men, like thousands of other Indonesians whose potential was not developed or even considered by the colonial regime. Hoesein and Achmad Djajadiningrat's advancement, however, is largely attributable to Snouck Hurgronje's personal interest in them (see Van Koningsveld 1988:189-90). Both men symbolized Snouck Hurgronje's ideal of Indonesians oriented towards Batavia, Leiden and The Hague rather than to the Javanese courts or the traditional Islamic centres Cairo and Mecca. It was his hope that, by chan- nelling the talents of the youth of the indigenous elite, The Netherlands would be able to continue to direct the affairs of its colony - perhaps in a partnership that mirrored his own relationship with Aboe Bakar. Indeed, Achmad and Hoesein were the products of Snouck Hurgronje's association- ist policy in the domains of government and scholarship. Unfortunately it is not within the scope of this article to investigate their activities more fully, interesting though this would be in view of the light it could throw on the link between indigenous elites and the newly emerging literati. More traditional servants of the colonial order like Aboe Bakar, on the other hand, probably found their influence declining. The future for indigenous elites, now deprived of real power, no longer lay in Mecca but in the world that was opened to them by the recommendations of Snouck Hurgronje. Finally, one wonders how Aboe Bakar saw himself in relation to the Jawi community he described. As a proud servant of the Dutch colonial government, a member of a respected elite family, and a scholar in the Arabo-Islamic tradition, he represents a variety of overlapping and seemingly contradictory identities. Did he see himself primarily as a Bantenese, a Javanese, a citizen of the Dutch East Indies, or a member of the widest community of Muslims? To us today it may seem strange that he somehow resolved the tensions self into his work and hope only for the chance of some sinecure for himself back in the Indies. See AB to SH, 14 April 1909, Cod. Or. 8952.

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inherent in this. Yet they may not have appeared to be tensions to him, as he served his 'sultan' (King William III of The Netherlands) loyally - expecting the same of other servants. In 1912 the now retired Aboe Bakar was appointed Netherlands Vice-Consul to Mecca as a fitting reward for years of valued service. He would remain in Mecca, with his Arab wife and family, until his death24 - a loyal servant of the Dutch in a land supposedly beyond Dutch influence.

24 Personal communication P.Sj. van Koningsveld, 25 November 1997, and Pak Hosein Hidayat Djajadiningrat, 31 January 1999.

REFERENCES

Archival material

ARA (Algemeen Rijks Archief, The Netherlands) 2.05.03: Series A.74, box 148. Violence in Jeddah, movement for the revival of the caliphate in the Hijaz, the slave trade and its effects on Indies subjects (1871-97). Selections from Snouck Hurgronje's papers held in the Leiden University Library, Oriental Literature and Manuscripts (O.L.G.), contained in: Cod. Or. 7111. Arabic letters from Raden Aboe Bakar, including the Tarajim 'ulama' al-Jawa, and from Ahmad bin Zayni Dahlan and 'Abd al-Ghaffar al-Hakim. Notes for the composition of Mekka and some loose scraps of paper featuring Ahmad Dahlan's signature. Cod. Or. 7112. Snouck Hurgronje's Jeddah diary. Cod. Or. 8952. Correspondence with Raden Aboe Bakar. Cod. Or. 12.288. Photographs of the Hijaz. Cod. Or. 18097. File 16. Material regarding the Aceh War and the letter concerning 'Abd Allah al- Zawawi. File 32. Correspondence with RN. van der Chijs at Jeddah and Aboe Bakar. File 48. Incoming letters and postcards. Some photographs. One letter from Aboe Bakar to Consul Wolff. Published zvorks

Chaidar, 1978, Sejarah pujangga Islam Syekh Nawawi al-Banteni Indonesia. Jakarta: Sarana Utama. Djajadiningrat, RA. Achmad, 1996, Memoar Pangeran Aria Achmad Djajadiningrat. Jakarta: Paguyuban Keturunan RA. Achmad Djajadiningrat. [Translation of Herinneringen van Pangeran Aria Achmad Djajadiningrat. Amsterdam/Batavia: Kolff. 1936.1

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Gobée, E., and C. Adriaanse (eds), 1957-1965, Ambtelijke adviezen van C. Snouck Hurgronje 1889-1936. The Hague: Nijhoff, 3 vols. Hamka (Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah), 1958, Ajahku; Riwajathidup Dr. H.Abd. Karim Amrullah dan perdjuangan kaum agama di Sumatera. Djakarta: Widjaja. Hourani, Albert, 1983, Arabic thoughtin the liberal age:1798-1939. London: Oxford University Press. Ibrahim, Umar, 1996, 'The impact of the hajj pilgrimage on the development of Islam in 19th and 20th century Indonesia', Studia lslamika 3-1:157-86. Jaquet, F.G.P., 1980, 'Mutiny en hadji-ordonnantie; Ervaringen met 19e eeuwse bron- nen', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 136:283-312. Kaptein, Nico, 1997, The Muhimmat al-nafd'is; A bilingual Meccan fatwa collection for Indonesian Muslims from the end of the nineteenth century. Jakarta: INIS. Koningsveld, P.Sj. van, 1988, Snouck Hurgronje en de Islam; Acht artikelen over leven en werk van een oriëntalist uit het koloniale tijdperk. Leiden: Faculteit der God- geleerdheid, Rijksuniversiteit. Ochsenwald, William, 1977, 'The Jidda massacre of 1858', Middle Eastern Studies 13- 3:314-26. -, 1984, Religion, society and the state in Arabia; The Hijaz under Ottoman control, 1840-1908. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. Poeze, Harry A., 1990, 'Indonesian students at Leiden University', in: W.A.L. Stokhof and N.J.G. Kaptein (eds), 1990, Beberapa kajian Indonesia dan Islam, pp. 33-58. Jakarta: INIS. Schmidt, Jan, 1992, Through the legation window 1876-1926; Four essays on Dutch, Dutch-lndian and Ottoman history. Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeolo- gisch Instituut. Snouck Hurgronje, C, 1880, Het Mekkaansch feest. Leiden: Brill. -, 1888, Mekka; Die Stadt und ihre Herren. Leiden: Brill. -, 1889, Mekka; Aus dem heutigen Leben (mit Bilder-Atlas). Leiden: Brill. -, 1906, translated by A.W.S. O'Sullivan, The Achehnese. Leiden: Brill, 2 vols. -, 1931, translated by J.H. Monahan, Mekka in the latter part of the 19th century; Daily life, customs and learning of the Moslims of the East-lndian-archipelago. Leiden: Brill. [Translation of 1889.] -, 1941, 'Some of my experiences with the muftis of Mecca', in: jaarverslagen van het Oostersch Instituut te Leiden 1934-40, 4. Leiden: Brill. Steenbrink, Karel, 1993, translated by Tom Steenbrink and Henry Jansen, Dutch colo- nialism and Islam; Contacts and conflicts in Southeast Asia 1596-1950. Amster- dam: Rodopi. Vredenbregt, ]., 1962, 'The Haddj; Some of its features and functions in Indonesia', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 118:91-154.

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