Muballigul Islam: A Minangkabau Manuscript about Three 'Guru's

As I mentioned here, Minangkabau has rich and long tradition regarding the production of manuscripts, especially those relate to religious issues. This tradition is still alive, thanks to some Shattariyya teachers who live and teach Islam in their suraus.

One of the contemporary Minangkabau manuscripts I want to share here is Muballigul Islam. It was copied on Saturday, 16 November 1996, and finished on Thursday, 2 January 1997 in PS Tandikat VII Koto Pariaman. I own a copy of this manuscript, thanks to Ustaz Agus Salim, one of the Shattariyya followers in Tandikat, Pariaman, who has allowed me to copy some of his collections.

Muballigul Islam deals with both the history and teachings of three Shattariyya teachers who have had significant influences on the development of the Order in this area, namely Shaikh Abdurrauf Ali al-Jawi of Aceh, and two Minangkabau ulemas: Shaikh Burhanuddin Ulakan and Shaikh Muhammad Nasir.

As far as my research concerns, this manuscript is one of the “witnesses” copied by H.K.T. Deram from the ‘original’ text written by Shaikh Paseban (d. 1937), one of the local prominent Shattariyya murshids, who disseminated the Shattariyya teachings in his surau, which is known as Surau Paseban. Regarding H.K.T. Deram himself, I found his identity in a colophon of another Minangkabau manuscript:

“…saya yang menulis nama Deram gelar Khatib Bandaharo, suku Jambak, Desa Pulau Air, Tandikat, Tujuh Koto Pariaman…”.

It is interesting to note here that Surau Paseban, which is located in Koto Tangah, Padang, was used to be a center for the transmission of Islamic knowledge, especially the Shattariyya teachings. There were some pupils came from other regions in Minangkabau studied Islam to Shaikh Paseban in this Surau. According to M Yusuf in his recently published catalogue, there are at least fifty neglected Arabic and Malay manuscripts found here in poor condition.

Muballigul Islam is obviously well known by the Shattariyya followers in Minangkabau, since we find some other copies of this manuscript. Imam Maulana Abdul Manaf Amin, one of the Shatariyya teachers, who is still alive until now, in Surau Batang Kabung, Koto Tangah, Padang, for instance, has copied this manuscript in 1936 in Surau Paseban, a year before Shaikh Paseban went to, and dead in, Mecca.

Moreover, in order to fulfill the highly demands of the Shattariyya followers, Imam Maulana Abdul Manaf Amin financed the publication of this manuscript in 1976. In fact, according to him, the printed edition published by Penerbit Saadiyah, Padang Panjang was sold out in short.

In the terms of Islam in the Malay-Indonesian world in general, and in Minangkabau in particular, Muballigul Islam is one of the Islamic works that has had great contribution in disseminating the ideas that the scholars called as neo-Sufism, for this manuscript insists to reconcile between Sufism (‘ilm al-haqa’iq) and shari’a or fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).

Quoting Abdurrauf Ali al-Jawi, as the main Khalifa in Shattariyya Order in the Malay-Indonesian world, the author explains, for example, that there are four stages somebody should undertake to ‘attain’ his God: shari’a, tariqa, haqiqa, and ma’rifa. It is true that somebody who has already reached the final stage, ma’rifa, may experience what Sufis called as fana in which he:

“…telah lenyap pada Allah dan kekal dengan Allah, tidak tahu dengan alam lagi, termasuk alam tubuhnya, malahan dengan Allah semata-mata…” (p. 61).

However, he still has an obligation to engage with the practices of shari’a. The text said:

“…orang yang mengatakan pula bahwa dia telah sampai kepada Allah sehingga tidak wajib lagi sembahyang menurut aturan syariat…itu orang pembohong dan pendusta namanya…” (p. 61).

Beside Muballigul Islam, there are some other Minangkabau manuscripts deal with this issue. I included some of them as main sources for my last research, and I do believe that we still need another ‘academic touch’ to know more about the content of this Islamic cultural heritage.