The Javanese Shattariya Manuscripts in West Java

While culturally associated to Sundanese or known as Tatar Sunda, Kuningan, Cirebon, Purwakarta, Pamijahan, and some regions nearby have produced manuscripts in Javanese languages. Of the Javanese religious manuscripts frequently found in these areas are those relate to the Shattariya Order that primarily brought to the Malay world by Shaikh Abdurrauf Ali al-Jawi (1615-1690) in Aceh.

Apart from its development in Minangkabau, West Sumatra by Shaikh Burhanudin Ulakan, Shattariyya Order also widely spread to some areas in West Java, thanks to Shaikh Abdul Muhyi Karang Pamijahan, another prominent pupil of Shaikh Abdurrauf.

Similar to Shaikh Burhanudin, so far we have no idea on works written exactly by Shaikh Abdul Muhyi, even we only have a little information regarding his life. However, there are manuscripts deal with his teachings and spiritual genealogy (silsilah) on Shattariyya Order, and Qadiriyah as well. Christomy (2003: 35) cited there are at least 33 Javanese Shattariyya manuscripts could be associated to Shaikh Abdul Muhyi, and kept in Leiden University Library.

Of course, the numbers do not include yet other Javanese Shattariyya manuscripts personally owned by the people in some areas in West Java. “Jawa Barat” Catalogue by Ekadjati and Darsa (1999) has described such manuscripts that found in a huge numbers.

Just as an example, months before my departure to Germany on June 2006, somebody in Kuningan (my birthplace village, actually) showed me a Javanese Shattariyya manuscript containing both Shattariyya teachings and silsilah of Shaikh Abdul Muhyi linked to his students in the 19th century, such as Shaikh Haji Abdullah and Shaikh Haji Muhammad Hasanuddin in Karang, and Kyai Muhammad Salih and Kyai Mas Muhammad Arjain (?) in Cirebon.

You can see the silsilah in the image below (click image to enlarge view):

There is neither title nor date found in this manuscript. Apparently, however, this manuscript is similar to another Javanese Shattariyya manuscript kept in Leiden Library Collection (Cod. Or. 7446), which contains more complete teachings and silsilah of Shaikh Abdul Muhyi and his students in West Java. This manuscript has been written in “…wulan syawal tanggal ping 9 selasa Wage, Tahun 1880, nuju jam 11, mangsa kapit…” (p. 50), and the fist phrase the author said is: “…iku lah kitab ing dalem anyatakaken turun turune dedalan Syattariyyah kang tedak saking Rasulullah Saw. maring sayyidina ‘Ali kang putra Abi Talib radiya Allahu ‘anhu…” (p. 1).

There is no identity regarding the author or the scriber of this manuscript, despite I am in opinion that it has been written after the 19th century, due to several names of Shaikh Abdul Muhyi’s students lived between the 18th and 19th centuries found in the text, such as Kyai Hasan Maolani (1779-1874) from Lengkong, Kuningan, Kyai Nur Muhammad from Pasir Astana, Kyai Nur Ali from Purwakarta, and bagus Muhammad Reja from Sukaraja, Tasikmalaya.

After listing names in the Shattariyya silsilah which is connected to the Prophet Muhammad, the author deals with the categories of murid (student) in the term of Sufi order, namely: murid mubtadi (the beginner) or “wong ahli syariat” as the author addressed, murid mutawassit (the intermediate student) or “wong ahli tarekat”, murid kamil (the perfect student) or “wong ahli hakikat”, and murid kamil mukammal (the perfect and performed student) or “wong ahli makrifat”.

The author explains that each of the murids has specific way of dhikr. The dhikr for the murid mubtadi is: “…lisane anebut la ilaha illa Allah lan atine iku anebut ora ana kang sinembah sawiji-wiji anging Allah…”; the dhikr for murid mutawassit is “…lisane anebut la ilaha illa Allah lan atine iku anebut ora ana kang den kasihi anging Allah…”; the dhikr for murid kamil is “…lisane anebut la ilaha illa Allah lan atine iku anebut ora ana kang maujud sawiji-wiji anging Allah…”, while the dhikr for murid kamil mukammal is “…lisane anebut la ilaha illa Allah atawa illa Allah, atawa Allah Allah, atawa Allah Hu, atawa Hu Allah, atawa Hu Hu, atawa la la, atawa A A, atawa Ih Ih, atawa Uh Uh…”.

Specifically, I suppose that Kuningan in West Java has had the significant tradition regarding the development of the Shattariyya Order, due to Kyai Hasan Maolani (see Drewes 1925) from Lengkong as one of the local religious leaders in the 19th century, and some pesantrens found here. Accordingly, we might find some other religious manuscripts in this region. I hope that we could develop a research of cataloguing manuscripts in this region, someday.