Sembahjang — Atjehnese/Dutch spelling of Arabic ṣalāt (صلاة), the obligatory ritual prayer of Islam — is the daily five-fold prayer that, with the Friday congregational prayer and the funeral prayer, forms the principal liturgical obligation of every adult Muslim. The term is recorded in Prof. Dr. Kernkamp’s chapter De invloed van den Islam in Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk (1946) in his account of the ritual obligations of Indonesian Islam.
Kernkamp’s account
Kernkamp introduces the sembahjang in the course of his discussion of the daily prayer cycle and its social setting in the Indonesian mosque (mesigit). His wording: “Although the daily 5 saláts (sembahjangs) — ritual religious exercises consisting of minutely regulated postures and movements and further of the reciting of certain formulas (wrongly often confused with a prayer) — are prescribed [for the Muslim], he may perform them at the prescribed times wherever he happens to be, even if it is meritorious to do so communally. In the Indies, only the personnel attached to the mosque, with a few neighbours, usually take part in the daily exercises, under the leadership of a foreman (imam). Only a Friday-salát, which is followed by a sermon, should, according to the Law, at least the men actually attend. In the Indies, however, as indeed elsewhere, that obligation is generally grossly neglected. Many lead a relatively pious Muslim life without otherwise coming to the mosque except on exceptional occasions. It is sufficient, but also a requirement, that at least 40 Muslims take part in the communal saláts.”
The sembahjang is to be distinguished from the sembah (the reverential gesture of greeting, in which the palms are pressed together with the fingers pointed upward); the two terms are etymologically related — sembahyang is, in folk etymology, sembah hyang, “the sembah to the hyang” (the deity) — but the sembahjang as ritual prayer is a specifically Islamic institution, while the sembah as gesture is an older Indonesian courtly form.
Atjeh practice
Kernkamp’s account of the sembahjang in Atjeh is brief: the Meunasah serves as the venue for the daily communal sembahjang in the Atjeh village, while the mesigit (the Friday mosque) serves for the Friday salát with its sermon. He further notes that, in Atjeh, the Friday takes on “more or less the character of an obligatory day of rest (which the Islam does not require): most work is then forbidden as unhealth-bringing, while, on the other hand, all sorts of religious recitation … are considered recommended.”
Significance
For the Atjeh-focused reader, the sembahjang is significant as the central ritual obligation of Atjeh Islam, and as the activity around which the institutional structure of the Meunasah and the mesigit is organised. The Friday congregational sembahjang with its sermon is the principal public liturgical event of the Atjeh Muslim week; the daily five-fold sembahjang is the principal private devotional discipline.
Dutch terms used in this article
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk — What the Indies Received and Gave
- Wereldbibliotheek N.V. — World Library Ltd.
- invloed van den Islam — influence of Islam
- imam — prayer-leader
- Teungku — religious teacher (Atjeh form)
- mesigit — Friday congregational mosque
- Meunasah — village prayer-house
- sembahjang — ritual prayer
- salát — ritual prayer
- sembah — reverential gesture
- pen — open/wide (Atjeh concept)
- Atjeh — Aceh
- Acheh — Aceh
- Prof. Dr. — Professor Doctor
- Dr. — Doctor
See Also
- Sembah
- Mesigit
- Meunasah
- Friday prohibitions
- Friday service
- Teungku
- Imam of Longbatta
- Acheh
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- J. Kreemer
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk
- W. J. A. Kernkamp
Source
Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., 1946), p. 85 (chapter De invloed van den Islam door Prof. Dr. W. J. A. Kernkamp).