The Maulid sharaful ‘anam (“Birth of the Glory of Mankind”) was the most popular of the three maulid recitations in use among the Achehnese, employed especially at the official kanduris of the gampong. Composed by a certain al-Bakhārī, it was published—along with a number of other formulas used for religious purposes—in a handsome lithographed edition produced at Cairo by Hasan al-Tochī Ahmad, which enjoyed the greatest popularity both at Mecca and throughout the whole Indian Archipelago. In Java it was called Sarapulanam; in Acheh, Charapha anam. Its recitation, called meulikè (from dhikr) in Acheh, formed the central act of the kanduri Mo’lot—the great annual feast of the Prophet’s birthday—and was the most widely diffused piece of religious literature in the country.
The maulid consisted of rhyming prose alternating with songs of praise in verse. The prose pieces were recited by one person, but others of those assembled might take a turn to relieve the reader. It was the same with the versified portions, the chanting of which in a particular fashion was very popular. About the middle of the Charapha anam came a hymn of praise of moderate length which all the experts present raised in chorus. These experts, in an Achehnese meunasah, were the teungku and all the leubes. While singing they rose from their places, and in their midst was placed a vessel containing incense, the savoury smoke from which blended with the chant in honour of the Apostle of God. After this hymn of praise the kanduri Mo’lot closed with a long prayer which was to be found at the end of the Charapha anam.
Whilst the leubes stood and chanted their hymn, the others crowded around and handed them pieces of black thread in which they tied knots while continuing to chant. These knotted threads were placed round the necks of children in the firm conviction that they constituted infallible charms. In Java it was customary to make the maulid-recitations the occasion for initiating certain homely industries such as knitting the first meshes of a fishing-net, commencing the hem of a garment, and so on, in order that the Prophet’s blessing might rest upon their task. This was not done in Acheh; there the fishermen set up their nets (jèë, nyarèng or pukat) on a Friday, sitting at the entrance of the mosque while the devout passed in to take part in the weekly Friday service.
The Charapha anam belongs, in the wider history of Islamic devotion in the archipelago, to a class of late-mediaeval compositions that brought the life of the Prophet within the reach of the common believer. Of the three maulids in general use, two were in rhyming prose alternating with songs of praise in verse: one composed by al-Bakhārī (the Charapha anam itself), the other by Jaʿfar al-Barzanjī. A third, entirely in verse, was also the work of the last-named writer. All three were employed in Acheh, but the Bakhārī recension held the first place at the public kanduris, owing partly to its dignified prose passages and partly to the practical convenience of its printed edition. Wealthy persons sometimes gave separate Mo’lot feasts in their own homes, but chose another day than that fixed for the kanduri of their gampong—generally the 12th of the month, which was seldom chosen for the public celebration. All attended the latter, not excepting the uleebalangs themselves.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.