The seumayang teuseubeh (Achehnese, from the Arabic ṣalāt at-tasābīḥ, “service of praise”) was a special prayer observed by some of the adult males of Acheh on the night of the middle of Sha’ban — the night called malam beureu’at in Acheh (in the Deccan Shab-i-barat), on which, it was supposed, Allah determined the fate of mortals during the forthcoming year. The prayer was an optional devotion, distinct from the five daily prescribed prayers, and was one of two alternative services by which the Achehnese marked the sanctity of that night.
Mode of observance
All assembled for the service, and one of those present was chosen to act as imam. The prayer resembled in essentials all other ṣalats, but was distinguished by the constant repetition of a certain tasbīḥ-formula — known in Arabic as tasbīḥ — in praise of the Creator, in each of the four parts into which it was divided. The service was thus a particular application of the universal Mohammedan practice of tasbīḥ, the repetitive glorification of God, set within the framework of an ordinary ṣalāt. The choice of the night of the middle of Sha’ban gave it a special solemnity: it was on that night, the popular idea ran, that there was a celestial tree of symbolic import, on which every human being had a leaf to represent him, and that this tree was shaken during the night, causing the leaves of all those who were to die during the coming year to fall.
The alternative seumayang hajat
In place of the seumayang teuseubeh, others performed what was called the seumayang hajat, prescribed as the introduction to special supplications addressed to the Deity. A seumayang hajat consisted of two parts (rak’ah). During the malam beureu’at three such prayers (thus comprising six rak’ahs) were sometimes offered up, each with its particular motive — the first being for prolongation of life, the second for the necessary means of supporting life, and the third for a blissful end. The two services thus stood in complementary relation: the seumayang teuseubeh was the service of praise, offered under a chosen imam by the assembled company, while the seumayang hajat was the service of supplication, offered by each worshipper for himself.
The women’s observance
The seumayang teuseubeh and the seumayang hajat were celebrated by the women with much greater zeal than by the men. They either performed the service of praise under a female imam, or the seumayang hajat each one for herself. The provision for a female imam in the seumayang teuseubeh is a noteworthy feature of Achehnese practice: in the prescribed daily prayers, the leadership of women was generally discouraged, but in the optional services of the great nights of the calendar, the women were permitted to organise their own devotions under a leader of their own sex.
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.