The Tadkirat-ar-rakinut (Arabic Tadhkirat ar-rākinūt, “exhortation to the inactive”; also rendered Tadkirat ar-rakidïn, “Vermaning der stilzittenden” — “Admonition to the Sitter-Still,” i.e. those who sit by passively) is a politico-religious pamphlet circulated in Acheh by the ulama Teungku Kutakarang as an enlarged and amended edition of a number of politico-religious pamphlets which were already known within a narrower circle. Composed in the common Achehnese metre, it proclaims the principles of the holy war against the Dutch, seeks to rouse the people to better organization and increased energy, and exposes the internal dissensions of the Achehnese camp. Snouck Hurgronje, who succeeded in obtaining three copies, classes it with the politico-religious literature of the Acheh War.
Contents and argument
In the Tadkirat-ar-rakinut the Dutch are represented as outcasts of humanity whose aim is the destruction of the countries over which they hold sway, while at the same time attention is drawn to their powerlessness in respect of Acheh. The Achehnese, the Teungku proceeds, are well able to expel the Dutch; even the very babes are best appeased by being offered a sword as a toy. The country is rich enough in munitions of war and wants nothing but good generalship. The Sultan he hardly mentions, employing only the similitude of the marriage of the Sultans with the State of Acheh to give point to the remark that a bridegroom who will not lift a finger to save his bride from the stranger is unworthy of her.
In Kreemer’s account, the pamphlet series invoked the tjab limöng — a magical seal that was part of the esoteric apparatus of resistance, linking oelama-authority with political-military action.
Critique of the chiefs and the rival ulamas
The uleebalangs, the pamphlet continues, hold no consultation with the ulamas as they ought to do; they think only of their own particular interests, and by reason of the “louse questions” (so runs the Teungku’s favourite metaphor) which cause disruption between them, they see not the “elephant” which threatens the whole nation. The people of the gampongs are also to blame, for many of them imitate the inactivity of the uleebalangs and withdraw from all share in that most solemn of obligations, the jihad, on the pretext that this duty rests not on the individual but on the community in general. Some entrust their money contributions to the wrong hands — here he alludes to his rivals — others let themselves be won over by the money of the infidels to keep the ground clear round their line of forts. He prophesies woe to the Achehnese within the linie who have submitted to the Gompeuni, so soon as the infidel shall have been driven out. All now depends on the chab liong, on the force of the sword.
Even the ulamas come in for a share of the blame for the slow progress of affairs. Some of them sit on their prayer-carpets or lose their senses over ascetic exercises — alluding to the Teungku’s rival Habib Samalanga, who is not however mentioned by name. Others devote themselves to the repair of mosques far away from the scene of the war, and hold great kanduris or religious feasts, squandering the money subscribed for the war on purposes for which it was never intended — here he refers to Teungku Tiro. They forget the main issue and are partly to blame for the reverses which come upon the country. The collection of the sabil monies should be made by concerted arrangement, and a central treasury established (of course with Teungku Kutakarang as its administrator) in the neighbourhood of the theatre of war; provision should also be made for attacking by sea the enemy whom they could already meet on equal terms on land.
Association with Teukoe Oema
Kreemer notes that Teungku Koetakarang was associated with Teukoe Oema, whose sudden defection (afval) in 1896 caused major upheaval in Dutch political and military policy. The Tadkirat ar-rakidïn pamphlets were part of the broader religious-political literature that sustained the Atjèhnese resistance during the Atjèh-oorlog.
Relation to the Tadj-oel-moelk
The Tadkirat ar-rakidïn should be distinguished from Koetakarang’s other major work, the Tadj-oel-moelk — a 141-page compilation of chronology, astrology, medical recipes, and magical formulas allegedly compiled at the request of Sultan Mantsoer Sjah (1838–1870). The Tadkirat ar-rakidïn was explicitly political-religious, while the Tadj-oel-moelk was a more general compilation of esoteric knowledge.
Place in the political literature of the war
The pamphlet thus reveals the dissensions which prevailed even among the ulamas, the party of action. It belongs to the heroic age of the holy war against the Dutch, before the submission of Teuku Uma in 1893 revealed the hollowness of the secular resistance; after that submission, Teungku Kutakarang withdrew to a great extent from public life and died in November 1895, without ever coming into contact with the Government, though in the last years of his life his friends succeeded in making the Dutch civil officers believe that this fanatic ulama had been transformed into an ardent advocate of acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Gompeuni. The Tadkirat-ar-rakinut thus remains the principal monument of his pen and one of the most important specimens of Achehnese politico-religious literature.
See Also
- Teungku Kutakarang
- Holy war against the Dutch
- Sabil Contributions
- Habib Samalanga
- Teungku Tiro
- Teukoe Oema
- Submission of Teuku Uma to the Dutch Government
- Tadj-oel-moelk
- Tjab limöng
- Acheh War
- 1893
- 1895
- 1896
- Teungkoe Koetakarang
- Aceh War
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Tengkoe Koetakarang
- Van der Heyden
- Prang sabil
- Hikajat prang
- Tiro-oelama’s ultimatum letter (1885)
- Brief van 18 Radjab 1325
- 1892
- 1938
Sources
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.
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Tweede Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1923. Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000001798; PPN 395084288. Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Tweede Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1923. Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000001798.
Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia. OCR-filename: 20260709_002148_DLP-81-Atjeh_OCR.txt.