Fatimah bint Abdarrhaman ‘Aidid was a Sayyid woman of the famous clan of ‘Aidid, and the consort of the great Achehnese saint Teungku Anjong (Sayyid Abu Bakar bin Husain Bil-Faqih). She is better known to the Achehnese by the popular honorific Aja Eseutiri — also written Aja Bseutiri — meaning “my lady the consort”. Her tomb stands close to that of her husband at Gampong Jawa, and is the occasion of one of the three principal annual kanduris held in the deah (prayer-house) at that sacred tomb.
Birth, descent, and death
Fatimah was a daughter of a Sayyid of the famous clan of ‘Aidid — a Hadrami Arab lineage of Hadramaut origin, branches of which are to be found throughout the Indian Archipelago and especially at Batavia (Luar Batang) and Acheh. She appears to have died on the 18th of Rajab 1235 H, corresponding to May 1820. Her husband, Teungku Anjong, had himself died — according to the Achehnese chronology recorded by Snouck Hurgronje — on the 14th of Ramadhan 1196 H (August 1782); she thus survived him by some thirty-eight years.
The annual kanduri of Aja Eseutiri
On the 18th of Rajab each year, one of the three principal annual kanduris is held in the deah at Teungku Anjong’s tomb in honour of Aja Eseutiri. The other two are held on the 12th of Rabi’ al-awwal (in honour of the saint himself, the so-called kanduri Těungku Anjong) and on the 14th of Puasa (also dedicated to the saint). The three together form the most important cycle of religious feasts at this most venerated of Achehnese tombs; the kanduri Aja Eseutiri is described as resembling the other two exactly.
Place in the Achehnese hagiological calendar
The annual kanduri of Aja Eseutiri is one of the fixed feasts of the Achehnese year, and is woven into the calendar of the month of Rajab — itself known in Acheh as Kanduri Apam from the round flat apam-cakes baked in every house during the month. The conjunction of the kanduri Aja Eseutiri with the observance of the Prophet’s celebrated “journey to heaven” — the mi’raj — commemorated on the night of the 27th of Rajab, places the saint’s consort within the same ritual month as one of the principal events of the Mohammedan sacred history.
See Also
- Aja Bseutiri
- Teungku Anjong
- Gampong Jawa
- Kanduri T’eungku Anjong
- Kanduri Aja Bseutiri
- Kanduri Apam
- Hadramaut
- Acheh
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.
Fatimah bint Abdarrhaman ‘Aidid was a Sayyid woman of the famous clan of ‘Aidid, and the consort of the great Achehnese saint Teungku Anjong (Sayyid Abu Bakar bin Husain Bil-Faqih). She is better known to the Achehnese by the popular honorific Aja Eseutiri — also written Aja Bseutiri — meaning “my lady the consort”. Her tomb stands close to that of her husband at Gampong Jawa, and is the occasion of one of the three principal annual kanduris held in the deah (prayer-house) at that sacred tomb.
Birth, descent, and death
Fatimah was a daughter of a Sayyid of the famous clan of ‘Aidid — a Hadrami Arab lineage of Hadramaut origin, branches of which are to be found throughout the Indian Archipelago and especially at Batavia (Luar Batang) and Acheh. She appears to have died on the 18th of Rajab 1235 H, corresponding to May 1820. Her husband, Teungku Anjong, had himself died — according to the Achehnese chronology recorded by Snouck Hurgronje — on the 14th of Ramadhan 1196 H (August 1782); she thus survived him by some thirty-eight years.
The annual kanduri of Aja Eseutiri
On the 18th of Rajab each year, one of the three principal annual kanduris is held in the deah at Teungku Anjong’s tomb in honour of Aja Eseutiri. The other two are held on the 12th of Rabi’ al-awwal (in honour of the saint himself, the so-called kanduri Těungku Anjong) and on the 14th of Puasa (also dedicated to the saint). The three together form the most important cycle of religious feasts at this most venerated of Achehnese tombs; the kanduri Aja Eseutiri is described as resembling the other two exactly.
Place in the Achehnese hagiological calendar
The annual kanduri of Aja Eseutiri is one of the fixed feasts of the Achehnese year, and is woven into the calendar of the month of Rajab — itself known in Acheh as Kanduri Apam from the round flat apam-cakes baked in every house during the month. The conjunction of the kanduri Aja Eseutiri with the observance of the Prophet’s celebrated “journey to heaven” — the mi’raj — commemorated on the night of the 27th of Rajab, places the saint’s consort within the same ritual month as one of the principal events of the Mohammedan sacred history.
See Also
- Aja Bseutiri
- Teungku Anjong
- Gampong Jawa
- Kanduri T’eungku Anjong
- Kanduri Aja Bseutiri
- Kanduri Apam
- Hadramaut
- Acheh
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.