The Habib kramat of the ‘Aidarus family was a half-crazy young Sayyid living in Acheh in the time of Snouck Hurgronje’s residence there. He is mentioned in Vol. I of The Achehnese as one of the living persons — alongside the Habib Abdurrahman (Sayyid Abdurrahman Zahir) and other Sayyids — who were regarded by the Achehnese as kramat, that is, endowed with the sacred and wonder-working power popularly attributed to persons of holy descent.
The young man belonged to the famous ‘Aidarus family of Sayyids, an illustrious Hadrami-Arab lineage whose members had long been settled in the Archipelago and were revered throughout the Muslim Indian Ocean. He was the son of Teungku di Buket, himself a man who enjoyed a reputation for sanctity, and who, in conjunction with the lately deceased raja of Idi (vulgarly Edi), had been the first pioneer of that district. The father’s sanctity was thus, in popular estimation, transmitted to his children — though in the son’s case it took the form of the half-madness often associated in popular Achehnese belief with the possession of kramat.
Snouck Hurgronje mentions in passing a sister of this “sanctified madman” who was, in her turn, so holy that her husband, after cohabiting with her once, fell very ill and “has not since ventured to renew his marital rights.” The anecdote is characteristic of the Achehnese popular conception of kramat: a power at once revered and feared, which could attach to persons of distinguished Sayyid descent quite independently of any personal piety or learning on their part.
The case of the Habib kramat of the ‘Aidarus family is cited by Snouck Hurgronje in the course of his discussion of the religious nobility of Acheh — the Sayyids, who, though they had settled in the country and often adopted Achehnese manners, continued to enjoy the customary reverence based on the religious feeling attaching to their descent from the Prophet. The title Habib (literally “beloved”), used in Arabia as an honorific designation of Sayyids, had been introduced into Acheh by Sayyid Abdurrahman Zahir, and in conversation the word habib was “at present used in Acheh to express acquiescence in or obedience to the word of the Sayyid, just as dirham is used to the sultan.” Even a half-crazy young Sayyid of the ‘Aidarus family could thus command, by virtue of his blood alone, the reverence which the Achehnese reserved for those whom they regarded as endowed with kramat.
See Also
- Teungku di Buket
- Habib Abdurrahman
- Sayyid Abu Bakar bin Husain Bil-Faqih
- Sayyid Abdurrahman Zahir
- Idi
- Gampong Jawa
- Prophet Muhammad
- 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.
The Habib kramat of the ‘Aidarus family was a half-crazy young Sayyid living in Acheh in the time of Snouck Hurgronje’s residence there. He is mentioned in Vol. I of The Achehnese as one of the living persons — alongside the Habib Abdurrahman (Sayyid Abdurrahman Zahir) and other Sayyids — who were regarded by the Achehnese as kramat, that is, endowed with the sacred and wonder-working power popularly attributed to persons of holy descent.
The young man belonged to the famous ‘Aidarus family of Sayyids, an illustrious Hadrami-Arab lineage whose members had long been settled in the Archipelago and were revered throughout the Muslim Indian Ocean. He was the son of Teungku di Buket, himself a man who enjoyed a reputation for sanctity, and who, in conjunction with the lately deceased raja of Idi (vulgarly Edi), had been the first pioneer of that district. The father’s sanctity was thus, in popular estimation, transmitted to his children — though in the son’s case it took the form of the half-madness often associated in popular Achehnese belief with the possession of kramat.
Snouck Hurgronje mentions in passing a sister of this “sanctified madman” who was, in her turn, so holy that her husband, after cohabiting with her once, fell very ill and “has not since ventured to renew his marital rights.” The anecdote is characteristic of the Achehnese popular conception of kramat: a power at once revered and feared, which could attach to persons of distinguished Sayyid descent quite independently of any personal piety or learning on their part.
The case of the Habib kramat of the ‘Aidarus family is cited by Snouck Hurgronje in the course of his discussion of the religious nobility of Acheh — the Sayyids, who, though they had settled in the country and often adopted Achehnese manners, continued to enjoy the customary reverence based on the religious feeling attaching to their descent from the Prophet. The title Habib (literally “beloved”), used in Arabia as an honorific designation of Sayyids, had been introduced into Acheh by Sayyid Abdurrahman Zahir, and in conversation the word habib was “at present used in Acheh to express acquiescence in or obedience to the word of the Sayyid, just as dirham is used to the sultan.” Even a half-crazy young Sayyid of the ‘Aidarus family could thus command, by virtue of his blood alone, the reverence which the Achehnese reserved for those whom they regarded as endowed with kramat.
See Also
- Teungku di Buket
- Habib Abdurrahman
- Sayyid Abu Bakar bin Husain Bil-Faqih
- Sayyid Abdurrahman Zahir
- Idi
- Gampong Jawa
- Prophet Muhammad
- 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.