Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad was a publisher of popular Islamic devotional texts who, in the late nineteenth century, oversaw the handsome lithographed edition at Cairo of the maulids (poems in praise of the Prophet) most in use in the Muslim world of his day. He is mentioned by Snouck Hurgronje in Vol. I of The Achehnese in the chapter on the kanduri Mo’lot — the Achehnese feast of the birth of the Prophet.
The collection published by Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad was issued “in a single volume along with a number of other formulas used for religious purposes.” This collection, Snouck Hurgronje notes, “enjoys the greatest popularity both at Mekka and throughout the whole Indian Archipelago.” It contains three of the maulids most widely used in Acheh: two in rhyming prose alternating with songs of praise in verse, and one entirely in verse. Of the two prose-and-verse maulids, one was composed by a certain Bukhari, the other by Ja’far al-Barzanji; the third, in verse, is also the work of Ja’far al-Barzanji. All three are in use in Acheh, that of Bukhari especially at the official kanduris.
The maulid of Bukhari bears the title Maulid sharfal ‘anam (“Birth of the Glory of Mankind”) — known in Java as Sarapulanam and in Acheh as Charapha anam (more fully Maulid sharaful ‘anam). About the middle of the Charapha anam comes a hymn of praise of moderate length which all the experts present — in an Achehnese meunasah, the teungku and all the leubes — raise in chorus, rising from their places while incense is burnt in their midst. After this hymn of praise the kanduri Mo’lot closes with a long prayer which is to be found at the end of the Charapha anam.
The role of Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad in this story is primarily that of an editor-publisher: he gathered together, in a single handsome volume, the maulids that had come to be most in use, and he distributed them through the channels of the Cairo-Mecca-Archipelago print trade. In a footnote Snouck Hurgronje observes that “according to the publication of at-Tochi; others assign a different name to the author” of one of the maulids — a small indication that at-Tochi’s edition, however popular, did not settle every question of authorship.
The diffusion of at-Tochi’s collection is a striking instance of the way in which the printed texts of late-nineteenth-century Cairo and Mecca came, in this period, to standardise the devotional practice of Muslims at the far ends of the Indian Ocean. In Acheh, the recitation of the maulids printed by Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad — known as meulike (from dikr) — formed, and continues to form, the central devotional act of the kanduri Mo’lot.
See Also
- Ja’far al-Barzanji
- Al-Bukhari (maulid author)
- Maulud (Mo’lot)
- Sarapulanam)
- Kanduri Mo’lot
- Cairo
- Mecca
- Java
- Acheh
- Prophet Muhammad
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.
Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad was a publisher of popular Islamic devotional texts who, in the late nineteenth century, oversaw the handsome lithographed edition at Cairo of the maulids (poems in praise of the Prophet) most in use in the Muslim world of his day. He is mentioned by Snouck Hurgronje in Vol. I of The Achehnese in the chapter on the kanduri Mo’lot — the Achehnese feast of the birth of the Prophet.
The collection published by Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad was issued “in a single volume along with a number of other formulas used for religious purposes.” This collection, Snouck Hurgronje notes, “enjoys the greatest popularity both at Mekka and throughout the whole Indian Archipelago.” It contains three of the maulids most widely used in Acheh: two in rhyming prose alternating with songs of praise in verse, and one entirely in verse. Of the two prose-and-verse maulids, one was composed by a certain Bukhari, the other by Ja’far al-Barzanji; the third, in verse, is also the work of Ja’far al-Barzanji. All three are in use in Acheh, that of Bukhari especially at the official kanduris.
The maulid of Bukhari bears the title Maulid sharfal ‘anam (“Birth of the Glory of Mankind”) — known in Java as Sarapulanam and in Acheh as Charapha anam (more fully Maulid sharaful ‘anam). About the middle of the Charapha anam comes a hymn of praise of moderate length which all the experts present — in an Achehnese meunasah, the teungku and all the leubes — raise in chorus, rising from their places while incense is burnt in their midst. After this hymn of praise the kanduri Mo’lot closes with a long prayer which is to be found at the end of the Charapha anam.
The role of Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad in this story is primarily that of an editor-publisher: he gathered together, in a single handsome volume, the maulids that had come to be most in use, and he distributed them through the channels of the Cairo-Mecca-Archipelago print trade. In a footnote Snouck Hurgronje observes that “according to the publication of at-Tochi; others assign a different name to the author” of one of the maulids — a small indication that at-Tochi’s edition, however popular, did not settle every question of authorship.
The diffusion of at-Tochi’s collection is a striking instance of the way in which the printed texts of late-nineteenth-century Cairo and Mecca came, in this period, to standardise the devotional practice of Muslims at the far ends of the Indian Ocean. In Acheh, the recitation of the maulids printed by Hasan at-Tochi Ahmad — known as meulike (from dikr) — formed, and continues to form, the central devotional act of the kanduri Mo’lot.
See Also
- Ja’far al-Barzanji
- Al-Bukhari (maulid author)
- Maulud (Mo’lot)
- Sarapulanam)
- Kanduri Mo’lot
- Cairo
- Mecca
- Java
- Acheh
- Prophet Muhammad
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.