Mohammad ibnu’l Hanafiyyah (Arabic Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya) was a son of Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet) by his wife al-Hanafiyya, and is mentioned in Vol. I of The Achehnese as one of the heroes of the popular Islamic romances current in the Eastern Archipelago. He is cited by Snouck Hurgronje in the course of his argument about the Indian — and especially Deccanese — origin of much of the popular religious literature of the Malay-Indonesian world.
Snouck Hurgronje’s reference occurs in the chapter on popular religion, where he argues that the Deccan form of Mohammedanism exercised on the Islam of the Indonesians an influence “superior in force to that of any other agency.” The argument turns, in part, on the character of the popular religious literature of the Archipelago: “Whence come the stories which are such favourites in the Eastern Archipelago of the Titanic wars and numerous love adventures of Amir Hamzah (the uncle of Mohammad), the romantic adventures of Mohammad (ibnu’l) Hanafiyyah (the son of Ali), of the hero Sam’un, Raja Badar and many more, all in conflict both with the history and the legendary tradition of the Arabs?” The answer: “It is more particularly in British India that works of this sort are to be met with, nor is it possible that they should have been disseminated to such an extent in any country closer to Arabia.”
The point of the argument is double. In the first place, the popularity of such romances in the Archipelago is evidence of the strength of the Indian channel of Islamic diffusion: works of this sort are not native to Arabia, and could only have reached the Malays and Javanese through the intermediacy of the Muslim communities of southern India. In the second place, the romances themselves — like the Hasan-Husain festival described in the Qanoon-e-islam of Jaffur Shurreef — testify to the strong Shi’ite colouring of the popular Islam of the Deccan, which was transmitted, along with the orthodox Shafi’ite law, to the converts of the Eastern Archipelago. The figure of Mohammad ibnu’l Hanafiyyah, who in Arab tradition is a comparatively minor historical personage, is in the popular literature of the Indian Ocean magnified into a romantic hero of “Titanic wars and numerous love adventures,” in flat contradiction with both history and the legendary tradition of the Arabs.
The inclusion of Mohammad ibnu’l Hanafiyyah in the same list with Amir Hamzah, Sam’un, and Raja Badar is thus not accidental. All are figures of the popular Islamic romance-cycle whose stories, in the form in which they circulate in the Malay world, are products of the imaginative and devotional life of Indian Islam rather than of the Arabic heartland. The same channel of diffusion brought, in Snouck Hurgronje’s view, the Achehnese celebration of the Hasan-Husain festival in the month of Asan-Usen, and other features of Achehnese popular religion which cannot be derived from the Shafi’ite law alone.
See Also
- Ali
- Amir Hamzah
- Sam’un
- Raja Badar
- Hasan and Husain
- Hasan-Husain festival
- Jaffur Shurreef
- Prophet Muhammad
- British India
- Deccan
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.
Mohammad ibnu’l Hanafiyyah (Arabic Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya) was a son of Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet) by his wife al-Hanafiyya, and is mentioned in Vol. I of The Achehnese as one of the heroes of the popular Islamic romances current in the Eastern Archipelago. He is cited by Snouck Hurgronje in the course of his argument about the Indian — and especially Deccanese — origin of much of the popular religious literature of the Malay-Indonesian world.
Snouck Hurgronje’s reference occurs in the chapter on popular religion, where he argues that the Deccan form of Mohammedanism exercised on the Islam of the Indonesians an influence “superior in force to that of any other agency.” The argument turns, in part, on the character of the popular religious literature of the Archipelago: “Whence come the stories which are such favourites in the Eastern Archipelago of the Titanic wars and numerous love adventures of Amir Hamzah (the uncle of Mohammad), the romantic adventures of Mohammad (ibnu’l) Hanafiyyah (the son of Ali), of the hero Sam’un, Raja Badar and many more, all in conflict both with the history and the legendary tradition of the Arabs?” The answer: “It is more particularly in British India that works of this sort are to be met with, nor is it possible that they should have been disseminated to such an extent in any country closer to Arabia.”
The point of the argument is double. In the first place, the popularity of such romances in the Archipelago is evidence of the strength of the Indian channel of Islamic diffusion: works of this sort are not native to Arabia, and could only have reached the Malays and Javanese through the intermediacy of the Muslim communities of southern India. In the second place, the romances themselves — like the Hasan-Husain festival described in the Qanoon-e-islam of Jaffur Shurreef — testify to the strong Shi’ite colouring of the popular Islam of the Deccan, which was transmitted, along with the orthodox Shafi’ite law, to the converts of the Eastern Archipelago. The figure of Mohammad ibnu’l Hanafiyyah, who in Arab tradition is a comparatively minor historical personage, is in the popular literature of the Indian Ocean magnified into a romantic hero of “Titanic wars and numerous love adventures,” in flat contradiction with both history and the legendary tradition of the Arabs.
The inclusion of Mohammad ibnu’l Hanafiyyah in the same list with Amir Hamzah, Sam’un, and Raja Badar is thus not accidental. All are figures of the popular Islamic romance-cycle whose stories, in the form in which they circulate in the Malay world, are products of the imaginative and devotional life of Indian Islam rather than of the Arabic heartland. The same channel of diffusion brought, in Snouck Hurgronje’s view, the Achehnese celebration of the Hasan-Husain festival in the month of Asan-Usen, and other features of Achehnese popular religion which cannot be derived from the Shafi’ite law alone.
See Also
- Ali
- Amir Hamzah
- Sam’un
- Raja Badar
- Hasan and Husain
- Hasan-Husain festival
- Jaffur Shurreef
- Prophet Muhammad
- British India
- Deccan
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.