The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland — abbreviated RAS — is a British scholarly society founded in 1823, the principal British society for the study of Asia. Its library in London holds the Maxwell collection of Malay manuscripts, of which no. 93 is the only known complete manuscript of the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī. The Society granted Voorhoeve permission to reproduce the text of the second part of the Maxwell manuscript for his 1955 edition of Raniri’s two Malay treatises.
The Maxwell manuscript of the Ḥujjat
The Maxwell manuscript of the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* — Royal Asiatic Society, London, Maxwell collection no. 93, pp. 119–145 — is the only known complete manuscript of the treatise, and is the basis of the facsimile in the 1955 edition. The first part of the codex contains the well-known Malay handbook of faith and religious duties entitled Bidāyat al-mubtadi bi-faḍl Allāh al-muhdī. Voorhoeve records that he was enabled to study the manuscript “first in London and later in Leiden” through the help of Sir R. O. Winstedt, while the Royal Asiatic Society granted permission to reproduce the text of the second part. Some lines have become unclear through damp-stains in the original; these are transcribed in Voorhoeve’s notes.
Significance
The Royal Asiatic Society is the holder of the Maxwell collection of Malay manuscripts — one of the principal British collections of Malay manuscripts — and is the institution by whose permission the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* of Raniri was made accessible to European scholarship. The 1955 facsimile edition of the two Malay treatises of Raniri — published by Voorhoeve as No. 16 of the Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje — would not have been possible without the Society’s permission to reproduce the text of the Maxwell manuscript. The fact that a Dutch edition of an Achehnese Malay treatise should have been made possible by the permission of a British scholarly society is itself a document of the international scholarly collaboration that underlies the modern study of Malay religious literature.
See Also
- Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk
- Hudjdjat as-siddiq li-daf az-zindiq
- P. Voorhoeve
- Raniri
- Sir R. O. Winstedt
- Stichting De Goeje
- Tibjan fi ma’rifat al-adyan
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §3a (“Inhoudsopgave”), p. 37, where the Maxwell manuscript and the Society’s permission are acknowledged.
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland — abbreviated RAS — is a British scholarly society founded in 1823, the principal British society for the study of Asia. Its library in London holds the Maxwell collection of Malay manuscripts, of which no. 93 is the only known complete manuscript of the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī. The Society granted Voorhoeve permission to reproduce the text of the second part of the Maxwell manuscript for his 1955 edition of Raniri’s two Malay treatises.
The Maxwell manuscript of the Ḥujjat
The Maxwell manuscript of the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* — Royal Asiatic Society, London, Maxwell collection no. 93, pp. 119–145 — is the only known complete manuscript of the treatise, and is the basis of the facsimile in the 1955 edition. The first part of the codex contains the well-known Malay handbook of faith and religious duties entitled Bidāyat al-mubtadi bi-faḍl Allāh al-muhdī. Voorhoeve records that he was enabled to study the manuscript “first in London and later in Leiden” through the help of Sir R. O. Winstedt, while the Royal Asiatic Society granted permission to reproduce the text of the second part. Some lines have become unclear through damp-stains in the original; these are transcribed in Voorhoeve’s notes.
Significance
The Royal Asiatic Society is the holder of the Maxwell collection of Malay manuscripts — one of the principal British collections of Malay manuscripts — and is the institution by whose permission the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* of Raniri was made accessible to European scholarship. The 1955 facsimile edition of the two Malay treatises of Raniri — published by Voorhoeve as No. 16 of the Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje — would not have been possible without the Society’s permission to reproduce the text of the Maxwell manuscript. The fact that a Dutch edition of an Achehnese Malay treatise should have been made possible by the permission of a British scholarly society is itself a document of the international scholarly collaboration that underlies the modern study of Malay religious literature.
See Also
- Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk
- Hudjdjat as-siddiq li-daf az-zindiq
- P. Voorhoeve
- Raniri
- Sir R. O. Winstedt
- Stichting De Goeje
- Tibjan fi ma’rifat al-adyan
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §3a (“Inhoudsopgave”), p. 37, where the Maxwell manuscript and the Society’s permission are acknowledged.