Teungkoe Tjhèh Ibrahim was an Atjèhnese religious scholar and the son of the Pidiësche oelama Teungkoe Tjhèh Marahaban. He served as hatib (preacher, from Arabic khatib) of the great mosque at Koeta Radja and as kali (religious judge) of the moesapat’s of Koeta Radja, Oelèë Lheuë, and Lam Njöng, and was appointed a geestelijk adviseur (spiritual adviser) to the governor — later a member of the Raad agama established by Stbl. 1920 N°. 398.
Kreemer’s principal informant
Kreemer records Teungkoe Tjhèh Ibrahim as his principal Atjèhnese informant in the preface to his Atjèh. “Maandenlang kwam hij schrijver dagelijks vanuit zijn kampoeng Lam Bhö te Koeta Radja bezoeken, wèl wetende, dat zijn hulp niet kon worden ontbeerd voor het doen slagen van de door schrijver op zich genomen taak.” (For months he visited the writer daily from his kampong Lam Bhö at Koeta Radja, well knowing that his assistance could not be dispensed with for the success of the task the writer had undertaken.) Kreemer notes that this man — “in Westerschen zin volkomen ongeschoold en toch met een diepe kennis, een fijnen geest en onberispelijke vormen begaafd” (“in the Western sense completely uneducated and yet endowed with a deep knowledge, a fine mind, and impeccable manners”) — had been one of Snouck Hurgronje’s most valued informants during his Atjèh fieldwork of 1891–1892.
Scholarly profile
By 1922 Kreemer describes Tjhèh Ibrahim as approximately sixty years old. He was a master of tadjwïd (the science of Koran recitation) but could not read the Arabic kitab’s (theological treatises) that formed the core of higher Islamic education. He was consulted by Kreemer on the peutimang period (the interval between marriage and peungklèh, the formal setting-up of the daughter in her own household), and explicitly stated he did not know the term “djandji-djinamèë” that Snouck Hurgronje had used for this period.
Mosque position
As hatib of the great mosque at Koeta Radja, Tjhèh Ibrahim was the second-highest of the three mosque officials (imeum, hatib, bileuë) established there in 1881 with a monthly bezoldiging of ƒ50. The mosque personnel had been installed in 1881 by his father Teungkoe Tjhèh Marahaban, who had become director of the mosque after swearing loyalty to the Gouvernement in 1881.
See Also
- J. Kreemer
- Teungkoe Tjhèh Marahaban
- Raad agama
- Koeta Radja
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Moesapat
- 1881
- 1891
- 1892
- 1920
- 1922
- Kreemer’s Atjèh (1922–1923)
- Cheh Marahaban
- Kali
Sources
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Tweede Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1923. Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000001798.
Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000001798; PPN 395084288. Koninklijke Bibliotheek.