In the Hikayat Nabi Usoh: ‘The meeting of Usoh with his father takes place in the plain of Hunoynen.’ This name appears to be a corruption of Hunain, a valley in Arabia which was the scene of one of Muhammad’s battles.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Arabia
Arabia is mentioned throughout The Achehnese as one of the principal comparative regions for the institutions of Acheh. Snouck Hurgronje — who had himself resided in Arabia in 1884–1885, especially at Mecca, in order to gain an intimate knowledge of the influence of Mohammedan fanaticism upon the Achehnese — sets the customs of the Arabs beside those of the Achehnese, the Malays, and the peoples of the Archipelago in order to bring out both the kinship and the divergence between them.
Snouck’s residence in Arabia
In the preface to The Achehnese, Snouck observes that he had, “during a residence in Arabia in 1884–85, been in a position — especially at Mecca — to obtain an intimate knowledge of the influence of Mohammedan fanaticism upon the obstinate resistance of the Achehnese to Dutch rule.” Some time spent in direct relations with Achehnese on their own soil was, however, required to round off the knowledge gained by him from literature and from his experience in the sacred city of the Arabs. His earlier work, Mekka (Vol. II), is repeatedly referred to for comparative matters touching Arabia and the sayyids.
Marriage and the wali
The marriage customs of Arabia are repeatedly cited for comparison with those of Acheh and of the East Indian Archipelago. The method by which a marriage is concluded — the official deputy, having been empowered by the wali as his wakil, enters into the marriage contract on the wali’s behalf — is, Snouck observes, the one “most generally resorted to in other Mohammedan countries, as for example in Arabia.” The person authorized by the wali in Arabia is said to conclude the contract (‘aqd al-nikāḥ); the corresponding official in Java is the naib or district pangulu.
In Arabia, hardly one wali in a thousand could be found who would be able to discharge the duty of pronouncing the proper legal forms without extraneous help. The persons entrusted with the task of concluding marriage contracts — called in Mekka mumlik — supply the deficiencies in the (necessarily scanty) legal knowledge of the general public. They either dictate to the wali and the bridegroom what they have to say, or have themselves empowered by the wali and enter into the marriage contract as his wakil. In the inland parts of Java just as much as in Arabia, however, exceptions to the rule of invoking the services of appointed or licensed makers of marriages are to be found.
Slaves and concubines
Even in Arabia, the prescribed period of abstention in regard to purchased female slaves is seldom or never observed; in Acheh, no disgrace whatever attaches to the violation of female captives immediately on their acquisition. The comparison is to Arabia’s disadvantage, since the Achehnese practice is, in this respect, a more flagrant departure from the Mohammedan code than the Arabian. The slaves of Acheh, Snouck notes, are better treated than those of Arabia; but the comparison belongs to a chapter in which the position of slaves in Acheh is set beside that of slaves in other Mohammedan countries.
Burong and the qarinah
The Achehnese burong — the female spirit that preys upon pregnant women and women in childbed — is compared by Snouck with the Arabian umm al-ṣibyān or qarīnah, treated in his Mekka (Vol. II, pp. 23–24). The Malays also believe in the pontianak, but even more dreaded is the penanggalan, a separate female spirit of the Peninsula. The Achehnese word burong is exactly identical in sound with the Malay burong (“bird”), but “bird” in Achehnese is cicm, and the spirit’s name has no connection in the Achehnese mind with the Malay word.
The month of all souls
The choice of the eighth month of the Mohammedan year for the commemoration of the dead is treated as one of the principal indices of the introduction of Islam into Acheh from the Deccan, since in Arabia the commemoration generally takes place in the seventh month. The Hasan-Husain feasts, which are specially characteristic of the Shi’ite portions of British India and of Persia, “specially belong to Persia and the Shi’ite portions of British India, and need not occupy our attention here.” The purified Islam of Mecca has, in the East Indies, banished these feasts; they are now to be witnessed at Kuta Raja only because they are got up by the Padang people who have settled there.
See Also
- Hikayat Nabi Usoh
- Mecca
- Medina
- Hadramaut
- East Indian Archipelago
- Deccan
- Hindustan
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Sayyid Abdurrahman Zahir
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.