Lheue is a place in the XXII Mukims of Great Acheh associated in The Achehnese with the ulama Teungku di Lheue, who rendered service to Panglima Polem when the hereditary kali of the sagi refused to act as his assistant.
The Kali of the XXII Mukims and Panglima Polem
Snouck Hurgronje describes how, in the XXII Mukims, the office of kali rabon jale — the chief judge of the sagi — had become hereditary, contrary to the original rule that the chief kalis of the three sagis should be appointed by the Sultan. The kali of the XXII Mukims, though he acquired his office by inheritance, was as a matter of fact a man of learning. According to Achehnese custom the late kali, like his forefathers before him, was called after the gampong in which he lived: Teungku Tanoh Abee. By reason of his learning this chief esteemed himself too highly to act as a sort of acolyte of the Panglima of his sagi, and refused to appear at the latter’s call.
This powerful uleebalang was thus constrained, when need arose, to seek the help of teungkus of inferior qualifications. The chief of those who rendered service in this way was Teungku di Lheue, “an ulama of inferior repute.” The last kali of the old line died in 1893.
Significance
The mention of Lheue thus forms part of a small but instructive episode in the religious politics of the highlands. The hereditary kali of the sagi, holding himself aloof from the territorial chief, preferred to devote his time to study and the instruction of his disciples; while the Panglima Polem, deprived of his proper religious assessor, was forced to fall back upon men of lesser standing. That Teungku di Lheue was singled out for the role indicates that the gampong of Lheue possessed, in the late nineteenth century, at least one resident ulama of sufficient repute to be employed in judicial business on behalf of the sagi — even if he was not in the first rank of Achehnese scholars.
See Also
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.