A. Biography

Nuruddin al-Raniri was a nobleman, a fiqh expert, a theologian, and a historian as well as an important litterateur in the history of Malay in the 17^th century. His surname was Nuruddin bin Ali bin Hasanji bin Muhammad Hamid al-Raniri. He was born in Ranir – also spelled “Rander” – Gujarat, India. Many historians believe that al-Raniri was the descendent of the Prophet Muhammad from the family lineage of Bani Quraisy.

Al-Raniri was a polymath, in which he passed down the knowledge firstly from his father who was a trader as well as an Islamic scholar. Al-Raniri discerned knowledge disciplines ranging from history, politics, literature, philosophy, fiqh, and Sufism. The young al-Raniri, first, learned the Malay language, then continued deepening the Islamic teachings when he accomplished a pilgrimage in Mecca. As he went home from the pilgrimage, he met a big Islamic figure named Syamsuddin as-Sumatrani in the Land of Aceh. Unfortunately, the friendship with as-Sumatrani could no longer exist because as-Sumatrani was a Sufic devotee, an Islamic mysticism sect that believes in the unity of God and human. Indeed, al-Raniri was an anti-Sufism and therefore he had strong distaste for as-Sumatrani along with the Sufism as-Sumatrani was upholding highly at that time. For such distaste, al-Raniri moved to Malacca and deepened his Malay language and Islamic teachings there.

During his occupation in Malacca, al-Raniri read a bunch of books, such as Hikayat Sri Rhama and Hikayat Inderaputra, two books for that later on he criticized extremely. The other books he read were Hikayat Iskandar Zulkarnain, Taj as-Salatin of Bukhari al-Jauhari and Sulalat as-Salatin. The last two books are the most outstanding books of the time; thus, it greatly influenced one of al-Raniri`s works, Bustan as-Salatin (Diah et. al. 2002: 60).

Al-Raniri then moved to Aceh in 1637 A.D. following the death of Syamsudin as-Sumatrani. He lived and occupied a land in Aceh for seven years. During that time, he was appointed Kadi Malik al-Adil (great attorney), Mufti besat (great Islamic scholar assembly), and a Sheikh at Bait al-Rahman mosque by the ruler of Aceh Sultanate of the time, Sultan Iskandar Thani (1636-1641 A.D.).

With his powerful influence in Aceh Sultanate and likewise assistance from Abdul Rauf Singkel, al-Raniri endeavoured to combat Sufism upheld by both Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin as-Sumatrani, two former royal advisers in the Sultanate of Aceh. The works of both Fansuri and as-Sumatrani were burn out. Some of the Sufic followers were arrested, accused of conspiracy to kill Safiatun Johan Berdaulat (1641-1675 A.D.), the Sultan`s wife.

The situation turned 180 degree as Safiatun Johan Berdaulat grabbed the highest authority over Aceh Sultanate from her husband Sultan Iskandar Thani. Sultanah Safiatun Johan Berdaulat designated Saif ar-Rijl the royal adviser. The situation then resulted in conflict between Saif ar-Rijl, Sultan Iskandar Muda and al-Raniri. Indeed, Saif ar-Rijl was a Sufic devotee as well as Hamzah Fansuri. For information, the name “Saif ar-Rijl” was taken from one of Fansuri`s works. He was born in the Land of Minangkabau, West Sumatra. According to Braginsky (1998:473), ar-Rijl once learned Sufism from Surat, India (Braginsky, 1998: 473).

With assistance from many royal officials who hated foreign influence in the Sultanate of Aceh, Saif ar-Rijl appeared the winner over the conflict between Sufic devotees and anti-Sufism like al-Raniri. Later, he begged for advice from Sultanah Safiatuddin Johan Berdaulat for ending totally the conflict – aimed at eradicating al-Raniri`s influence in the Sultanate – but the Sultanah refused to do so. She argued that she was not in charge of issuing religious affairs.

The conflict between al-Raniri and Saif ar-Rijl went on for a month. It had not totally ended yet, but al-Raniri decided to leave Aceh, neglecting the writing process of his book entitled Jawahir al-Ulum fi Kasyfi al-Ma`lum (the meaning of knowledge in unveiling the object of knowledge) (Takeshi Ito, 1978:489-491 in Braginsky, 1998: 473-474). Al-Raniri went home for Ranir, Gujarat, India. He passed away there on September 21^st, 1658 A.D. (Piah et. al., 2002: 60).

B. Thought

1. Theology

One thing most people notice from the figure Nuruddin al-Raniri is his conflict against Sufism upheld by his predecessors Hamzah Fansuri. As Hamzah Fansuri passed away, and the crown over Aceh Sultanate passed down to Sultan Iskandar Thani who had close relation with al-Raniri, the military forces were poured down just to combat the remaining devotees of Sufism in the Land of Aceh. It was all done upon initiation of Nuruddin al-Raniri.

Nuruddin al-Raniri`s effort to erase Sufism is a logic consequence of his thought on theology. He was famous as an orthodox Muslim who was eager to purify the Islamic teachings from any Sufic teachings. For instance, in his book Sirat al-Mustakim, he states that Hikayat Sri Rhama and Hikayat Inderaputera are two mere literary works with no worthwhile values to be applied in daily life. To him, those works are useless as the absence of Islamic teachings that can be derived (Braginsky, 1998: 293).

No matter what, some researchers believe that Nurudin al-Raniri was not a pure orthodox Muslim – even though this assessment is still debatable. Farman (in Braginsky 1998:472) states that al-Raniri believed in wahdat asy-syuhud, further development of Sufism but do not believe in the unity of God and human, pioneered by an Indian scholar Ahmad Sirhindi (1593-1624 A.D.). This is seen at both tendencies in the literal understanding of Islamic law rather than adjusted the Islamic law with the social situation when and where they were living in. They clearly differentiated between God and the world. This was their strong distaste for pantheism, in which the universe is the manifestation of God. They also criticized fiercely every single form of bid`ah (addition) in the Islamic teachings.

Nuruddin al-Raniri`s strong distaste for pantheism can be seen on his works Hujjat al-Siddiq Li daf al-Zindiq, wherein he argues that God is the real existence and the universe is not the manifestation of God`s real existence. Argumentation on the universe is manifestation of God, according to al-Raniri, can make a Muslim apostate. God is the creator of the universe because God has so-called full existence; while the universe has only little existence (Piah et. al. 2002: 365).

Another book of Nuruddin al-Raniri that strongly criticizes Sufism is entitled Jawahir al-Ulum fi Kasyfi al-Ma`lum. In that book, al-Raniri argues that God is the only perfect reality. God has 99 names (amongst the Muslims this is known as Asmaul Husna) that describe God`s perfection. Those names or attributes are inseparable from each other. If one calls that God has only one or several attributes from those 99, thus he/she is called apostate because he/she has denied the perfection of God (Ahmad Daudy in Piah et. al. 2002: 367).

Further, Nuruddin al-Raniri states that God also has some other natures. Those are:

• wujud (existence)
• qidam (the First without a beginning)
• baqa (the Eternal without an end)
• mukhalafah al-hawadits (the Difference from originated things)
• qiyamuhu bi nafsih (the Self-sufficing)
• wahdaniyah (the Oneness in person, qualities and works)
• al-hayat (He lives without life of breath, food or water)
• al-ilmu (know)
• al-qudrah (The Mighty without any limbs or gear)
• al-iradah (He wills all learning and thinking)
• al-Sama`u (He hears without ears)
• al-Basaru (He Sees without eyes or light)
• al-Kalamu (He speaks without words, voice or language)

Many of Nuruddin al-Raniri`s works are addressed to Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin as-Sumatrani. Al-Raniri endeavoured to purify the Islamic teachings from the misleading belief of Sufism in Islam. Al-Raniri viewed those figures apostate because they believed that God is imminent, not transcendent, but the universe is eternal. Likewise, al-Raniri states that both Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin as-Sumatrani believed that the Koran is a creature as well as human and animal. In the Islamic teachings, of course, this is wrong, thus al-Raniri fought against that belief. The worse thing about Sufism is that the Sufic devotees regard themselves as God because they do believe in the unity of God and human. Such a Sufic “unity of God and human” is also found in Zoroastrianism in Christianity, Vedanta Hindu in Hinduism, and Mahayana Buddhism in Buddhism (Braginsky, 1998: 472).

Most of Nurudin al-Raniri`s works employed rhetoric style. Al-Raniri provided some facts that supported his idea on certain cases with chronology, and lured the readers, finally, to ask themselves whether Sufism is true. Attas (in Braginsky, 1998: 472), a philologist, found it hard to understand the terms used by al-Raniri in his works. For instance, al-Raniri, according to Attas (in Braginsky, 1998), could not distinguish the use of some Arabic-Malay words like “ada” (Malay word) that means “there,” and “wujud” (Arabic word) that means “exist.” Al-Raniri considered those words possess the same meaning, but amongst the Sufi devotees, those words are totally different from each other.

At a glance, the biggest “enemy” of Nuruddin al-Raniri were only Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsudin as-Sumatrani. Actually, he also stood against all the Sufic devotees, who of course had more influence in the dissemination of Sufism in the Land of Aceh. In the other words, it appears that al-Raniri did not solely safeguard the purity of Islamic teachings, but also his position in the Sultanate of Aceh.

For certain periods, Nuruddin al-Raniri had successfully abolish the Sufism and Sufic devotees from the Land of Aceh. No matter what, the Sufism appeared for another time following the death of Sultan Iskandar Thani. Even more, the spread of Sufic teachings alone had reached the Land of Java and other regions in the Malay Archipelago. In the Land of Java, Sufism was then modified into a Javanese mysticism called manunggaling kawulo gusti.

2. History

Compared to his endeavours in purifying the Islamic teachings from the Sufic teachings, Nuruddin al-Raniri`s works in history was not as feast. Al-Raniri was the author of one monumental historiography entitled Bustan as-Salatin. The book is the pinpoint in the history of Aceh Sultanate.

The book came out upon order from Sultan Iskandar Thani, the ruler of Aceh Sultanate of the time. Though the writing was aimed at glorifying the figure Sultan Iskandar Thani, the books bears worthwhile either literary or historical values within. One more thing making this book a worth reading is the absence of myth and legend. This is of course different from other books written at that time that often in time to include the local myth and legend that were actually never persist in real.

Bustan as-Salatin was written in 1638 A.D. and finished in 1641 A.D. The book consists of seven parts of totally 40 chapters within.

• Part one consists of three chapters. This part mostly discuses the universe, the seventh heaven, the Prophet Muhammad, and God`s promises to all human.
• Part two of the book tells about the stories of the prophets and former kings. The last two chapters tell about the story of Malacca and Sumatra. Chapter 12 is the adaptation from Sejarah Melayu (Malay History), and ended with the great and merry inauguration of Sultan Iskandar Thani. Chapter 13 discusses the lineage of Aceh rulers.
• Part three of Bustan as-Salatin unveils the stories of wise and just rulers as well as the prominent viziers of Aceh Sultanate.
• Part four emphasizes on the stories of pious Muslim rulers and Muslim heroes.
• Part five tells the stories about the cruel kings and noblemen who stood against the Aceh Sultanate.
• Part six, consists of two chapters, tells about the stories of wise people and pious noblemen as well as the heroic figures.
• Part seven reveals various stories about wisdom, knowledge, woman, and ghost.

Braginsky (1998: 336) views Bustan as-Salatin as an encyclopaedic work that mixed the “universal history” and ”didactic mirror” altogether. It describes the situation and condition of Aceh in the 17^th century.

Indeed, Bustan as-Salatin was written with aim of balancing another influentially historical book entitled Taj as-Salatin. Themes of those two books are almost the same as each other. One thing that might differ Bustan as-Salatin from Taj as-Salatin is on the documentation of the local history, about the history of the Malay Archipelago. Al-Raniri appeared to follow the writing style of Taj as-Salatin, in which some parts of the book were written in poetic ways like below: (taken from chapter 13 in Part 2)

(Baginsky, 1998: 335)

Braginsky (1998: 330) further suggested more points distinguishing Taj as-Salatin from Bustan as-Salatin. To him, Taj as-Salatin is an “ethic theology” while Bustan as-Salatin “historical theology.” Taj as-Salatin seems to emphasize on the application of Islamic law in aim of shaping the harmony in life based on the justice and thought. It also reveals the early history of Islamic rulers, especially those from Persia (Iran), for which the Malay world is given chance to be part of the history of Islam in the world.

Bustan as-Salatin is called a “historical theology” just because it describes the history of Islam, not only those developed in the Arab countries, but also those in the Malay Archipelago. In the other words, there is an effort from Nuruddin al-Raniri to put the development of Islam in the Malay world into the history of Islam in the world. For that reason, many historians considered Bustan as-Salatin a continuation of Sejarah Melayu (Malay History), in which in this book, the history of Islam in the Malay Archipelago was recorded only until the year 1612 A.D.

The history of Islam in the Malay Archipelago has begun since the era of Sultan Iskandar Zulkarnain. This means that the Malay culture and Islam is inseparable. The Islamic teachings alone, in the Malay world, then developed in such ways as what has detailed by either Taj as-Salatin or Bustan as-Salatin.

C. Works

Below are the works of Nuruddin al-Raniri:

• Hill az-Zill
• Syifat al-Qulb
• Tibyan fi Ma`rifat al_adyan
• Hujjat al-Siddiq li Daf az-Zindiq
• Asrar al-Insan fi Ma`rifat ar-Ruh wal ar-Rahmah
• Bustan as-Salatin
• Sirat al-Mustakin
• Durrat al-Faraid
• Hidayat al-Habib
• Akhbar al-Akhirah fi Ahwal Yaum al-Qiyamah
• Lath`aif al-Asrar
• Syifa` al-Qulub
• Undat al-I`tiwad
• Jawahir al-Ulum fi Kasyfi al-Ma`lum

D. Influences

Piah et. Al. (2002: 440) remarked that one of Nuruddin al-Raniri`s works enormously influenced the writing of Hikayat Hang Tuah. This is seen on the description of Istanbul Royal Park that was taken from Bustan as-Salatin.

Nuruddin al-Raniri`s influence in the Land of Java is seen on the conflict between Wali Songo (Javanese Nine Islamic Scholars) and the adhere devotees of manunggaling kawulo gusti (the development of Sufism in the Land of Java). Al-Raniri`s Bustan as-Salatin also plays significant role in the studies of Islam-Malay history at the modern era. This is because Bustan as-Salatin had no longer included any myth and legend in historical documentation.

References:

• Braginsky, K.I., 1998. Yang Indah, Berfaedah dan Kamal Sejarah Sastra Melayu Dalam Abad 7-19. Jakarta: INIS
• Harun Mat Piah, dkk., 2002. Traditional Malay Literature. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka
• Teeuw, A., 1994. Indonesia Antara Kelisanan dan Keberaksaraan. Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya

An Ismanto (tkh/02/05-09)

Translated by Irfan Nugroho (ter/128/06-09)

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