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It is also assumed that some members orthodox Muslims would probably find
of the jama’at al-Jawiyyin visited Aceh
to meet Shamsuddin al-Sumatra’i.
The latter then showed his interest as
he might had highly appreciated the
book of al-Burhanpuri. Al-Sumatra’i
is known to have beenthe first Malay
Sufi who disseminated al-Tuhfah al-
Mursalah’snotions of the martabat tujuh
and the wahdat al-wujud.
As stated above, al-Sumatra’i wrote the
Jawhar al-Haqa’iq (the Substance of
Realities) in Arabic and it is acknowledged
as the highest intellectual achievement
ever made by a Muslim from the
Indonesian archipelago. It presents
31
al-Sumatra’i’s profound analyses of
the mystical concept of existential
monism (wahdat al-wujud) and also
offers a description of God through His
divineAttributes and His Finest Names. Nevertheless , its substance and its
In fact, al-Tuhfah al-Mursalah’s impact
went beyond al-Sumatra’i and other
Acehnese Sufis. It was also adopted,
accommodated, and reinterpreted
by Sufis from other regions in the
archipelago who believed that the
mystical notions in the book posed no
problems. They only thought that these
notions needed to be more profoundly
explained and interpreted after which
31. Johns, “Reflections...”, p. 152.
192 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives
lā ‘adda ma‘a zuhūrihi wa tajallīhi bi al- Something different took place in
them acceptable.
A good example in this context
isal-Falimbani’s al-Mulakhkhas li al-
Tuhfah, which is a Malay translation
of the al-Tuhfah al-Mursalah.
However, al-Falimbani seems to have
“accommodated” the original text as
he did not make a literal translation but
made significant changes by his choice
of specific words and his arrangement
of the syntax of the Arabic text. He
substituted verbs in the original, for
example, with nouns and he divided up
long sentences into simpler and shorter
ones. This means that al-Falimbani
reshaped the original text. It is as if he
“translated” the text from Arabic into
a kind ofArabic that was much easier
to follow than that of the original text.
systematic arrangement remained similar
to the original text .
A.H. Johns gave the following example,
“wa inna dhalika al-wujūd laysa lahu
shaykhun wa lā haddun wa lā hasrun wa
ma’a hādhā zahara wa tajallā bi al-shakli
wa al-haddi wa lam yatagayyar ‘ammā
kāna min ‘adami al-shakli wa ‘adami
al-haddi...” According to Johns, this part
was rewritten by al-Falimbani into: “...lā
shakla lahū wa lā hadda wa lā hasra wa
shakli wa al-haddi wa ‘adami tagayyurihi Java. The seed of heterodoxy that had
‘ammā kāna...” Thus, he omitted the spread in Java in the 18th and 19th
introductory phrase “wa inna dhālika al- centuries were partly contributed to the
wujūd” and provided several alternative introduction of the mystical martabat
wordings, but the substance remains tujuh and wahdat al-wujud doctrines.
the same. Beside, al-Falimbani also There is, however, no written evidence
omitted the first paragraph of the original that the spread of the martabat pitu and
text substituted by his own introductory manunggaling kawula Gusti notions had
remarks . incite dantagonism between orthodox
Several hypotheses may explain why and heterodox factions in Java with
al-Falimbani did what he had done reference to the same notions in al-
with the al-Tuhfah al-Mursalah. As Tuhfah al-Mursalah. However, it is clear
explicated above, this book had incited that al-Tauhfah al-Mursalah was well
tension and was vehemently rejected known in Java.
by orthodox Muslims in Aceh. As a An indication of this probable popularity
consequence, al-Falimbani was forced is the discovery of a translation of al-
to “modify” the text and totranslate it Tuhfah al-Mursalahin the shape of a
into Malay to make it easier for orthodox Javanese poem (macapat). A.H. Johns
laymen to understand. As a matter of conducted research on this Javanese
fact, al-Falimbani was never accused version and demonstrated how close the
of committing heresy, even though he
enclosed the mystical doctrine of the composer of the poem had remained
seven lofty stagesin his masterpiece, with the original text while he the poet
Siyar al-Salikin, as they had been also referred to several other copies of
32
taught by al-Burhanpuri in his al-Tuhfah the text.
al-Mursalahand by al-Sumatra’i in his In addition, a translation of a commentary
Jawhar al-Haqa’iq. After all, same ‘seed’ on al-Tuhfah al-Mursalah has also been
would not have resulted into a completely found in Java . The book is entitled al-
similar fruit, had it been planted in a Mawahib al-Mustarsalah ‘ala al-Tuhfah
different place and time. Such may be (Various Kinds of Gifts Related to the
inferred from al-Falimbani, were he taken Tuhfah) and several manuscripts are
as an example. 32. Johns, The Gift Addressed…, p. 13-20.
Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 193