Page 41 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
P. 41

history has joined myths, then all of   of the kings of Pasai) and Sejarah   information about various past events   ship. Mirah Silu dreamed in the night.   The cemetery of Sultan
 them would have been myths. If history   Melayu (the Malay Annals) are two of the   in the Malay world, and anthropologists   Prophet Muhammad had spat into his   Suriansyahin Banjar.
 has been covered by all sorts of stylistic   renowned traditional historiographies in   have examined the symbolic meanings   mouth. So he could read the Quran.   The arrival of Islam to
 values, assumptions and aspirations,   the Malay Islamic world,  by which the   as a tool to maintain the social unity and   Sheikh Ismail was then enthroned him as   Banjarmasin, as told in
 24
 says an historian, it should be called just   first may be older than the latter.  The   the power legitimacy. 27  the sultan with the name Malik as-Saleh.  the Hikayat Banjar, was
 25
 “the past”.  importance of Sejarah Melayu, which   Passages in the Sejarah Melayu and   Another version is found in Hikayat   driven by the emergency
 The real myth can be seen as the   may have been written by the Johor   Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai outlines   Raja-Raja Pasai. On the night Mirah Silu   felt by Pangeran
                                                                                            Samudera, the crown
 embodiment of a world view in form   court poet, Tun Sri Lanang, within the   some similar past events---such as the   dreamed. He was visited by the Prophet   prince of Negara Daha.
 of a story. Thus, by understanding   tradition of the Malay culture lies not   establishment period of Samudera Pasai,   Muhammad spatting into his mouth and
 the mythical structure we can expect   only in the literary value, but also on the   the change from a segmented state   teaching him to utter that “there is no   Source: Directorate of
 to get, on the one hand, the societal   wealth of information about the early   to become an empire, which had the   god but Allah and Muhammad is His   History and Cultural
 conceptualization of the past, as an   days of the Malacca Kingdom as well as   conquered people and the sultan, as well   messenger”. The Prophet gave him the   Values, Ministry of
 th
 embodiment of cultural-concerns, and   social and political life of the 16  century   as the process of Islamization. The book   name Malik as-Saleh and forbade eating   Education and Culture
 26
 on the other hand, as a potential source   maritime empire.  It is understood that   shows that the heyday of Pasai stems   slaughtered meat without correct rituals.   of the Republic of
 of historyas past time events. The first   Malay traditional historiography has   from the conversion of Mirah Silu’s, “man   The Prophet also informed him that a   Indonesia, 2009
 gift of those who want to learn history   become one of the most popular subjects   of prowess” (if Wolters’  term can be   person named Sheikh Isma’il would
                              28
 is the accepted situation as such by the   in academic researches. Historians   used) has attracted many followers as he   come to visit him. When Sheikh Ismail
 concerned people, while the second   regard the book as a potential source of   got wealthy suddenly.  met Mirah Silu, how shocked he was to
 is materials to allow past events to be   24. A.H. Hill, “Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai”, JMBRAS,   So it was told in Sejarah Melayu that   know that Mirah Silu had been able to
 reconstructed. Therefore, to understand   33, P.4.2, 1960; see also T. Ibrahim Alfian, Kronika   a scholar from Mecca, Sheikh Ismail   recite the shahada smoothly. And people
 Pasai:  Sebuah  tinjauaan  sejarah,  Yogyakarta:
 the process and the dynamics of early   Gadjah Mada University Press 1973; C.C. Brown,   sailed through Fansur, Lamuri, Ham,   also have known his title Malik as-Saleh.
 Islam in the archipelago, an overview of   “Sejarah  Melayu”  or  “Malay  Annals”,  Raffles’   Perlak, and finally arrived at Samudera.   Then, the performed duty by Sheikh
 the various traditional historiographies is   translation MS 18”, JMBRAS, vol. XXV Parts2&3.  He successfully converted the local   Ismail, scholars who come from the
 also necessary.  25.   It  is  rather  a  general  argument,  but  Teeuw   “country above the wind” was simply to
 otherwise assumed that Sejarah Melayu is brighter.
 See  A.A.  Teeuw  “Hikayat  Raja-Raja  Pasai  and   authority, Mirah Silu, and returned to the   Islamize people. After that, he gave Malik
 Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai (the History   Sejarah  Melayu”,  in  John  Bastin  &  Roolvink  R.   27.   See  for  example,  P.E.  and  Josselin  de  Jong,   as-Saleh regalia he brought from Mecca.
 reconstruct the history of the process of Islamization   (eds.)  Malayan  and  Indonesian  Studies,  London:   “The Character of the Malay Annals” in John Bastin   Mirah Silu had been formally regarded as
 in Java, especially the early history of the sultanates   Oxford University Press, 1964.  &  R.  Roolvink  (eds.)  Malayan  and  Indonesian
 of Cirebon and Banten, but also clearly shows the   26.  In his efforts to discover the causes and process   Studies,  Oxford:  Clarendom  Press,  1964.  In  this   the sultan.
 research methodology he has used. Djajadiningrat’s   of the fall of Srivijaya empire, Wolters gets various   article  Josselin  de  Jong  explains  her  view  on
 view  about  local  sources  as  historical  sources,   signs of this manuscript, after he held an external   Sejarah  Melayuas  an  illustrated  concept  of  the   These differing versions show a
 see his writing, “Local Traditions and the Study of   criticism,  comparing  with  Chinese  sources.  See   Malay culture on power.  perception on the self and attitude
 Indonesian History” in Soedjatmoko et.al. (Eds.) An   O.W. Wolters, The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History,   28. O.W.  Wolters,  History,  Culture  and  Region  in
 Introduction  to  Indonesian  Historiography,  Ithaca,   Kuala Lumpur Singapore: Oxford University Press,   Southeast  Asian  Perspective,  Singapore:  ISEAS,   to the outside elements. However,
 New York: Cornell University Press, 1965, 74-86.  1970.  1982, pp. 5-7.  both versions represent not only the



 30  Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives      Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives  31
   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46