Page 264 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
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probably written by Muhammad Nafis      formation of ecumenical Islam in the
                                          al-Banjari.                             archipelago. Through Malay, Muslim
                                                                                  communities in various regions in the
                                          Books composed by the Patani scholar,   archipelago became connected to one
                                          Daud al-Fatani (Daud bin Abdullah bin   another, and, strengthened through the
                                          Idris al-Fatani) were also included in   use of Jawi books, these relationships
                                          Imam Ahmad’s list. Among them were      remained within limits derived from
                                          two of his books on jurisprudence: the   the universal message of Islam. This
                                          Fara’id ghayat taqrib fi al-irth wa al-tansib   gradual and long historical process has
                                          (Statutes of the Final Approximation in   become the basis for the formation of
                                          Inheritance and Consanguinity) on the   what Anderson called an “imagined
                                                                                               64
                                          laws about the division of an inheritance   community”. If the colonial government
                                          and the Idah al-bab li murid al-nikah   might have inherited the Indonesian
                                          bi al-sawab (Explanatory Chapter        state, the Malay language has laid a
                                          for Getting Married Correctly) about    solid foundation for the establishment
                                          marriage. Another book in Jawi was the   of Indonesia as a nation the process
                                          Sabil al-Muhtadin li al-tafaqquh fi amr   when it adopted Malay as the national
                                          al-Din (the Path of the Guided People for   language of Indonesia.
                                          Mastering Religious Matters) regarding
                                          the procedure for studying religion written
                                          by Muhammad Arsyad bin Abdullah
                                          al-Banjari and the Hidayat al-Salikin
                                          (Manual for Searching Knowledge)--- a
                                          composition in Malay based on al-
                                          Ghazali’s Bidayat al-Hidayah--- written
                                          by Abdussamad al-Palimbani.

                                          Conclusion
                                          The Malay language and Jawi books
                                          aren ot only important from a historical
                                          perspective ---that they have become a
                                          category in the study of Islamic culture   64.  Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities:
                                                                                  Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
                                          in Indonesia--- but also in terms of the   Nationalism, (London: Verso, 1991).



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