SEVEN years back, during my matriculation class in the Arabic language at the International Islamic University (IIUM), I encountered many foreign classmates, though the majority was from Malaysia. With a cap never being taken off from his head, Abdul Rahman, a student from Kelantan, sounded frequently citing in both class presentations and everyday conversation a number of statements uttered by Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah alias Hamka. I was amazed at the time how came a Malay undergraduate student knew much about a thinker from outside his country.
During my next settlement in Melaka as a teacher of religious school for over 3 years, my amazement has kept increasing given Hamka’s thought, apart from being available in academia circle, has also transformed into among dominating views in such socio-cultural rings as daily religious talks delivered in many mosques.
Those particularly from Indonesia like me who are concerned with religious thought will then arguably feel proud of how often their polymath’s messages, compared to that of other Indonesian scholars, have adorned and been widely circulated among WhatsApp and Facebook groups of Islamic Studies students.
The latest fact that underscores the great dimension of Hamka’s influence in Malay Muslim society is the online class initiated by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) with Prof Kamal Hassan as the interlocutor of discussion which exposes the life and thought of Hamka. At this juncture, it is undeniable that Hamka’s legacy has stood as the melting pot between Malay and Indonesian Muslims. How did it happen?
As publicly known, Hamka was born in Agam, West Sumatra, a region in which Minang is considered a predominant tribe. However, dating back to the fifteenth century, it was revealed that the sovereignty of the Malay sultanate of Malacca already reached chiefly the eastern Sumatra of Indonesia with no exception, little or much, of West Sumatra.
As a result of cultural assimilation, whoever visits Andalas Island – so was it called – particularly Riau, Medan, Palembang including Padang will find a number of words also spoken in the Malay peninsula. From this, it can be stated that Minang up-to other Sumatran tribes are socio-culturally closer to Malay culture vis-à-vis Javanese to Malay.
Based on this fact, we come to know that the Malay legacy of civilization is indeed not culturally confined within the so-called Malaysian people today – a reality some Indonesian people do not realize including my long-lasting knowledge prior to my study in Malaysia. Yet this cultural influence also pervades current Indonesian people particularly those in Sumatera.
When it comes to this sort of primordial awareness, none can restrict Hamka’s thought to be massively disseminated in Malaysian society and so does his personal affiliation and affection to be part of Malay civilisation whose part of people reside in Malaysia.
Next evidence is the language Hamka used in his lectures which was in Malay. Paired with his hoarse voice and bold intonation, such lectures I am used to listen to has really made me recognizing him as virtually similar to Malaysian preachers. This is actually not surprising because the original language of modern Indonesian today is Malay.
It is a series of what is referred to as Indonesia’s Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan (Enhanced Spelling System) and its intensity of loan word adoption – to name a few, have further made Indonesian a bit different from Malay as it looks like today. With this reason of shared language, we may find an adequate explanation why Hamka’s thought, as well as religious talks delivered by Ustadz Abdul Somad (UAS) who is also from Sumatra, has received wide acceptance throughout Malaysia.
Lastly, Hamka’s vision embedded in his mind is actually the most determining factor that has, to date, made him one of a few Indonesian thinkers most discussed in Malaysia. I would like to call this sort of vision, to use the phrase of Prof. Kamal Hassan, as an Ummatized paradigm. True that Hamka had decided to be affiliated and long involved with Muhammadiyah – among Indonesia’s largest mass religious organization. But, this affiliation sounded never making him apart from struggling for the sake of the Ummah in overall.
This can be denoted through his sending the 1958 gentle reminding letter entitled Teguran Suci dan Jujur terhadap Mufti Johor (Pure and Honest Admonition to the Mufti of Johor). There, capitalized with his photographic memory, he countered the Mufti’s claim that the emergence of the so-called Kaum Muda in Indonesia had caused the nation’s 10 million Muslims to convert to Christianity and 30 million to adhere to communism. Coupled with his sense of mildness as a man of letters, he preferably employed the word “incorrect” in lieu of “lie” to be associated with the Mufti despite – as Hamka thought – his careless exposition of data.
This like of Hamka’s honest intention of reminding could be seen out of his reluctance to be engaged in Soekarno’s confrontation against Malaysia between 1963-1966 where this stance, to his son Rusdi Hamka, had sent him into jail for three years. Years afterwards, i.e. in 1974, his bold yet mild stance had perhaps taken part for him to be conferred an honorary doctorate from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Here is the piece of the address he conveyed during the conferment:
“If my pen starts writing on the paper, what crosses my mind is this whole territory of Nusantara. My nation as well as people of this religion who use this [Malay] language. Malay, but it goes beyond present-day Malaysia. The land of Java, but it exceeds the current Java Island, Indonesia and Malaysia. Over those lands, I will be eternally there, in which I dedicate myself, since my 17-year-old, since the time of both nations being colonized, till the day when both gained their independence.”
From the statement above, to add Prof Kamal Hassan’s conclusion, it is clear that what remained in Hamka’s mind is what Dr Syed Khairuddin Aljunied – another discussant – would like to call it cosmopolitan reform.
This far-reaching vision certainly finds its correspondence with the Qur’anic verse that “the East and the West, all belong to Allah Swt”. Hence, the people of Malaysia and Indonesia should not be separated just because of the difference in ethnicity. Such a difference is actually intended by Allah in order for us to more understand each other.
If Dr Mahmudul Hasan, another lecture of the IIIT Online Classes, in his earlier article revealed and emphasized the integration of knowledge attempted by and subsequently finely being embodied in the self of Prof Kamal Hassan, I would like to add that such integration, with Ummah interest ranked in the top priority, also came into being in the personality of Hamka whose legacy has immensely contributed to shaping the face of Islam in Nusantara; a bridge between Malay and Indonesian Muslims.
Sumber: New Straits Times, 22 Januari 2021.
Muhamad Abdul Aziz, a PhD researcher at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)
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