82
lying side by side and do not generally exceed four, the normal number in Acheh, might more fitly be termed "townships". The Achehnese call them all mukim; such distortion of the original meaning of Arabic words is no rare phenomenon in the native languages of the Indian Archipelago.
The imeums.At first the chiefs of the mukims had without doubt a wholly or largely religious task to fulfil, namely to provide that God's law should be enforced and especially that the prescribed rites should not be neglected. Their official title of imeum (Ar. imām), brings them into close connection with the meuseugit, which forms the centre of their sphere of action, and with the religious worship held therein[1]. They should be for the mosque what the teungku is for the meunasah.
The Achehnese mosque differs little from the déah described above (see p. 63). Like the latter it is built of planks and rests not on posts but on a raised stone foundation, and is provided with a stone niche. Close to the niche stands a pulpit (bimba from Ar. mimbar). There is also the traditional staff (tungkat) which the preacher holds in his hand, and some mats for those who perform the seumayang or service of prayer.
Certain mosques the erection of which is among the institutions ascribed to the Sultan Meukuta Alam (1607–36) were recognized as "great mosques" (meuseugit raya) both on account of their size and the fact of their being erected by a sovereign prince, and also because they were regarded as being the head mosques of a great number of mukims. Such is the great mosque par excellence, the Meuseugit Raya of the capital, from which the whole district surrounding the ancient seat of royalty takes its name. Besides this there was one for each of the three sagis of Great Acheh viz. that of Indrapuri, which still exists, for the XXII Mukims, that of Indrapeurua (in the VI Mukims of the XXV) for the XXV, and that of Indrapatra, 'almost in the very place where Ladòng now stands, for the XXVI Mukims. Of the last two scarcely any trace remains. In Pidië too there were a number of mosques which enjoyed the reputation of having been erected by Meukuta Alam and which were thus also called meuseugit raya.
It is impossible now to trace the extent of the supervision over the
- ↑ The use of the word imām in the sense of the chief of a state or community is almost entirely limited to books. Where used it always means the supreme authority. It is quite out of the question that the name of the Achehnese office should have been originally used in this sense.
