17
we have already mentioned several times,[1] and whose activity exhibited itself during the latter portion of his life in Achehnese territory. This was Abdurraʾuf (Ach. Abdōraʾōh) of Singkel, known in Acheh as Teungku di Kuala, since his tomb, the most sacred in the whole country after that of Teungku Anjōng, is situated near the Kuala or mouth of the Acheh river.
In Van den Berg's Catalogue[2] of the Malay MSS. at Batavia collected by the late H. Von de Wall we find mentioned (p. 8 n° 41):—
(
Arabic characters) "A work on the confession of faith, prayer, and the unity ((Arabic characters)) of Allah."
These words very imperfectly indicate the contents of this Umdat al-muhtājīn, of which I have also found a copy in Leiden[3] and another in the Royal Library at Berlin,[4] and have acquired a third by purchase.[5] The book consists of 7 chapters (called faidahs), the chief aim of which is the description of a certain special kind of mysticism, of which ḍikr, the recital of the confession of faith at appointed times, forms a conspicuous part. Still more remarkable than all this, however, is the chātimah or conclusion which follows these seven faidahs. In this the author, the Abdurraʾuf just referred to, makes himself known to the reader and gives a short notice of his life as a scholar, together with a silsilah (or as the natives pronounce it salasilah) or spiritual genealogical tree, to confirm the noble origin and high worth of his teaching. According to this final chapter, Abdurraʾuf studied for many years at Medina, Mekka, Jiddah, Mokha, Zebīd, Bētal-faqīh etc. He
Among the Malay MSS. which I collected in Acheh, is an abstract made by the author himself of his "Umdat al-muḥtājīn under the name Kifāyat al-muḥtājīn, and also a short refutation of certain heretical dogmas prevalent in these parts in regard to what man sees and experiences in the hour of death. To support his teaching the writer appeals to a work of Molla Ibrahim (successor of Aḥmad Qushāshī) at Medina; of this work I possess a Malay translation by an unknown hand.
Another famous work of this same Abdurraʾuf is his Malay translation of Baidhawi's commentary on the Qurān, published in A. H. 1302 at Constantinople in two handsomely printed volumes. On the title page Sultan Abdulḥamīd is called "the king of all Mohammedans!" From this work we perceive among other things, that the learning of our saint was not infallible; his translation for instance of chap, 33 verse 20 of the Qurān is far from correct.
