Cambodia’s Muslims and the Malay World: Malay Language, Jawi Script, and Islamic Factionalism from the 19th Century to the Present 9004346058, 9789004346055

Table of contents :
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Note on Spelling and Transliteration
Introduction: Religious Change and Intra-Muslim Factionalism
1 Foregrounding the Jawization of Islam in Cambodia
2 On the Eve of Jawization and Colonial Rule
3 Chams and Malays in Late Pre-Colonial and Early Colonial Cambodia
4 Observing Structural and Processual Dispositions for Jawization
5 Jawization in Cambodia’s Diverse Muslim Landscape of the 1930s
6 Agents, Nodes and Vehicles of Jawization
7 The French Role in Jawization and Factionalism in Cambodian Islam
8 The Legacies of Jawization and Anti-Jawization
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Places
Index of Groups

Citation preview



Cambodia’s Muslims and the Malay World

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_001

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Brill’s Southeast Asian Library Edited by M.C. Ricklefs (National University of Singapore) Bruce Lockhart (National University of Singapore)

VOLUME 7

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/seal





Cambodia’s Muslims and the Malay World

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Malay Language, Jawi Script, and Islamic Factionalism from the 19th Century to the Present By

Philipp Bruckmayr

LEIDEN | BOSTON

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Cover illustration: Two pages of the appendix to the Cham manuscript Bayan syarik, which feature four different scripts/languages: Cham akhar thrah, Arabic, Malay jawi and Cham jawi. SOURCE: SEA 39 (JP, DJA 2/2/3/1), Hull History Centre. PERMISSION GRANTED BY: Hull History Centre. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bruckmayr, Philipp, author. Title: Cambodia’s Muslims and the Malay world : Malay language, Jawi script, and Islamic factionalism from the 19th century to the present / by Philipp Bruckmayr. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018045161 (print) | LCCN 2018045688 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004384514 (e-book) | ISBN 9789004346055 (hardback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Islam--Southeast Asia. | Muslims--Southeast Asia. | Islam--Cambodia. | Muslims--Cambodia. | Southeast Asia--Ethnic relations. | Cambodia--Ethnic relations. Classification: LCC BP63.A38 (ebook) | LCC BP63.A38 B78 2018 (print) | DDC 297.09596--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018045161

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 2213-0527 isbn 978-90-04-34605-5 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-38451-4 (e-book) Copyright 2019 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

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Dedicated to the memories of Mike Bouchard (1976-2010) Christian “Dr. Krise” Jöchtl (1964-2011) Thomas “Gin” Zauner (1983-2016) Harald “Huckey” Renner (1966-2018)

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Contents Contents

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Contents

Acknowledgements ix List of Illustrations xi List of Abbreviations xii Note on Spelling and Transliteration xv xv

Introduction: Religious Change and Intra-Muslim Factionalism 1 1 Foregrounding the Jawization of Islam in Cambodia  4 1 Approaches Informing the Concept of Jawization 4 2 The Concept of Jawization and Similar Processes in the Muslim World 9 2 On the Eve of Jawization and Colonial Rule 25 1 Diversity and Uniformity in Panduranga 25 2 Malay Scholarly Centers and the Patani Network 34 3 Changing Relationships between Ruler and Religion on the Malay Peninsula 40 4 The Diversification of Malay Influence in 18th Century Cambodia 45 5 Conclusion 54 3 Chams and Malays in Late Pre-Colonial and Early Colonial Cambodia 56 1 Political and Legal Issues until the Coronation of Ang Duong (1848) 56 2 Intra-religious Divisions, Rebellion and Resettlement under Ang Duong 60 3 The Dawn of a New Era: Norodom, the Cham-Malays and the Protectorate 65 4 Conclusion 67 4 Observing Structural and Processual Dispositions for Jawization 69 1 Cham-Malay/Chvea Relations, Settlement and Economic Patterns 69 2 Cham and Chvea Origins and Traditions 76 3 Colonial Assumptions about Islam: Cambodia’s “Good” Muslims 84 4 Curricular Jawization, Script and Language Change, and the Hajj  86 5 Conclusion 89

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Contents

5 Jawization in Cambodia’s Diverse Muslim Landscape of the 1930s 90 1 Mapping Jawization in the Mekong Delta  91 2 Jawization and Divergence in the Cham Heartland of Kampong Cham and Kratie 98 3 More Divergence: Ethnic and Religious Complexities in the Chvea South 110 4 Factionalism Observed: “Trimeu”, “Kobuol” and “HyperTraditionalists” 124 5 Conclusion 154 6 Agents, Nodes and Vehicles of Jawization 159 1 Scholarly Networks of Jawization and Their Nodes 160 2 Testimonies of Jawization: Fatwas for Cambodian Muslims 219 3 The Canon of Jawization 239 4 Conclusion 252 7 The French Role in Jawization and Factionalism in Cambodian Islam 256 1 The French Privileging of the jawi Element in Islamic Education 257 2 The French as Referees in Intra-Muslim Disputes 265 3 Conclusion 290 8 The Legacies of Jawization and Anti-Jawization 291 1 Expansion, Stagnation and near Obliteration after Independence 292 2 Contending Paths and the Emergence of a New Factionalism 335 3 The Institutionalization of Anti-Jawization: the Kan Imam San 346 Conclusion 362 Bibliography 369 Index of Names 398 Index of Places 405 Index of Groups 410 399

Acknowledgements Acknowledgements

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Acknowledgements Many people have contributed to this study, and all of them would deserve to be mentioned here. Firstly, I would like to thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to study and for providing me with “scholarships” during those periods of writing and researching when no others were to be had. Secondly, I want to thank my wife Christina and my children Jan, Ida, Mathilda and Alva, who accompanied me on some of my field trips, for their support, their patience and for just being there. Thirdly, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Rüdiger Lohlker as well as Prof. Stephan Procházka for their enduring support in academic affairs. Both Prof. Lohlker and Dr. Monika Fatima Mühlböck were instrumental in broadening my view of the Muslim world beyond the Middle East early on. Apart from the Institute of Oriental Studies in Vienna, I benefitted greatly from my stays at other institutions, particularly the International Research Center Cultural Studies (IFK) in Vienna. Therefore, I want to express my gratitude to Prof. Helmut Lethen and the IFK, Prof. Rüdiger Korff and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Passau, and Prof. Shamsul A.B. and Prof. Ong Puay Liu at the Institute of Ethnic Studies of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Dr. Christian Cwik (Univ. of the West Indies) has probably been the single most important person in fostering my desire to engage in serious historical research resting on both archival and field work. As far as my entry into the Cambodian Muslim community is concerned, I profited immensely from the kindness and extensive contacts of Jay Willoughby (Vir­ ginia). Needless to say, I am deeply thankful for the openness and support of all colleagues and especially all informants and interviewees in Cambodia, Malaysia and the usa: it is you who made much of this study possible. Likewise, the many invitations to family homes and to share food and roof together were greatly appreciated. During my last fieldtrip to Cambodia, Abdul Halim Ahmad and Tuon Him and their families were most forthcoming in this regard.

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Map 1

Contents

Pre-2014 provincial map of Cambodia. Rsperberg, Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations Illustrations

Illustrations 1

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Map Pre-2014 provincial map of Cambodia. Rsperberg, Wikimedia Commons  x

Figures

Appendix to Bayan syarik: akhar thrah, Arabic, jawi and Cham jawi (in blue ink on the margin) writing side by side. SEA 39 (JP, DJA 2/2/3/1), Hull History Centre 111 2 Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey, Mawʿiẓat al-mujtahidīn. Private collection of Tuon Him, Chrang Chamres, Phnom Penh  143 3 Letter of appointment to Muslim dignitaries in Pursat. Cambodian National Archives, ANC-RSC 30364 148 4 Petition for the nomination of Hj. Sulaiman as hakem of Norea (Battambang). Cambodian National Archives, ANC-RSC 30380  151 5 Epitaph of Mufti Hj. Math. (Phum Trea, Kampong Cham) 163 6 Tuon Muhammad Nour (former student of Mat Sales Haroun) and his wife (Phum Trea, 2012) 199 7 Ceremonial conclusion of a marriage contract involving a Malay book (Siam Reap, 2005) 323 8 KIS congregation at the spiritual center of Au Russey. (Kampong Chhnang, 2009) 348 9 akhar thrah text Bayan syarik with Arabic passages and Malay insertions (in violet ink). SEA 39 (JP, DJA 2/2/3/1), Hull History Centre 361 10 Leisure time at Islamic school. (Da Phuoc, Mekong Delta, Vietnam, 2005) 367

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Abbreviations

Abbreviations

Abbreviations aaf ae agc ahp ajiss anas anc anc-rsc baefek

Asian Affairs Asian Ethnicity Ahmadiyya Gazette Canada Asian Highlands Perspectives American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences Archive Nationale du Cambodge Archives Nationales du Cambodge – Résident Supérieur de Cambodge Bulletin de la Association d’Echanges et de Formation pour les Etudes Khmères bcai Bulletin de la Commission Archéologique de l’Indochine bcas Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars befeo Bulletin de l’École Française de l’Extrême-Orient bjmes British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies bki Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde bs Behavioral Science bsoas Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies cic Cambodian Islamic Center cmdf Cambodian Muslim Development Foundation co Les Cahiers de l’Orient coa Cahiers d’Onomastique Arabe cpp Cambodian People’s Party crc Chroniques royales du Cambodge (Mak Phoeun) cssaame Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East ctm Cambodia Tribunal Monitor dc-cam Documentation Center of Cambodia di Der Islam dk Democratic Kampuchea (“Khmer Rouge Regime”, 1975-1979) ei² The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition e&r Excursions et Reconnaissances feer Far Eastern Economic Revue flc Front for the Liberation of Champa flhpc Front for the Liberation of the High Plateaus of Champa flkk Front for the Liberation of Lower Cambodia fulro Front Unifié de Lutte des Races Opprimées gal Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Brockelmann) gdtc Gia-dinh-Thung-Chi (Aubaret)

Abbreviations

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hor History of Religions hs Hikayat Siak ic Indonesia Circle ih Islamic Herald ihor Islamic Horizons ijhss International Journal of Humanities and Social Science il&s Islamic Law and Society i&mw Indonesia and the Malay World isimr isim Review ium Islamic University of Medina ja Journal Asiatique jas Journal of Asian Studies jeid Journal of Education for International Development jgss Journal of Global South Studies jia&ea Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia jimma Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs jis Journal of Islamic Studies jmbras Journal of the Malayan/Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society jnes Journal of Near Eastern Studies jp Jaspan Papers, Hull History Centre jprs-tsea Joint Publications Research Service – Translations on South and East Asia jras Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society jsas Journal of Sophia Asian Studies jseah Journal of Southeast Asian History jseas Journal of Southeast Asian Studies jss Journal of the Siam Society jssh Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (Pondicherry) kis Kan Imam San (Islamic Community of Imam San) kun Koleksi Ulama Nusantara (Shaghir Abdullah) ldd Language Documentation and Description lpd Lajnah Penerangan dan Dakwah (dpp Kawasan Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia) mas Modern Asian Studies mideo Mélanges de l’Institut dominicain d’études orientales mui Majlis Ugama Islam dan Adat Istiadat Melayu (Kelantan) na National Archives (Washington, D.C.) oiso Oxford Islamic Studies Online pgmk Persatuan Guru Muslim Kemboja (blog) ppp Phnom Penh Post pr Peace Review

xiv prk rei rihs riseap rmm seaa sear seas sct sft si sik sk smb srs tbg tj tm tn tusm um uo unb ubp vc vr wi wk

Abbreviations People’s Republic of Kampuchea Revue des études islamiques Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (Jamʿiyyat Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-Islāmiyya) Regional Islamic Daʿwah Council of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Revue du Monde Musulman Southeast Asian Affairs South East Asia Research Southeast Asian Studies (Kyoto) Studies in Conflict & Terrorism Searching for the Truth Studia Islamica Studia Islamika Seksa Khmer Silsilah Melayu dan Bugis Social Reform Society (Jamʿiyyat al-Iṣlāḥ al-Ijtimāʿī) Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal, Land en Volkenkunde Tablīghī Jamāʿat Tamadun Melayu Tuḥfat al-Nafīs Tokoh-tokoh Ulamaʾ Semenanjung Melayu (Ismail Che Daud) Utusan Malaysia Utusan Online Ulama Nusantara Blogspot (Shaghir Abdullah) Ulama Besar dari Patani (Ahmad Fathy al-Fatani) Vietnam Courier Vietnam Review Welt des Islams Warisan Kelantan

on Spelling and Transliteration Note onNote Spelling and Transliteration

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Note on Spelling and Transliteration Arabic names and terms are given in common English academic transliteration, whereas Malay ones, both classical (i.e. written in Arabic script) or modern Malay/Indonesian, are reproduced according to modern Malay spelling. The Arabic-derived names of Southeast Asian Muslim scholars and others are given in their modern locally common spellings, except for those of the Malay and Cambodian scholars who authored jawi works, which are mostly transliterated in harmony with the usually Arabic titles of their writings. Some of those who are cited rather frequently will, after the first mention, be referred to by the abbreviated Malay forms of their names (e.g. Ahmad Patani for Aḥmad al-Faṭānī). Cham terms conform to the transliteration style of Gérard Moussay’s Grammaire de la langue cam (Paris: Les Indes Savantes, 2006), or, if clearly derived from Arabic script-based contexts, the Qāmūs Melāyū-Čam of Muḥammad Zayn Mūsā, Yūsūf Muḥammad, Aḥmad Ḥafīẓ ʿUthmān and ʿĀrifīn Mūsā (Bangi: Penerbit UKM, 2012). Given the absence of convenient standardized non-academic transliteration for Khmer, Khmer (place) names and terms are given according to their perceived most wide-spread form in English-language publications. Despite the fact, that this complicates reference to the included provincial map (which employs academic transcription), the names of Cambodian provinces should be readily recognizable to readers unfamiliar with Khmer language, except in the cases of Pursat and Kratie (Pouthisat and Kracheh on our map). The 2014 split of Kampong Cham into two new provinces (i.e. Kampong Cham and Thbaung Khmum, respectively) is neither reflected on the map nor in this study, which is entirely based on pre-2014 developments.

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Note On Spelling And Transliteration

Introduction Introduction

1

Introduction: Religious Change and Intra-Muslim Factionalism Since the 19th century, Cambodia’s Muslim minority community of Cham- and Khmer-speakers has witnessed profound religious change. One of the most salient and illustrative examples of this was the adoption of the Malay language (the jawi language) and its adaptation of the Arabic script as the main language of religious instruction and scholarship. This greatly enhanced status of Malay both accompanied and provided the basis for an unprecedented expansion of Islamic schooling. Secondly, it symbolized the full immersion of an important and steadily growing segment of Cambodian Muslims into an emerging trans-Southeast Asian Muslim scholarly culture and its social manifestations predicated on the usage of jawi. Thus, this historical process is referred to as Jawization. Based on an assumed intimate link between culture and language, it is argued that jawi’s unifying and homogenizing role was potentially disruptive in nature because it marginalized Islamic discourses and literatures in other local languages. This study traces Jawization’s spread and the resulting intra-Muslim factionalism in Cambodia from the late 19th century onwards by elucidating the underlying local and regional religious, political, technological and social configurations. In this respect, it focuses on the scholarly networks linking Cambodian Muslims to their co-religionists from/in Malay centers of learning on the Malay Peninsula and in the Middle East, as well as on the role of books, magazines and fatwas in communications between them. It also highlights the resilience of local opposition to the changes associated with Jawization. The most intriguing feature of this community, estimated at 340.450 people (or roughly 2.5 per cent of the general population) living in over 450 villages in 20101, is its split into two distinct and officially recognized Islamic communities. This is all the more striking because it has nothing to do with Sunni-Shiite differences and is only secondarily related to the ethnic make-up of the Cambodian Muslim community. Around 80 per cent of Cambodia’s Muslims are ethnic Chams, who speak an Austronesian (or Malayo-Polynesian) language and are descendants of migrants from former Cham kingdoms located in present-day coastal Central and Southern Vietnam. The remaining 20 per cent consist of so-called Chvea, Khmer speakers who claim descent from unions 1 Kok-Thay Eng, From the Khmer Rouge to Hambali: Cham Identities in a Global Age (Newark, PhD. Dissertation Rutgers Univ., 2013), p. 34f.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_002

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Introduction

between Malay settlers and local women2. Today, most Chams live – outside of historic Cham lands – in Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Laos. Whereas this entire Cham diaspora is Muslim, only approximately one third of those still inhabiting the former Cham realm of Panduranga, located in the current Vietnamese provinces of Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan, profess Islam. This state of affairs is usually attributed to their isolation from the Malay and Muslim worlds due to the Vietnamese occupation of Panduranga in the late 17th century. Whereas the Brahmanist and Muslim Chams of this region, known as cam jat (or ahier or, in Vietnamese, balamon) and cam bani (or awal), respectively, are thus separated along religious lines, those of Cambodia are characterized by a remarkable intra-religious split. It will be argued that Cambodia’s two separate Islamic communities, one headed by the Mufti of Cambodia and the other by the ong gʾnur (“venerable master”) as leader of the Kan Imam San (Community of Imam San), was the direct long-term result of a local process that is best described as Jawization, which unfolded mainly between the mid-19th century and the early 1970s. Accordingly, this study seeks to elucidate Jawization’s local and wider conditions (chapters two to four); its local manifestations in terms of religious change and the resulting factionalism (chapter five); its underlying vehicles, agents and networks (chapter six); the role of French colonial policies in propelling it (chapter seven); and, finally, its complex legacy in the age of globalization (chapter eight). It is the story of how and why a non-Malay-speaking Muslim community fully immersed itself in an evolving trans-Southeast Asian Muslim scholarly and social world, as well as of the ensuing changes and local reactions. It will be argued that this phenomenon was very much in tune with wider regional developments and even in the Muslim world at large. It is only because the Chams of Cambodia inherited an elaborate and extensive Islamic literary tradition recorded in their own language and non-Arabic-based script, which was largely obliterated through Jawization, that their history provides us with one of the most visible instances of the workings and consequences of such regional processes of homogenization in Islamic scholarship and religious and social practice. As such, it is likewise highly reflective of the intracommunity tension (and ultimately often factionalism) and resistance among certain parts of the community that invariably accompanies comparably sudden religious and social change. In recent years, observers of Islam in Cambodia have frequently been alarmed by the rise of intra-Muslim factionalism, which they have reflexively attributed to the recent import of purportedly alien Islamic traditions from 2 Ibid., p. 36f.

Introduction

3

different parts of the Muslim world, most notably from the Persian Gulf. Although rapid change has occurred among Cambodia’s Muslims since the country reconnected with the outside world in 1992 after two decades of inter­national isolation, this study’s long-term perspective will go some way to show that factionalism has been an inextricable part of their history for at least a century and thus cannot be attributed only to globalization. Likewise, the development of Islam there has frequently been depicted – in one-sided terms – as a narrative of cultural loss. This study will show that Jawization in Cambodia and Southeast Asia is also a tale of cultural formation and transformation, and that the remarkable constitution of Cambodia’s Kan Imam San, in particular, represents a rare case of cultural assertiveness and resilience against all odds.

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Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Foregrounding the Jawization of Islam in Cambodia 1

Approaches Informing the Concept of Jawization

Before discussing the concept of Jawization, one must engage with several key approaches that inform it. Scholars of Islamic Studies or the anthropology of Muslim societies designed most of these approaches as mechanisms to grapple with the inherent present as well as historical diversity within Islam and the Muslim world. As Jawization is closely tied to issues of language and script use, the first key concept is that of the logosphere, or, more precisely, of different Islamic logospheres. According to Roland Barthes, “everything we read and understand covers us like a mantle, surrounds and envelopes us like an environment: this is the logosphere. [It] is given to us by our epoch, our class, our craft: it is a ʿconditionʾ of our subject”1. In the field of Islamic Studies, the renowned historian and philosopher Mohammed Arkoun (d. 2010) first put this concept forward without acknowledging Barthes’ prior formulation. Defining it as “the linguistic mental space shared by all those who use the same language [..] to articulate their thoughts, their representations, their collective memory, and their knowledge according to the fundamental differences and values claimed as a unifying weltanschauung”, he specifically addresses two contrary examples of the workings of logospheres. Firstly, he suggests that the use of Arabic to impart Islamic values to non-Arabic-speaking Muslim communities explains why Muslim peoples at large share the same religiously “unthinkable”2. He further postulates that apart from hegemonic logospheres such as the Arabic Muslim, Greek and Latin Christian in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, or English today, smaller subaltern logospheres continue to exist in the shadow of major expanding languages and associated civilizations3. As the dialectic between a never fully achieved (sacralized) “Tradition with a capital ʿTʾ” and local traditions unfolds everywhere and at all times, “there are as many ʿIslams’ with their specific traditions as there are ethno-socio-cultural and linguistic environments sharing a long historical collective memory”4. Accordingly, an adequate study of Islam and of its expression in Muslim societies 1 Roland Barthes, Oeuvres completes: 2. 1966-1973 (Paris: Éds. du Seuil, 1994), p. 261. 2 Mohammed Arkoun, Islam: To Reform or to Subvert? (London: Saqi Essentials, 2006), p. 19f. (quotation from p. 19). 3 Ibid., p. 36. 4 Ibid., p. 266. Emphasis mine.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_003

Foregrounding The Jawization Of Islam In Cambodia

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would require a historical sociology of belief for each group that employs a distinct language to preserve a distinct memory of particular ways of adherence to the orthodox Islamic corpus5. Even though the enhanced place of Arabic or of any given Islamic supralanguage (i.e. a language used as religious, and often commercial, lingua franca by Muslim communities with different mother tongues in a specific region) cannot outdo the relevance of first languages as constituents of “a unifying weltanschauung”, such influences cannot be discounted and are of course also translated into loanword and concept acquisition. The uniformizing aspect alluded to in Arkoun’s first suggestion clearly also applies to Islamic supra-languages other than Arabic. As Bourdieu observed, there is nothing natural in language choice6. Thus, even a change of supra-language or the unprecedented full-scale adoption of one, especially when coupled with script change (or the adoption of a new script), can have strong effects. The issue of script itself is notably absent from Arkoun’s expositions. Yet, as several prominent historical cases have shown, externally or internally induced script change (e.g. the Romanization of Vietnamese and Turkish) often represents, besides practical considerations, an almost proverbially ideological choice7. Concerning the language-script nexus, Stephan Guth notes: “No matter if diglossia, monolingualism, bilingualism or multilingualism, one thing is clear in all cases: identities are hinging on languages (and in the same manner also on scripts); the language one speaks, commonly constitutes – consciously or unconsciously – a major part of one’s conception of the self, [and] is always a central element in the bundle of features, by which one defines, who or what one is (or wants to be)”8. The existence of different stances on this latter point within a given Muslim community can lead to internal factionalism. Even though this study will make ample use of Arkoun’s ideas, one must introduce some qualifications and refinements to his scheme. Firstly, as his notion of “many ʿIslams’” and local traditions (as opposed to “Tradition with a capital ʿTʾ”) is not very convenient to use in scholarly writing, I link his point to Talal Asad’s view that Islam should be treated as a discursive tradition, in which the believers’ relationship to the foundational texts is interpretive as opposed to determinative. Religion and culture are thus not envisaged as by 5 Ibid., p. 133f. 6 Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), p. 45f. 7 Cf. Olivier Roy, Holy Ignorance. When Religion and Culture Part Ways (New York: University of Columbia Press, 2010), p. 97; Stephan Guth, Die Hauptsprachen der Islamischen Welt (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2012), p. 370. 8 Ibid., p. 10. Emphasis mine.

6

Chapter 1

necessity constituting a priori systems of meaning9. Even though logospheres are not the issue in Asad’s treatment, an Islam regarded as a (multilingual) discursive tradition clearly has to consist of sub-discourses pertaining to different logospheres and their interpreting communities. This assumption resonates well with what has been said above concerning different linguistic and social environments preserving a distinct memory of engagement with concepts, texts, modes of interpretation and practices pertaining to, or at least associated by its adherents with, Islam. Accordingly, this study will approach Muslim religious diversity primarily through the lense of different Islamic discursive traditions as opposed to different Islams. Those more familiar with Asad’s concept will notice that this combination arguably rests on a selective or, some may claim, even distorting reading of Asad10. Yet, along with Leif Manger, I find his approach and especially his terminology particularly compelling for analysing Muslim diversity11, as it avoids sweeping judgements of what is/is not Islamic and who is/is not a true Muslim. Secondly, Arkoun’s statement about the uniformizing aspect of the Islamwide reliance on a shared Arabic lexicon needs to be qualified. Going beyond the narrow confines of “values” (arguably a quite nebulous formulation), there is, of course, a wide lexicon of Arabic-derived concepts, genres, names for sciences (not necessarily religious) and religious specialists (both formal and informal, from legal scholars to Sufi saints) and their different forms of religious knowledge, commonly shared and even broadly identical in many Muslim languages and their logospheres. Focusing on what he calls the “Sufi idiom” (and the Islamic supra-language of Persian), Nile Green has pointed out how this common lexicon not only gives a degree of unity to a Muslim world of linguistic and cultural diversity but has also been employed by individual groups to disguise actual divergence. In such cases, elements of local religiosity or particularities in religious leadership only outwardly conform with the more widely accepted or centrally sanctioned forms of Muslim religious expression12. 9 10 11 12

Talal Asad, The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam (Washington, D.C.: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies – Georgetown University, 1996). Ovamir Anjum, “Islam as a Discursive Tradition: Talal Asad and his Interlocutors”, ­c ssaame, XXVII (2007), p. 656-672. Leif Manger, “Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts” in id. (ed.), Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts (Richmond: Curzon, 1999), p. 9f. Nile Green, “Idiom, Genre, and the Politics of Self-Description on the Peripheries of Persian” in id. & Mary Searle-Chatterjee (eds.), Religion, Language and Power (New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 202-219. Central authorities may at times provide tacit approval for this kind of deception. Thus, both the Turkish Alevis/Qizilbāsh and the Nizari Ismailis, who have long survived in hostile environments under the protection of Sufi idiom and

Foregrounding The Jawization Of Islam In Cambodia

7

In addition, a minority of Muslim peoples and language communities have held on to their own languages and scripts for producing and transmitting religious literature and thus enjoy a polyphonic instead of a subservient relationship with surrounding Islamic supra-languages13. One important consequence of this is that the Arabic-derived lexicon of religious terminology is notably smaller than is the case with either (Arabic-script based) Islamic supra-languages or in smaller logospheres strongly influenced by them. Cases in point are Bengali and Chinese. The former role of Javanese as well as the ongoing function of Cham among some of its users appear to fall into this category, in which, due to a lesser degree of loanword acquisition, the inter-cultural and inter-religious encounter of the periods of Islamization necessitated an even greater degree of translation (in both the literal and metaphoric sense). Far from viewing such encounters as by necessity conflictual, Stewart has described the resulting translation processes as a search for equivalences on both sides, leading to the localization of a new religious impetus in the local cultural, linguistic, religious and social environments14. In the long-run, however, this localization may be challenged when parts of the community turn towards the scholarly and social world represented by an Islamic supra-language (and by all such a turn implies), thereby calling the local languages’ polyphonic status into question. Another conceptual approach informing the notion of Jawization, the pairs of localization/de-localization and their corollaries heterogenization/homogenization, needs to be mentioned here. As the existence of a strong link between language and culture is assumed15, as epitomized in the concept of the logosphere itself, the Islamic discourse’s situatedness in (and its prior as well as ongoing translation into) a given local language is instrumental in rendering it comprehensible and relevant to local audiences and serving as a major factor influencing its expression in actual religious practices. Thus, notwithstanding the obvious homogenizing and de-localizing role of so-called World Religions, their historical as well as present spread – in various forms – into, and loca­ lization in, new cultural and linguistic environments has necessarily resulted in a greater diversification or heterogenization of Islam (and global Islamic

13 14 15

organizational structures, evidently did so with a certain degree of Ottoman/Safavid connivance. Tony K. Stewart, “In Search of Equivalence: Conceiving Hindu-Muslim Encounter through Translation Theory”, hor, XL (2001), p. 275. Ibid. Claire Kramsch, Language and Culture (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2000); Karen Risager, Language and Culture: Global flows and Local Complexity (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2006).

8

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movements and trends)16. In this regard and with reference to Asad, Østebø has stressed that “there can be no discursive tradition of Islam except for the localized discursive tradition of Islam”17. Keeping this in mind, the evolution of speakers of different South and Southeast Asian languages – in the field of religious discourse – towards (forming) an overarching scholarly and social world of Urdu or Malay must be viewed as a step towards de-localizing local Islam and enhancing religious homogenization within those regions under the hegemony of the Urdu and Malay logospheres. Apart from the Jawization framework, this contribution will also rely on a second unfamiliar conceptual tool to approach the evolution of local resistance to Jawization. It will thus be argued that the local Kan Imam San community’s emergence – an unlikely outcome, given the eventual overall dominance of jawi models – depended on the “entitivity” of specific groups of discontents of Jawization. Stewart introduced this concept in connection with debates about religious purity, mixture and syncretism, and briefly defined it as “the quality of forming a discrete entity”18. Entitivity will, however, be employed in the additional sense of a set of cultural, religious and social resources that enables a group of people to form a discrete entity, thereby potentially turning an aggregate of more or less like-minded individuals into a distinctive group. It is therefore linked to classical concepts of social psychology used to measure in as far a given aggregate of individuals can be perceived as a coherent social unit19. Such a perception can be of an either emic or etic nature20. The entitivity behind this community’s formation, however, is clearly reflexive because it refers both to its emerging self-perception as a distinctive Islamic community and to its external perception as a collective other by the majority of Cambodian Muslims and as a separate Islamic congregation by the state.

16

17 18

19 20

Cf. Terje Østebø, Localising Salafism. Religious Change among Oromo Muslims in Bale, Ethiopia (Leiden: Brill, 2012), p. 13-42; Philipp Bruckmayr, “Divergent processes of localization in 21st century Shiʿism: The cases of Hezbollah Venezuela and Cambodia’s Cham Shiʿis”, bjmes, XLV (2018), p. 18-38. Østebø, Localising Salafism, p. 35. Charles Stewart, “Creolization, Ritual and Syncretism. From Mixture to Crystallization” in Andreas H. Pries, Laetitia Martzolff, Robert Langer & Claus Ambos (eds.), Rituale als Ausdruck von Kulturkontakt. „Synkretismus“ zwischen Negation und Neudefinition (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013), p. 10. Donald T. Campbell, “Common fate, similarity, and other indices of the status of aggregates of persons as social entities”, bs, III (1958), p. 14-21. Charles Stangor, Social Groups in Action and Interaction (New York: Psychology Press, 2004), p. 21-24.

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2

9

The Concept of Jawization and Similar Processes in the Muslim World

The historical evolution of the term melayu (Malay) exhibits a progression towards an inextricable inclusion of religious connotations. Initially referring only to a geographical location and a people inhabiting a certain realm, it eventually came to denote much of Southeast Asian Muslim culture and its bearers. Incidentally, this evolution necessitated a shift of melayu culture’s perceived cradle from Sumatra to the Malay Peninsula. Despite the major contribution of (Muslim) Aceh to this new understanding of Malayness, which now largely rests on religious (i.e. Islamic) consciousness, the sultanates of Melaka and Johor-Riau came to be seen as the foundation and greatest embodiments of things melayu21. Intriguingly, this view provided a suitable basis for the agendas of both the British colonizers and subsequent Malay nationalists22. The British viewed the Malays as unquestionably Muslim and treated them as such juridically, whereas fifty years after Malaysia became an independent and explicitly multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation state, national history, as displayed in the Malaysian National Museum, is practically devoid of anything pre-Islamic (that is, pre-Melakan)23. Compared to Melaka and Johor-Riau, Aceh’s example and contribution is especially relevant for the Cham because of its bilingual character: Acehnese for everyday use and Malay for diplomatic, commercial and literary purposes24. In contrast, the term jawi, derived from the Arabic nisba “al-Jāwī”, is first attested to in a 15th century ṭabaqāt work (referring to a scholar who flourished during the preceding century)25 and apparently had Islamic connotations right from the outset. In its Arabic usage, jāwī could be applied to goods originating in Southeast Asia, which Arab descriptive geography has designated jāwa or bilād al-jāwa since the 13th century onwards26, as well as to someone 21 22 23 24 25 26

L.Y. Andaya, “The Search for the ʿOrigins’ of Melayu”, jseas, XXXII (2001), p. 315-330; id., “Aceh’s Contribution to Standards of Malayness”, Archipel, LXI (2001), p. 29-68. Shamsul A.B., “A History of an Identity, an Identity of a History: The Idea and Practice of ʿMalayness’ in Malaysia Reconsidered”, jseas, XXXII (2001), p. 355-366. Chang Yi Chang, “The Malaysian National Museum and the construction of the idea of ʿMalaysian Societyʾ”, paper presented at the International Malaysian Studies Conference (MSC 8), 9-11 July 2012, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi. Andaya, “Aceh’s Contribution”, p. 45. R.M. Feener & M.F. Laffan, “Sufi Scents across the Indian Ocean: Yemeni Hagiography and the Earliest History of Southeast Asian Islam”, Archipel, LXX (2005), p. 186-189. Earlier the term Zābaj (Srivijaya) had been in wide use. The watershed appears to be Yāqūt al-Rūmī’s Muʿjam al-Buldān (1224), the earliest such source to introduce jāwa but which likewise mentions Zābaj in its discussion of (maritime) lands between India and

10

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connected to the region through birth, lineage, education or occupation. In Southeast Asia jawi came to denote, among other things, the melayu language (classical Malay) as written in an adapted Arabic script, whose earliest specimen (the batu bersurat [engraved stone] of Terengganu) dates from the 14th century27. It clearly functioned as a mercantile lingua franca and the shared common literary language of the region’s Muslims. Accordingly, it has even been suggested that “as a [religiously-connotated] meta-ethnic term, Malayness has devolved from an older sense of Jawiness”28. Classifications are known to potentially affect people systematically, a fact that is surprisingly rarely acknowledged29. Being collectively classified as jāwī by Arabic- and Persianspeaking (or educated) Muslims was therefore not necessarily appreciated by all Southeast Asian Muslim groups; however, the great majority of those who interacted with the wider Muslim world eventually accepted and appreciated it. In this context it shall, following Andaya, be re-emphasized that especially Aceh’s greatness, as in the long run somewhat side-lined main contributor to standards of Malayness, rested to a significant degree upon its “infusion of Islamic ideas in the society” due to its intense relationship with the Muslim world beyond Southeast Asia30. The usage of “Javanese” (jawi) as a generic term for different peoples of maritime Southeast Asia in various mainland Southeast Asian languages is clearly analogous to that encountered in Arabic and Malay. This applies equally to Cham (jawa), Vietnamese (cha va, đồ bà) and Khmer (jvā – pronounced chvea)31, where it first appears in Angkorean inscriptions of the 10th

27 28 29 30 31

China. G.R. Tibbetts, A Study of the Arabic Texts Containing Material on South-East Asia (Leiden: Brill, 1979), 55f., 90; Ferdinand Wüstenfeld (ed.), Jacut’s Geographisches Wörterbuch, III (Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1864), I, 506; II, 904; III, 445. Syed Muhammad Naguib Al-Attas, The Correct Date of the Terengganu Inscription (Kuala Lumpur: Muzium Negara, 1970). M.F. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood and Colonial Indonesia. The Umma below the Winds (London: Routledge, 2003), p. 14. Ian Hacking, Rewriting the Soul. Multiple Personalities and the Sciences of Memory (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), p. 237-239. Andaya, “Aceh’s Contribution” (quotation p. 64). Po Dharma, Quatre lexiques malais-cam anciens: rédigés au Campā (Paris: Pefeo, 1999), p. 1; Po Dharma, G. Moussay & Abdul Karim (eds. & trans.), Nai Mai Mang Makah. Tuan Putri Dari Kelantan (Kuala Lumpur: Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian Dan Pelancongan Malaysia & efeo, 2000), p. 13-14 n. 5; Choi Byung Wook, Southern Vietnam under the Reign of Minh Mḁng (1820-1841). Central Policies and Local Response (Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asian Program Publications, 2004), p. 34-35 n. 71; Saveros Pou, Dictionnaire vieux Khmer-Français-Anglais (Paris: LʾHarmattan, 2004), p. 186. In Vietnamese, the label even came to encompass foreign (presumably Muslim) merchants also of Indian and African origin. Michael Laffan, “Finding Java: Muslim Nomenclature of Insular Southeast Asia

Foregrounding The Jawization Of Islam In Cambodia

11

century32. In Thai, due to the greater sensitivity towards peninsular Malays for geopolitical reasons, chawa in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya denoted Muslims of both Javanese and Sumatran origins. In Makassar it was applied to (Muslim) people from the Western Malay world in general33. Incidentally, the Gowa Chronicle includes people from Champa, Patani, Minangkabau, Johor and Pahang, among the local residents belonging to this category34. An inherent feature of the emerging meta-ethnic character of melayu/jawi identity in Southeast Asia was its openness towards external entries. Most probably already before, but particularly after the fall of Melaka in 1511 and the emergence of a trading diaspora of former Malay residents of the realm that provided new impetuses to other trading hubs on the Peninsula (Johor-Riau, Patani), Sumatra (Aceh, Palembang), Borneo (Brunei, Banjarmasin), Java (Banten), Sulawesi (Makassar) as well as on the mainland (Ayutthaya and Phnom Penh), newcomers from various ethnic backgrounds joined the emerging trans-regional community of orang melayu (Malay people)35. Firstly this, as well as the earlier and subsequent dispersals of trading communities and, to a lesser degree, of princely families of maritime Southeast Asia, fostered the adoption of an over-arching identity and cultural framework (including Islam) that was becoming recognized in the region’s commercial and political spheres – a recognition that would soon be shared, to varying degrees, by the colonial powers36. Thus, after the northern Cham kingdom of Vijaya fell to the Vietnamese (1471) and Melaka to the Portuguese (1511), the Chams of Melaka and other Southeast Asian ports blended into the local Malay identity or the larger Malay diaspora. This also happened to the Javanese traders who left Java due to the business disruptions caused by the Dutch East India Company (voc) and the sultanate of Mataram in the 17th century37.

32 33 34 35 36 37

from Śrîvijaya to Snouck Hurgronje” in Eric Tagliacozzo (ed.), Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Islam, Movement and the Longue Durée (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2009), p. 59 n. 105. Khing Hoc Dy, “La présence du malais dans la langue et la littérature khmères”, baefek, XIV (2008), p. 1. . William P. Cummings, A Chain of Kings. The Makassarese chronicles of Gowa and Talloq (Leiden: kitlv Press, 2007), p. 2 & 57 n. 66. Ibid., 34. Anthony Reid, “Understanding Melayu (Malay) as a Source of Diverse Modern Identities”, jseas, XXXII (2001), p. 300f. Ibid., p. 301-304. As Muslim traders operating out of Manila, the Luzons vanished from the records shortly after Manila fell to the Spanish. Similarly, much of the Javanese of Melaka eventually came to be identified (and to identify themselves) as Malays. See id., “Continuity and Change in the Austronesian Transition to Islam and Christianity” in Peter Bellwood et al. (eds.), The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (Canberra: anu E Press,

12

Chapter 1

Secondly, many other Southeast Asian groups joined the ever-expanding Malay trading, religious and meta-ethnic networks. As a result, the notion of masuk (“to enter”) melayu or masuk jawi became synonymous with embracing Islam38 and Malay Muslim culture as well as with participating in Malay trade, all of which was mediated by the use of Malay as the carrier-language. In addition, the rulers of the region’s maritime, riverine and inland polities who were stakeholders in trade widely embraced models of Malay kingship and court culture. Hence the short-lived Melayu-ization of Cambodia’s kingship under Ramadhipathi I/Sultan Ibrahim (d. 1658)39 and the Malay regal title of Champa’s Muslim king (Paduka Seri Sultan) around the same time40. Such constellations were, however, hardly unique. Whereas Malay identity was confined to Southeast Asia with tentacles stretching out to Arabia, Persia, coastal India and East Africa, the first phase of globalization41, inaugurated by Iberian oversees expansion, precipitated the emergence of a meta-ethnic category on global scale. Thus, the “Portuguese” actors involved in the trading circuits of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were frequently even more mixed and creolized than their Malay competitors42. Strikingly, participation and belonging to either

38

39

40

41

42

2006), p. 336; id., “The Rise and Fall of Sino-Javanese Shipping” in Geoff Wade (ed.), China and Southeast Asia, Vol. II: Southeast Asia and Ming China ( from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century) (London & New York: Routledge, 2009), p. 87, 90. In this sense, the notion still prevails at least in Malaysia and Southern Thailand. Zainal Kling, “Social Structure: The Practices of Malay Religiosity” in Mohd. Taib Osman (ed.), Islamic Civilization in the Malay World (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1997), p. 52. Carool Kersten, “Cambodia’s Muslim King: Khmer and Dutch Sources on the Conversion of Reameathipadei I, 1642-1658” in jseas, XXXVII (2006), p. 1-22; Alfons van der Kraan, Murder and mayhem in seventeenth-century Cambodia: Anthony van Diemen vs. Ramadhipati I (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2009). In 1680 the Cham king referred to himself by that title in a letter to the Dutch in Batavia. F. De Haan (ed.), Dagh-register gehouden int Casteel Batavia vant passerende daer ter plaetse als over geheel Nederlandts-India Anno 1680 (Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, 1912), p. 242, 252-3. French missionary reports dating to 1682 and 1685 confirm the Cham king’s adherence to Islam. Adrien Launay, Histoire de la mission de Cochinchine 1658-1823, I: 1658-1728 (Paris: Société des Missions-Étrangères, 1923), p. 243f., 352f. The period from 1450 to the middle of the 17th century represents globalization’s first epoch, brought about by extensive maritime voyages and soon accompanied by an unprecedented flow of humans, ideas and agricultural products. Michael Zeuske, Schwarze Karibik. Sklaven, Sklavenkultur und Emanzipation (Zürich: Rotpunkt Verlag, 2004), p. 29f. The overture to this process in Southeast Asia was certainly Zheng He’s voyages (14051433), which unfolded along with Melaka’s emergence as the dominant Muslim trading polity. Stefan Halikowski-Smith, Creolization and Diaspora in the Portuguese Indies. The Social World of Ayutthaya, 1640-1720 (Leiden: Brill, 2010); Malyn Newitt, A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion, 1400-1668 (New York: Routledge, 2005), passim.

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trading network rested upon the usage of a common lingua franca (“Bazaar Malay” versus “Portuguese Creole”43) and religion (Islam versus Catholicism). Although it has been argued (for a later period) that Islam played only a subordinate role in this Malayness, which primarily rested “on a common trading culture along the Melaka Straits and South China Sea”44, Malay’s status as the main vehicle for spreading Islam in Southeast Asia naturally makes this inherent connection between the different constitutive elements of Malayness more relevant. From a linguistic point of view, the grammatical profile of Arabic or Persian loan-words (predominantly nouns reflecting little influence of the grammatical systems of the source languages) “supports the notion that a resilient and adaptive Malay, and not an external [..] language, was the vector of Islam” in the Malay world45. Notably, this likewise applies to Champa and the Chams at large46. Therefore, the spread of Islam among the Chams from the 15th to the 17th century went hand in hand with strong Malay influence. Accordingly, the Cham equivalent to masuk melayu/jawi (i.e. becoming Muslim) is tuei jawa (“following the Malays”)47. Moreover, Cham tradition in the southern Cham realm of Panduranga locates Makah (Mecca) in the Malay world (nagar jawa)48. Yet these initial processes and their contemporary echos need to be differentiated from the concept of Jawization as employed in this study to analyse religious transformations among Cambodia’s Chams and Chvea as well as among the region’s other Muslim peoples beginning in the 19th century. Firstly, the choice of Jawization over Malayization or Melayu-ization is deliberate, and not merely based on the observation that things melayu appear under the jawa label among the Chams or as chvea among Khmer-speaking Cambodian Muslims. While it may seem that both masuk melayu/jawi could 43

44 45

46 47 48

Pue Giok Hun & Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Peranakan as a Social Concept (Bangi: kita, 2012), p. 43f.; Halikowski-Smith, Creolization and Diaspora, p. 112-114; Leonard Blussé, Strange Company. Chinese Settlers, Mestizo Women and the Dutch in voc Batavia (Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1986), p. 163-165. Timothy P. Barnard, “Texts, Raja Ismail and Violence: Siak and the Transformation of Malay Identity in the Eighteenth Century”, jseas, XXXII (2001), p. 333. Russell Jones (ed.), Loanwords in Indonesian and Malay (Leiden: kitlv Press, 2008), p. xxiiif. On the other hand, rare examples of colloquial Arabic’s direct influence on Malay dialects reflect attempts to follow or imitate the respective verbs’ morphology. Nikolaos van Dam, “Arabic Loanwords in Indonesian Revisited”, bki, CLXVI (2010), p. 224. Po Dharma, Quatre lexiques, p. 8. Po Dharma, Moussay & Abdul Karim, Nai Mai Mang Makah, p. 50. Cf. Muḥammad Zayn Mūsā, Yūsūf Muḥammad, Aḥmad Ḥafīẓ ʿUthmān & ʿĀrifīn Mūsā, Qāmūs Melāyū-Čam (Bangi: Penerbit ukm, 2012), p. 252. Po Dharma, Moussay & Abdul Karim, Nai Mai Mang Makah, p. 19 n. 20.

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Chapter 1

be used interchangeably once Islamically connotated notions of melayu had become unanimously accepted as exo- as well as endo-definitions, this does not apply to all localities. As Malay, also the lingua franca of Dutch Southeast Asia (followed by Portuguese), became the main language of local Protestant communities in Ambon (Maluku) and Minahasa (North Sulawesi)49, masuk melayu came to mean becoming Christian in some parts of Eastern Indonesia50. As there is no such ambiguity with the term jawi, we must reconsider Laffan’s suggestion that (strongly Islamically connotated) Malayness may have sprung from an earlier concept of Jawiness. Jawi’s lack of ambiguity partly stems from its probable origins in Arabic and Muslim usage (as opposed to melayu’s erstwhile connection to Srivijaya), as well as from its terminological and practical connection to the script bearing its name, and thus, to literary Malay. Therefore, as Acehnese luminaries such as Shams al-Dīn of Pasai (d. 1630) and ʿAbd al-Ra⁠ʾūf al-Sinkilī (d. 1693) introduced their works as being written in jawi language (bahasa jawi), they did not just refer to Malay but to that Malay written in the local adaptation of Arabic (i.e. jawi script)51. The Dutch Orientalist François Valentijn (d. 1727) viewed Malay as unsuitable for spreading the bible among the Dutch-ruled indigenous populations. Indeed, after having observed the Muslims’ far greater proficiency in the language vis-à-vis local Christians, which he credited to the existence of an extensive literature among the former, he considered it “the preserve of an Islamicate culture”52. On the other end of the colonial spectrum, William Marsden (d. 1836) was already aware of melayu’s historical roots in Sumatra and its comparably recent genesis as being strongly defined in Islamic terms. He clearly regarded jawi’s influence as ultimately debilitating to “original” melayu culture. Explicitly rejecting the “term ʿMalayʾ as a Muslim coverall resting on nothing more than circumcision and an ability to read Arabic script” in his 1783 History of Sumatra, Marsden lamented the loss of Sumatran genuineness among the Minangkabau and especially the Acehnese, who “had so thoroughly adopted 49

50 51 52

It perfectly fits the picture of Portuguese identity outlined above, that emerging Protestant Christian communities would quickly adopt Malay language, whereas Batavia’s Catholic mardijkers (“free men”, from Malay orang merdeka) or, less pertinent, Sri Lanka’s Catholic Afro-Portuguese stuck to local variants of Portuguese under Dutch rule. Blussé, Strange Company, p. 163-165; Shihan de Silva Jayasuriy, African Identity in Asia. Cultural Effects of Forced Migration (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2009), p. 119, 130, 134. Reid, “Understanding Melayu”, p. 305f. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 13f. Michael Laffan, The Makings of Indonesian Islam. Orientalism and the Narration of a Sufi Past (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2011), p. 78f.

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Arabic ways and Arabic script”53. Despite his view of cultural loss among the former due to Islamization and Jawization, he nevertheless admitted his failure to find any genuine (i.e. non-Arabic derived) scripts among Sumatra’s Malays, Minangkabaus or their dependents54. He further noted that being melayu was locally almost synonymous with being Muslim, as evinced in the expression menjadi melayu (“to become Malay”) for adopting Islam55. In contrast, the melayu label was until recently largely unknown among the Chams because only the jawi label was current56. Nevertheless, Muslim peoples such as the Javanese, Sasaks and, intriguingly, the Chams, have produced extensive indigenous literatures by employing their own scripts. These literatures as well as oral vernacularizations are both the product as well as the cause of a strong localization of Islam leading to the emergence of distinctive Islamic traditions such as the so-called Javanese mystic synthesis and the related abangan Muslim identity57, the wetu telu on Lombok58, the Islam of Vietnam’s Cham Bani and Cambodia’s Kan Imam San. Given their obvious distinctiveness, these groups cannot be subsumed under the unifying jawi or even melayu categories. Whereas one could justifiably point to isolation from the Malay and Muslim worlds as a reason for the specific development of Islam among the Bani, this appears to be hardly applicable to the Javanese or the Kan Imam San. Similarly, the widely accepted view that Champa’s (Bani) Muslims have slid back into pre-Islamic beliefs and concepts needs to be questioned because of its inherent unidirectional approach to what must have been a protracted process of interaction. Consider the following facts: the existence of an elaborate Cham aristocratic culture, akin to its Javanese counterpart, survived Vijaya’s fall to Vietnam 1471, and Islamization began in the ports and not at court. Consequently, Ricklefs’ convincing argument for Java most probably also applies to Champa/Panduranga: The “Javanization” of different ruling groups in diversified coastal realms, resulting from awe and emulation of Javanese aristocratic 53 54 55 56 57

58

Ibid., p. 86. Emphases mine. William Marsden, The History of Sumatra, reprint of 3rd ed. (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford Univ. Press, 1975), p. 197-99. Ibid., p. 42. Nakula, “Orang Melayu di Kemboja”, Pengasuh, 410 (Nov. 1975/Zulkaedah 1395), p. 11. M.C. Ricklefs, Mystic Synthesis in Java: a history of Islamization from the fourteenth to the early nineteenth centuries (Norwalk, Conn.: Eastbridge, 2006); Stephen C. Headley, Durga’s Mosque. Cosmology, Conversion and Community in Central Javanese Islam (Singapore: IseAS, 2004). Sven Cederroth, The Spell of the Ancestors and the Power of Mekkah. A Sasak Community on Lombok (Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 1981). I am indebted to Martin Slama (Vienna) for first drawing my attention to this group.

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culture, may have been as significant as the Islamization of the latter in the interior59. Taking such a dialogic process, which has gradually left its imprint inter alia (besides the realm of practices) in Cham literary tradition, as our starting point instead of the simple narrative of incomplete Islamization and subsequent backsliding into pre-Islamic forms, should sharpen our understanding of the early phases of Bani Islam’s evolution into a distinctive Islamic discursive tradition and of Cham as an Islamic logosphere. Given that issues of oral versus written regimes of religious knowledge as well as of jawi versus other non-Arabic-based scripts are important, Jawization among the Chams means something more than just adopting Islam. Embracing Islam (tuei jawa) – or even only elements of it, such as of Allah as the supreme god, may have been the main question in Panduranga during the early phases of its Islamization, prior to the concretization of Cham Brahmanist and Bani communities. And yet by the 19th century at the latest, being non-Muslim was generally no longer an option among the Bani, let alone among Cambodian Chams. Against this background Ricci’s observations regarding Javanese versions of the Book of One Thousand Questions60, a remarkable example of circulation within the wider Muslim world as well as testimony to the dynamics of Jawization in a specific context, deserve mention. Whereas the story’s original setting was a dispute between the Prophet and the Jew (and eventual convert) ʿAbdullāh b. Salām, late 19th century Javanese versions had replaced the conversion narrative’s interlocutors with an Islamic scholar (guru [“teacher”] or seh [“shaykh”]) and his students. As Ricci notes, the text’s inherent tension “in the distinction consistently made between ʿArabʾ and ʿJava⁠ʾ, is clearly not one between different religions, but rather between perceptions of what it may have meant to be a Javanese Muslim”61 – a contest and dialogue (as no such intra- or even inter-religious encounter is ever exclusively conflictual) between different Islamic discursive traditions. More precisely, in our case Jawization is about the evolution of large parts of (Cham) Islam in Cambodia and Vietnam towards specific regional hegemonic discourses of Islamic orthodoxy, a process closely linked to the expansion of a particular form of Islamic education resting on the Malay language, the jawi script and the new availability of printed materials. This specific process is referred to throughout this study as 59 60 61

M.C. Ricklefs, “Six Centuries of Islamisation in Java” in Nehemia Levtzion (ed.), Conversion to Islam (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1978), p. 106. Ronit Ricci, “From Jewish Disciple to Muslim Guru: On Literary and Religious Transformations in Late 19th Century Java” in R. Michael Feener & Terenjit Sevea (eds.), Islamic Connections. Muslim Societies in South and Southeast Asia (Singapore: IseAS, 2009), p. 68-85. Ricci, “Jewish Disciple”, p. 77f.

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Jawization, and it is assumed that this concept can be applied to similar cases of religious change in Muslim Southeast Asia as well. Moreover, Jawization was just one regional variant of the period’s larger phenomenon of religious standardization in the Muslim world, which relied mainly on specific “Islamic supra-languages” (e.g. Swahili, Urdu and Malay) for its transmission and development. Starting in the 19th century, large parts of South Asia witnessed the greatly enhanced gravitation of significant segments of local Muslim society towards the social and religious world of Persianized Muslim elites claiming Arab and Central Asian descent (ashrāf)62. Known as Ashrafization63, it was simultaneously brought about by and resulted in a proliferation of Islamic schools and a greater outreach of the written transmission of religious knowledge even among religious and social groups previously almost exclusively grounded in oral (and therefore vernacular) transmission. As this development largely rested on Urdu’s rapid displacement of Persian as the new integrative (especially literary and educational) Islamic supra-language64, Urduization might be a more suitable term than Ashrafization for this phenomenon. Like its elitist precursor (i.e. Persian), Urdu is written in an adapted Arabic script. But as a Persianized variant of Hindustani, itself long established as the regional lingua franca outside courtly circles and their Persianate systems of education (not necessarily Muslim), it was in a far better position to act as linguistic unifier with religious overtones. In the long run, Islamic literatures that relied upon Indic scripts and often exhibited distinctive forms of localization of Islam would become suspect, associated with Hinduism or at least with syncretism. The most instructive 62

63

64

Marc Gaborieau, “Towards a Sociology of Indian Muslims” in M. Waseem (trans. & ed.), On Becoming an Indian Muslim. French Essays on Aspects of Syncretism (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2003), p. 294-315; id., “Lʾonomastique moderne chez les Musulmans du Souscontinent Indien”, coa, III (1985), p. 9-50. Important correctives to Gaborieau’s presentation are provided in a recent contribution of Buehler, who, unfortunately largely leaves out issues of language. Arthur F. Buehler, “Trends of ashrāfization in India” in Morimoto Kazuo (ed.), Sayyids and Sharifs in Muslim Societies. The Living Links to the Prophet (London: Routledge, 2012), p. 231-246. Dominique-Sila Khan, Crossing the Threshold. Understanding Religious Identities in South Asia (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004), p. 56-58. The new accessibility and adoption of symbols of elite culture was also a channel for social mobility, or at least for hopes thereof. Yoginder Sikand, Bastions of the Believers. Madrasas and Islamic Education in India (New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2005), p. 55. This displacement went hand in hand with subtle curricular changes that further diminished specifically Indo-Persian elements in South Asian Madrasa education. Francis Robinson, The ʿUlama of Farangi Mahall and Islamic Culture in South Asia (London: C. Hurst, 2001), p. 31-38; Tariq Rahman, From Hindi to Urdu: A Social and Political History (Karachi: Oxford Univ. Press, 2011), p. 98-163.

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example of this is Bengali Islam, which has commonly been described as syncretistic65. Incidentally, the more than 170 million Bengali-speaking Muslims are unique in never having adopted and then adapted the Arabic script. Their native language, therefore, contains far fewer Arabic and Persian loanwords than Urdu66. Even though the homogenization affecting large parts of Muslim South Asia, which was aided by British legal and educational policies, made – through the use of Urdu – the Islamic literary tradition more accessible to ordinary Indian Muslims67, it naturally harmed a variety of local Islamic discourses, literatures and “liminal” groups68. Similarly, Swahili, East Africa’s Islamic supra-language long written in the Arabic script, shares important traits with Malay, such as having a long history as a regional mercantile lingua franca and a distinctive background in terms of its connection to the maritime Indian Ocean World. In fact, its name is derived from Arabic’s sawāḥil (the plural of sāḥil [“coast”])69. Nowadays, however, its connection with Islam has dramatically declined due to its remarkable spread, Romanization and use for British and German administrative colonial purposes in the 20th century. Today, only a minority of those who speak Africa’s most widespread indigenous language are Muslim70. Nevertheless, the Swahili people represent a very similar case to the Malays (melayu) in terms of common tendencies towards meta-ethnic identities and regional roles in Islamization. Accordingly, adopting Islam was historically an important component of the Swahilization of East African tribal and ethnic communities until at least the 19th century, just as being Muslim continues to be regarded as sine qua non for being a “real” Swahili among Muslim Swahilis71. Moroever, as Swahili served as language of Islamic education (and of Islam’s further spread) during the 65 66 67 68

69 70 71

Asim Roy, The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1983). Robert Siegfried, Bengalens Elfter Kalif. Untersuchungen zur Naqšbandiyya Muğaddidiyya in Bangladesh (Würzburg: Ergon, 2001), p. 12-14; Stewart, “In Search of Equivalence”, p. 260-287. Sikand, Bastions of the Believers, p. 72f. Khan, Crossing the Threshold (esp. ch. 3). One important “liminal” group exhibiting the strong influence of both Islam and other Indic religious traditions, and thus a high degree of acculturation, are the Ismaili Khojas with their religious literary tradition in the distinctive Indic khojkī script. Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment. The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia (London: I.B. Tauris, 2002), p. 36-38, 100-145. Guth, Hauptsprachen der Islamischen Welt, p. 235-241. Farouk Topan, “From Coastal to Global: The Erosion of the Swahili ʿParadoxʾ”in Roman Loimeier & Rüdiger Seesemann (eds.), The Global Worlds of the Swahili: Interfaces of Islam, Identity and Space in 19th and 20th-Century East Africa (Berlin: lit, 2006), p. 58f. James de Verre Allan, Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture and the Shungwaya Phenomenon (Athens: Ohio Univ. Press, 1993), p. 15-17, 254f.

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20th century, it gradually became the main language of religious instruction and discourse even for the Muslims of Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo72. In this respect, Swahilization (i.e. Swahili’s spread as an Islamic supra-language and Muslim cultural model) remains an ongoing process. Likewise, the relationship to schooling and the written transmission of religious knowledge is well captured in the term Santrization (Indon. santrinisasi, from santri [“religiously learned”]) to denote the Javanese facet of a similar process, largely carried by the products of an enhanced, modified and rapidly spreading sector of formal Islamic education and a growing number of hajjis, many of whom combined the pilgrimage with studies in the Ḥaramayn (i.e. Mecca and Medina)73. This makes Santrization such an apt term, even though its exponents, as a distinctive group, were locally referred to as putihan (“White Ones”) instead of santri. The greater relevance of the written word to the detriment of oral religious cultures is also evident in this case74. Likewise, Santrization’s way of confronting both orally-based strongly localized Islamic discourses and their literary culture, as preserved in a rich heritage of Javanese script writings, reveals that it was actually a mere local manifestation of a larger process of Jawization. This assumption is considerably bolstered if one considers the crucial fact that early Malay Muslim book printing, centered in Singapore, was disproportionately dominated by the local Javanese community75. Most of these publishers (or their ancestors) hailed from the Semarang region of the pasisir (i.e. northern coastal Java), a Santrization stronghold76.

72 73 74

75 76

Justo Lacunza Balda, “The Role of Kiswahili in East African Islam” in Louis Brenner (ed.), Muslim Identity and Social Change in East African Islam (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1993), p. 226-238. M.C. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society: Islamic and other visions (c. 1830-1930) (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2007), p. 30-83; Martin van Bruinessen, “Global and Local in Indonesian Islam”, seas, XXXVII (1999), p. 50-55. The writing/orality binary is of course artificial, as both of them intersect and constantly influence each other in societies. Shail Mayaram, Against History, Against State. Counterperspectives from the Margins (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2003), p. 6. Keeping this in mind, shifts in the relations of power between the two, which affect the degrees to which one tends to influence the other, are nevertheless perceptible. Moreover, the balance of power is rather obvious in mostly illiterate segments of societies. Ian Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books. A provisional account of materials published in the Singapore-Malaysia area up to 1920, noting holdings in major public collections (Kuala Lumpur: Academy of Malay Studies and the Library, University of Malaya, 1993), p. 32. In 1872 Semarang had the largest number of religious scholars and students of all Javanese-speaking residences. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society, p. 66.

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In the 1880s their products were already on sale at Maluku, at the other geographical end of the ecumene77. Due to Islam’s strong acculturation among large parts of Javanese society, which was now being explicitly challenged, Java represents probably the most violent and instructive example of Jawization. Apart from Malay, Javanese – with its own adapted version of the Arabic script (pegon) – was the only other regional language that approached Islamic supra-language status, as can be inferred from the existence of separate Javanese-language study circles in Mecca. Such study circles were natural, given the large proportion of first-language users among the Jāwa residing there. As can be discerned from Snouck Hurgronje’s late 19th century observations, approaching Arabic via the supra- (or second) language of Javanese was, however, an option only for those living closest to Javanese-speaking areas (e.g. Sundanese and Madurese). Even so, despite Javanese being the preferred medium of instruction in their home pesantren (Islamic boarding schools)78, the Sundanese are known to have joined either Malay or Javanese study circles79. Moreover, a growing local relevance of Arabic and Malay was perceptible due to the rapid growth of religious schools and increased interaction with local Arabs and non-Javanese Southeast Asian Muslims80. By the middle of the 19th century Java had two more or less competing school systems; however, their students, for reasons of script choice grounded in cultural-religious considerations (pegon/jawi verus Javanese), could not write letters to each other81. A century later, “command of Javanese script was almost unknown among the young”82. Although Malay was clearly in a secondary position vis-à-vis Javanese (in pegon) in the pesantren of the 1880s83, this was about to change, aided by the Dutch and the nascent nationalist 77 78 79 80 81

82 83

Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 35. Martin van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning: Books in Arabic Script Used in the Pesantren Milieu”, bki, CXLVI (1990), p. 237. C. Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka in the Latter Part of the 19th Century (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 283f. Especially in the Ḥaramayn the local Javanese, by then already established agents of Santrization/Jawization, were clearly part and parcel of the jawi ecumene. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood (ch. 1). Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society, p. 154. Generally, illiteracy was rampant in Javanese society at that time, as the rapid growth of new religious schools was only starting to manifest itself. Cases of schools teaching both Javanese and Arabic scripts were very rare. See ibid., p. 49-52, 90. Id., Islamisation and Its Opponents in Java. A Political, Social, Cultural and Religious History, c. 1930 to the Present (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʿi Press, 2012), p. 154. Laffan, Makings of Indonesian Islam, p. 120. The demand also precipitated an upsurge in pegon publications in Singapore in the 1890s. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 36.

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­ ovement’s preference for Malay over Javanese as the archipelago’s main m language84. Moreover, the emergence of a (now largely irrelevant) counteridentity for the discontents of Santrization/Jawization, the so-called abangan (“Red/Brown Ones”) or Javanists (kejawen)85, provides an instructive comparative case for the dynamics of Jawization within Indochinese Islam. Strongly reminiscent of 19th century Java, the majority of Chams of the former Panduranga (hereinafter Panduranga) and of the Mekong Delta (hereinafter Delta) are presently, due to an analogous script-barrier, unable to communicate with each other in written Cham, despite its preservation in both areas. This short overview of comparative cases was intended to show that Jawization was neither unique to Cambodian Islam nor an exclusively Southeast Asian phenomenon that pertained solely to the jawi ecumene, but rather a regional (that is, jawi) variant of a larger process sweeping through much of the Muslim world at that time. The comparison to Java in particular high­lights the existence of specific sub-sets of Jawization conditioned by particular local contexts and their historical, linguistic and cultural characteristics. Another well-suited comparative case is Lombok’s Sasak Islam, given its split into products/agents of Jawization (waktu lima) and its discontents holding on to strongly localized Islamic discourses (waktu or wetu telu) associated with a vanishing literary tradition in the kawi (Middle Javanese) and Sasak scripts86. In order to “approach a complex and diverse web of societies as a single community of thought, exchange and communication”87, Laffan has based his usage of the concept of a (jawi) ecumene on C.A. Bayly’s work on colonial India 84 85

86

87

Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 98. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society (esp. ch. 3&4). The dissolution of abangan/kejawen identities and distinctively Javanese Islamic discursive traditions (courtly as well as rural) is linked to the declining command and usage of Javanese in a society and public space that were increasingly dominated by Indonesian (i.e. a variant of Malay). Id., Islamisation and Its Opponents, p. 406f. Peter K. Austin, “Reading the Lontars: Endangered Literature Practices of Lombok, Eastern Indonesia”, ldd, VIII (2010), p. 27-48; Geoffrey E. Marrison, Sasak and Javanese Literature of Lombok (Leiden: kitlv Press, 1999). Strikingly, Islam in Lombok, besides Sasak, already had its own supra-language before becoming subject to Jawization (i.e. Javanese language and script). The waktu lima detractors of more localized Sasak Islamic discursive tradition have, at times, through the destruction of manuscripts not only discarded or otherwise muted Sasak but also Javanese as languages of religious transmission, privileging Malay and, later, modern Indonesian instead. Marrison, Sasak and Javanese Literature, p. 14f. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 2f. Focusing on Malay’s use as literary language, Braginsky likewise speaks of a Malay “oecumene”. Vladimir Braginsky, The Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature: a historical survey of genres, writings and literary views (Leiden: kitlv, 2004), p. 775.

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and Hodgson’s ground-breaking The Venture of Islam88. Although a focus on ecumene(s) is still new within Islamic studies or the history of the Muslim world, important studies centering on networks (be they Muslim trade or Islamic scholarly networks) have been produced in recent years89. This said, identifying the specific networks within the jawi ecumene underpinning Jawization in Cambodia will be of considerable importance. The interaction of Cambodia’s Muslims with the jawi ecumene of the Malay-Indonesian World was primarily focused on one of its more or less clearly identifiable distinctive sub-sets. More precisely, it was centered on Greater Patani – the present Malay states of Kelantan and Terengganu as well as the Thai provinces of Patani, Yala, Narathiwat, Satun and Songkhla. Among these, Patani and Kelantan stand out for their major relevance to Muslim affairs in Southeast Asia in general and for the local process of Jawization in Cambodia in particular. Labeling this region and its Islamic tradition as a specific sub-set of the jawi ecumene is not an arbitrary choice. After all, the area shares a great deal of common (political) history as well as linguistic heritage (i.e. a common dialect of Malay not easily understood elsewhere in the Malay Peninsula, let alone in the archipelago)90, and its interactions between, say, scholars and students from Patani with those from Kelantan and vice versa, were far more frequent than contact with Malay scholars from outside the region. Thus, it is no surprise that, despite the borders separating British Kelantan from Thai Patani from 1909 onwards, critical processes such as the emergence of Islamic reformism in Southeast Asia, which manifested itself in Indonesia and British Malaya’s Straits Settlements differently and more intensely than in Kelantan and Patani91, unfolded very much in tandem. Thus, while Singapore’s dynamics had only indirect influence and limited transformative potential in Cambodia, many of the contested issues debated in Kelantan and Patani (as well as the implicated factions, if such existed in a distinguishable manner) were 88

89

90 91

C.A. Bayly, Empire and Information. Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, c. 1780-1870 (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996); Marshall Hodgson, The Venture of Islam. Conscience and History in a World Civilization, 3 vols. (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1974). See, for example, Roman Loimeier (ed.), Die islamische Welt als Netzwerk. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Netzwerkansatzes im islamischen Kontext (Würzburg: Ergon, 2000); Azyumardi Azra, The Origins of Islamic Reformism in Southeast Asia. Networks of Malay-Indonesian and Middle Eastern ʿUlama⁠ʾ in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Leiden: kitlv Press, 2004). Hasan Madmarn, The Pondok and Madrasah in Patani (Bangi: Penerbit ukm, 1999), p. 14f. Eliraz Giora, Islam in Indonesia: Modernism, Radicalism, and the Middle East Dimension (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2004); William Roff, The Origins of Malay Nationalism (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1967), ch. 4.

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replicated there. Moreover, even the Cambodian Muslims’ extended networks to the Ḥaramayn went along Patani-Kelantanese lines, even though also in this case relationships were multi-directional. Yet, especially in its initial stages, the agents and products of Jawization à la Patani-Kelantan confronted contending Islamic discourses rooted in orality and a literary heritage nurtured and sustained by a non-jawi script and a non-Malay logosphere. Nevertheless, written regimes, their hegemonic discourses and vehicles (languages and scripts) are not eveything. The transformations both preceding as well as resulting from processes such as Jawization also, as is the case with initial – probably superficial – conversions to a new faith, rest upon social contact and observation92. Inbound, outbound and internal (e.g. rural to urban, or from one province to another) migration, changes in the social order as well as the spread of (religious) schooling to rural areas are all contributing factors in this respect. In addition, given that much Jawization in Cambodia unfolded under French rule, the colonial context is also relevant. During the first half of the 19th century, Southeast Asian Muslims’ encounter with colonialism transcended power politics and economic exchanges and began to include repressive and benevolent religious policies. Of course, the designs for these religious policies, which were informed by and contributed to the existence and on-going production of colonial knowledge – not least concerning local religious and ethnic groups – gradually came to dominate indigenous ways of defining the world93. High imperialism was certainly not solely responsible for the deepening of religious boundaries and the accompanying increasing drive towards religious purity and standardization, as observed in perceived “cultural” Muslim-Hindu cleavages in South Asia94 or internal polarisation among Javanese95 and Cambodian Muslims. Yet it undoubtedly contributed to processes of religious homogenization. New structural factors were also important. In Southeast Asia, improvements in local infrastructure and transport, both on a global (e.g. the ḥajj) and local (roads, railways etc.) scale, facilitated the emergence of far less localized networks of religious scholarship that were constantly engaged with developments in the Holy Cities and, increasingly, other parts of the Muslim world (particularly South Asia). Another crucial aspect was lithography, which could 92 93 94 95

This component is well brought out in a persuasive study of 20th century conversion to Islam in West Africa. Egodi Uchendu, Dawn for Islam in Eastern Nigeria. A History of the Arrival of Islam in Igboland (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2011), esp. chs. 4 & 5. Shamsul, “History of an Identity”, p. 355-361; id., ʿIlmu kolonial’ dalam pembentukan sejarah intelektual Malaysia: sebuah pandangan (Bangi: kita, 2011). Khan, Crossing the Threshold. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society.

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approximate the highly-valued appearance of manuscripts, and the wholesale acceptance of book printing. Lithography provided greater access to religious literature and significantly increased its affordability. Thus, one must consider the distribution of Middle Eastern and regional journals, both of which were conducive to the emergence of a wider Muslim public sphere. Ideals of Western education influenced the establishment of institutions such as India’s Dār al-ʿUlūm Deoband (1866) and the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College Aligarh (1875), Singapore’s Madrasat al-Iqbāl al-Islāmiyya (1908) and Indonesia’s Muhammadiyyah organization (1912), all of which strove to combine Islamic education with secular knowledge in order to ensure prosperity in colonial society and to combat practices perceived to be lacking a sufficient scriptural basis and purportedly resulting from centuries of divergence from the pure religion. These concerns and notions were evidently shared by the colonial authorities and their advisors. Incidentally, colonial authorities frequently felt compelled to arbitrate major intra-religious change and the subsequent factionalism. The relevant archival evidence serves as valuable counterpoint to Muslim historical testimonies of intra-communal strife (fatāwā, polemical literature etc.). It thus seems necessary to consider religious change among Cambodia’s Muslims in its French colonial context, including contemporary developments in Cambodian Buddhism as well as in the wider context of Islam in the Malay world and the Muslim world at large. The process of Jawization and its specific underlying networks show that even in studying early 20th century Islam in Cambodia and Vietnam, privileging local social relationships over those unfolding over greater distances would be unserviceable and even untenable in any attempt to acquire a more complete picture of socio-religious change and local factionalism96. 96

Cf. Ulf Hannerz, “The Global Ecumene as a Network of Networks” in Adam Kuper (ed.), Conceptualizing Society (London & New York: Routledge, 1992), p. 51.

Introduction

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Chapter 2

On the Eve of Jawization and Colonial Rule This chapter will provide the background against which Jawization unfolded in Cambodia. As decisive constitutive influences were both multi-local and multi-directional, its sections seek to shed light on the late 18th and early 19th century situation in the last Cham principality of Panduranga, in Cambodia and the Delta (at that time still contested between Cambodia and Vietnam) and in the Malay sultanates of the Northeastern Peninsula, particularly Patani, Kelantan and Terengganu. Panduranga is important due to segments of its population’s protracted migration to Cambodia and the Delta, which lasted until the 1880s (i.e. way into the era of Jawization). Islam in the Delta evolved very much in tandem with Cambodia, which further highlights the contrasting distinctiveness of long-term developments in (former) Panduranga. Moreover, this marked interconnectedness of Islam in Cambodia and the Delta, owing to significant immigration, emigration and often also re-immigration movements in both directions during the 19th century, makes it impossible to exclude the latter region. As prime overseas nodes of transmission and circulation, religious developments in the peninsular East Coast sultanates are likewise vital to our understanding of Cambodian Islam. To arrive at the broader picture implied by characterizing Jawization as a region-wide phenomenon, occasional observations of similar trends in the wider Malay world will be made. Finally, it will be shown that changing relationships between the local Cham-Malays and the Cambodian kings, especially during the struggles around the establishment of the French Protectorate, likewise had long-term effects, including in the sphere of religiously-argued factionalism. 1

Diversity and Uniformity in Panduranga

In the 70 years preceding the onset of colonial rule (i.e. from the 1790s onwards), Cambodia’s Muslim community swelled due to new migratory waves from (former) Champa, which probably constituted the first major movements on such a scale since the late 17th century. Indeed, the last major Vietnamese military advance during the 1690s had initiated the general Cham isolation from the Muslim and Malay worlds. This presumed isolation certainly contributed to Bani Islam’s emergence and consolidation as a distinctively local Cham

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_004

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Islamic discursive tradition1, for it made the Bani a constituent of a larger formalized and nuanced system of interaction between Panduranga’s Brahmanist and Muslim Chams. This explicit inter-religiosity – in both the doctrinal and ritual spheres – and symbolic dualism, along with the prevailing narratives of a legendary history rationalizing its evolution, makes the Brahmanist and Bani Chams rare cases for which the term syncretism, in an institutionalized form, might be justified2. Whereas past and present complexities of religion in (former) Panduranga largely fall beyond the scope of this study, one of its crucial features does not. We will now highlight its particular relevance to the subsequent religious dynamics among Cambodian Muslims. We may assume that by the late 18th century, the framework of Pandurangan Cham culture and society, resting on two mutually validating Brahmanist and Bani Muslim religious communities with a common pantheon (albeit with differing emphases), a shared tradition of ancestor spirits (muk kei) as well as a common view of Cham history (including mythological), had not yet stabilized or been consolidated to the degree observed by French ethnographers of the latter part of the following century. This evolution may well have been more turbulent than the scarce Cham literature on the subject and its periodization by present scholarship seem to suggest. Nevertheless Bani Islam, with many of its present characteristics, must have been largely consolidated by then. Therefore, many if not all Cham Muslim migrants entering Cambodia from the late 18th century onwards were representatives and adherents of a distinctively local (Pandurangan) Cham Islamic discursive tradition, or at the very least bore certain distinctive imprints of that background. This would imply that Cambodia’s already ethnically (Cham and melayu/Chvea of varying backgrounds) and presumably religiously diverse Muslim community received a new strong influx of Cham Muslims who did not share the specific doctrinal religious system, ritual practices and view of history held by their 1 The beginnings of this isolation perhaps even predated the final 1692 Vietnamese sealing-off of the Cham ports. Although the Cham king was still sending emissaries to Dutch Batavia in 1680, two years later he had reportedly retreated 20 leagues from the coast “with his Muslim people”. Launay, Histoire de la mission, I, p. 244. The fateful 1692 attack on the Vietnamese could well have been the Cham sultan’s last attempt to regain access to the vital maritime domain. 2 Philipp Bruckmayr, “Between Institutionalized Syncretism and Official Particularism: Religion among the Chams of Vietnam and Cambodia” in Andreas H. Pries, Laetitia Martzolff, Robert Langer & Claus Ambos (eds.), Rituale als Ausdruck von Kulturkontakt. „Synkretismus“ zwischen Negation und Neudefinition (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013), p. 39f.; Yashimoto Yasuko, “A Study of the Almanac of the Cham in South-Central Vietnam” in Tran Ky Phuong & Bruce M. Lockhart (eds.), The Cham of Vietnam. History, Society and Art (Singapore: Nus Press, 2011), p. 325f.

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longer established co-religionists in Khmer domains. Major hallmarks of this renewed migration were the 1795-1796 flight and settlement of the Cham king Po Cei Brei and his entourage during Vietnam’s Tay Son uprising (1771-1802)3, Panduranga’s complete dissolution in 1832 and Minh Mang’s (r. 1820-1841) ensuing repressive assimilation policies4. Between these dates, several thwarted insurrections as well as Vietnamese-directed resettlement brought significant numbers of Chams to Cambodia and the Delta. Interestingly, Cham texts on Islam’s introduction to Champa and on Cham affairs in late Panduranga paint a picture of greater diversity within the local Muslim community than that encountered by French ethnographers at the end of the 19th century. It thus appears that Islam in Cambodia had undergone Jawization and its Pandurangan counterpart had undergone a further Banization. Whereas the French observed a seemingly unitary sphere of Bani Islam diversified only by minor regional variances between the Phan Ri and Phan Rang regions, everything appears more complicated in Cham literature. Nevertheless, this material confirms the existence of a specific Bani identity along with the recognition of its difference from other forms of being Muslim. We may first direct our attention towards the main Cham texts concerned with Islam’s introduction into Champa and the subsequent establishment of a system designed to ensure inter-community harmony. Most notably, two texts relate the sojourns of proselytizing Malay princes and of a proselytizing Malay princess there. The former represents the background story to the Bani rija dancing ritual (akin, particularly in form but perhaps less in content, to Patani and Kelantan’s mak yung dance theater5) performed to commemorate the two princes. According to this text, the Cham king Po Rome (r. 1627-1651) instituted many of the main features of the evolved system of parity and interaction between Panduranga’s two religious communities after a period of communal strife. These measures included priests from both communities participating in each other’s major festivities, equality in status (applying the royal and priestly title po [sire] to Brahmanist and Bani religious functionaries) and, most strikingly,

3 Po Dharma, “À propos de l’exil d’un roi cam au Cambodge”, befeo, LXXII (1983), p. 253-263. 4 Nicolas Weber, Histoire de la diaspora Cam (Paris: Les indes savantes, 2014), p. 25-30. Although Minh Mang’s “cultivation” policies were most pronounced in Southern Vietnam, including former Panduranga, they were likewise applied to occupied Cambodia. Wook, Southern Vietnam, p. 101-159. 5 Rahimidin Zahari & Sutung Umar, Makyung: The Mystical Heritage of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Institut Terjemahan Malaysia Berhad, 2011), p. 6-18.

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i­ ncorporating Po Aulah (Allāh) into the Cham Brahmanist pantheon6. All of these were allegedly suggested by the visiting Muslim princes. Although the historicity of this account is doubtful, the text represents a remarkable rationalization for this Cham region’s bi-religious character, one characterized by a quasi-symbiotic coexistence despite clearly defined religious boundaries. We may thus also speak of a common temporality within “heterogeneous time” among these two communities7. The latter aspect is best illustrated by the sakawi (cham) calendar, likewise attributed to Po Rome, a dual calendrical system combining a lunisolar calendar, originating in earlier Cham usage of the Śaka era, and a lunar one, based on Islamic, particularly octaval, calendars8. This shared culture and temporality has been sustained by ritual practice, the grounded spiritual geography of muk kei ancestor veneration and the existence of shared cultural icons. Due to their completely unequal distribution between Phan Rang and Phan Ri, architectural vestiges of the past (i.e. major temples) do not appear to have played this role. Rather, the unifying cultural icon was the Cham script, which almost all Chams who had migrated would lose through Jawization. The second text, Nai Mai Mang Makah (The princess who came from Mecca9), appears to testify to intra-Muslim diversity within Champa. Tentatively dated from the late 17th to the late 18th century, it also refers to intra-Cham religious strife caused by Islam’s spread. While bemoaning the highly fragmented 6 Po Dharma, “Deux princes malais au Campa. Leur rôle dans la vie socio-politique et religieuse de ce pays” in Monde Indochinoise et Péninsule Malaise (Kuala Lumpur: Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 1990), p. 19-27. 7 Asad stressed and defined heterogeneous time as an analytical category that “embodied practices rooted in multiple traditions, [..] differences between horizons of expectation and spaces of experience – differences which continuously dislocate the present from the past, the world experienced from the world anticipated, and call for their revision and reconnection”. Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular. Christianity, Islam, Modernity (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), p. 179. 8 Yasuko, “Study of the Almanac”, p. 326-330. The Indian Hindu Śaka era, either a solar or a lunisolar reckoning beginning in March 78 ad, was used throughout India as well as in Cambodia, Java and Ceylon. J.F. Fleet, “Śaka Era” in James Hastings (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics, XI (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994), p. 96. 9 The editors have taken Makah (Mecca) to be a euphemism for Kelantan. This is understandable due to the localization of this place in the Malay world (nagar jawa) in Cham tradition and the strong connection between Kelantan and Champa suggested by (particular readings of) parts of Kelantanese historical tradition. I would argue, however, that this is not entirely convincing. As a more or less mythological site located somewhere in the Malay world, the scanty evidence from Kelantanese sources cannot prove that Cham Makah was synonymous with Kelantan or denoted any specific place in the Malay world at all. Tellingly, the story of the Malay princes gives Kelantan (Kalatan) and not Makah as their place of origin. Po Dharma, “Deux princes malais”, p. 21.

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character of Cham society, it also presents the Bani (bini ralaoh – “Bani, people of Allāh”10) and the cawa (Jawa) as distinctive groups11. Two possible explanations for this are that these Jawa belong to the broad category of melayu/jawi, or that we are dealing with two distinctive ways of being Muslim (that is, Bani and Jawa) in Panduranga. Even if the first supposition is correct, this would imply the recognition of different Muslim communities with their respective Islamic discursive traditions on Cham soil. More examples of such recognition are found in Cham reports of the Tay Son wars and cases of anti-Vietnamese resistance between the 1790s and 1830s, which coincide with the period of renewed major migration of Chams to Cambodia. In the early 1790s, two decades into the Tay Son wars that had turned Panduranga into a battleground of intra-Vietnamese conflict, two Cham leaders gained particular prominence. The first one, Prince Po Cei Brei, was invested as governor/king of Panduranga 1783-1786 by the Tay Son, but then concluded an unstable alliance with the Nguyen. The other one was a certain Tuen Phaow12. By 1793 both were reported to have based themselves with their men in the same mountainous region. Given the Vietnamese contest for alliance-building with and cooptation of Cham leaders, some of whom had initially supported the Tay Son13, their goal may not have been to end the occupation of Cham territories as such. Whereas this is somehow expectedly what the Cham story of Tuen Phaow relates, Po Cei Brei, and perhaps Tuen Phaow himself, clearly played a more complex role in the local power struggle14. Introducing himself as coming from Makah, Tuen Phaow reportedly brought in troops from Cambodia before leading military action against the Vietnamese in 1796-1797 (confirmed by Vietnamese sources)15. By then, Po Cei Brei and his entourage had already withdrawn to Thbaung Khmum in Cambodia, where they stayed for sixteen years before settling in Vietnam’s border region of Tay Ninh in 1812-

10 11 12 13 14 15

Cham ra usually serves as an article to nominalize base verbs to denote persons associated with important functions. Gérard Moussay, Grammaire de la langue Cam (Paris: Les indes savants, 2006), p. 265. Po Dharma, Moussay & Abdul Karim (eds. & trans.), Nai Mai Mang Makah, p. 71f. Cham version of the Malay title tuan. Among Cambodian Muslims, the variant tuon is applied to religious teachers. George Dutton, The Tây Sơn Uprising. Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2006), p. 91f., 101f. & 205-208. Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 25-27. Nicolas Weber, “Ariya Tuen Phaow: Le soulèvement anti-vietnamien d’un seigneur malais au Pāṇḍuraṅga-Campā à la fin du XVIIIe siècle” in Po Dharma, Mak Phoeun & Jacques Ivanoff (eds.), Péninsule indochinoise et monde malais: Relations historiques et culturelles (Kuala Lumpur: efeo, 2004), p. 127-166.

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181316. There, French archaeologists would later discover three graves locally attributed to exiled royal family members17. However, the Cham sources report that Tuen Phaow’s Cambodian contingents included a number of Khmers, resident cam baruw (“New Chams”) and jawa kur18. Along with the intriguing cam jawa (“Malayized Chams”) label, the Chams of Panduranga currently use the former term to denote two Cham groups unified by their association with non-Bani Islam: the Chams of the Delta (and Cambodia) as well as the small number of Pandurangan Chams who have adopted the same brand of Islam from the 1960s onwards19. This latter group underwent Jawization and effectively dropped out of the local system of Bani-Brahmanist interaction20. Charged with having adopted “Malay” ways, their greatest digression, according to the local Cham majority (both Bani and Brahmanist) is their rejection of the muk kei (Cham ancestral spirits) rituals. On the contrary, jawa kur (lit. “Malay-Khmers”) has become equivalent to the Cambodian usage of chvea and, as such, denotes an officially recognized subgroup among the Delta Muslims who speak a variant of Khmer and allegedly are the offspring of unions between Malay men and Khmer women21. This description could point to the fact that the troops brought from “Cambodia” were actually drawn largely from the Delta that, despite official Khmer nonrecognition, had been taken over by the Vietnamese and their Chinese agents 16

17 18 19

20 21

The Tay Ninh region served as a major arena for Vietnamese resettlement of Chams, including Po Cei Brei’s group, at the expense of the Khmers from 1755 onwards until the early 1840s. Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 26f., 84-92; Étienne Aymonier, “Légendes historiques des chames”, e&r, XIV (1890), p. 205f. V. Cudenet, “Les Cham de Tayninh”, bcai, I (1910), p. 63f.; H. Parmentier, “Relevé archéologique de la province de Tây-Ninh”, bcai, I (1910), p. 77f. Weber, “Ariya Tuen Phaow”, p. 133. Phan Rang’s first Sunni mosque was established in 1963. Currently, four such mosques in the area cater to a group of Cham baruw (or jawa), which accounts for a mere 1-3 per cent of former Panduranga’s entire Cham population. Rie Nakamura, “The Cham Muslims in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam” in Omar Farouk Bajunid & Hiroyuki Yamamoto (eds.), Islam at the Margins. The Muslims of Indochina (Kyoto: ciaS, 2008), p. 20f.; Thành Phần, “Kut (Cemeteries) of the Cham in Ninh Thuận Province” in Tran Ky Phuong & Bruce M. Lockhart (eds.), The Cham of Vietnam. History, Society and Art (Singapore: nus Press, 2011), p. 341. A similar process has recently started in Phan Ri. One member of the local community is currently studying in Medina. Personal communication with Abdul Halim b. Ahmad, nephew of a Bani imam and son of one of the first Cham Jawa in Phan Rang (Phnom Penh, April 28th 2012). Bruckmayr, “Between Institutionalized Syncretism”, p. 21-25. The group has its own mosque in Châu Giang, where, contrary to the other village mosque, the khuṭba is delivered in Khmer. Philipp Taylor, Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta. Place and Mobility in the Cosmopolitan Periphery (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʿi Press, 2007), p. 46, 49-51, 55f. & 81.

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during the preceding century22. It also reconfirms the Pandurangan Chams’ recognition of and exposure to religiously as well as ethnically grounded Muslim diversity in Southern Indochina. Moreover, the story, which refers to the changes that such exposure could cause among the locals, reports that Tuen Phaow’s partisans, and we may well take this to mean also his Pandurangan followers, eventually adopted the manners of Cambodia’s jawa Muslims23. These issues would become even more poignant in the 1830s, when any remaining Cham hope of recovering Panduranga was lost. Thus, Panduranga, by now officially abolished and under the grip of Minh Mang (the second emperor of reunited Vietnam), witnessed yet another revolt in 1833. Katip (ar. khaṭīb, “preacher”) Sumat, a Cambodian cam baruw or cam jawa claiming to have just returned from long years of study in Makah24, led an insurrection that was followed almost immediately by that of his erstwhile Bani follower Ja Thak Wa (1834-1835)25. Strikingly, Cham texts assert that Sumat’s rupture with Ja Thak Wa and many other Cham supporters was due to the former’s highjacking of the liberation struggle to further his own designs of spreading (jawa) Islam and establishing a decidedly Muslim realm26, whereas Ja Thak Wa and his faction wanted to re-establish an independent Cham state along familiar BaniBrahmanist lines. As the Vietnamese sources pay far more attention to the latter revolt, we may assume that it enjoyed far greater popular support than Sumat’s. Based on the foregoing accounts, we can say that the Pandurangan Chams’ long-term isolation under Vietnamese tutelage did not mean that their strongly localized Islamic discourse subsisted in a complete vacuum. Indeed, it seems that contact with or even the intervention of Malay and Cham exponents of a 22

23 24 25 26

Yumio Sakurai, “Eighteenth Century Chinese Pioneers on the Water Frontier of Indochina” in Nola Cooke & Li Tana (eds.), Water Frontier. Commerce and the Chinese in the Lower Mekong Region, 1750-1880 (Singapore: Singapore Univ. Press, 2004), p. 35-52; id. & Takako Kitagawa, “Ha Tien or Banteay Meas in the Time of the Fall of Ayutthaya” in Kennon Breazeale (ed.), From Japan to Arabia: Ayutthaya’s Maritime Relations with Asia (Bangkok: Foundation for the Promotion of the Social Sciences & Humanities Textbook Project, 1999), p. 150-217; Nguyễn Thế Anh, “Lʾimmigration chinoise et la colonization du delta du Mékong” in vr, I (1996),p. 154-177. Weber, “Ariya Tuen Phaow”, p. 157. By then, Kelantan had embarked upon its path of becoming a major centre of religious learning, a role that it did arguably not play in earlier centuries. Po Dharma, Le Pānduranga (Campā) 1802-1835: ses rapports avec le Vietnam, I (Paris: pefeo, 1987), p. 142-146, 153-164. Ibid., I, 143-144, 153. One Cham source detailing Ja Thak Wa’s revolt notes that the propagators of Islam, whom the Vietnamese repressed, came from “Kapot” (i.e. Kampot). Pierre-Bernard Lafont, Po Dharma & Nara Vija, Catalogue des manuscrits cam des bibliothèques françaises (Paris: pefeo, 1977), p. 20.

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different form of Islam was a recurrent feature, at least from the 1790s-1830s, thereby creating an otherwise inconceivable awareness of intra-Muslim difference. Moreover, these very instances may have influenced the more legendary pieces of literature rationalizing the particularities of Cham Bani and Brahmanist religion and their interaction. At least in this case, opposition may have sharpened contours. What is more, contrary to what is taken for granted by most recent scholarship, the story of such encounters does not end in the 1830s only to be picked up again by an unprecedented transformation of small numbers Cham Bani into Cham Jawa in the 1960s. Indeed, a largely ignored detail in Étienne Aymonier’s study of Cham religion published in 1891 (drawing on observations made during the preceding decade) is quite striking: “a few years ago” three Bani villages in Phan Ri (Binh Thuan province) had suddenly stopped adoring the lesser deities (po yang) due to the efforts and condemnation of “a foreign hadji”27. This incident appears to have left no lasting mark in the local Chams’ historical consciousness or religious practice. References to such villages do not resurface in the studies of Durand (1903), Cabaton (1907) and Baudesson (1932), when there were apparently hardly any foreign hajjis, Malay preachers or “New Chams” (cam baruw) in sight28. On the contrary, Cabaton, who had earlier actually met such hajjis from Chau Doc (typical cam baruw/jawa) in the Delta who had travelled to Binh Thuan to invite their kin-people to their form of Islam, could only report on their frustration over their fruitless attempts29. When certain Bani later began to follow the Islam of their kin in Cambodia and the Delta, due to their interaction with the latter in Saigon and Can Tho and the resulting preaching missions, this process unfolded incidentally in the other Cham enclave of former Panduranga (i.e. Phan Rang, Ninh Thuan province). Of course, Aymonier’s report could have been unreliable, but this is quite unlikely as he was the French administrator-scholar with the deepest and closest contact to that area’s Chams. Following his appointment as inspector for indigenous affairs in 1871, he served as French Resident of Binh Thuan from 1886-1888. In this position and against the backdrop of the French pacification struggle of the 1880s, he envisaged using the Chams, Khmers, hill tribes and (Vietnamese) Christians as counterweights to the local Annamese. He even set 27 28 29

Étienne Aymonier, “The Chams and their religions” in H. Parmentier, P. Mus & E. Aymonier, Cham Sculpture of the Tourane Museum – Religious Ceremonies and Superstitions of Champa, trans. & ed. W.E.J. Tips (Bangkok: White Lotus, 2001), p. 51. E.M. Durand, “Les Chams Bani”, befeo, III (1903), p. 54-62; Antoine Cabaton, “Les Chams musulmans de l’Indochine française”, rmm, II (1907), p. 139-162; H. Baudesson, Indo-China and its Primitive People (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1997). Antoine Cabaton, Nouvelles recherches sur les Chams (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1901), p. 6.

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up a modest Cham militia for that purpose. He was highly esteemed by the Chams and regarded as a staunch supporter, if not even as a father figure opening the door for Champa’s revival. It therefore comes as no surprise that he married a Cham “princess”30. It thus seems that this episode represents yet another – if recurrent – anomaly in the religious world of (former) Panduranga, which soon returned to normal. This quick obliteration from memory as well as the negative assessment of Katip Sumat’s role in Cham literature and his purported lack of popular support is intriguing. Moreover, it should be compared with Tuen Phaow and the more legendary accounts of the Malay role in Islamizing Panduranga, which are arguably more concerned with legitimating Bani Islamic tradition and its interaction with local Brahmanism than with the spread of Islam as such. All in all, this combination seems to corroborate the picture of a strengthened Bani consciousness and Islamic discourse as well as of a fortified Bani-Brahmanist unity. Thus, we may attest that concomitant to gradual Jawization in Cambodia, a religious process was underway in former Panduranga, with its limited opportunities and incentives for contact with the Malay and Muslim worlds. Bani Islam and the Cham religious system in former Panduranga as it is known today was not merely the result of degeneration and cultural decline, as most French ethnographers claimed, but something actively defended and modulated against both Vietnamese influence and the intrusion of contending Islamic discursive traditions. This situation apparently was conducive to a lasting Brahmanist-Bani rapprochement and to sharpening the contours of Bani religious expression within the Muslim component of local Cham culture, thereby enhancing its further Banization. The present major revival of interest in Cham script (akhar thrah) and its literary heritage among Chams in Panduranga, starting in the early 1970s31, was also propelled by two developments: 1) a political one that sought to arouse Cham “national” consciousness for antiVietnamese designs (see chapter eight below), and 2) a religious one: the emergence of the cam baruw/cam jawa community in Phan Rang, which again challenged Bani Islamic discourse and the area’s perceived foundations of Cham culture and inter-religious interaction.

30

31

Pierre Singaravélou, “De la couverture du Champa à la direction de l’Ecole Colonial: itinéraire d’Étienne Aymonier d’après ses mémoires inédits” in J.-L. Bacqué-Grammont, A. Pino & S. Khoury (eds.), Dʾun orient à l’autre: Actes des troisièmes journées de l’orient. Bordeaux, 2-4 octobre 2002 (Paris-Louvain: Peeters, 2005), p. 244-246. Doris E. Blood, “The Script as a Cohesive Factor in Cham Society” in M. Gregersen & D. Thomas (eds.), Notes from Indochina on Ethnic Minority Cultures (Dallas: sil Museum of Anthropology, 1980), p. 39, 42.

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To sum up, Bani Islamic discursive tradition and practice were both strengthened in Panduranga and exported to Khmer lands on the eve of Jawization and colonial rule in Cambodia. 2

Malay Scholarly Centers and the Patani Network

The sultanate of Patani emerged as a major Malay trading center soon after the fall of Melaka. Whereas initially Sino-Javanese traders had apparently been decisive in this development, the new Melakan Malay trading diaspora played an important role in Patani’s rise. In this respect, the Malay and Chinese trade between Patani and Cambodia was significant and most probably contributed to religious interaction and exchanges between the two countries’ Muslim communities. The 17th century constituted Patani’s most prosperous phase. Although its sultans and sultanas had been sending tribute in form of the bunga emas (the golden flower) to Siam for centuries, the late 18th century marked a turning point. The mid-1780s witnessed major punitive Siamese military action against Patani, which in 1791 was placed under the authority of Songkhla’s Siamese governor, thereby paving the way for the 19th century Siamese policy of splitting up the region and replacing Malay rulers with Thai administrators32. But despite its political decline, Patani developed into a major center of religious education and literary activity in the Malay world at that time33. Ironically, this process was boosted by Siamese attempts of cultural colonization and dethroning the Malay rulers, both of which made the protection of cultural resources, such as the Malay language and Islam, paramount and turned respected religious scholars into natural community leaders as well as instrumental figures in the emerging new social-moral order. Most notably the pondok (from Arabic funduq) – the traditional Malay Islamic boarding school (with students’ huts – pondoks – clustered around the teacher’s house or a school building) and the peninsular counterpart of the Javanese pesantren and the Minangkabau surau – is said to have originated in Patani. Attracting students from far beyond its borders, the local pondok system soon spread to Kelantan, where it flourished from the 1820s onwards. Their reputation as centers 32 33

Howard M. Federspiel, Sultans, Shamans & Saints. Islam and Muslims in Southeast Asia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2007), p. 114. V. Matheson & M.B. Hooker, “Jawi Literature in Patani: The Maintenance of a Tradition”, jmbras, LXI (1988), p. 1-86; Francis R. Bradley, The Social Dynamics of Islamic Revivalism in Southeast Asia: The Patani School, 1785-1909 (Madison: PhD. Dissertation Univ. of Wisconsin, 2009).

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of religious learning enabled the pondoks in both states to draw students from Cambodia, where the Patani-Kelantanese system of religious schooling would later be replicated. One main pillar of the pondok system was the use of kitab jawi (i.e. Malay books written in jawi script) and, to a far lesser degree, Arabic works for religious instruction in study circles arranged around the teacher (guru). As a book-centered institution, the pondok was clearly superior to the village Qurʾanic schools or mosques, which only taught basic religious precepts, the Arabic/jawi script and Qurʾanic recitation. Incidentally, from the first half of the 19th century onwards Patani and its scholars played a disproportionate role in producing and distributing kitab jawi for the Malay world. After Aceh’s decline, Palembang in South Sumatra34, another major post-Melakan trading sultanate with a long history of Sino-Javanese and Malay contacts, served as a new center of Malay literary production in the second half of the 18th century. Its prime representative, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Palimbānī (d. 1789)35, had spent most of his life in Arabia. His main work was his timely and highly influential Sayr al-sālikīn ilā ʿibādat rabb al-ʿālamīn, a Malay rendering of alGhazālī’s (Lubāb) Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn36. Despite his physical absence, this disciple of the Medinese Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Sammānī (d. 1776) was instrumental in establishing the latter’s new composite ṭarīqa (Sammāniyya) in Palembang, Aceh and beyond. Islam’s thorough penetration into ulu (upstream) rural areas in Southern Sumatra, as exemplified by the area-wide emergence of village mosques, also began at that time37. Similarly, Muslim printing began in Palembang: In 1854, a local lithographic press printed the Qurʾan with an introduction and notes in Malay38. Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan also hosted major Malay ʿulamāʾ who would have a lasting influence through the on-going wide distribution of their works. Its two most prominent scholars were Muḥammad Arshad b. ʿAbdallāh al-Banjārī (d. 1812), another disciple of al-Sammānī, and his younger contemporary Muḥammad Nafīs b. Idrīs al-Banjārī (d. 1820s)39. Upon his return after 34

35 36 37 38 39

This role was certainly connected to the new prominence of the Arab element, including religious advisors, in the port city. Barbara W. Andaya, To Live as Brothers. Southeast Sumatra in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaiʾi Press, 1993), p. 220f., 241. Azra, Origins of Islamic Reformism, p. 112-117; Braginsky, Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature, p. 653. ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Palimbānī, Sayr al-sālikīn ilā ʿibādat rabb al-ʿālamīn, 2 vols. (Derang, Kedah: al-Khazanah al-Banjariyyah, 2001). Andaya, To live as brothers, p. 241. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 27. Azra, Origins of Islamic Reformism, p. 117-122.

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35 years in Mecca and Medina, Muḥammad Arshad immediately laid the foundation of a pondok/pesantren-style school. His major works are strongly connected to the heritage of Nūr al-Dīn al-Rānīrī (d. 1658), the Gujarati-Acehnese luminary and famous critic of the monistic Sufism prevailing at that time in Aceh. His Sabīl al-muhtadīn is an exposition on Rānīrī’s Ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm, generally considered the first Malay work on fiqh40. His effort in this respect is particularly revealing in terms of our notion of Jawization as the long and arduous constitution of an also linguistically (at least in the literary field) unified jawi ecumene made up of different local constituent communities. Accordingly, Muḥammad Arshad stresses that his prime reason for revisiting and reworking Rānīrī’s opus was the influence of Acehnese on its Malay text, which seriously inhibited its usage among the wider jawi ecumene41. In contrast, his second (and less securely attributed) work, Tuḥfat al-rāghibīn, draws heavily on Rānīrī’s firaq (sects) work Tibyān fī maʿrifat al-adyān42. Muḥammad Nafīs al-Banjārī is best known for his work detailing the seven grades of being (ml. martabat tujuh)43, in Southeast Asia mainly the domain of Shaṭṭari(-influenced) circles and thus pertaining to an already waning brand of Islamic mysticism. Nevertheless, his al-Durr al-nafīs, which, like the works of his Acehnese predecessors, claims to be written in bahasa jawi (and not melayu)44, continues to be reprinted. As will be shown below, the works of Palimbānī, Muḥammad Arshad and, to a lesser degree, Muḥammad Nafīs came to function as standard texts commonly used and distributed within Patani’s teaching networks, thereby constituting vehicles of Jawization.

40

41 42

43

44

He explicitly drew on a number of Shāfiʿi works, primarily Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawawī’s Minḥāj al-Ṭālibīn and commentaries and glosses to it. In this context, he stresses that he both translated material and separated what was true (ṣaḥīḥ) from what was weak (ḍaʿīf) in it. Nūr al-Dīn al-Rānīrī, Ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm, on the margin of Muḥammad Arshad b. ʿAbd al-Allāh al-Banjārī, Sabīl al-muhtadīn li tafaqquh fī amr al-dīn (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n.d.), I, p. 5. This explanation is given in Arabic and then Malay. Reference to the lands of the ecumene is plainly phrased as fī hādhihī l-buldān and di dalam sekalian negeri jawi, respectively. Arshad al-Banjārī, Sabīl al-muhtadīn, I, p. 3. Cf. Andaya, “Aceh’s Contribution”, p. 45. Braginsky, Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature, p. 653 (with obsolete ascription to Palimbānī, following Drewes); Laffan, Makings of Indonesian Islam, p. 30. For the Tibyān see Petrus Voorhoeve, Twee Maleise Geschriften van Nūruddin ar-Rānīrī. In Facsimile uitgegeven met aantegeningen (Leiden: Brill, 1955). Muḥammad Nafīs b. Idrīs al-Banjārī, al-Durr al-nafīs (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n.d.). Probably influenced by Palimbānī, whose major works of Sufism reflect the same tendency, this book is regarded as an attempt to reconcile the traditions of al-Ghazālī and Ibn ʿArabī. Azra, Origins of Islamic Reformism, p. 136; van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 258. al-Banjārī, al-Durr al-nafīs, p. 2.

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Patani was the last, most enduring and most lively centre of Islamic scholarship and its accompanying Malay literary activity to emerge at the turn of the 18th/19th century. Its towering figure was Dāʾūd b. ʿAbdallāh al-Faṭānī (Daud Patani, d. 1847)45, whereas his countryman Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Zayn alFaṭānī (Ahmad Patani, d. 1907) turned out to be its chief purveyor, distributor and representative with the strongest direct influence on Islam in Cambodia. After studying in Patani and Aceh, Daud Patani spent most of his adult life in Mecca. Although he started writing late in life, he became the most prolific Malay author of his time. Reputedly leaving at least 57 works (around 40 of which can be firmly substantiated)46, only Muḥammad Nawawī Banten (d. 1897), a later jawi resident of Mecca to whom at least 99 works are ascribed, surpassed him. But as the latter produced an entirely Arabic corpus47, we may treat Daud as the most prolific author of (Malay-language) kitab jawi. As such and given that many of his books and treatises were arguably more or less commented translations of Arabic works, he must be regarded as a major transmitter and modulator of Arabic Islamic scholarly discourses into the jawi ecumene. Hereby, translation was not just a process of cultural transmission and transposition. These efforts, as was also the case with those of earlier and in the long run less influential Malay scholars, propelled the emergence of a distinctively jawi body of Islamic knowledge48 that would nurture Muslim scholarship in Cambodia and elsewhere. This emerging new canon and the changes in religious performance associated with it, however, led to various frictions. The growth of pondoks in Patani and surrounding states such as Kelantan received a major impetus from Daud’s prestige. In fact, judging from the number of his works still in regular use during the middle of the 20th century, he became this emerging system’s most important author. This system would have profound effects on regional religious developments and in Cambodia. 45 46

47 48

Mohd. Shaghir Abdullah, Syeikh Daud Bin Abdullah al-Fatani. Ulama⁠ʾ dan Pengarang Terulung Asia Tenggara (Shah Alam: Hizbi, 1990). See lists, descriptions and information on prints and manuscript holdings in ibid., p. 5599; Nicholas Heer, A Concise Handlist of Jawi Authors and their Works (Version 2.0) (Seattle: n.p., 2009), p. 27-31; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 222-262; Matheson & Hooker, “Jawi Literature”, p. 21-26. Laffan, Makings of Indonesian Islam, p. 63; Peter Riddell, Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʾi Press, 2001), p. 194f. Cf. the poignant observations and discussion about translating Arabic and Persian texts into Chinese (as a new Islamic supra-language) from the 1630s onwards in Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, The Dao of Muhammad. A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, Mass.: Havard University Asia Center, 2005), p. 77f., 129f., 133.

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It shall be noted, however, that Daud Patani, Palimbānī and the two Banjārīs, despite their coming from far-flung places (i.e. the northern Peninsula, South Sumatra and South Kalimantan), are also bound together by their shared belonging to the young Sammāniyya ṭarīqa49. Formally a branch of the Khalwatiyya50, al-Sammānī’s separate path (a rare case in which the “founder” is not merely eponymous) combined the Qadiriyya, Naqshbandiyya and Shadhiliyya and yet managed to develop its own rātib and mode of dhikr51. Al-Palimbānī and Muḥammad Arshad had been direct disciples of al-Sammānī, whereas Muḥammad Nafīs (and possibly Daud Patani) took the path from ʿAbdallāh al-Sharqāwī, rector of Cairo’s al-Azhar from 1793-181252. Accordingly, these four luminaries are also representative of a general shift away from the Shaṭṭariyya order, with its close connection to the teaching of the martabat tujuh, to the Sammāniyya and, in the long run, the eventually even more successful Naqshbandiyya(-Khālidiyya). In Palembang, for instance, the whole court joined the Sammāniyya under the influence of Palimbānī and his circle. As Laffan aptly observed, there was more at stake here than a simple switching of ṭarīqa allegiances. Rather, these new ṭarīqa networks and affiliations symbolized, particularly as far as Sufism is concerned, a shift in regional standards of orthodoxy. This is also perceptible in the make-up of the court libraries sequestered by the colonial powers53. Significantly, the texts of the famous Acehnese Sufi masters Shams al-Dīn al-Samaṭrānī (d. 1630) and al-Sinkīlī (save for his tafsīr), and those of the great 17th century Shaṭṭari masters of the Ḥaramayn (al-Qushāshī, Ibrāhīm alKūrānī) were apparently not of major importance within the Patani networks. In stark contrast to those of Daud, Palimbani and the two Banjāris, they were never printed. Even though Daud, Palimbānī and particularly Muḥammad 49 50

51 52

53

Following the order of the day, however, all of them had multiple ṭarīqa affiliations, including Shaṭṭari. Al-Sammānī was a murid of the Damascene Muṣṭafā al-Bakrī (d. 1749), a major Khalwati figure of the 18th century and outstanding Sufi literate as far as his experimentation with a diversity of new or otherwise neglected “profane” genres are concerned. See Ralf Elger, Muṣṭafā al-Bakrī. Zur Selbstdarstellung eines syrischen Gelehrten, Sufis und Dichters des 18. Jahrhunderts (Hamburg: EB-Verlag, 2004). Martin van Bruinessen, “Origins and Development of the Sufi Orders (tarékat) in Indonesia” in si, I, 1 (1994), p. 8f. During his tenure, Napoleon’s forces shelled and occupied al-Azhar in 1798. Bayard Dodge, Al-Azhar. A Millenium of Muslim Learning (Washington, D.C.: The Middle East Institute, 1974), p. 108f. Although Daud had undoubtedly studied with al-Sharqāwī, his silsila, as reproduced by Abdullah, has him taking the path from two older Patani scholars in Mecca. Abdullah, Syeikh Daud, p. 36f. Laffan, Makings of Indonesian Islam, p. 27-32.

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Nafīs still included the martabat tujuh in their teachings, they nevertheless represent the ascendency of al-Ghazālī and al-Shaʿrānī (d. 1565)54 in the jawi ecumene. Their works would contribute to and survive Jawization, whereas the earlier proponents of the martabat tujuh would become increasingly marginalised55. Daud and his family and students spawned a wave of scholarly, literary and educational activity in and around Patani. Following in Daud’s footsteps, a significant number of Patani religious scholars with extensive Meccan connections emerged and produced an outstanding amount of kitab jawi that, in its density, is hardly matched elsewhere in the Malay world. This process went hand in hand with a major proliferation of pondoks from the 1880s onwards. Centres established during Daud’s lifetime included Kampung Pauh Bok, Kampung Bendang Daya and Kampung Pusing, which served as final educational stop-overs for those envisioning studies in Mecca56. In the long run, the pondok at Kampung Bendang Daya, founded by Hj. Wan Muṣṭafā b. Wan Muḥammad Faqīh al-Faṭānī (also Tok Wan Pa or Tok Bendang Daya Tua) and later headed by his son ʿAbd al-Qādir (Tok Bendang Daya Muda, d. 1894), would become the most important centre for Patani’s Cambodian students57. At the same time, Patani Malays both in Mecca and at home developed into the major force behind the printing, editing and distribution of kitab jawi in Muslim Southeast Asia58, which naturally resulted in a bias towards 54

55

56 57 58

The Egyptian ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī was considered the “last saint of Egypt” and an early pioneer of the kind of apologetic (including the defense of Ibn ʿArabi) sharīʿaconscious Sufi literature that would become dominant in subsequent centuries. John Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), p. 220-225; M. Winter, Society and Religion in Early Ottoman Egypt: Studies in the Writings of ʿAbd alWahhāb al-Shaʿrānī (New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1982). Minangkabau, where the local Shaṭṭariyya persisted despite a history of fierce opposition, seems to have been an exception in this regard. Although speaking of gradual marginalization is certainly justified here, the classical manuals of al-Qushāshī and al-Kūrānī and their classical jawi (i.e. al-Sinkīlī’s works) as well as local counter-parts remained important, at least in Shaṭṭari circles. Oman Fathurahman, Tarekat Syattariyah di Minangkabau (Jakarta: Prenada Media Group, 2008), p. 101-109. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 299-303, 324. Perayot Rahimulla, The Patani Fatāwā: A Case Study of the Kitāb al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyyah of Shaykh Aḥmad bin Muḥammad Zain bin Muṣṭafa al-Faṭānī (Kent: PhD. Dissertation Univ. of Canterbury, 1992), p. 257, 313. Especially the Patani-run Ottoman Malay printing press in Mecca, but apparently also the local publishers, were strongly focused on producing Islamic scholarly literature (kitab jawi). This contrasts with Muslim publishing in Singapore, where the output of hikayat (tales) and syair (poetry) had begun to overshadow that of kitab jawi during the 1870s. This equation then stayed the same, even during the peak period of local kitab jawi production in the 1890s. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 29.

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Patani authors. This intriguing combination of factors turned the Patani network and its extensions in Kelantan and elsewhere into main agents of Jawization, particularly in their homelands but also in Cambodia and in other areas of the Peninsula and Sumatra. 3

Changing Relationships between Ruler and Religion on the Malay Peninsula

Although Kelantan has routinely been cited as a center for Islamic learning for centuries, an assumption that also lies at the root of its identification with Cham Makah, virtually no evidence for this claim exists before the 19th century. Whereas Terengganu witnessed the emergence of ʿAbd al-Malik b. ʿAbdallāh (Tok Pulau Manis, d. 1736), a major scholarly figure, student of the eminent Acehnese Shaṭṭari al-Sinkīlī and author of the Malay version of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh al-Iskandarī’s (d. 1309) Ḥikam (aphorisms)59, no scholar of comparable standing emerged from Kelantan until a century later. Moreover, Kelantan was a dependency of Patani and then – during its heyday under Sultan Mansur, r. 1741-93 – of Terengganu for much of its earlier history60. Under Terengganu’s Sultan Zainal Abidin II (1795-1808), Kelantan, only now an emerging power center with its own commercial hub at Kota Bharu, broke away with Siamese aid61. This of course further complicates a source-based or even context-based narration of close long-term Cham-Kelantanese contacts, which rests upon the latter’s alleged status as a political center. Indeed, the development of Kelantan’s pondok system and its rise as a major site for Islamic learning unfolded very much in tandem with closely-linked Patani and Terengganu. Many of its

59

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61

Azra, Origins of Islamic Reformism, p. 86; Fathurahman, Tarekat Syattariyah, p. 35; Shafie Abu Bakar, “Tok Pulau Manis dan Pengasasan Pendidkan Islam” in id. (ed.), Ulama Terengganu. Suatu Sorotan ([Kuala Lumpur]: Utusan, 1991), p. 53-62. Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh was the second successor of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī (d. 1258). His collection of 262 gnomes (Ḥikam) represents the main work of Shādhili literature. Annemarie Schimmel, Mystische Dimensionen des Islam. Die Geschichte des Sufismus (Köln: Diederichs, 1985), p. 355f. Arguably, a Kelantanese dynasty ruled Patani for roughly four decades (c. 1688-1729). A time of great upheaval and a related irreversible disruption of trade, this period paved the way for Terengganu’s rise. Cf. A. Teeuw & D.K. Wyatt, Hikayat Patani. The Story of Patani, (Den Haag: Nijhoff, 1970), II, p. 265-278, 296. Shaharil Talib, “The Port and Polity of Terengganu during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Realizing its Potential” in J. Kathirithamby-Wells & John Villiers (eds.), The Southeast Asian Port and Polity. Rise and Demise (Singapore: Singapore Univ. Press, 1990), p. 216.

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early exponents were educated in or by scholars from these two areas62. Reportedly, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. Faqīh Hj. Abdullāh (Tok Pulai Chondong, d. 1873)63 established Kelantan’s first pondok in the 1820s at Pulai Chondong. Besides belonging to a Patani family, he is also reported to have been a close associate of Daud Patani in Mecca64. This famed teacher and his pondok were already drawing students from Cambodia65. In the following century, Kelantan witnessed a major proliferation of pondoks and, together with Terengganu, pioneered the institutionalization of Islam in the peninsular Malay states. Whereas the Siamese prevented Patani from establishing such institutions as the shaykh al-islām (of Terengganu) or the Kelantanese grand qāḍī, who nominally oversaw the state’s mosques and suraus, British Malaya lagged behind in developing comparable institutions66. The initial desire of the local ruling and scholarly classes to establish these institutions might also point to their intense contact with Patani as a symbol of embattled Muslim identity. Opportunities for royal patronage of religious scholarship and education were far more abundant in Kelantan, where the Siamese suzerain’s intervention was minimal. Although such patronage had been a (more or less pronounced) feature of Malay kingship for centuries, the British decision to largely restrict the sultans’ authority to the domains of (Islamic) religion and (Malay) custom (agama dan adat) strongly increased the latter’s involvement in these spheres. Yet even before the firm establishment and delineation of British and Dutch rule on the Peninsula and the Straits area (with the treaty of 1824), important shifts in the perception of Malay kingship and its relationship to religion, as understood by both the rulers and their subjects, had been underway and were subsequently boosted. These changes were arguably likewise constituent to as well as reflective of the ongoing Jawization within the jawi ecumene and thus should be briefly illuminated here. Obviously, the sultan has played a central role in the moral and religious order of the Malay kerajaan (kingdom – literally, “the condition 62 63 64 65 66

Nik Abdul Aziz b. Hj. Nik Hassan, “Islam dan Masyarakat Kota Bharu di antara Tahun 1900-1933” in Khoo Kay Kim (ed.), Tamadun Islam di Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia, 1980), p. 21f. Abdul Halim Ahmad, “Pendidikan Islam di Kelantan”, wk, I (1982), p. 8f.; Abdullah Alwi Haji Hassan, “The Development of Islamic Education in Kelantan” in Khoo Kay Kim (ed.), Tamadun Islam di Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia, 1980), p. 190-192. Ismail Che Daud (ed.), Tokoh-tokoh Ulama⁠ʾ Semenanjung Melayu (1) (Kota Bharu: Majlis Ugama Islam dan Adat Istiadat Melayu Kelantan, 1988), p. 43f. References to the series will henceforth appear as tusm. Abdul Halim, “Pendidikan Islam”, p. 9. Federspiel, Sultans, Shamans and Saints, p. 115. Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perak remained Siamese vassals until the Anglo-Siamese treaty of 1909.

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of having a raja”) ever since67, as can be seen in the constant urge of various dynasties to present genealogies that link them to Malaka’s royal house, the epitome of the melayu sultanate or Muslim kerajaan68, as well as by the strong agency that the Malay chronicles attribute to individual rajas in the spread and cultivation of Islam. But whereas patronage for scholars and the building and maintenance of “royal” mosques was, to varying degrees, an established feature of “rajaship”, “the centrality of the ruler [was] the dominant characteristic of the Muslim South-East Asian state”69, irrespective of his actual reliance upon Islamic norms. These sultans, just like their Muslim counterparts elsewhere, were rarely Muslim scholars in their own right. For a long time, their historical remembrance was hardly conditioned by their piety or record of religious or moral policies. In fact, only in the 19th century do we encounter Malay princes as students at pondoks and going on hajj, a practice hitherto largely absent from raja-focused Malay historiography. Part of this subtle reorientation was presumably the changing role of literature. Malay “rajaship” had often been tied to dynastic histories guarded as royal regalia. But by the 1860s the Sejarah Melayu, Riau’s former ceremonial and patrimonial manuscript treasure, had become a (printed) text for use in Malay government schools70. It is thus perhaps no coincidence that one of the most striking examples of the kind of changes in consciousness just hinted at is the transformation of RiauLingga’s Bugis elite from one based on military prowess to an intellectual one resting upon religious knowledge and purity71. As the Bugis dynasty of yang dipertuan mudas (“viceroys”), which largely dictated the affairs of the sultanate of Johor-Riau and then Riau-Lingga from 1722189972, came to regard writing as a suitable occupation, their representations 67 68

69 70 71 72

A.C. Milner, “Islam and the Muslim State” in M.B. Hooker (ed.), Islam in South-East Asia (Leiden: Brill, 1983), p. 31. Raja Kecik (d. 1746), the first ruler of the Minangkabau sultanate of Siak, claimed to be a descendent of the Johor line. As Siak became a main player in the Straits, his successors found other means to construct and defend their melayu identity. Timothy Barnard, Multiple Centres of Authority. Society and Environment in Siak and Eastern Sumatra, 1674-1827 (Leiden kitlv Press, 2003), p. 55-67; J. Kathirithamby-Wells, “Siak and its Changing Strategies for Survival, c. 1700-1870” in Anthony Reid (ed.), The Last Stand of Asian Autonomies. Responses to Modernity in the Diverse States of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750-1900 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), p. 217-243. Milner, “Islam and the Muslim State”, p. 31. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 52f. Timothy P. Barnard, “The Hajj, Islam, and Power among the Bugis in Early Colonial Riau” in Eric Tagliacozzo (ed.), Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Islam, Movement and the Longue Durée (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2009), p. 65-82. For a brief overview of the Bugis role in Johor-Riau, see Raja Ali Haji b. Ahmad, The Precious Gift (Tuhfat al-Nafis), trans. V. Matheson Hooker and B.W. Andaya (Kuala Lumpur:

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of the perfect raja began to show a far greater concern with Islamic morality. The works of Raja Ali Haji (d. 1870), author of the major history of the Straits area from the late 17th century to 1864 (Tuḥfat al-nafīs) and son of the first Riau prince to perform the hajj, clearly reflect his views on Islamically-argued morality73. For Raja Ali, the reigns of exemplary rulers are characterized by peace between the contending Malay and Bugis groups, overall economic and religious prosperity and their non-indulgence in or prohibition of gambling (i.e. cock fighting)74. Besides contributing to Malay/jawi’s standardization by producing a grammar (Bustān al-kātibīn) and an unfinished dictionary (Kitab Pengetahuan Bahasa), he actively recruited religious scholars to the court. All in all, the Bugis are a remarkable case of the Jawization of a non-Malay migrant group that, due to its prolonged contest with the explicitly Malay faction of society, had remained strongly conscious of its ancestry as melayu keturunan Bugis (“Malays of Bugis stock”)75, despite sharing with their opponents a common language, religion and trading culture – all associated with the melayu label. Accordingly, if Reid observes that “there was no Malay ethnie in the positive sense” for Raja Ali Haji “but rather [..] a glorious tradition of kingship (raja melayu) [..] no longer dependent on any one lineage”76, it is evident that to him this was ideally fused with Islamic scholarship and practiced as well as mandated Muslim morality. Considered “a custodian of pure Malay culture”, Raja Ali Haji’s Islamic drive is noteworthy. However, his influence on the northeastern Malay states should not be overstated because similar contemporaneous developments can be observed there and clearly linked to Patani’s influence. In Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad I (r. 1800-1838) recruited Tuan Syeikh Hj. Abdul Halim, the first figure credited with a pioneering role in local Islamic education (but only at the surau level), as a personal advisor. Under Abdul Halim’s influence, the sultan’s reign was characterized by significant statewide mosque and surau growth as well as the establishment of waqf houses for pilgrims and students 73 74 75

76

Oxford Univ. Press, 1982), p. 1-5. Barbara Watson Andaya & Virginia Matheson, “Islamic Thought and Malay Tradition: The Writings of Raja Ali Haji of Riau” in Anthony Reid & David Marr (eds.), Perceptions of the Past in Southeast Asia (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books, 1979), p. 108-128. Ibid., p. 115-117, 123. Jan van der Putten, “A Malay of Bugis Ancestry: Haji Ibrahim’s Strategies of Survival”, jseas, XXXII (2001), p. 345. Strong Malay influences on the Bugis predated their largescale ventures into the Western Archipelago. Indeed, the Bugis’ native Sulawesi served as an important base for the post-1511 Melakan Malay diaspora. Ernst Ulrich Kratz, Peringatan Sejarah Negeri Johor: Eine malaiische Quelle zur Geschichte Johors im 18. Jahrhundert (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1973), p. 19. Reid, “Understanding Melayu”, p. 304.

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in Mecca, Medina and Jeddah. His son Hj. Yaakub acted as advisor to Sultan Muhammad II (r. 1839-1886), reportedly using his authority to crack down on crime by strengthening the sharīʿa’s role as a legal basis at the expense of adat77. As mentioned above, the local pondok system began during his reign as well. Strongly religiously-minded sultans also came to power in Terengganu during this time78. After fleeing Patani, the Shaṭṭari Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm (d. 1846) founded a pondok at Bukit Bayas. Sultan Umar (r. 1839-76), already a patron of local as well as visiting scholars, subsequently appointed him Mufti of Terengganu79. Strikingly, both Umar as well as his successors Ahmad Syah II, who married several of his daughters into ʿulamāʾ families, and the proverbially pious Zainal Abidin III (r. 1881-1918), studied at the local Duyong Kecil pondok founded by ʿAbd al-Qādir Bukit Bayas’ Patani student Tok Syeikh Duyong (Hj. Wan ʿAbdallāh b. Hj. Wan Muḥammad Amīn, d. 1889)80. A product of the pondok system, Zainal Abidin III naturally continued to patronize it. Moreover, he was presumably the first sultan of Terengganu to go on hajj, as evinced by his posthumous epithet of marhum haji. Strikingly, one of the two versions of his teacher Tok Syeikh Duyong’s genealogy presents him as a descendent of Nakhoda Wangkang (lit. “Junk captain”), the Chinese-blooded adopted son of a Patani ruler, who allegedly came from Champa81. This figure is reminiscent of similar accounts of (Chinese) Muslims coming from Champa to Java’s coastal towns that are found in both Javanese and Sino-Javanese narratives about Islam’s introduction to the island82. Despite their doubtful historicity, their commonalities do point to the historical links between Patani and coastal Java and to the role of Muslim Sino-Javanese or even Sino-Cham captains and traders. Whether Tok Syeikh Duyong subscribed 77 78

79 80 81 82

Ahmad, “Pendidikan Islam”, p. 1-7. Haji Buyong bin Adil, Sejarah Terengganu (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia, 1974), p. 90-93, 138-142; Muhammad Yusoff Hashim, Terengganu Darul Iman: Tradisi Persejarahan Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 1991), p. 104ff. Ahmad Fathy al-Fatani, Ulama Besar dari Patani (Bangi: Penerbit ukm, 2002), p. 249-251. Henceforth cited as ubp. Shafie Abu Bakar, “Tok Syeikh Duyong” in id. (ed.), Ulama Terengganu. Suatu Sorotan ([Kuala Lumpur]: Utusan, 1991), p. 154-167. Ibid., p. 155f. This nakhoda, however, does not appear in the major indigenous work of Patani’s history, the Hikayat Patani. H.J. de Graaf & T.G. Pigeaud, De eerste Moslimse vorstendommen op Java: Studiën over de staatkundige geschiedenis van de 15de en 16de eeuw (Den Haag: Nijhoff, 1974); id., Chinese Muslims in Java in the 15th and 16th Centuries. The Malay Annals of Sĕmerang and Cĕrbon (Melbourne: Monash Papers on Southeast Asia, 1984), p. 14-17, 19-24.

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to this version and thus flaunted his lineage’s connection to Champa remains unknown. In contrast, royal patronage for and partaking in the pondok system reached unprecedented levels in Kelantan and Terengganu during the 19th century. Similarly, both states cultivated the scribal skills associated with a flourishing manuscript culture. In fact, the two principal copyists preparing transfer sheets for early lithographic printing in Singapore were natives of Terengganu. Among the next two most frequently acknowledged copyists is a scribe from Kelantan83. Moreover, a famous regional and distinctive style of Qurʾānic calligraphy and illumination was developed in Terengganu84. As will be shown below, the expansion of the pondok system and of the religious field in general in Kelantan and Terengganu would have a major impact on Cambodia. 4

The Diversification of Malay Influence in 18th Century Cambodia

Charting the Islamic landscape in 18th and early 19th century Cambodia is largely impossible due to the almost complete lack of sources. Yet the country’s small Muslim community is omnipresent as far as political history is concerned. Largely reduced to a bone of contention between Siam and Vietnam as well as between the respective warring factions of the Tay Son Wars, Cambodia’s political dynamics during this phase always had regional implications. As a minor though war-like group that could tip the scale in favour of either contender, all groups took the Cham-Malays seriously, as did the late 18th century Cambodian war-lords and the French, who were trying to establish their control during the second half of the 19th century. Accordingly, the various colonial and indigenous sources on the political history of Cambodia and the Mekong Delta, as well as a number of Malay references from the Straits Area, contain valuable information on several relevant issues. Among these, the melayu presence in the area and reports on ChamMalay population movements within it figure prominently. Although only tangentially connected to developments in the religious sphere, this information is nevertheless of direct significance for our enquiry into the process, background and effects of Jawization. As the Malay-language sources relied upon in this section stem almost exclusively from the Bugis and Minangkabau 83 84

Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 37. Ali Akbar, “The Influence of Ottoman Qurʾans in Southeast Asia Through the Ages” in A.C.S. Peacock & Annabel Teh Gallop (eds.), From Anatolia to Aceh. Ottomans, Turks and Southeast Asia (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2015), p. 317-319.

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communities of the Straits Area, their very form and existence must be considered instructive. Indeed, full-flegded Bugis appreciation for and participation in the jawi ecumene and its literary and cultural forms, including changing assumptions about religious imperatives and ways of expression, should be regarded as a clear indicator of the social, economic, political and religious dynamics that also underpin the nascent process of Jawization in Cambodia and other seemingly peripheral areas of the Malay world. A notable Malay (melayu) presence has been a standard feature of Cambodia at least since the late 16th century. Hallmarks of their political, military and economic clout are their role in frustrating Iberian attempts to control the Khmer court and its commerce (late 16th century) as well as the kingdom’s short-lived transformation into a sultanate (1642-1658)85, which, although eventually an easy prey and entry point into Cambodian affairs for the Vietnamese86, managed to defeat a punitive Dutch expedition in 164487. The contemporary importance and authority of Malay figures can be gleaned from the fact that, during his preparations, the voc’s governor general in Batavia sent a fabricated letter to the Cambodian Malay leader Maradia Proba and the king’s Malay minister for marine affairs (oknha laksamana sabandar88) to sow discord in the “Sultanate of Cambodia”89. The British also suffered from the effective monopolization of Cambodian trade by Sultan Ibrahim and his (­presumably

85

86 87 88

89

Mak Phoeun, “La communauté malaise musulmane au Cambodge (de la fin du XVIe siècle jusquʾau roi musulman Rāmādhipathī 1er)” in Monde Indochinoise et Péninsule Malaise (Kuala Lumpur: Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 1990), p. 47-68. Mak Phoeun & Po Dharma, “La première intervention militaire vietnamienne au Cambodge (1658-1659)”, befeo, LXXIII (1984), p. 285-318. van der Kraan, Murder and Mayhem. “Gouverneur Generael Antonio van Diemen aen Maradia Proba ende Ocnea Laxamana Sabandar gefabriceert”, 22.3.1644, Nationaal Archief Den Haag, Inv. 868. Whereas oknha is a traditional Khmer title, laks(a)mana (admiral, fleet commander) and syahbandar (harbourmaster, from pers. shāh-bandar) were Malay titles used throughout the world of Malay trade. van der Kraan, Murder and Mayhem, p. 46. However, not all of the ruler’s Muslim supporters and protégés were Malay or Cham. A major local Chinese trader involved in the profitable Japan trade and temporarily serving as syahbandar was likewise reported to be Muslim. Ibid., p. 13. Chinese junk (tôsen) trade from Cambodia to Japan, which far outstripped its Patani-Japan leg from 1647-1720, was at its zenith under Ibrahim, when it even surpassed the tôsen traffic conducted from Siam. Li Tana, Nguyễn Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program Publications, 1998), p. 68; Yoneo Ishii (ed.), The Junk Trade from Southeast Asia: Translations from Tôsen Fusetsu-gaki, 1674-1723 (Singapore: iseas, 1998), p. 153.

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Malay) main “commercial agent”90. Of course, the local Chams, as the Malays’ natural allies, played a decisive role as well. Intriguingly, Ramadhipathi I/Sultan Ibrahim’s predecessor had relied upon Malays and Chams inter alia for his risky riverine trading ventures to Laos, as did the Dutch during their first foray there (1641-1642). Malay traders were reportedly present in all major trading posts along the Mekong up to the Laotian capital91. At that time contact was most probably closest with Patani, then at the height of its power. Even early Dutch involvement in Cambodia was carried out from there92. Nevertheless, Sultan Ibrahim was reported to have “maintained correspondence” with Banten and Jepara on Java93. The origins and ethnic backgrounds of the melayu trading, living and fighting in Cambodia across the centuries are, apart from isolated references to people from Johor, Minangkabau and – more frequently – Patani, largely hidden from us. As Patani declined under its Kelantanese dynasty (c. 1688-1729), Terengganu rose and perhaps supplanted it as Cambodia’s major peninsular trading partner. Trading links between them were noted in 1720. Sultan Mansur (r. 1741-1793), under whom Terengganu reached its zenith, practically became its chief merchant and sent his privately-owned trading vessels there94. It appears, however, that by the 18th century the spectrum of Malays either active or based in Cambodia was not confined to people hailing from the northeastern peninsular Malay states. The Bugis and Minangkabau maritime diasporas, by that time main players in the wider Straits area, seem to have been prominent in Cambodia, at least according, primarily, to the writings of Raja Ali Haji. Whereas the notion of a wider Straits area would usually be taken to mean the Peninsula, Northern and Eastern Sumatra as well as Northern and Western Kalimantan, the following section will point to the fact that Western Indochina was an integral part of this region as well. Moreover, something that holds true for the rest of the area but remains mostly hidden by Euro-centric historiography is clearly evident here at the fringes: melayu (prominently including Bugis and Minangkabau) and Chinese agency was often more decisive than its European counterpart. As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the encounter with the 90 91

92 93 94

D.K. Basset, “The Trade of the English East India Company in Cambodia, 1651-1656”, jras, XCIV (1962), p. 35-61. Jean-Claude Lejosne, Le Journal de voyage de G. van Wuysthoff et de ses assistants au Laos (1641-1642) (Metz: Editions du Centre de documentation du Cercle de Culture et de Recherches Laotiennes, 1987); Carool Kersten, Strange Events in the Kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos (1635-1644) (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2003), p. 6, 25-27, 45. H. Terpstra, De Factorij der Oostindische Compagnie te Patani (’s-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1938), p. 178-182. Basset, “Trade of the English”, p. 41; Kersten, Strange Events, p. 15. Talib, “Port and Polity”, p. 214f.

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“challenging ʿotherʾ of cultural interaction” in Cambodia at that time was primarily one with Chinese and Malays, rather than with Europeans95. In fact, the period of 1740-1840 has recently been dubbed “a Chinese century” in Southeast Asia96 and the 18th century in the wider Straits area has been described as the “Bugis century”97. Even though remote from the main arena of Bugis-Malay and BugisMinangkabau conflict, Cambodia, particularly the port of Banteay Meas/Ha Tien, appears in Raja Ali Haji’s major works as well as various courtly texts associated with the (Minangkabau) sultan Raja Ismail of Siak (d. 1781, r. 1760-1776 & 1779-1781). Both Raja Ali Haji’s Tuḥfat al-nafīs (dated 1865, henceforth tn) and, more elaborately, his Silsilah Melayu dan Bugis (dated 1866, henceforth smb) contain a noteworthy anecdote that explains the peculiar naming of Riau’s most eminent yang dipertuan muda of the 18th century, Daeng Kamboja98, the common Bugis honorific daeng and the name of a non-Malay country. Although this classical trope of Malay dynastic history – foreshadowing the Bugis yang dipertuan muda dynasty of Riau’s eventual victory over their Minangkabau contenders for dominance of the Straits – hardly represents a “factual” account99, there can be little doubt that events in Cambodia stood patron for the daeng’s name. In brief, the tn relates that not long after 1714100 Daeng Rilaga and his five sons led a group of Bugis to Cambodia from Siantan Island, located halfway between the Malay Peninsula and Borneo101. Two of his children, Daeng Marewa 95 96 97 98 99

100 101

Anthony Reid, “Introduction” in id. (ed.), The Last Stand of Asian Autonomies: Responses to Modernity in the Diverse States of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750-1900 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), p. 14. Ibid., p. 11. Adrian B. Lapian, “Power Politics in Southeast Asian Waters” in Kennon Breazeale (ed.), From Japan to Arabia: Ayutthaya’s Maritime Relations with Asia (Bangkok: Foundation for the Promotion of the Social Sciences & Humanities Textbook Project, 1999), p. 147f. Raja Ali Haji, Precious Gift, p. 45f.; Raja Ali Alhaji, Silsilah Melayu dan Bugis, ed. Arena Wati (Kuala Lumpur: Penerbitan Pustaka Antara, 1973), p. 33-50. Some scholars doubt Raja Ali’s authorship of the smb. Kratz, Peringatan Sejarah, p. 12f. “At the very outset [of the tn] the stronger spiritual power of the Buginese [..] is proclaimed in a conventional fashion: the Buginese cock proves victorious over the Minangkabau one”. Leonard Y. Andaya, The Kingdom of Johor 1641-1728 (Kuala Lumpur, Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 7. Raja Ali Haji, Precious Gift, p. 324. This date was drawn from contemporary Dutch sources, as neither tn nor smb supply dates for the episode. By then Cambodia was a regular trading destination even for the Bugis and Makassarese operating directly out of distant Makassar. The Dutch recorded 5-6 departures from Makassar for Cambodia a year in 1666-9 (compared to 30-40 to Java and merely 4-5 to Melaka and Aceh). Gerrit Knaap & Heather Sutherland, Monsoon Traders: Ships, Skippers and Commodities in Eighteenth-Century Makassar (Leiden: kitlv, 2004), p. 19-21.

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and Daeng Cellek, would eventually become Riau’s first two yang dipertuan mudas. Cambodia’s king informs the Bugis about the presence of a Minangkabau prince who owned an infamous fighting cock that had remained undefeated in nine countries. Finally, a high-stakes cock fight is set up under the auspices of the king and his syahbandar102. After their cock’s victory, the Bugis return to Siantan where Daeng Parani, another son of Daeng Rilaga, learns that his Makassarese wife has given birth to a son. Because his father had been in Cambodia, Riau’s future third yang dipertuan muda (r. 1745-1777) was named Daeng Kamboja. The smb provides background information that elucidates the role of Bugis and Minangkabau trade in Cambodia. In a first encounter, Daeng Rilaga informs the king that he had been drawn to Cambodia by his reputation as “taking care of all kinds of trade”. That the stakes of the cock fight should consist of a loaded keci (a square-rigged ship commonly used for trade) and all of its cargo is as telling as the fact that the syahbandar is chosen as referee103. Thus, there can be little doubt that for the roving Bugis, who would soon take over Johor-Riau and – starting with Selangor104 – other sultanates, Cambodia was a normal field of activity and place of residence, just as it was for Minangkabaus and other melayu Muslims. A British report from 1769 testifies that ships coming from Cambodia arrived in Riau during Daeng Kamboja’s reign105. For Raja Ali Haji, at this time Riau represented the ideal state: peace between the rival Malay and Bugis groups as well as economic and religious prosperity. As he made clear in several writings, an exemplary ruler would never devote himself to cock fighting or, even better, would outlaw such an un-Islamic practice106. Cambodia resurfaces once more in the tn, in connection with Minangkabau affairs. Raja Ismail, exiled from Siak after a brief first reign (1760-1761),

102 103 104 105 106

Intriguingly, one protagonist of the Dutch Makassar War of the 1660s, and accordingly also of its testament in poetry (i.e. Ince Amin’s Syair Perang Mengkasar, c. 1670), was a Cham from Cambodia (Datuk Sri Amar di Raja). This provides us with a clear indication of the existence of networks linking Cambodian and Makassar Muslims since at least the second half of the 17th century. Heather Sutherland, “The Makassar Malays: Adaptation and Idenitity, c. 1660-1790”, jseas, XXXII (2001), p. 419 n. 114. Significantly, Makassar Malays and Muslim Cham princes from Champa – famously but vainly – conspired in 1686 to kill the Siamese king Narai and have him replaced with a Muslim ruler. Michael Smithies, “Accounts of the Makassar Revolt, 1686”, jss, XC (2003), p. 73-95. A British observer noted in the 1650s that it was impossible to speak to the king unless presented to him by the syahbandar. Basset, “Trade of the English”, p. 56. Raja Ali Alhaji, Silsilah Melayu dan Bugis, p. 34-36. Kratz, Peringatan Sejarah, p. 26f. Lapian, “Power Politics”, p. 138. Andaya & Matheson, “Islamic Thought”, p. 115f., 123.

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prepares to attack the port of “Pantai Emas [lit. “golden beach”], near Cambodia”. The 500 people-strong Minangkabaus reportedly residing there had earlier invited him to take over the port polity with their aid. But after assembling a hundred vessels in the Tujuh Islands, his ally Sultan Mansur of Terengganu drew him into a different task while he was still waiting for favorable winds107. Pantai Emas refers to Banteay Meas (lit. “golden fortress”), now more commonly known by its Vietnamese name Ha Tien. The Chinese exile Mac Cuu (d. 1735) and his descendants turned this port into a major hub for Chinese and Malay trading. Arriving in Cambodia in 1671, he initially served as the king’s provincial governor, but later on managed to establish his own realm by allying himself with the Vietnamese, a state of affairs long unacknowledged by the Khmer rulers. The polity reached its apogee under his son Mac Thien Tu (d. 1780), and the Vietnamese only did away with the Mac dynasty in the Ha Tien area during the 1830s108. As such, Ha Tien played an instrumental role in Vietnam’s gradual takeover of the Delta and, presumably, in the development of Islam both there and in Cambodia. Besides Malays, Chams were reported to be living in Ha Tien by the second half of the 18th century109. During the 1760s, when Raja Ismail was planning his invasion of Ha Tien, Mac Thien Tu was cracking down on piracy and repelling joint attacks of pirates and their land-based supporters. Mac Cuu was known for tolerating and perhaps even profiting from the pirates’ activities; his son opted for vigorous repression110, which probably prompted the local Minangkabaus to call in Raja Ismail. From late 1769 to early January 1770, Ha Tien was confronted with a Khmer-Chinese-Malay uprising111. The following year, a joint force led 107 108

109 110 111

Raja Ali Haji, Precious Gift, p. 126f.; R.O. Winstedt (ed.), “Tuhfat al-Nafis” in jmbras, X, 2 (1932), p. 113f. Nicholas Sellers, The Princes of Ha-Tien (1682-1867) (Bruxelles: Editions Than-Long, 1983); Émile Gaspardone, “Un chinoise des mers du Sud, le fondateur de Hà-tiên” in ja, CCXL, no. 3 (1952), p. 364-385; Sakurai & Kitagawa, “Ha Tien”; Chingho A. Chen, “Mac Thien Tu and Phrayataksin: A Survey on their Political Stand, Conflicts and Background” in Proceedings, Seventh iaha Conference 22-26 August 1977 Bangkok (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn Univ. Press, 1979), p. 1534-1575. Around the same time, anti-Manchu Chinese exiles coming from the pro-Ming Cheng kingdom on Taiwan (surrendered to the Qing in 1683) established other Mekong Delta trading centers that drew Malay traders at My Tho and Bien Hoa. Ibid., p. 1535f.; Sakurai, “Eighteenth Century Chinese”, p. 200; Trang-hoï-duc, Giadinh-Thung-Chi. Histoire et description de la Basse Cochinchine (Pays du Gia-dinh), ed. & trans. Gabriel Aubaret (Farnborough: Gregg, 1969), p. 5 (henceforth gdtc). Adrien Launay, Histoire de la mission de Cochinchine 1658-1823, III: 1771-1823 (Paris: Société des Missions-Étrangères, 1925), p. 530. Sellers, Princes of Ha-Tien, p. 17, 52-4. Launay, Histoire de la mission, III, p. 536-538.

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by a local deserter, a Malay “pirate” leader and Khmer “bandits”112 attacked the port. But Malays (melayu) also formed part of the Ha Tien forces and forged alliances with local powers. By the 1770s, the rampant instability in Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, itself part of a larger Southeast Asian mainland crisis113, had greatly disrupted trade in Ha Tien and made it a far less inviting destination114. Confronted with a Siamese invasion in 1771, one of Mac Thien Tu’s last military assets were troops commanded by a Malay general who eventually secured his master’s retreat into Vietnamese protection at Chau Doc115, now the Delta’s chief settlement area of Cham and jawa kur Muslims. As the polity became fully embroiled in the Tay Son wars, the afore-mentioned Malay pirate leader joined Nguyen Anh (the later Gia Long emperor and father of Minh Mang) with 10 junks in a frustrated attempt to liberate Ha Tien from the Tay Son (1783)116. French missionary sources explicitly mention a company of Malays from nearby Kampot in Cambodia as fighting for Nguyen Anh117. In 1794-1795, when Siak had already regained a certain degree of stability and once more began to expand under the (from his father’s side) Arabdescended Sultan Sayyid Ali (r. 1791-1810, d. 1821), a Malay pirate fleet of 17 junks raided the coasts of Ha Tien and the nearby island of Phu-quoc (kh. Koh Trâl), availing themselves of men, 15 junks, cannons and other arms118. It is conceivable that they were affiliated to the descendants of Raja Mahmud and his son Raja Ismail, who had, despite his at best tenuous connection to the Minangkabau ruling family, first been marginalized in Siak by Sayyid Ali and then ejected from their new state on Pelalawan in 1791119. Incidentally, Sayyid Ali sought

112 113 114 115 116

117

118

119

gdtc, p. 30. At that time, the centuries-old dynasties ruling Burma, Siam and Vietnam all crumbled. Reid, “Introduction”, p. 10f. gdtc, p. 34; Sakurai & Kitagawa, “Ha Tien”, p. 201. Ibid., 189-191; Sellers, Princes of Ha-Tien, p. 61. gdtc, p. 52. Strikingly, Mac Thien Tu reportedly planned to go into exile to an unidentified place in the Malay world (probably Palembang) following the Tay Son advance. Directed to Siam, however, he committed suicide in King Thaksin’s custody. Sakurai & Kitagawa, “Ha Tien”, p. 204f. Launay, Histoire de la mission, III, p. 80 n. 1. Both Nguyen Anh and the Siamese also employed Cham-Malays as shipbuilders. Li Tana, “Ships and Shipbuilding in the Mekong Delta, c. 1750-1840” in Nola Cooke & Li Tana (eds.), Water Frontier. Commerce and the Chinese in the Lower Mekong Region, 1750-1880 (Singapore: Singapore Univ. Press, 2004), p. 125. Mak Phoeun, “Note sur les premiers établissements des Caṃ et des Malais dans les provinces de Châu-dôc et de Tây-ninh (Sud du Vietnam)” in Po Dharma, Mak Phoeun & Jacques Ivanoff (eds.), Péninsule indochinoise et monde malais: Relations historiques et culturelles (Kuala Lumpur: pefeo, 2004), p. 84f. Barnard, Multiple Centres, p. 151-162.

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British support in 1795120 perhaps because his opponents had just increased their military assets by raiding the southwestern coast of Indochina. Nevertheless, Ha Tien still had a Malay quarter in the 19th century121, probably a result of its Mac governor’s attempts in 1811 to reestablish trade, which included (re-) allocating town quarters to different “nationalities”122. Obviously, Raja Ali Haji’s account stems from Siak sources123. Most important in that respect is the Hikayat Siak (Siak Chronicle, henceforth hs) of 1855, which represents the most comprehensive counternarrative to the tn’s history of the Straits area from a Minangkabau point of view124. Indeed, the tn’s report is evidently drawn from the hs, which only adds that there were many wealthy merchants among the Minangkabaus of Ha Tien125. Siak historical poems, most prominently the Syair Perang Siak (Poem of the Siak War) and Syair Raja Siak (Poem of the Siak Kings), relate the life and times of Raja Ismail but do not mention his years in exile126. It is, however, revealing to contrast what is related about this ruler’s abortive Ha Tien venture with the contents of Syair Perang Siak, which was most probably composed (presumably in 1764) at his request to further his claims to rule, highlight his kingly qualities and legitimate his alliance with Sultan Mansur of Terengganu127. At one instance, the poem pictures him trying to decide whether to become a pirate leader or to remain a sultan (at least temporarily) without a state128. It would thus seem that the above-mentioned invitation to attack and rule Ha Tien, which he was reportedly determined to pursue, would have provided the young exile with another option: to establish his authority over Ha Tien as a rival center of the Minangkabau diaspora confronting its counterpart at Siak. It is also unclear if Ha Tien’s Minangkabaus made the first move, for Raja Ismail was actively 120 121 122 123

124 125 126

127 128

Kathirithamby-Wells, “Siak and its Changing Strategies”, p. 234. Sakurai, “Eighteenth Century Chinese”, p. 212 n. 13. gdtc, p. 66. It is perhaps due to Raja Ali Haji’s unique free usage of Siak sources that the episode is absent from other Malay/Bugis historical works of the period, such as the Hikayat Negeri Johor (Story of the Johor Kingdom), which otherwise covers this period of Raja Ismail’s life. R.O. Winstedt, “Hikayat Negeri Johor”, jmbras, X, 1 (1932), p. 20f. Muhammad Yusoff Hashim (ed.), Hikayat Siak: dirawikan oleh Tengku Said (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 1992). Ibid., p. 156f. Donald J. Goudie (ed.), Syair Perang Siak (Kuala Lumpur: MBRAS, 1989); Kosim H.R. (ed.), Syair Raja Siak (Jakarta: Balai Pustaka – Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1978), p. 85-96; Nindya Noegraha, Hikayat Iskandar Zulkarnayn & Syair Raja Siak: dari Naskah W113 & W273 (Jakarta: Perpustakaan Nasional, 2002), p. 244-253. Goudie, Syair Perang Siak, p. 38f. Ibid., p. 216f. The voc clearly regarded him as “a threat to the authority of all Malay states”. Barnard, “Texts, Raja Ismail and Violence”, p. 340.

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soliciting support from the orang laut (“sea people”) of Siantan, Natuna, Tambelan and other small islands between the Southeastern Peninsula, Eastern Sumatra and Western Borneo, as well as from the Minangkabau diaspora on Aceh’s fringes129. Given that all of these places formed part of “the conceptual terrain” of Minangkabau rule in the wider Straits area130, it would seem that Cambodia was also part of it. Both under Raja Alam (r. 1761-1779), Raja Ismail’s prime detractor in Siak, as well as under the latter himself, Siak traded regularly with Cambodia (as noted for the period 1770-1780)131, which adds further credibility to the implicit connection made by tn/smb between a Minangkabau presence in the country and Siak. Interestingly, Raja Ismail was firmly allied to Sultan Mansur of Terengganu, which eventually kept him from attacking Ha Tien, led him to marry one of the sultan’s daughters and to support him in his wars with Kelantan132. In addition, towards the late 1760s Raja Ismail received cautious support from the Sultan of Palembang, in whose outlying territories he eventually established a permanent base after years of plying the South China Sea, until his final return to Siak in 1779133. Palembang also had well established trading connections with Ha Tien. voc sources for 1758-1770, naturally counting only “legal” (according to the Dutch) trade and thus representing only part of the actual traffic, note the regular arrival of ships from Cambodia and Ha Tien134. The rise of the latter as a port polity had prompted Sultan Abdulrahman (r. 1659-1706) to buy a number of junks specifically for the Indochina trade. Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin I (1724-1754), who preferred trading mostly behind Dutch backs, sent royal junks under local Muslim Chinese to Ha Tien135.

129 130 131 132 133 134

135

Kathirithamby-Wells, “Siak and its Changing Strategies”, p. 224. Strikingly, there were also (at least indirect) scholarly linkages between these small islands, hardly known for scholarly activities, and Cambodian Muslims. Barnard, Multiple Centres, p. 128. Anthony Reid, “A New Phase of Commercial Expansion in Southeast Asia, 1760-1840” in id. (ed.), The Last Stand of Asian Autonomies. Responses to Modernity in the Diverse States of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750-1900 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), p. 64. Hashim, Hikayat Siak, p. 173-180; Barnard, “Texts, Raja Ismail and Violence”, p. 339f. Barbara Watson Andaya, “Adapting to Political and Economic Change: Palembang in the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries” in Anthony Reid (ed.), The Last Stand of Asian Autonomies. Responses to Modernity in the Diverse States of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750-1900 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), p. 205. Andaya, To Live as Brothers, p. 123, 189.

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Conclusion

All of this invites several major conclusions. Firstly, despite the existence of an isolated reference to Minangkabau traders coming from Cambodia to Perak in the middle of the 17th century136, it seems that a significant diversification of Malay influence and presence occurred in Cambodia during the 18th century. This was in perfect harmony with the changed overall situation in the western part of the Malay world, with the onset of the “Bugis century” and the strongly increasing influence of both the Bugis and the Minangkabau diasporas, which also broadened regional melayu identity. Marsden noted in 1783 that the visiting Bugis and Makassarese were regarded as “superiors in manners” and viewed as role-models in many respects by the Sumatran Malays and Minangkabaus137. Consequently, the second clue is that Cambodia and the contested Delta, and especially Islam in the area, were strongly connected to these wider regional developments. As will be shown below, the Minangkabaus in particular, due to their tradition of male emigration (rantau) precipitated by their society’s matrilineal character, would constitute a long-term local influence. This diversification, which most probably also intensified Cham-Malay contacts in Cambodia and the Delta, helped further the Malayization of the local Muslims, thus providing the basis for their large-scale Jawization. However, the latter process came to hinge far more on the religious developments in Patani and Kelantan than in Palembang or Minangkabau. Moreover, Panduranga’s Chams, increasingly isolated from developments in the Malay world from the late 17th century onwards, generally underwent a contrary process that led to the increased vernacularization of Islam along Bani lines. Cham migration from Panduranga to Cambodia in the late 18th and early 19th century thus also signified the transfer of a distinctively Bani Islamic discursive tradition into the country, which would eventually represent the most enduring challenge to Jawization among Cambodian Muslims. Given the brief danger of a Minangkabau polity on (former) Khmer lands and the more enduring Vietnamese policy of resettling and co-opting Chams 136

137

D.K. Basset, “Changes in the Pattern of Malay Politics, 1629-c. 1655”, jseah, X, 3 (1969) p. 448. Some Khmer chronicles also relate that the Muslim wife of the Khmer Sultan Ibrahim held the obscure title neak mneang kabas bau, i.e. “Minangkabau person (neak)”. Mak Phoeun, “Communauté malaise”, p. 65f. Other chronicles, however, do not mention a Muslim wife at all. Kersten, “Cambodia’s Muslim King”, p. 14. Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 209. This was before the “Islamic turn” of the Bugis elites and the Jawization process in Southeast Asia. Indeed, Marsden stresses that these seafaring peoples had acquired at least part of their local fame for indulging in activities the likes of which Raja Ali Haji would have strongly disapproved, namely gambling, cockfighting and opium-smoking.

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on Cambodian soil, the Khmer kings as well as their soon-to-arrive French “protectors” had good reason to take their resident Chams and Malays seriously. As such, their stakes in Cambodian and Indochinese politics and the early French encounter with them will be briefly outlined in the next chapter.

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Chapter 3

Chams and Malays in Late Pre-Colonial and Early Colonial Cambodia 1

Political and Legal Issues until the Coronation of Ang Duong (1848)

Cham and Malay involvement in Cambodian politics survived the first Vietnamese intervention (1658-1659), which dethroned Sultan Ibrahim. Under the new king Paramarājā VIII (Ang Sur, r. 1659-1672), Ibrahim’s former Muslim allies and other local discontents (including members of the royal family) rebelled but were eventually forced to take refuge in Siam. Padumarājā II (r. 1672-1673), the next king, was killed by a Cham-Malay squad during a period of royal intrigue1. The kram srok (state laws) of 1692 reflect this group’s importance. Among the seven military dignitaries entitled to form a council to discuss state affairs, we find the commander of the “enrolled Malays” (§43). Among other “foreigners” (i.e. non-Khmers), Chams could be nominated for provincial governorships if they had been born in the country and had perfect knowledge of the local language and laws (§44)2. Chams and Chvea are also listed among those groups whose affairs (including shipping) should be overseen by a headman chosen from their own community (§100); however, the harbour master had to be a Sino-Khmer (§103), a stipulation that was certainly due to Chinese dominance over maritime trade to and from the country. The relevance of Malays in this sphere, however, is reflected in another related regulation. Thus, the surveillance of ships of Burmese and kaling (South Indian, ml. keling) merchants, a Southeast Asian group often specifically associated with Tamil Muslim traders, was to be entrusted to a Malay in the absence of a community representative fluent in Khmer (§102)3. Apart from the material on the Malay presence in Cambodia and the Delta presented above, Cham and Malay agency resurfaces towards the end of the 18th century in Khmer and European sources. For example, following a 1 Mak Phoeun & Po Dharma, “Première intervention”, p. 312; Mak Phoeun, “La communauté cam au Cambodge du XV au XIX siècle” in Actes du Séminaire sur le Campa organisé à l’Université de Copenhague, le 23 mai 1987 (Paris: Centre d’histoire et civilisations de la péninsule indochinoise, 1988), p. 88-90; id., Chroniques royales du Cambodge (de 1594 à 1677) (Paris: pefeo, 1981), p. 207f., 378f. (henceforth crc). 2 Adhémard Leclère, Les codes cambodgiens, I (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1898), p. 99f. It seems as if Malay and Cham, as is often the case, are used interchangeably here. 3 Ibid., I, p. 114f.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_005

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Siamese invasion in 1782, the Cham-Malay leader Tuon Set and his followers attacked the capital Oudong, assigned leadership positions to fellow ChamMalays and issued draft orders for the locals. Deserted by many of his Khmer soldiers, he was eventually defeated and executed along with his Cham-Malays lieutenants4. In 1810 King Ang Chan’s (r. 1806-1811 and 1813-1835) grandfather – perhaps mischievously – informed him of an intrigue against his person. After being given carte blanche, the aged informant enlisted a Malay named Tuon Phâ to liquidate the two allegedly conspiring mandarins. He did so and was rewarded with and managed to retain an important governmental post despite negative public reactions to the killings5. Given his name’s strong resemblance to the Muslim rebel leader active in Panduranga in the late 1790s (i.e. the Tuen Phaow of Cham sources), some speculate that they might have been the same person6. If true, this would probably help explain why Vietnam ordered his execution in 1820 or 18217. Strikingly, this is strongly corroborated by the 1883 history of Cambodia of Moura, who convincingly claimed to have been personally acquainted with Tuon Phâ’s son and explicitly noted that Tuon Phâ was executed for his earlier leading role in a Cham revolt in Panduranga, which also drew on the support of numerous Malays8. It thus seems as if the tuan, whom Moura calls Set Asmit, did not, as the Cham poem suggests, return to Makah after disappearing in the highlands9, but went to eastern Cambodia with his followers. Even though Tuon Phâ and Tuen Phaow may not have been the same person10, Set Asmit’s sons would go on to play decisive roles in Cham-Malay affairs in Cambodia and the Delta. Moura’s account is also of interest as regards our earlier discussion of Malay engagement in Panduranga, the recognition of intra-Muslim diversity and the questionable record of Cham liberation movements during the Tay Son wars. Undoubtedly influenced by his local Malay informants, he relates that Tuon Set Asmit’s movement eventually fell apart because a majority of the local Chams grew weary of the Malays’ disproportionate influence and, fatefully,

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Khin Sok, Le Cambodge entre le Siam et le Viêtnam (de 1775 à 1860) (Paris: pefeo, 1991), p. 42f., 50; gdtc, p. 120. Khin Sok, Le Cambodge, p. 71f. Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 41-44. Khin Sok, Le Cambodge, p. 113-115. Jean Moura, Le royaume du Cambodge (Paris: E. Leroux, 1883), I, p. 458f.; II, p. 133. Weber, “Ariya Tuen Phaow”, p. 136. Id., Histoire de la diaspora, p. 41-44.

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went over to the Vietnamese11. In this regard, we may remember the implicit emphasis on religious (and ethnic) otherness (i.e. cam baruw, jawa kur) conveyed in the respective Cham historical poem as well as its explicit references to the strong Islamic connotations of the tuan’s revolt12. As far as Muslim diversity is concerned, the usage of the title set (sayyid) by those Muslims in Cambodia at that time who claimed descent from Malay ruling houses also appears to be noteworthy13. Even though sayyid appears in the Sejarah Melayu (c. 1612), it apparently only gained wider currency due to the growing presence and influence of Hadrami scholars (e.g. in Palembang) and Hadrami-descended Malay Sultans (e.g. in Siak from 1791 onwards) in Southeast Asia from the late 18th century onwards. Just like other, hitherto mostly unduly neglected, developments within the field of Muslim onomastics leading to the gradual Arabization (understood as Islamization by its exponents) of Southeast Asian Muslim names14, this was a sign of the process of gradual religious and social change subsumed under the label of of Jawization. After Tuon Set Asmit’s demise, Cambodia experienced a period of firm Vietnamese control from the 1820s to the early 1840s, which was briefly interrupted by a Siamese intervention in Cambodia and the Delta in 1834. At the same time, the Vietnamese relocated, both voluntarily and involuntarily, large numbers of Cambodian and Pandurangan Chams to buffer zones such as Thbaung Khmum/Kampong Cham, Tay Ninh and Chau Doc15. During Vietnam’s 1834 invasion to oust the Siamese, a Cham prince was reportedly invested with a leadership position in the field16. During the mid-1870s, his son Po Ta Kay, who was based in a Cham village at Lovek17, served as an informant and supplier of Cham manuscripts for Moura18. 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18

Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, I, p. 458. Weber, “Ariya Tuen Phaow”, p. 133-5. Subsequently, set came to denote sayyids proper (i.e. the Prophet’s descendants) or at least the caliphs’ descendants. Omar Farouk Bajunid, “The Place of Jawi in Contemporary Cambodia”, jsas, XX (2002), p. 139, 147; Emiko Stock, “From Caliphs to Kings – Some Saeth and Po Couples”, ChamAttic, blog entry posted February 11th 2013. (accessed May 9th 2013). William R. Roff, “Onomastics, and Taxonomies of Belonging in the Malay Muslim World” in id., Studies on Islam and Society in Southeast Asia (Singapore: nus Press, 2009), p. 33-51. Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 77-79, 84-104. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, I, p. 488. As this was certainly a reference to the province (and not the town) of Lovek, there is a high probability that his actual place of residence was the crucial village of Chhouk Sar (see below). Ibid., I, p. 465f., 488f. According to Moura, the local Chams regarded this and other pos as kings. This reverence for members of Panduranga’s royal line would soon figure among

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This prolonged period of Vietnamese control, probably for the first time since the end of the Sultan Ibrahim intermezzo, noticeably weakened and fragmented the classical institutions of post-Angkor Cambodia. Kingship, monkhood and the kind of literacy traditionally provided by the monasteries all began to crumble. This is the context of the struggle to re-establish Cambodian royal and religious tradition under King Ang Duong (r. 1843-1860). Tellingly, like his contemporaneous counterparts in Riau-Lingga, Kelantan or Terengganu, Ang Duong appears to have had a strong interest and education in Buddhism and its religious written supra-languages. Whereas the former were knowledgeable in (written) Malay and Arabic, Ang Duong reportedly could debate issues in Sanskrit and Pali with the bonzes19. After his return from long exile in Siam, he initially functioned as a kind of shadow king (the actual coronation took place in 1848) and was occupied with symbolic acts of remembering his royal lineage, restoring and repopulating the wats (Buddhist monasteries) and distributing emblems of status to officials who supported him20. All of these efforts to demonstrate his legitimacy and re-establish that of Cambodian kingship as such among the populace of a fragmented country also impacted the local Muslim communities and the traditional relationship between the Khmer kings and their Khmer and Cham-Malay subjects. For one thing, the latter received symbols of royal recognition due to their disproportionate influence in political and military affairs. Their continued relevance in trade is best exemplified by their role in Kampot, Cambodia’s sole remaining port. In 1850, Ang Duong ordered a route to be constructed to connect Oudong with the port, which was then flourishing with brisk trade to Ha Tien and Singapore. Although the chief local traders were Chinese, a Malay merchant was entrusted as supercargo for royal trade and charged with building a grand junk specifically for the Singapore trade21. At a British delegation’s official reception with the Prime Minister one year later, the “chief of the Malays” was one of the dignitaries present22, which fits well with a contemporaneous French report

19 20

21 22

the casualties of Jawization. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, II, p. 135. David P. Chandler, “Going through the Motions: Ritual Aspects of the Reign of King Duong of Cambodia (r. 1848-1860)” in Lorraine Gesick (ed.), Centers, Symbols, and Hierarchies: Essays on the Classical States of Southeast Asia (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Southeast Asia Studies, 1983), p. 107-109. “Notes to accompany a map of Cambodia”, jia&ea, V (1851), p. 308f.; G.D. Bonnyman, “Notices of the Port of Kampot with Directions for the Eastern Channel”, jia&ea, V (1851), p. 432f.; Khin Sok, Le Cambodge, p. 142; Sakurai & Kitagawa, “Ha Tien”, p. 208 n. 4. L.V. Helms Esq., “II. Overland Journey from Kampot to the Royal Residence. To the Editor of the Singapore Free Press”, Aséanie, XVI (2005), p. 159f.

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that Phnom Penh’s Malay traders specialized in external trade23, doubtlessly via Kampot. In contrast, the Cambodian Muslims’ ambiguous relationship with Vietnam, which resented Siam’s revived influence, made the discontents susceptible to Vietnamese aid and vice versa. As will be shown below, Ang Duong and his son Norodom (r. 1860-1904) both had a turbulent and highly complex relationship with the Cham-Malays. Moreover, Ang Duong’s actions would have a lasting influence on the pattern of Cham settlement in Cambodia and the Delta and, by implication, on the eventual constitution of two distinct Islamic communities in Cambodia in the face of Jawization and then of globalized Islam. 2

Intra-religious Divisions, Rebellion and Resettlement under Ang Duong

In 1858 a Cham-Malay revolt erupted in the community’s stronghold of Thbaung Khmum, more precisely in present-day Kampong Cham’s Sambour and Roka Po Pram villages24. Although its cause is somewhat unclear, religion seems not to have been the driving force25. However, especially in the aftermath of the initial rebellion, the Vietnamese gladly sought to weaken Cambodia, now once again (save for its eastern half) under strong Siamese influence, by supporting the rebels26 despite its leaders’ incriminating family history – they were all sons of Tuon Set Asmit, who had earlier received Khmer royal recognition in the form of positions and honorary titles. The three actual instigators resided in Thbaung Khmum, whereas their elder brother Tuon Li (Ali) held a ministerial post in Phnom Penh: “somdach bartes chang veang”27. Strikingly, the title changvang, at least from approximately the establishment of the 23 24

25 26

27

Charles-Emile Bouillevaux, Voyage dans l’Indochine, 1848-1856 (Paris: Victor Palmé, 1858), p. 199f. If not otherwise noted, the discussion of the 1858 rebellion and its aftermath until the death of Ang Duong in 1860 draws on the following: A.B. de Villemereuil (ed.), Explorations et missions de Doudart de Lagrée. Extraits de ses manuscrits (Paris: Imprimerie & Libraire de Mde. Veuve Bachard-Huzard, 1883), p. 77f.; Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, II, p. 133-135; Khin Sok, Le Cambodge, p. 138-141; Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 44-53. Ibid., p. 44f. The area of the revolt and thus Cambodia’s major Cham-Malay stronghold appears to have still fallen under Vietnamese purview. In 1851 a British observer noted that the entire “left bank [whilst facing downriver] of the Mekong from Sambur down to the sea” was either under Vietnamese influence or under its actual authority. “Notes to accompany a map”, p. 309f. de Villemereuil, Explorations et missions, p. 359.

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Protectorate onwards and due to the lack of a nation-wide hierarchy, denoted the Muslim dignitary in the country or rather in a particular region/province with the highest accorded rank (kh. huban/houpean)28. As such, the changvang was to a certain degree the direct precursor of today’s (State) Mufti. It is significant for the subsequent development of intra-Muslim factionalism in Cambodia that this changvang of the late 1850s was of Malay and not Cham stock. Moreover, his brother Tuon Him (Ibrahim) seems to have filled the same position in Thbaung Khmum until he rebelled. After an initial attempt to pacify the rebels, who had been joined by discontented local Khmers, ended in the killing of Ang Duong’s envoy, the king decided to personally lead the subsequent punitive expedition. Following the death of one of the rebel leaders in battle (not corroborated by all sources), the remaining two brothers and some of their followers escaped to Chau Doc in the Delta. Largely due to Vietnamese resettlement schemes in the early 1840s, the latter now had a major Cham-Malay community, mostly drawn from Cambodia29. The fugitives thus joined an already well-established local ChamMalay community characterized by its loyalty towards, or at least dependency upon, its Vietnamese overlords. Ang Duong, evidently worried about further potential rebellions in the area, now began to take drastic measures. According to the French witness Mgr. Miche, five to six thousand Cham-Malays from the sites of the rebellion and its vicinity were resettled along the Tonle Sap between Phnom Penh and the royal riverine port of Kampong Luong30. Certain areas of Cham-Malay settlement in Thbaung Khmum appear to have been effectively (if only temporarily) completely depopulated, as Henri Mouhot, the famed French explorer of Angkor, observed while passing through the region during his travels (1858-61)31. Sheltered by the Vietnamese in Chau Doc, in 1859 one of the rebel leaders travelled upriver with armed followers. Aided by Vietnamese ships and ground troops, Cham-Malay forces devastated Kampong Luong and advanced towards Oudong, which caused the future king Norodom and other Khmer princes to flee in disarray. The Cham-Malays retreated and, as Mgr. Miche vividly described, used the confusion to take their deported families to Chau Doc.

28 29 30 31

For a concise description of the huban system, see Anne Hansen, “Khmer Identity and Theravāda Buddhism” in John Marston & Elizabeth Guthrie (eds.), History, Buddhism, and New Religious Movements in Cambodia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2004), p. 45. Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 96-104. Khin Sok, Le Cambodge, p. 139. Henri Mouhot, Voyage dans les royaumes de Siam, de Cambodge, de Laos et autres parties centrales de l’Indochine (Genève: Éditions Olizane, 1999), p. 167f.

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­ ietnam’s subsequent refusal to hand them over led to Cambodian-VietnamV ese clashes. These ended with Ang Duong’s death in 1860. Interestingly, our knowledge of these events derives from Khmer, French and Cham sources, the latter of which contain a highly important detailed Cham account of the community’s trials, tribulations and exploits at that time. According to this text, studied by Mohammad Zain Musa and Weber, right from the rebellion’s beginning a local group of loyal Chams actively helped crush it by providing soldiers, supplies and local topographic knowledge32. This group was led by a Cham po (lord), who had reportedly established Kampong Pring village (in the Thbaung Khmum district of present Kampong Cham province) with his followers in 1846-184733. Clearly originating from this community’s ranks, the account relates that even the loyal local Cham-Malays were deported and resettled in the villages of Prey Pih, Sre Prey and Chhouk Sar, all located inland to the west of the Tonle Sap in present Kampong Chhnang’s Kampong Tralach district34. Intriguingly, these Chams would later emerge as the anti-thesis to Jawization and eventually develop into the nucleus of Kan Imam San Islam. The implication is, of course, that these specific Cham communities are in whole or at least in their majority descended from the po-led faction of Chams who had allied themselves with Ang Duong rather than with their rebellious Malay-led counterparts. The Cham account, starting with its main protagonist, abounds in leading personalities bearing the epithet po. Clearly, this connection to the Cham royal line (or its priestly “caste”) was important to its narrator and his audience, and thus, most probably, also to the historical actors involved. This component appears to be conspicuously absent among the rebel faction, whose leaders’ legitimacy evidently rested on other pillars35. The provenance and date of the manuscript in question (CM 39 of the Société Asiatique in Paris), which contains forty different texts, of which only four are concerned with 32 33

34 35

Mohamad Zain Musa, Cam-Melayu Abad Ke-19. Pemberontokan dan Diaspora (Pulau Pinang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2012), p. 108-122; Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 50-53. Mohamad Zain, Cam-Melayu Abad Ke-19, p.68. The author assumes that this po and some of his followers were “with great probability” descendants of the exiled Cham prince Po Cei Brei. This seems to be confirmed by information obtained in the late 19th century about a Cham scholar based at Chhouk Sar. Aymonier, “Légendes historiques”, p. 184. Mohamad Zain, Cam-Melayu Abad Ke-19, p. 101, 166-176; Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 51-53. Individual pos, however, even if not directly implicated, evidently sympathized with the rebels. A case in point is the Po Tih Kei of the Cham account, a resident of Kampong Pring who can perhaps be identified with Moura’s informant Po Ta Kay. He was briefly jailed for suspected rebel connections after sheltering one of the rebel leaders. Ibid., p. 52.

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the Chams’ historical trials under Cambodian and French rule, are unknown36. This also applies to 43 other Cham manuscripts in the institute’s possession37. It would, however, be reasonable to assume that it was originally among the Cham manuscripts acquired by Moura (the Société Asiatique published his Le Cambodge in 1883) from his informant Po Ta Kay, who likewise explicitly claimed royal descent. It seems that the pattern of forced relocation also yielded other less obvious consequences. For example, the post-rebellion swelling of Chau Doc’s ChamMalay communities greatly strengthened their connections to co-religionists in Kampong Cham, including in the field of riverine trade. Vietnamese shipbuilding in the South was dependent upon upriver timber38, as was the construction of boats and canoes among the local Cham-Malays and Khmers. According to local tradition, even the specific sao (Hopea Odorat) wood used for building boats and the local Cham-Malay community’s distinctive stilthouses came from Cambodia39. Incidentally, Kampong Cham/Thbaung Khmum and Kratie were among the main logging areas40. By the 1930s, these Cham-Malays had become practically unavoidable middlemen between the wood exporting areas, which coincided with the regions of strongest ChamMalay settlement, and consumers in the lower Delta41. Yet trade was hardly the only incentive for the recurring population movements between Cambodia and the Delta. Labussière observed that, due to common parentage, such migration had unfolded on a considerable scale between 1869 and 188042. French colonial policies inadvertently contributed to the extension of such family networks in the 1890s. Thus, “[Cham-]Malays from Cochinchina [i.e. South Vietnam] resettling in Cambodia” were freed from paying the head-tax in 1891, which caused an intervention three years later by the Hanoi-based governor-general of Indochina, M. Chavassieux, who feared “the eventual complete depopulation of [Cham-]Malay villages in Chau 36 37 38

39 40 41 42

Lafont, Po Dharma & Nara Vija, Catalogue des manuscrits, p. 190-194. Ibid., p. 3. Li Tana, “The Late-Eighteenth- and Early-Nineteenth-Century Mekong Delta in the Regional Trade System” in Nola Cooke & Li Tana (eds.), Water Frontier. Commerce and the Chinese in the Lower Mekong Region, 1750-1880 (Singapore: Singapore Univ. Press, 2004), p. 80. Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 55. For its non-riverine transportation, cattle provided by Cham traders were reportedly instrumental. Adolf Bastian, A Journey in Cambodia and Cochin-China (1864) (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2005), p. 180. Marcel Ner, “Les musulmans de l’Indochine Française”, befeo, XLI (1941), p. 184. A. Labussière, “Les chams et les malais de l’arrondissement de Chaudoc”, e&r, VI (1880), p. 376.

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Doc and the possible loss of any remaining tax revenues due to periodic resettlement”43. Turbulence and deportation were thus ironically less conducive to uprooting than to furthering networking between the Muslim communities of Kampong Cham, Chau Doc and the wider Phnom Penh area. Moreover, cross-border riverine trading networks overlapped with those of Islamic scholarship and education, both of which had tentacles reaching towards Patani, Kelantan and Terengganu. On the contrary, the involuntary inland settlement of the faction led by the po from Kampong Pring, in villages located somewhat removed from the waterways in present Kampong Tralach district, at least in the long run, circumscribed their outreach to and interaction with Cambodia’s other Muslim communities. The 1859 revolt along the Tonle Sap, which reunited the now Chau Doc-based rebels with some of their deported kin, appears to have been a decidedly riverine affair. Potential supporters in Kampong Tralach were either too far removed from the action or simply firmly under the authority of the Ang Duong-loyalist po. As there were presumably more diversified Muslim settlements in the vicinity (as is the case today), a high concentration of devoted followers, comparable homogeneity and royal recognition of a distinct identity, at that time probably perceived only in political (and not yet also in religious) terms, must have likewise played a role. The official title of the oknha khnour, which by the end of the 20th century denoted the head of the break-away Kan Imam San community, was originally introduced in this very context by Ang Duong or by his son Norodom. Although we know virtually nothing about probable differing religious emphases or outlooks among the rebels and the loyalists44, it appears that the dynamics arising out of these seemingly purely political cleavages eventually canalized into, or at least became constituitive elements of, the strikingly divergent levels of Jawization within Cambodian Islam in the 20th century’s first half as well as in the final intra-religious split occurring towards its end.

43 44

anc-rsc 9785 (dated 1892) & 8879 (dated 1894). Some of CM 39’s other texts have a decidedly Pandurangan/Bani background, including inter alia the highly-regarded Book of Nosiravan, described by Durand in 1907 as the foremost treatise of Cham cosmogony. Strikingly, although likewise described as the Brahmanist Chams’ “holy book par excellance”, this work features many figures from Islamic history, its prophets as well as main concepts drawn from Sufi thought. E.M. Durand, “Notes sur les Chams”, befeo, VII (1907), p. 321-339.

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The Dawn of a New Era: Norodom, the Cham-Malays and the Protectorate

The ascension of Norodom (r. 1860-1904), Ang Duong’s eldest son and a markedly unpopular king, led his younger brothers Sivutha and Sisowath to claim the throne for themselves and to popular rebellions led by figures proclaiming artificial genealogical links to Cambodian kingship. The French, having intervened in Vietnam allegedly to defend European trade and persecuted local Christians in 1859, were expanding and tightening their hold on southern Vietnam and setting their eyes on Cambodia. The Cham-Malays of Cambodia and the Delta quickly realized this new player’s relevance, and the French were also regarding the Cham-Malay communities. During the troubled early years of Norodom’s reign and the establishment of the French Protectorate to defend his rule, Cham-Malay contingents seem to have been initially found in all camps, which implies both shifting alliances and the absence of an even remotely politically united Cham-Malay front. Nevertheless, cooperation with the French would eventually become the main characteristic of their political action between Cambodia, Chau Doc and Tay Ninh45. Against the background of the succession conflict, Sivutha struck a deal with parts of the Cham-Malay community, which included restoring the possessions (presumably land titles), titles and positions taken away by Ang Duong in 1858. This latter condition was the result of constant communication between the exiles in Chau Doc and their relatives along the Tonle Sap46. On August 11, 1863, the still beleaguered Norodom signed the French Protectorate Treaty47 and the naval officer Ernest Doudard de Lagrée (d. 1868) became the first French Resident (1863-1866). Among his successors we find the illustrious administrator-scholars Jean Moura (1868-1870 and 1871-1879) and Étienne Aymonier (1879-1881)48, both of whom displayed a keen interest in Cham-Malay affairs in Cambodia. This particularly applies to Aymonier, whose strong commitment to the Chams and their history, resulting from his earlier post as Resident in Binh Thuan, was highlighted above. Among his major contributions to 45

46 47 48

For overviews, see P.-L. Lamant, “Les malais du Cambodge face à l’instauration du protectorat français” in Monde Indochinoise et Péninsule Malaise (Kuala Lumpur: Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 1990), p. 69-80; Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 53-61. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, II, p. 142. It bore this name due to the French promise to protect Norodom from rival claims and the country from Siamese and Vietnamese expansionism. Penny Edwards, Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2008), p. 21. The official titles for later incumbents of this post were Résidents Généraux (1885-9), Résidents Supérieurs (1889-1945) and Commissaires (1945-53), respectively.

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Cham Studies are his Cham grammar (1889) and his Dictionnaire Čam-Français, compiled with Antoine Cabaton and published in 190649. De Lagrée, initially based in Oudong, soon lauded the role of the Cham-Malays in the rapid increase of river-borne trade in the Protectorate’s first year50. In early 1864, a certain Achar Sva and old partisans of Norodom’s brother Sivutha, as well as Cham-Malays from Chau Doc51, rebelled. The pretender to the throne even appointed one of Tuon Li’s brothers kralahom (commander of the fleet)52. However, the Cham-Malay leadership in Chau Doc decided to side with Norodom and the French. Their leader went to Oudong to offer his submission in exchange for the exiles’ right to return to Cambodia. The unnamed “chef des Malais de Chaudoc” behind this new alliance53 was most probably the former changvang Tuon Li. Besides being a natural candidate for community leadership, his subsequent important role in Cambodian affairs and elevation to provincial governor (samdech chauphnhea)54 would at least suggest so. The Cham manuscript CM 39(36) notes that the initial leader of the returning Cham-Malays from Chau Doc was Tuon Sou and that the new troops drawn from their ranks were commanded by the “changvang [Li]”. Testifying to the prevailing separation between the men of the latter and those of the po in Kampong Tralach, both subsequently directed their troops seperately against Norodom’s detractors55. When the German ethnographer Adolf Bastian visited the Cham-Malay “colony between Kampong Luong and Ponhea Loeu on the Tonle Sap” later that year, he noted that most of the exiles had returned. Strikingly, the local community leader turned out to be a certain “Domset Ali” (Tuon Set Li), son of a “Domset Ahmed” (Tuon Set Asmit)56. Even before the pacification of southern Cambodia and the capture of Achar Sva in 1866, however, Norodom and his French protectors had to confront the millenarian rebel Pou Kombo, who had regrouped his forces in Tay Ninh during 1865. Again, Cham-Malays were found in significant numbers in 49 50 51

52 53 54 55 56

Étienne Aymonier & Antoine Cabaton, Dictionnaire čam-français (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1906). Lamant, “Malais du Cambodge”, p. 74f. Cf. de Villemereuil, Explorations et missions, p. 136-150; Lamant, “Malais du Cambodge”, p. 75-77; Mohamad Zain bin Musa, “Malay and Cham Relations with the Kingdom of Cambodia during and after the French Protectorate Period (1863-2000), jmbras, LXXIV (2001), p. 8f. de Villemereuil, Explorations et missions, p. 411. Ibid., p. 143. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, II, p. 133. Mohamad Zain, Cam-Melayu Abad Ke-19, p. 134-139. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 144.

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both camps57. But in the long run, a loyalist Cham-Malay leader whom the French referred to as “the samdech chauphnhea” would turn into the instrumental and most prominent Cham-Malay figure in the affair. It is reasonable to assume that this was Tuon Li (hence Moura’s – not further elaborated – remark on his “important role in Cambodia”58). Initially commanding a force of 100 Cham-Malays at Kampong Luong, he and his expanding troops proved decisive in the defence of Oudong. In December 1866, Pou Kombo was finally subdued and executed. Norodom and French officers personally rewarded the samdech chauphnhea and a number of his Cham-Malay soldiers later with ­titles, medals and monetary gifts. 4

Conclusion

Under Ang Duong and Norodom, Cambodia’s Cham-Malays and Khmers were divided into many political factions. During the 1858 rebellion in Thbaung Khmum, in the succession crisis following Ang Duong’s death, and during the rebellions of Achar Sva and Pou Kombo, Cham-Malays were found on all sides – a reality that both betrays significant internal divisions and hints at the community’s disproportionate stake in military and political matters. Moreover, there is much to suggest that this period’s political developments had important long-term religious consequences. Even though the local configurations were evidently highly complex, several general patterns are discernible. Thus, in 1858 a faction led by tuons and sets – epithets pointing to actual or proclaimed Malay origins – rose up against Ang Duong, whereas another faction led by the pos, which testifies to the pervasiveness of Cham and/or Pandurangan heritage, remained loyal. This latter group was then transplanted to an area hitherto devoid of Cham-Malay communities (i.e. Kampong Tralach). After Ang Duong’s demise, both factions were for some time united in fighting for Norodom’s cause. Intriguingly, however, the po-led group hailing from Kampong Pring appears to have played no part in the Cham-Malay directed defense of Oudong against Pou Kombo’s forces in 1865. The latter incident arguably constituted the biggest triumph of Tuon Li’s faction, thereby cementing the tuons’ position as the Cham-Malay community’s most important stakeholders in Cambodian affairs. And yet, given the Khmer system of clientele politics, the po faction now centred in Kampong Tralach also had to be catered to. Even 57 58

See Lamant, “Malais du Cambodge”, p. 77-80; Mohamad Zain, “Malay and Cham Relations”, p. 9-11; Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 60f. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, II, p. 156.

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though this period’s intra-Muslim factionalism seems to be only marginally connected to religious factors, both of these political configurations and the new geographical realities, most notably the relocation of the po faction to Central Cambodia west of the Tonle Sap, would prove fateful. Indeed, they appear to have functioned as preconditions for today’s bifurcation of the country’s Muslim community.

Introduction

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Observing Structural and Processual Dispositions for Jawization 1

Cham-Malay/Chvea Relations, Settlement and Economic Patterns

The preceding chapters have delineated some of the major contextual factors that influenced the emergence and specific development of Jawization in Cambodia. External developments in the wider Malay world, specifically in the northeastern Peninsula’s Malay states, figured among these: Islam’s changing role in Malay kingship and the new emphases on its social and scholarly expressions, the rise of the pondok system and the related evolution of a major Patani network of Islamic scholarship. This network and the external texts it came to disseminate, such as those by Palimbānī and Muḥammad Arshad alBanjarī, also represented a general shift of emphasis in literary production in terms of specific strands of Sufi thought and practical religious manuals. Although the actual influence of spiritual manuals and cosmological texts on religious ritual practice is hard to measure, it was certainly not inconsequntial that much of the Islamic literature that had greatly impacted the so-called ­Javanese (and Sasak) mystic synthesis, as well as the Bani and earlier Malay Islam in general, was gradually marginalized. Significantly, whereas the further spread of jawi-based literary culture naturally aided such dynamic region-wide changes, localized scholarly cultures that held on to their own script traditions (Cham script in Panduranga and among parts of the Cambodian Chams, Javanese and Sasak among parts of their potential communities of users), although far from frozen in time, seem to have become at some point, perhaps deliberately, far less dynamic. In fact, they often ultimately came to act as last bastions, defending – not without remodulation, and now more than ever necessary efforts at standardization – their Islam against intruding hegemonic Islamic discursive traditions. Due to the emerging intra-religious divide, which occurred as a common feature of Jawization in many contexts, references to intra-Muslim differences abound in Cham, Javanese and Sasak literature of the period1. However, this diversity, a 1 Cham examples have already been noted. As far as Java is concerned, we have mentioned the example of the Suluk Seh Ngabdulsalam. A similarly explicit differentiation made in the Wedhatama ascribed to Prince Mangkunagara IV (r. 1853-81) charges the local challengers to his form of Islam (i.e. the Javanese agents of Jawization known as putihan) as “denying their

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_006

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common feature in most if not all Muslim contexts, was not necessarily contentious. It was only when intra-religious differences were deployed as tools for identity politics in the face of social, economic and political changes and contests, that they came to be virulently problematized. This process unfolded on Java from the 1830s onwards2. In the case of Cambodia, all of the presently available sources indicate its presence by the early 20th century, when it was evidently already in full swing. Developments in former Panduranga in the late 18th and early 19th centuries cannot be viewed as external to Muslim affairs in Cambodia. Long-term comparable isolation certainly contributed to the emergence of a distinctively Bani Islam, yet similar localization and vernacularization processes also took place in Java, Lombok and many other regions of the Muslim world. Of greater importance is the finding that this isolation evidently did not bar Panduranga’s Chams from encountering and recognizing intra-Muslim diversity. For Chams arriving in Cambodia from Panduranga during the 19th century, this experience must have been far more pronounced because the kingdom had never been isolated. In fact, certain segments of its Muslim community had sustained and/or developed strong contacts with the Malay world. Cambodian Muslims were already frequenting Kelantan’s first known pondok (at Pulai Chondong), purportedly founded in the 1820s. The possibilities for scholarly and educational exchanges were greatly enhanced once the mid-19th century succession struggles ended, and peace was restored. Malay/Chvea-Cham relations in Cambodia were, however, apparently far more complex at this time than is conventionally assumed. Of course, our alltoo-frequent use of “Cham-Malays”, though mostly in the context of political and commercial agency, suggests an almost complete unity. Although there can be little doubt that, on a certain level, this purported firm alliance is a historical fact, on the other hand the contemporaneous Khmer and French usage of Cham-Malay (kh. cam-jva, i.e. Cham-Chvea)3 and other composite terms obscures internal differences in which ethnicity was neither the only nor the dominant criteria for belonging. Javaneseness” by following Arab models. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society, p. 43f. Texts from Lombok contrast wetu telu Islam with that of the waktu lima (the local agents of Jawization), described both as the way of the Arabs as well as, more pronounced, of the Malays. Marrison, Sasak and Javanese Literature, p. 72f., 90f.; Philipp Bruckmayr, “Persian Kings, Arab Conquerors, and Malay Islam: Comparative Perspectives on the Place of Muslim Epics in the Islamisation of the Chams” in Andrew Peacock (ed.), Islamisation: Comparative Perspectives from History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), p. 482f. 2 Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society. 3 Mak Phoeun, “Communauté malaise”, p. 85.

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By the middle of the 19th century, some of the kingdom’s Muslim political and/or religious leaders evidently still drew much of their legitimacy and authority from their association with Cham kingship and, presumably, with the Bani religious hierarchy. Longer settled Chams in Cambodia, whose different religious outlook and lifestyles were well captured in their common nomenclature as cam baruw in Pandurangan texts, were most probably less inclined towards such arrangements. Yet, newcomers of the late 18th and 19th century, particularly if related to Cham princes such as Po Cei Brei, who had spent sixteen years in Roka Po Pram before moving to Tay Ninh in 1812-18134, certainly were. This was only natural, as Cham kingship and Pandurangan religious culture, with its system of Brahmanist-Bani interaction, had always formed part of their life-worlds and daily experiences. Accordingly, these late migration waves brought traditions, practices and views on Cham history that would now be classified as distinctively Bani. For example, they drew upon transplanted Pandurangan models of authority and legitimacy, as indicated by the fact that their leaders commonly carried the Cham po title. Such groups were found primarily in Thbaung Khmum. Among its chief representatives were certainly those who made up Kampong Pring’s po-led faction, which was eventually relocated to Kampong Tralach district. This, however, was not conducive to this current’s wholesale disappearance from Thbaung Khmum. Conversely, other parts of Thbaung Khmum’s Cham community (presumably regarded as cam baruw by their counterparts), perhaps consisting mostly of the area’s longer-term residents5, sided with the rebel leaders. The latter’s elevated influence and authority, testified to by its recognition (in terms of titles and positions) by Cambodian kingship, evidently derived from other sources. Moreover, these leaders, carrying the local variant of the Malay title tuan, were apparently of Malay rather than Cham ancestry, although well implanted in the existing hybrid community of “Malayized Chams” (i.e. cam baruw/cam jawa). This cleavage seems to have revolved around issues of power and politics, but intra-religious differences might also have played a role. After all, the agendas of Tuen Phaow, who was perhaps the rebel brothers’ father, and his Cambodian troops, described in Cham sources as consisting of cam baruw and Malays/Chvea, had already proven controversial in Panduranga. 4 Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 27, 5 One of several contradictory Cham princely genealogies of Cambodia notes that Po Cei Brei’s grandfather had left Panduranga for Thbaung Khmum with his followers. These were distributed over various Thbaung Khmum villages, including the alleged main sites of the 1858 rebellion (Roka Po Pram and Sambour). Aymonier, “Légendes historiques”, p. 187. Cf. Weber, Histoire de la diaspora, p. 24.

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Another factor was presumably the court’s valorization of ethnico-religious capital. The Khmer kings distributed titles to all important stakeholders belonging to the local Cham-Malay communities. But by Ang Duong’s time the highest ranks were held by the tuans/sayyids (tuons/sets) and not the pos. Even though a tendency of prestigious marriages between holders of the matrilineally transmitted po and the patrilineally transmitted set titles developed6, it seems as if these were designed to combine different, perhaps even somewhat conflicting, traditions. Indeed, Aymonier and Cabaton’s dictionary treats sait (i.e. set) as a term of Cambodian (i.e. Western and not Eastern) Cham language7. Po Dharma has emphasized that tuan “was not a term current in Champa [i.e. Panduranga]”8. Thus, this division was neither merely ethnical, although language and ethnicity have undoubtedly played a role, nor solely political, but, to a significant degree, religious and cultural as well. At least around Phnom Penh, but most probably elsewhere (e.g. in Muslim centers along the Mekong, in Thbaung Khmum or Chau Doc) as well, the tuon leaders were evidently characterized by a Muslim cosmopolitism that was presumably largely lacking among the pos (and more generally in less well-placed locations). This is most visible in Bastian’s report of his stay with Cham-Malay dignitaries and notables in the Kampong Luong-Khleang Sbek area9, where the leader Domset Ali (most likely tuon set Li), who lived next door to the village hakem (imam), claimed both Arab and Ottoman origins for his father Domset Ahmed (tuon set Asmit?), who had allegedly come to Cambodia after visits to Mecca and Jeddah. Although this somewhat confusing genealogy is confirmed by no other source10, making such claims is quite far from claiming adherence to the Cham royal line. Moreover, the neighbouring religious official reportedly came from Medina, which was probably either an accurate reference to a place of study (though an odd one, as Mecca was a far more frequent one for jawi students in the Ḥaramayn) or merely a claim to the most elevated sphere of Islamic education. One person present on this occasion, during which Bastian was intriguingly regaled with an “oriental [water] pipe”, had made trading trips between Kampot and the Yemeni Red Sea port of 6 7 8 9 10

Stock, “From Caliphs to Kings”. Aymonier & Cabaton, Dictionnaire, p. 490. Po Dharma, Pānduranga (Campā), I, p. 148 n. 14. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 144f. It will be remembered that it is rather Malay origins which have been put forward in other accounts. The exception is of course the Cham poem of Tuen Phaow, wherein, as will be recalled, claims to origins in makah were likewise taken to mean Malaya rather than actual Mecca. In this respect, Bastian’s report could, however, also add further doubts to the equation of makah with Kelantan.

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al-Ḥudayda, which was then on the rise due to Ottoman initiative. Bastian’s description of this community’s flaunting of its cosmopolitan Muslim credentials, scholarly stature, luxury goods and trading connections differs markedly from that of his visit to the villages of Pusik (?) and “Tshukso” (certainly Chhouk Sar, although spelled as Tukso and Tshukro at different places in his work) near Lovek11. Devoid of any comparable air, those villagers prayed in “a mosque without kibla [i.e. miḥrāb]” while, to his bewilderment, facing east. Even though local students started their studies by learning the Arabic alphabet (tellingly called akson chvea – “Chvea/Malay letters”12), Bastian encountered several books on mundane affairs (i.e. romantic poetry) written in Cham script on palm leaves. Thus, the village probably represented the antidote to the cosmopolitanism of its counterparts near Phnom Penh. Jawization would unfold against this local background, although, arguably, not all individuals or even all Cham-Malay communities were affected to the same degree by these mid-19th century dynamics. The make-up of Cambodia’s Muslim communities was certainly remarkably varied as far as differences in the proportion and influence of, as well as interaction with, the Malay/Chvea component or the inhabitants’ duration of stay in Cambodia is concerned. Such factors belie any oversimplifying narratives of uniformity or clearly identifiable group boundaries. That said and having sketched the complex map of the Muslim presence under the French Protectorate, the following section attempts to identify common threads in the (itself diversified) process of Jawization, which would strongly influence most Cambodian Muslims in the century following the establishment of French rule. Finally, before delving into the material testifying to a process identified here as Jawization, another important question must be addressed. Both the Chams and Chvea/Malays are commonly known for their strongest concentrations being located along Cambodia’s two major waterways, the Mekong and the Tonle Sap. But how did Malay settlers end up in seemingly remote areas such as rural Kampong Cham? For the Chams, most of whom arrived via routes over the highlands, one of which intriguingly passed through a spot between Tay Ninh and Thbaung Khmum known in the 19th century as spean cham (Cham bridge) in Khmer (located approximately 40km north of Tay Ninh)13, settlement in this area was more or less natural. This of course does not apply 11 12 13

Ibid., p. 126. Bastian’s formulation could be derived from both Khmer (aksaw) or Cham (aksara), which is less likely. E. Peyrusset et al., “Le chemin de fer de Saigon à Phnom Penh. Section de Tay-Ninh à Phnom Penh” in e&r, II (1880), p. 195; Auguste Pavie, Mission Pavie Indo-Chine 1879-1895: Géographie et Voyages I. Exposé des travaux de la mission (Paris : Ernest Leroux, 1901),

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to Malay migrants to the same degree. Whereas their settlement in and near trading and political centres such as Phnom Penh, Kampot and Ha Tien/Banteay Meas is not surprising, the reasons for their presence elsewhere (e.g. Kampong Cham, Battambang and Takeo) are less self-evident. Nevertheless, this is misleading. As petty river-borne trade during the 19th century was not significantly different from how the Cham-Malays carry it out today, the Malay’s role in connecting remote communities (e.g. Chams and Khmers of inland­ Thbaung Khmum) to markets should not be underestimated. In this regard, the best local bases would have been river junctions and ferry-crossings such as Phum Trea, the spiritual center of Cambodian Islam since at least the early 20th century, or Chroy Metrey, an important locus of Cham-Malay presence and a scholarly center. Moreover, Cham-Malay settlements on the Mekong cannot be described as remote, for this river was not only the country’s main trade and communication artery, but also provided a direct link to Laos (though interrupted by insurmountable waterfalls) and, significantly, the Delta. The Malays had been trading up to Laos long before the Protectorate’s establishment. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cambodia’s most important boatbuilding center was located in Stung Trang, north of Thbaung Khmum, where sixty Cham-Malays purchased and distributed boats, particularly canoes produced by the local Montagnards, to central Cambodia and Laos14. In line and most probably in connection with their activities in the Delta15, Kampong Cham’s Cham-Malays served as prime intermediaries in the cattle trade. Many of these individuals worked for Phnom Penh-based Cham-Malay patrons who specialised in exporting cattle to the Philippines16. This not only sheds light on the remarkable scope of Cham-Malay trade in Cambodia, but also highlights the intra-community linkages between those residing in its rural strongholds and in the capital. And so, it is no wonder that some Cham-Malays settled

14 15 16

p. 167-169, pl. XIV. Pou Kombo had regrouped his forces at that strategic spot to hinder the entry of French troops from Cochinchina into the area. Alain Forest, Le Cambodge et la colonisation française. Histoire d’une colonisation sans heurtes (1897-1920) (Paris : LʾHarmattan, 1980), p. 319. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 180. Carool Kersten (trans.), Dr. Muller’s Asian Journey: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Yunnan (1907-1909) (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2004), p. 94, 112; Forest, Cambodge et la colonisation, p. 296. Cham-Malays were also involved in the tobacco trade (Ibid., p. 273f.), which necessitated cooperation between Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham as a preferred growing area. Weaving and the production of bricks and oxen-carts were other Cham-Malay occupations. Gregor Muller, Colonial Cambodia’s ʿBad Frenchmenʾ: The Rise of French Rule and the Life of Thomas Caraman, 1840-87 (London: Routledge, 2006), p. 52; John Tully, France on the Mekong. A History of the Protectorate in Cambodia, 1863-1953 (Lanham, M.D.: University Press of America, 2002), p. 262.

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along less prominent rivers such as the Bassac branch of the Mekong south of Phnom Penh (e.g. Baren and Takeo), and the Kampot and Pursat Rivers17. Battambang was a major trading centre between Siam and Cambodia as well as a main stop on the Vietnamese trade routes to Bangkok18. The establishment of the Protectorate enabled the local Cham-Malays and Chinese to effectively monopolize its trade19. Moreover, these places were well suited for fishing, an activity that the Khmers apparently did not actively pursue or had left almost entirely to others, initially the Chams and Malays and then the Vietnamese. In colonial times, the most important fisheries were at the Tonle Sap Lake and at the confluence of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers at Phnom Penh20. This explains why one of the two major places of Cham-Malay settlement in the Phnom Penh area was the Chroy Changvar peninsula formed by this confluence. Although clearly outnumbered by the Vietnamese, the Cham-Malays were also involved in fisheries at the Tonle Sap Lake, the country’s prime repository for a huge amount of exported dried fish21. Farming also constituted a successful activity for the Chams and the Malays, and particularly for the Minangkabaus with their rantau system. These ventures left the same apparently neglected areas (e.g. Thbaung Khmum/Kampong Cham) open to those Chams and Malays seeking new places to make a living. Accordingly, while passing through Krauchhmar district, which tellingly houses all of Kampong Cham province’s major centers of Islamic learning (e.g. Phum Trea, Svay Khleang, Chumnik) in the mid-1890s, a French observer was struck by the highly prosperous nature of its “Malay” villages in comparison with their Khmer counterparts. Although the Cham element was in fact presumably dominant in these villages, the same report also makes clear that this was not due to the common mislabeling of all Chams as Malays alone, for it notes that Malay families had established themselves there “a number of years ago”, at the time of the “insurrection in the Dutch Indies”22. 17 18 19 20 21

22

E. Prud’homme, “Excursion au Cambodge”, e&r, XIII (1882), p. 62f.; René Morizon, La Province Cambodgienne de Pursat (Paris: Les Éditions Internationales, 1936), p. 71f. Tana, “Late-Eighteenth- and Early-Nineteenth-Century”, p. 72f. de Villemereuil, Explorations et missions, p. 176. Pavie, Mission Pavie Indo-Chine, p. 56f. Pierre Sauvaires Barthélemy, En Indochine 1894-1895. Cambodge, Cochinchine, Laos, Siam Méridional (Paris: Plon, 1899), p. 57 n. 1; Morizon, Province Cambodgienne de Pursat, p. 124; Nola Cooke, “Water World: Chinese and Vietnamese on the Riverine Water Frontier, from Ca Mau to Tonle Sap” in id. & Li Tana (eds.), Water Frontier. Commerce and the Chinese in the Lower Mekong Region, 1750-1880 (Singapore: Singapore Univ. Press, 2004), p. 150-52. Barthélemy, En Indochine, p. 84. The author was perhaps referring to the Padri Wars in Minangkabau (1822-1825, 1831-1837). Cf. Christine Dobbin, Islamic Revivalism in a Changing Peasant Economy. Central Sumatra, 1784-1847 (London: Curzon Press, 1983).

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Cham and Chvea Origins and Traditions

While Malay settlers in Cambodia as well as the Chvea’s ancestors came from different parts of the Malay world, the largest proportions were clearly of Greater Patani and Minangkabau origins, as references to other Malay settlers are rather scarce. In 1864, a visitor mentioned a settlement near Battambang of Malays from Melaka and Patani going back to the late 18th century that had recently received a few Cham newcomers23. Oral tradition in Tuol Ngok (Kandal province) relates that a religious teacher named Hj. Abdullah, the alleged brother of Kedah’s former Sultan Abdul Rahman, and his followers had settled there24. In the 1930s, local tradition in nearby Khleang Sbek still preserved the memory of Malay traders from Borneo settling in the area25. In addition, just as they did in Saigon from the 1880s onwards, the French employed Malay Muslim workers from Bawean island (north of Madura)26. Non-Southeast Asian co-religionists were also present during colonial times, most notably South Asians but also the occasional Arab and Turk. Particularly in the Phnom Penh area, all of these groups formed a single Muslim community, which naturally influenced the face of Islam in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh we find Tamils, Pashtuns as well as people hailing from Bombay, and thus both French and British subjects. Its most illustrious exponents were involved in trade and operating their own boat services along Cambodia’s two major rivers as well as to Bangkok and major ports in southern Vietnam27. Besides the strong influence and presence of Muslims from the northeastern Malay Peninsula, there was a pronounced Minangkabau element. Of course, these settlers could have come from either Minangkabau proper, northeastern Sumatra (i.e. Siak) or the Malay Peninsula (i.e. Negeri Sembilan). Especially among the Chams, the shared matrilineal form of social organization (now a thing of the past among Chams not living in Panduranga) or at 23 24

25 26 27

Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 100. Farina So, “Cambodia, Muslim Women’s Issues and Groups in” (sic), oiso, (acc. March 1st 2012). Unbeknownst to the author as well as to her informant, no sultan of Kedah did bear that name. Apart from this presumably concocted dynastic connection, the report about settlers from Kedah is most probably accurate. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 166. Evidence presented below points to Banjarmasin and Pontianak as specific points of origin for these Borneo Malays. Kersten, Dr. Muller’s Asian Journey, p. 100; Malte Stokhof, “The Baweans of Ho Chi Minh City” in Omar Farouk Bajunid & Hiroyuki Yamamoto (eds.), Islam at the Margins. The Mus­lims of Indochina (Kyoto: cias, 2008), p. 34-58. Muller, Colonial Cambodia’s ʿBad Frenchmenʾ, p. 52f., 117-119; J.B.P. More, “Pathan and Tamil Muslim Migrants in French Indochina”, jssh, I (2000), p. 113-128.

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least its remnant of post-marital matrilocal residence among the Chams28, would have facilitated intermarriage between them. Accordingly, Ner noted such mixed villages in Kampong Siem district (Kampong Cham) in the 1930s29. Taylor, during his research in the Delta, encountered Muslims in Châu Phong and Châu Giang who claimed that their ancestors had been born in Minangkabau and then came to their new homes via Cambodia, which they continued to visit for trading trips30. The grandfather of the hakem of Norea (Battambang) in the 1930s, reportedly an immigrant from Minangkabau, later became the chauvay srok (district governor) of his new home31. Apart from these examples from the east and northwest of the country, Minangkabau settlement was apparently particularly frequent in the coastal or near-coastal areas of present-day Kampot and Sihanoukville provinces. There, a colonial scholar found several Muslim villages housing Chams, Minangkabaus and Malays from Terengganu, Kelantan and Patani32. Needless to say, such villages’ diverse make-up was a far cry from the far greater homogeneity in many Thbaung Khmum villages, let alone the new villages of the po faction in Kampong Tralach. The Cham immigrants brought oral traditions and, to a far lesser degree, manuscripts with them, as did the Malay settlers. As far as manuscripts (especially with historical or legendary content) are concerned, this presumably occurred on a smaller scale among the Malays, as they had no “national” treasures to save from enemy hands. Thus, it is hardly surprising that no physical evidence of such manuscripts has been preserved in Cambodia. Contrarily, numerous Cham manuscripts have survived, although large parts of the community cannot read them and have no interest in them. In contrast to those Chams holding on to manuscripts written in Cham script, the Chvea and most educated Chams were bound to become consumers of printed jawi materials. Interestingly, Leclère managed to record Chvea oral traditions in Kampot in 1889 that were markedly different from their Cham counterparts. The first of these two oral traditions, which he translated from written versions produced at his request (certainly in Khmer language and script), relates the legendary tale behind the name Minangkabau33. Allegedly deriving from 28 29 30 31 32 33

Pierre-Bernard Lafont, “Contribution à l’étude des structures sociales des Chams du ViêtNam”, befeo, LII (1964), p. 157-171; Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 218f. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 176. Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 47, 52, 188. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 171. Ibid., p. 173f. Adhémard Leclère, Cambodge. Contes et légendes (Paris: Librairie Émile Bouillon, 1895), p. 295-300.

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the combination of menang (“winning”) and kerbau (“buffalo”), it details how the young bull of the Malabari (i.e. Chola) ruler of Sumatra defeated the feared giant buffalo of a Javanese (i.e. Majapahit) king. This of course resonates with the usage of the Khmer term chvea krabey (Buffalo Malays) for Sumatran Malays in Cambodia. Unbeknownst to Leclère, this is a quite familiar story found in traditional Malay literature and Minangkabau oral traditions. Indeed, the Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai, the earliest surviving piece of Malay historical writing (tentatively dated to the final years of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century34) ends with this account35. In 1822 the British colonial administratorscholar Thomas Stamford Raffles (d. 1826) presented a variant taken from a manuscript belonging to the sultan of Indrapura (a rantau fringe area directly bordering Minangkabau proper [darè]). In the 1940s an ethnographer noted that everybody in Minangkabau knows this story, but with specific varying details36. The Chvea of Kampot, who transmitted it were thus certainly of Sumatran, most probably Minangkabau, origin. More informative, however, is the second one, which likewise has an explicit connection to Sumatra and serves as founding myth for the Chvea presence in Kampot. It relates how a Sumatran prince takes to the seas in search of the woman he is, according to the palace diviner, predestined to marry. After arriving exasperated in coastal Cambodia’s Kampong Som (present Sihanoukville province), he finds her: a woman whose Khmer father had sold her as household slave to a rich Chinese man to settle his debt. Once the prince secures her family’s approval during a home visit to attend the pchum ben (or don ta – “ancestors”) festival, he takes her on board to marry her in the Malay (i.e. Muslim) way. Having promised her parents that they would remain in Cambodia, he settles down as a trader in a Kampong Som village. The following year, hearing of a compatriot residing in Chroy village in Treang37, he decides to visit him. During a stop-over in Kampot, he immediately recognizes the area’s fertility and seeks the provincial governor’s permission to establish himself there. 34 35 36 37

Braginsky, Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature, p. 111, 183-186. A.H. Hill, “Hikayat raja-raja Pasai: A revised romanisation and English translation”, jmbras, XXXII, no. 2 (1960), p. 103-106. Ibid., p. 170f. As Treang province had extended up to Phnom Penh in earlier times, Chroy Changvar, with its important Cham-Malay villages, may be meant here. This is supported by the fact that it is explicitly noted that he embarked on this visit in a sea-going vessel and passed along the coast of Kampot, which would intriguingly imply a journey through Ha Tien’s Vinh Te canal to Chau Doc and then upriver. Local traditions among Muslim residents of Malay descent in Chroy Changvar preserved the memory of entering the country via Kampot. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 165.

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Two years later, he identifies an even better suited location in the area, namely “Trey Cha” (i.e. Trey Koh), the village where the story was collected. But his request to relocate is initially denied until he presents the mandarin with the customary presents. Finally, however, the latter petitions the king on his behalf while making the obligatory pledge of loyalty (euphemistically known as “drinking the water of the oath”)38. Following this episode, the Sumatran prince briefly visits his parents and purchases superior guns and cloth for the king, who then exempts him from taxes and pledges to protect his properties. According to the story, the Malay presence in Kampot dates back approximately 500 years39. Naturally, several legendary features can be identified in this account, among them its main protagonist’s princely background or the initial prediction, which also sheds light on the role accorded to astrologers and divination in Southeast Asian (and other) Muslim societies way into the era of Jawization40. The new Islamic normativity spreading throughout the region along with Jawization gradually confronted Cham and Malay Muslim divination, something that the soon-to-come Islamic reformism would compound and intensify. This style of divination, based upon the notion of circular time and consisting of both Muslim and pre-Islamic elements, prominently includes the Muslim octaval calendar with numerical values attached to specific letters of the Arabic alphabet (ar./mal. abjad), the system of five periods (each under its proper “ruler” such as Mesuara/Shiva and Bisnu/Vishnu) succeeding each other in the course of a day over a five-day cycle (ml. kutika lima) and the year’s four phases marked by the rotational movement of a dragon (ml. naga kerling)41. A Cham manuscript probably dating to the 18th or 19th century (written in Cham script) and obtained by Jaspan in Phum Trea (Kampong Cham) in 1967, features the abjad computations together with their numerical dots (ar. nuqṭa, ml. noktah) and a drawing of the rotating dragon42. While he could – undoubtedly due to Jawization – find no evidence for the continued use of such divination in Cambodia, his Pandurangan Cham assistant Nara Vija asserted that the region’s Bani and Brahmanist Chams still practiced it43. 38 39 40 41 42 43

For a brief description of the ceremony, see Adhémard Leclère, Cambodge. Fêtes civiles et religieuses (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1916), p. 220f; Hansen, “Khmer Identity”, p. 45f. Leclère, Contes et légendes, p. 301-305. van Bruinessen, “Global and Local”, p. 47f. Ian Proudfoot, Old Muslim Calendars of Southeast Asia (Leiden: Brill, 2006), p. 17-25, 99104. Hull History Centre, sea 8, fols. 1v., 30v.-31r. M.A. Jaspan, “The Kabuon: A Particular Genre of Cham Literature”, typescript (first draft of unpublished article), p. 6. Jaspan Papers, Hull History Centre (henceforth jp), dja (2)/1/1.

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Returning to Kampot’s Chvea lore, the dating is surely arbitrary. Nevertheless, this founding narrative is highly instructive as regards the transformation of Malay/Minangkabau settlers into Cambodian Chvea. Firstly, it implicitly sketches a fairly accurate map of Chvea settlement in southern Cambodia from Kampong Som and Kampot to outlying areas of Phnom Penh (Chroy Changvar). More pertinent is its account of intermarriage with Khmer women, performed the Malay way, which clearly indicates the wife’s conversion. Such intermarriage both guarded against the loss of religious identity and contributed to a gradual loss of language44. Thirdly, Muslim settlers are befittingly depicted as pioneers who cultivated vacant land and traders. The references to the pchum ben festival, arguably still the most important event in the Khmer Buddhist calendar45, and the cautious dealings with Khmer officials, are highly reflective of intercultural knowledge and competence, if not cultural integration as such. Mention of the royal ceremony of “drinking the water of the oath” testifies to a thorough knowledge of how the country’s patron-client system worked. The accordance of royal protection to the community establishes Kampot’s Chvea as indigenous people with full rights. That local Chams and Malays enjoy the same status is borne out by the laws on marrying foreigners, as promulgated in the second half of the 1870s: all local “Khmer, Chinese, Annamese, Cham, Chvea and mom [a Tai people]” who marry their daughters to rich foreigners (the prime groups listed are English, Dutch and Indians) are committing a severely punishable crime and the law and its penalties (including decapitation) have been decreed “to keep people from abandoning their religion for another”46. Although it is questionable whether the Cambodian state appreciated Khmer women marrying Cham-Malay men, these two groups were clearly on the same side of this legal divide. Moreover, according to its 44

45

46

The gradual nature of the process is well reflected in a comparative list of Cham and Chvea words compiled by Bastian in 1864. Whereas he noted earlier that the Chvea of Battambang had discarded their language for Khmer, the great majority of listed Chvea words, which are – due to the presumably much greater usage of Khmer words – significantly fewer than their Cham counter-parts, is still clearly recognizable as Malay in origin. Many of these have meanwhile been obliterated from Chvea usage. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 108-110. Adhémard Leclère, Le Buddhisme au Cambodge (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1899), p. 374. Recent research in a village of Kandal province showed that 95 per cent of the households reported to be participating in the rotation system used to feed the local pagoda’s monks during the festival. Judy Ledgerwood, “Buddhist Practice in Rural Kandal Province, 1960 and 2003: An essay in honor of May M. Ebihara” in Alexandra Kent & David Chandler (eds.), People of Virtue. Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today (Copenhagen: nias Press, 2008), p. 156. Leclère, Codes cambodgiens, II, p. 256f.

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wording, Islam was counted among those Cambodian religions to be protected from mischievous abandonment. The greatest of the few remaining repositories of Cham historical lore and traditions was, in contrast, evidently Kampong Tralach’s Chhouk Sar and the other nearby villages in which the faction led by the po of Kampong Pring had been resettled47. Indeed, there is a great possibility that Moura’s informant and supplier of manuscripts was based there. More tellingly, of the three lists of Pandurangan rulers obtained by Aymonier around the same time all came from Chhouk Sar – two were provided by Po Kù, “an indigenous scholar”, descendent of Po Cei Brei (called Po Choeng by the author48) and resident in the village. The third list was acquired through a person referred to as Snêha Norês, “an old Muslim priest” who split his time between Chhouk Sar and his hermitage on a hill near Oudong49. Another Cham manuscript collected at that time identifies “phum urasi” (i.e. near-by Au Russey), the present seat of the kis leadership, as the copyist’s village50. Thus, Chhouk Sar and Au Russey functioned as major repositories of Pandurangan Cham historical tradition and consciousness, as embodied in the preservation of texts elsewhere already lost or inaccessible through script change (or at least the inability to read Cham script). The existence of a local body of scholars still willing and able to access them made Chhouk Sar and the surrounding villages the most likely site for the survival of related religious discursive traditions and practices51. In this respect, two observations resulting from a comparison of Chvea and Cham lore collected during the period shall be highlighted. Firstly, the Chvea lore presented is far less specific. Despite its princely actors, it has little to no genealogical content and is not about lost kingdoms, their chains of rulers or any traditions of kingship transplanted to Cambodia, as is the case with Cham lore recorded by Aymonier and even earlier (1864) by Bastian. Of course, the annexation of their homeland, their probably more recent arrival date and the community’s make-up (i.e. including persons claiming, or recognized as being of, royal descent) certainly played a role in the specific emphases found in Cham historical legends from Chhouk Sar. 47 48 49 50 51

Mohamad Zain, Cam-Melayu Abad Ke-19, p. 174. Cf. Po Dharma, “À propos de l’exil”. Aymonier, “Légendes historiques”, p. 184. Lafont, Po Dharma & Nara Vija, Catalogue des manuscrits, p. 20. The same Kampong Tralach villages still function as main repositories of texts in Cham script today. Thus, for a 2011 edition of fifteen texts, all but one of the original manuscripts were drawn from collections in the khum of Au Russey and Chhouk Sar. Kitap Saong Takai Chanau (Sre Brey: Islamic Community Kan Imam-San of Cambodia, 2011), p. i; personal observation and communication with hakem Kai Tam at Svay Pakao and Oknha Khnour/ Ong Gʾnur Kai Tam and Yousos Tum at Sre Brey (Au Russey), July 9th 2009 & May 13th 2012.

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Secondly, Islamic references are mostly absent from the two pieces of Chvea lore. Whereas the first one is basically a reworking of a pre-Islamic story incorporated into an early Islamic chronicle, the second one takes its protagonist’s Muslimness for granted (e.g. by only casually referring to marriage in the Malay way). On the contrary, Cham genealogical history (as found in Cambodia) is, from its beginnings, deeply imbued with prevalent characters of pan-Southeast Asian Muslim lore of the pre-Jawization era, even though, according to the Chams in former Panduranga, none of their kings had been Muslim52. Most tellingly, according to some chronicles found in Cambodia by Aymonier and Bastian, the Cham royal line is noted to have begun with Po Nosiravan, among whose companions we find baginda (“prince”) Ali, allegedly responsible for converting the Chams, and the other three rightly-guided caliphs (with deformed names)53. Po Nosiravan, a son of the creator Po Aulah (i.e. Allah), is the legendary reflection of a decidedly non-Muslim historical character, Khusraw II (pers. Nūshīrvān, r. 591-628), Persia’s last great pre-Muslim Sassanid king. The major Iranian contribution to Muslim culture from the 10th century onwards54, inter alia transformed Nūshīrvān, an antidote to the Prophet in Arab lore, into an ambivalent Muslim and Persian cultural hero of romantic tales. This legendary image then spread to Anatolia, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Most probably, he entered the Chams’ cultural and religious world through the Hikayat Amir Hamzah, just as he did among the Malays, Javanese, Sasaks and others. In this major Muslim romance, one of the most widely distributed texts in classical Malay with adaptations in numerous other languages as well as a major literary tool of Islamization in Southeast Asia that helped to “solve harmoniously the problem of the relation between the Islamic 52

53 54

Aymonier, “Légendes historiques”, p. 182. Of course, there exists sufficient documentary evidence to the contrary. Yet such evident selective historical amnesia only goes to show that the prominence of the Muslim element began to decline in Panduranga after the 1690s, probably due to a greater propensity towards emigration among Muslims, which may have only gained full momentum in the early 19th century. Ibid., p. 183f.; Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 145; E.M. Durand, “Notes sur les Chams”, befeo, V (1905), p. 369f. From the 10th century onwards, the re-legitimation of Persian and the incorporation and full acceptance of pre-Islamic Iranian motifs into local Muslim culture is perceptible. With its function as the cultural and courtly supra-language of Iran, Anatolia, Central and much of Muslim South Asia, the distinct Iranian expression of Muslim (so-called Persianate) culture and its literature spread far and wide. Likewise, the emergence and initial expansion of the madrasa system of Islamic education and the pioneering forms of organized Sufism, which together have left a major imprint on the Muslim world, rested, from the 12th century onwards, to a large measure upon the activities of Iranian or otherwise Persianate scholarly elites. Richard W. Bulliet, Islam: The View from the Edge (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1994), p. 113, 145-168.

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and the pre-Islamic tradition”55, Nūshīrvān plays a prominent role56. Apart from his position in mythical Cham genealogy, Po Nosiravan is also the eponym of a “sacred” Cham book that is replete with Qurʾanic prophets, figures from Muslim history and legend, as well as with main concepts drawn from Sufi thought57. This text was carried to Cambodia and remained in the possession of the Chhouk Sar Chams58. All in all, we may assume that the link between historical perspective and religious practices, and the discourses they shaped, had a far stronger bearing on Cambodian Chams than on the Chvea at that time. This observation may no longer have been pertinent for large parts of the local Cham community, among whom the link had been gradually weakened, but it was accurate for the Chams of Chhouk Sar and other communities, or at least segments thereof. This also explains why, even at the end of the 20th century, scornful Muslim leaders still had to persuade some of their co-religionists to stop venerating the graves of not Muslim saints, which would have been reprehensible enough in their eyes, but of Cham princes at Roka Po Pram deep in Kampong Cham59. In any case, Cham-Malay/Chvea differences should not be overestimated. Linguistically, in certain areas both have lost their mother-tongues to form Khmer-speaking, ostensibly typical, Chvea communities (e.g. Kampot, Battambang, Tonle Sap villages north of Phnom Penh such as Kampong Luong and Tuol Ngok). Just as much, over time Malay-speakers have adopted Cham language in regions where it was clearly dominant, as in Kampong Cham and the Delta, thereby fully becoming Cham60. Similarly, the more homogenously Cham villages of comparably recent arrivals from Panduranga embraced nonBani or otherwise not distinctively (Pandurangan) Cham standards of belief and practice observable in their interactions with co-religionists and ethnic kin. Besides physical displacement, the loss of Cham script among Chams in Cambodia and the Delta played a decisive role in their growing dislocation and 55 56 57 58

59 60

Braginsky, Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature, p. 180. P.S. van Ronkel, De roman van Amir Hamzah (Leiden: Brill, 1895); Marrison, Sasak and Javanese Literature, p. 15, 30-38, 44, 47f.; Bruckmayr, “Persian Kings, Arab Conquerors”, p. 472-477. Durand, “Notes sur les Chams” (1907), p. 321-339. Among the Sasak wetu telu, another paradigmatic example of resistance to Jawization in Southeast Asia, the stories from the Amir Hamzah cycle also hold a prominent place, including in the ritual sphere. G.-H. Bousquet, “Recherches sur les deux sectes musulmanes (« Waktou Telous » et « Waktou Lima ») de Lombok”, Rei, XIII (1939), p. 165f.; Bruckmayr, “Persian Kings, Arab Conquerors”, p. 475-477. William Collins, The Chams of Cambodia (Phnom Penh: Center for Advanced Study, 1996), p. 65f. Cf. Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 64f., 81-84.

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alienation from their past and some of their distinctive religious and cultural practices. Nevertheless, Jawization in Cambodia was not restricted to Cham migrant populations strongly influenced by Pandurangan Bani Islam and therefore at odds with a Cambodian Islam molded by constant interaction with local ­Malays and the wider Muslim world. On the contrary, it was not just a contest between transplanted Banis and a contending community of Chvea and (­Malayized) cam baruw, although such a reading may lend itself to explaining the present existence of two officially recognized Islamic communities. Jawization was a major factor in this regard, but its workings were more complex. Indeed, the factionalism it engendered, which was both doctrinal but also about different forms of Muslim social organization, was ultimately more strongly felt among the second group. Conversely, at least the allegedly “pure Cham” (cam sot) communities in Kampong Tralach district were, due to their relatively peripheral status vis-à-vis region- and country-wide Islamic developments and discussions, less directly affected. Nevertheless, Jawization and its accompanying intra-community strife did provide the unlikely basis for the descendants of Kampong Pring’s po faction to assert, in the long run, its authority over a more far-flung and diverse community in the making. After an arduous process of formation, delineation and compromise, this community came to be known as the Kan Imam San. 3

Colonial Assumptions about Islam: Cambodia’s “Good” Muslims

Apart from interaction with an ever-broadening array of melayu Muslims, jawi scholarly networks and the linked unprecedented expansion of religious education as well as major socio-economic changes in Cambodia, French religious policies and scholarly discourses also contributed to Jawization’s particular shape and scope there. Both were based to a significant degree on colonial assumptions about the nature of “true” Islam. Ironically, major French administrator-scholars such as Aymonier and Cabaton had first, either due to their colonial assignments or the major interest in the ostensibly degenerated remnants of ancient Indochinese civilizations, intensively studied the Chams and Islam in the Cham homelands of Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan. This partially explains why the French ethnographers, particularly Aymonier, Cabaton and Ner, who wrote between the 1880s and 1940s, present the Chams of Cambodia and the Delta as completely different from their compatriots in Panduranga. Whereas the Cham Bani were commonly labeled degenerate and unproductive, Cambodian Muslims were regarded as industrious, modestly prosperous,

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and, in stark contrast to the former, as “good” and enlightened Muslims61. The following quotations from Cabaton provide a taste of the prevailing discourse. After his section on the “Chams of Annam”, he immediately opens the ensuing discussion with a pronounced contradistinction: “Completely different are the Chams called Chams of Cambodia”, whose “Islam is much more enlightened and conscious than that of the Banis”62. In a concluding comparison one finds, among others, the attributes “apathetic” and “miserable” applied to the Bani63. Unsurprisingly, he attributed differences in religious practice to the Cambodian Chams’ constant interaction with resident Malays64. The markedly positive disposition towards an Islam perceived as orthodox, strongly contrasting with the denigrating assessment of the allegedly degenerate and, by implication, syncretistic character of the religions of the Cham Bani and Brahmanists, is intriguing. Moreover, the view of a religiously unified and homogenous Cham-Malay community in late 19th-early 20th century Cambodia was clearly erroneous. Accordingly, Marcel Ner, who worked several decades later, rejected some of Aymonier and Cabaton’s conclusions. It has to be conceded, however, that things developed at a faster pace between the time of Cabaton’s research and that of Ner, the 1930s, than they did in the period between Aymonier’s work in the 1880s and the 1900s. The unitary presentation of the two pioneers of Cham Studies in Cambodia surely resulted, at least partially, from oversimplification and perhaps actually fairly limited contacts with the geographically widely dispersed Cham-Malays. Indeed, Ner’s far more thorough study conducted in the late 1930s65 provides ample evidence both for a fragmented community and a gradual and contested process of Jawisation that must have been under way already for quite some time and naturally led to distinctively Cham elements within local Islam receding into the background. Ner’s contribution both documents full-fledged factional divisions within Cambodian Islam and charts their geographic dimensions and accompanying group identities in Cambodia and the Delta, although not comprehensively. The following section will therefore summarize his most relevant observations and conclusions and then measure them against what has been discussed so far. In addition, the dynamics undergirding the factionalism described by Ner and their aftermath will be identified and scrutinized by 61 62 63 64 65

Aymonier, “Chams and their Religions”, p. 58-65; Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 162-180. Ner does not reproduce their condescending tone, but nevertheless shares his predecessors’ assumptions regarding complete difference. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 154f. Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 162, 166. Ibid., p. 179. Id., Nouvelles recherches, p. 6. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 165-197.

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recourse to documentary evidence from Cambodian and Malay sources. Yet, before delving deeper into his account, a discussion of some additional foregrounding issues is required. 4

Curricular Jawization, Script and Language Change, and the Hajj

Among the first casualties of the Jawization-induced standardization and marginalization of distinctively Cham elements (and, to a lesser degree, those with specific local Malay and Chvea imprints) was Cham script (akhar thrah) and its literature. The large-scale adoption of Malay jawi literature for religious instruction (and on a much smaller scale as language of religious literary production), a major hallmark of Jawization, by the great majority of Cambodian Cham Muslims crucially coincided with a switch from Cham to jawi script in written Cham language. Due to the first aspect’s salience, the usage of Cham jawi has so far remained mostly restricted to informal non-literary purposes such as letters and business communication66. Translations of Malay texts, concepts and literary motifs into Cham, once presumably a major part of Cham scholarship, as can be inferred from Cham literary heritage and surviving manuscripts, largely ended. To the limited degree that it was still pursued, it was now done in Cham jawi. Malay written materials were certainly expounded in spoken Cham, but the need for written translation into a native language, now apparently regarded as inferior to the prestigious written Malay, was hardly felt anymore. Such are the workings of an Islamic supra-language. A watershed affecting most of Cambodia and the Delta must have occurred in the second half of the 19th century. From 1864 we find an isolated reference of Vietnamese traders bringing Cham akhar thrah books to Battambang67. The oldest Cham script manuscripts still found in private collections in kis or former kis villages are also commonly dated to this period, as are the only three specimens collected by Western scholars outside of the few remaining (now kis-affiliated) manuscript repositories in Central and Northwestern Cambodia. Conversely, Moura noted in 1883 that the country’s Chams no longer possessed religious texts in their own language but relied on Malay ones instead68. Although not entirely accurate, this generalization did reflect the prevailing majority practices.

66 67 68

Omar Farouk Bajunid, “Place of Jawi”, p. 124-147. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 100. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, I, p. 495.

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Aymonier and Moura obtained princely genealogies and historical chronicles in Cham from the community, as well as numerous texts that had a full or at least partially religious content. Thus, the afore-mentioned manuscript CM 39, includes inter alia the legend of po rasulak (i.e. the Prophet), two sets of verses from the Qurʾan and the Book of Nosiravan69. Yet the ability to read Cham script was by then already in sharp decline and had probably been at low levels even before. Access to the historical and religio-mythical texts was, as was the case in the wider Malay world until the advent of Malay book printing, restricted to specific social groups (e.g. courtiers, pos, religious specialists, professional reciters and their audiences)70. Cabaton, who cited no Cham script materials in Cambodia, provided more specific information on the use of Malay language books in religious instruction, such as tafsīr and catechisms71. These included a Malay rendering of Abū l-Layth al-Samarqandī’s (d. 373/983) ʿAqīdat al-uṣūl, which is striking due its Ḥanafi character72, and Abū Abdallāh Muḥammad al-Sanūsī’s (d. 892/1486 or 895/1490) well-known Umm al-barāhīn, which is still widely distributed throughout Southeast Asia73. Besides lithographed Qurʾans from India, Egypt and Istanbul, Cabaton also encountered ḥadīth collections, treatises and biographically-oriented texts on Islamic morality generically called Kitab Agama Islam (Book on Islamic Religion) and Cerita Nabi Muhammad (Story of the Prophet Muḥammad), respectively74. Works of the last three categories also exist as Cham manuscripts and are not necessarily part of the standardized curricula resulting from print-driven Jawization. Usage of a printed Malay tafsīr, however, certainly was. At that time, the only such available work was ʿAbd al-Ra⁠ʾūf al-Sinkilī’s Tarjumān alMustafīd75, the second work ever printed by Mecca’s Malay Ottoman printing press, a Patani-run institution established in 188476. Most strikingly, Cabaton 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76

Lafont, Po Dharma & Nara Vija, Catalogue des manuscrits, p. 190-194. Cf. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 51-53. Antoine Cabaton, “Notes sur l’Islam dans l’Indo-Chine Française”, rmm, I (1907), p. 43f. A.W.T. Juynboll, “Een moslimsche Catechismus in het Arabisch met eene Javaansche interlineaire vertaling in pegon-schrift uitgegeven en in het Nederlandsch vertaald” & “Samarḳandi’s Catechismus opnieuw besproken”, bki, V (1881), p. 215-231 & 267-284. Philipp Bruckmayr, “The šarḥ/ḥāshiya Phenomenon in Southeast Asia: From al-Sanūsī’s Umm al-Barāhīn to Malay Sifat Dua Puluh Literature”, MIDEO, XXXII (2017), p. 27-52. Antoine Cabaton, “Une traduction interlinéaire malaise de la ʿAqīda d’al-Senūsī”, ja, X (1904), p. 116. Peter G. Riddell, Transferring a Tradition: ʿAbd al-Ra⁠ʾuf al-Singkili’s Rendering into Malay of the Jalalayn Commentary (Berkeley: Centers for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, 1990). Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 323-325.

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found an original piece of Indochinese Cham-Malay scholarship of the period, tellingly composed in Malay – a manuscript copy of the Arabic text of Umm al-barāhīn with an interlinear Malay translation produced in 1893 by al-Ḥājj Ismāʿīl, the imam of a village in the Chau Doc region, with the striking aim of drawing Panduranga’s Chams towards a “more enlightened Islam”77. Whereas Umm al-barāhīn was undoubtedly the most influential catechism in Southeast Asia, both before and after the onset of Jawization, Samarqandī’s evidently once widespread Ḥanafi work78 has vanished from jawi curricula. As it differs from the Shāfiʿi-Ashʿari Umm al-barāhīn in what is arguably the latter’s most influential section (i.e. its expositions on the twenty divine attributes), the growing awareness and quasi-doctrine of an exclusively Shāfiʿi-Ashʿari jawi ecumene presumably led to its gradual removal. This indicates that Jawization’s hegemonic standardizing discourses were at the same time instrumental in purging Southeast Asian Islam from ostensible Shiite influences (e.g. Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiyyah and other popular stories) that had earlier also left their mark on Cham Islam, and in strengthening madhhab consciousness and exclusivity. Despite this apparent strong tendency towards a complete focus on Malay literature in Cambodian Islam, French scholars could still enlist the services of Cham script copyists in 1920. As the po title would soon become another prominent casualty of Jawization, it is worth noting that one of the scribes producing a copy of a Cham princely genealogy in that year bore this title79. But although the prestige of this specific title was by then becoming less widely recognized, that associated with another title was growing. Being part of the jawi ecumene, the number of hajjis such as al-Ḥājj Ismāʿīl was rising in Cambodia and the Delta, just as it was in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, not only due to the increased relevance that certain population segments attached to the pilgrimage, but also due to the opening of the Suez Canal80. Already in 1880 Labussière noted the many hajjis in Chau Doc, who appeared to wield “great influence among their coreligionists”81. In 1899 Cabaton saw many local Cham, 77

78 79 80

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Cabaton, “Une traduction interlinéaire”, p. 115-145 (quotation from p. 115). It is, however, not entirely clear if the translation was an original work by Ismāʿīl. By then, several contributions of jawi scholars to the text had been sent to the printing press. Bruckmayr, “The šarḥ/ḥāshiya Phenomenon”, p. 29-37. Laffan, Makings of Indonesian Islam, p. 33f. Lafont, Po Dharma & Nara Vija, Catalogue des manuscrits, p. 21. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society, p. 59, 65; William R. Roff, “Sanitation and Security: The Imperial Powers and the Hajj in the 19th century” in id., Studies on Islam and Society in Southeast Asia (Singapore: nus Press, 2009), p. 292; Amran Kasimin, Religion and Social Change among the Indigenous People of the Malay Peninsula (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1991), p. 266 n. 1. Labussière, “Chams et Malais”, p. 375.

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Malay and Indian Muslims embark for the hajj in Phnom Penh82. Religious study in Kelantan and Patani, along with the activities of roving Malay Islamic teachers and preachers, also impacted Cambodian Islam. Thus, not only hajjis were contending for the prestige once associated with the pos, which was less pertinently linked to religion. People carrying Malay titles such as wan, which were of more specifically greater Patani import than the afore-mentioned tuan, eventually came to the forefront as new potential rallying points. 5

Conclusion

The growing numbers of jawi hajjis and students in the Ḥaramayn greatly contributed to Santrization on Java and wider Jawization in Southeast Asia. Yet Ricklefs, while sifting through statistics of Javanese-speaking religious teachers (sg. kyai) and hajjis in the second half of the 19th century, made a crucial observation for our understanding of Jawization: the increase in numbers in both categories was apparently “not a single religious phenomenon – simply [..] pious people enhancing the observance of their faith across Javanese society – for this growth in religious life seems to have fed diverging trends”83. Accordingly, the expected correlation between the number of hajjis and kyais was absent in most localities, except in the comparably cosmopolitan areas such as the central pasisir and Yogyakarta. These are also those best comparable to Cambodian Muslim centers in and around Phnom Penh, the major conveniently located Muslim villages of Krauchhmar (such as Phum Trea) and of the Delta (such as Chau Giang). Elsewhere, large numbers of kyais were not reflected in similarly high numbers of hajjis, suggesting – in necessarily simplified terms as there was certainly a whole category of hajji kyais – “that there were at least two statistically evident categories of religious leaders in Java in this time and that they were tending to stay out of each other’s way”84. As we will see, Cambodia also had its own imams, gurus (religious teachers) and their followers, who sought to stay clear of, or were even fervently opposed to, the local agents of Jawization with their hajji or other credentials. However, some of them had already become detached from the world of the pos, their princely genealogies and their split reverence between the Qurʾan and the Book of Nosiravan or were even Chvea who had had little to no relation to the latter’s cultural heritage to begin with. 82 83 84

Cabaton, Nouvelles Recherches, p. 6. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society, p. 67-69 (quotation from p. 67). Ibid., p. 68.

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Jawization in Cambodia’s Diverse Muslim Landscape of the 1930s Ner’s study of the Muslim communities of Cambodia, the Delta and Tay Ninh, differs markedly from his precursors’ work. In each case, his information and observations are explicitly connected to specific village or suburban communities. Earlier work on Cambodian Islam, commonly characterized by generic references to Cambodian Muslims, rarely specified the actual locations of contact and observation1. Rare exceptions include Bastian’s reports from Chhouk Sar, Kampong Luong and Battambang, as well as Moura’s contacts in (then) Lovek province and Pavie’s encounters in Kampot villages. Cabaton in particular is quite silent in this regard. But his inclusion of images of Chroy Changvar Muslims as well as of Muslim dignitaries at an official reception at the royal palace2, combined with his observation of what was presumably high-level Islamic education (including studies of tafsīr and the like), shows that he obtained much of his information from affluent Cham-Chvea communities around Phnom Penh. As evinced by his acquisition of Hajji Ismāʿīl’s Umm albarāhīn manuscript, he must also have conducted research at scholarly centres in the Delta. Although Cabaton had presumably also visited rural communities, this selection of localities might help explain his misleading presentation of Muslim uniformity in Cambodia and the Delta. Conversely, Ner surveyed Muslim settlements in most provinces known for housing Cham-Chvea populations, duly recorded the dominant languages in the respective communities and provided valuable information on the local state of religious education and on networking with scholarly centres abroad. His study, which rests on a much broader geographical observational basis, testifies to the gradual process of Jawization and the factionalism it had engendered by then. Despite the homogenizing nature of the process described, it is actually a tale of Muslim diversity. Therefore, we use his work as a starting point for our analysis of Jawization’s dynamics. While generally following Ner’s mapping of Cambodian and South Vietnamese Muslim communities, more encompassing discussions of issues of direct relevance to the concept 1 Among the Cham manuscripts of the Société Asiatique, however, quite a number are described as “journal de marche d’Aymonier”. Lafont, Po Dharma & Nara Vija, Catalogue des manuscrits, p. 197-201. Unfortunately, these have been inaccessible to me. 2 Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 163-165.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_007

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of Jawization will be undertaken at the appropriate points. As his work was entirely based on personal field observation, archival sources of the period will be consulted to add weight to or to question his conclusions, as well as to open new perspectives for enquiry. Indeed, the comparable abundance of documentary sources in the Cambodian National Archives for the study of Cambodian Islam in the 1930s, as opposed to the earlier and later periods, has been a prime impetus for focusing on this phase, and has thus also commended closer examination of Ner’s contemporaneous ethnographic work. 1

Mapping Jawization in the Mekong Delta

Although Ner did not document factional strife in the Delta region, his report does testify to the degree of Jawization prevailing there, reflected inter alia in the almost complete disuse of Cham script, the significant role of Malay language and literature in religious education also among Cham speakers, and the number of locals seeking religious knowledge in Kelantan and Mecca. In Chau Giang, the region hosted one of Indochina’s spiritual centres of Islam3. Even though a few old Cham manuscripts were still preserved in the village and the Cham-speaking majority freely employed Cham in marriage and other ceremonies, most men were more or less knowledgeable in Malay. Keeping in mind that the non-Cham villagers designated as “Malays” by Ner were by then already mostly Khmer-speaking Chveas (jawa kur), Malay might well have functioned also as a lingua franca in daily affairs. As his account mentions no doctrinal strife, we may assume that the villages two mosques were, as is the case today, allocated along Cham-Chvea language lines. In the 1880s Chau Giang was the only Delta village with a mosque made of bricks (instead of the customary wood, thatch and bamboo structures)4. More decisive, however, was its prestige as a centre of religious learning. According to Ner, who correctly identified the most eminent religious teachers (guru, tuon) as the most influential figures in the Cambodian Muslim community and its satellites5, as opposed to the elevated members of the official hierarchy, Hj. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the director of the local Islamic school, was one of the two most respected Islamic scholars in Indochina. As he was noted to have been frequently absent, we may assume that he likewise engaged in teaching missions throughout the region. Although his educational background is unknown, it 3 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 157f. 4 Labussière, “Chams et Malais”, p. 375. 5 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 187.

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can be assumed that part of his prestige derived from studies abroad, probably pursued in Mecca, Kelantan or Patani. More is known about his young protégée Hj. Mahli (ʿUmar ʿAlī?, i.e. ʿAlī b. ʿUmar6), who ran the school during ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s absences. He had studied in Mecca for twelve years and was, accordingly, the area’s most proficient figure in Arabic and Malay. Their school was evidently a pondok for advanced students, for only ten of its forty students were locals; the rest came from other villages in the Delta as well as from Cambodia – seven from the Phnom Penh area (especially Chroy Changvar), three from Kampong Cham and three more from other provinces. Expectedly, apart from the Qurʾan, mostly Malay books were used for religious instruction, as was the prevailing case in the area’s other village schools7. In the late 1930s Hj. Mahli’s influence was still circumscribed by his youth. However, he apparently rose to considerable prominence in subsequent decades, even becoming the hakem of the Khmer-speaking village cluster around Chau Giang’s al-Mubārak mosque (built in 1967). Although this identification is not beyond doubt, there is reason to believe that he was the “Hj. Omar Ali” or “Mufti Omal Aly” from Chau Doc, credited for the conversion of parts of Phan Rang’s Bani community to jawi Islam in the early 1960s8. Reports obtained from descendants of the pioneering Phang Rang cam baruw show that the teachings of visiting Chau Doc preachers at that time were evidently not of a reformist bent9. Thus, it would fit the picture of his activities quite well that the 6 In the customary form of Cambodian Muslim names, the nasab (i.e. the father’s or mother’s name that, in usual Arab-influenced Muslim naming practices, follows the given name after the link ibn/bin or bint) often precedes the actual ism (i.e. given name). This is analogous to Khmer, as the family name also precedes the given name. Although the abbreviation of Arabic isms (e.g. Muḥammad to Mat) was a traditional feature of the naming practice in Greater Patani, it is especially developed in Cambodia and the Mekong Delta. This process is also linked to the prevailing Khmer practice, in which names with more than one or two syllables are extremely rare. Throughout Muslim Southeast Asia, standard Arabic ism-nasab combinations had been, outside of scholarly circles, rarely used in a rigorous way until the late 19thearly 20th century. Its popularization far beyond the narrow confines of the ʿulamāʾ can be identified as another feature of Jawization. Ysa Osman, Oukoubah. Justice for the Cham Muslims under the Democratic Kampuchea Regime (Phnom Penh: dc-cam, 2002), p. 130; M.A. Jaspan, “Cham Proper Names”, typescript, 15.1.1967, jp, dja (2)/1/3; Roff, “Onomastics, and Taxonomies”, p. 45f. 7 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 163. 8 Nakamura, “Cham Muslims in Ninh Thuan”, p. 20; Mohamad Zain bin Musa, “Dynamics of Faith: Imam Musa in the Revival of Islamic Teachings in Cambodia” in in Omar Farouk Bajunid & Hiroyuki Yamamoto (eds.), Islam at the Margins. The Muslims of Indochina (Kyoto: cias, 2008), p. 63. 9 Personal communication with Abdul Halim b. Ahmad, Phnom Penh, April 28th 2012.

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Chau Doc leader of the opposition to the Cambodian expression of jawi Islamic reformism (whose carriers became known throughout the ecumene as the kaum muda or “new group”) was a certain Tuon Hj. Ali10. But ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Mahli were not the only religious teachers in Chau Giang, for several other local scholars had studied in Kelantan and Mecca. Five villagers were still in Mecca, one of them already for ten years; another had just returned and yet another had recently died there. The most illustrious student still in Mecca during Ner’s stay in 1937 was Muhammad Idris, the son of the village hakem Sulaiman, who returned upon the latter’s death in 1938. Having completed the highest echelons of jawi education for Indochinese Muslims, he had studied with a local teacher and then with Hj. Osman in Phum Trea and Hj. Wan Muhammad b. Idris in Jambu (Patani) before going to Kota Bharu and Mecca. In 1951 he was appointed village hakem, a position he held until his death at over 90 years of age in the early 2000s11. A couple of years later he was still remembered as the most erudite local scholar of all12. Other Muslim villages in the area could not rival Chau Giang’s trans-Indochinese prestige. Nearby Phum Soai, however, also had a strong Islamic profile. Approximately 2 per cent of its population were hajjis, and a dozen men, among them the head of the local Islamic school, had studied for several years in Kelantan. One youth was currently studying in Mecca. In the less affluent Muslim village on Kotambong Island, numbers for all of these categories were lower and even more so in Da Phuoc (“Habao” in Ner’s diction), where the village school teacher had been educated in the Chau Giang pondok. Nevertheless, Ner noted that even in these villages that had a more homogeneous population of Cham-speakers and knowledge of Malay was far more restricted, jawi script had replaced Cham script in written Cham communication13. Within a few decades, however, Kotambong would boast a notable Islamic school. Thus, from the 1960s onwards even cam baruw from Phan Rang were sent to study at the local Mubārak al-Azhar madrasa14. Chi Hasan b. Nordin, one of Jaspan’s Cham informants in Kelantan during the 1960s, was a Kotambong native who in 1937 had gone to study at the school run by Kelantan’s Council of Islamic Affairs (Majlis Ugama Islam – mui)15, the Madrasah al-Muhammadiah 10 11 12 13 14 15

Mohamad Zain Musa, “History of Education among the Cambodian Muslims”, Jebat, XXXVIII (2011), p. 93. lpd, “Haji Muhammad Idris: ʿUlama terbilang Vietnam”. Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 87f., 123. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 159-161. Abdul Halim b. Ahmad, personal communication, Phnom Penh, April 28th 2012. Kelantan and Terengganu were pioneers in the institutionalization of religion in the Malay states. In this regard the mui (est. 1915), as the first centralized body for

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(est. 1917) in Kota Bharu, and then decided to stay on. By the time he met Jaspan, he had achieved local prominence (and epitomized Jawization) as the director of the Malay Arts and Crafts Association of Kelantan, while remaining in close contact with Chams in Cambodia and Vietnam16. In contrast, Jawization’s influence had been less decisive in the northern group of Muslim villages located directly at the Cambodian-Vietnamese border, despite their being in the orbit of Chau Giang’s scholarly culture. There, Ner encountered the last five individuals in the region who could read Cham script. Two of these are explicitly described as old men, whereas the other three (presumably also neither youngsters) tellingly resided in Co Ki, where reportedly only a handful of people knew Malay. And yet, apart from Co Ki, all of the villages in question by then boasted at least individual scholars educated abroad, one of whom had spent twelve years studying in Kelantan. Knowledge of the Arabic and jawi scripts (if not of Malay language as such) was already widespread even here, and evidently most developed in Koh Khoi. There, several village boys were studying at the Chau Giang pondok, and the local teacher Hj. Ismāʿīl had studied in Mecca for a year17. He just might have authored the Malay Umm al-barāhīn translation obtained by Cabaton. But more likely it was the work of another Hj. Ismāʿīl of Koh Khoi who had died in Kelantan during the early 1920s, where he had been known locally as Hj. Ismail Kemboja18. According to some unverified accounts, he was the first Vietnamese Cham to study in Kota Bharu during the 20th century19. Ner’s survey of Muslim life in the Chau Doc area testifies to a steady process of Jawization. Knowledge of Cham script and its manuscript culture had all but disappeared. At an intermediary stage, presumably from the 1870s to the 1920s, a number of Cham texts were transposed into Cham jawi script20, two of

16 17 18

19 20

the admin­istration of Islam in any Malayan state, is a most instructive example. As such, it would also prove influential for Islam and Jawization in Cambodia. William R. Roff, “The Origin and the Early Years of the Majlis Agama Kelantan” in id. (ed.), Kelantan: Religion, Society, and Politics in a Malay State (Melbourne: Oxford Univ. Press, 1974), p. 101-152. jp, dja (2)/1/2. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 161. He was one of a whole group of Muslims from or active in Vietnam who have received this epithet in Kelantan. This clearly shows that neither Vietnam nor Cham were categories of any relevance in Kelantan at that time. Thus, Cham and Chvea Muslims from Vietnam or Cambodia were until recently indiscriminately labeled as orang (muslim) kemboja in Kelantan. jp, dja (2)/1/2. Phu Van Han, “The Development of the Jawi-Cam Script in South-West Vietnam Cam Communities” in Kertaskerja Seminar Antarabangsa Manuskrip Melayu-Campa yang berlangsung pada 6-7 Disember 2004 di Kuala Lumpur, p. 3.

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which should be mentioned: (1) Muk Sruh Palei (“The lady who guards the village”), a treatise of moral guidance for girls and young women, still preserved in akhar thrah versions and highly regarded among kis, and (2) Sep Sah Sakai (“The curse of Sah Sakai”), a romantic tale that has undergone a notable degree of Islamization, and indeed a Jawization of its setting, in its jawi version. Thus, its main character is no longer a Brahmanist but a Muslim Cham whose peregrinations take him through the Cham lands of Panduranga and Kauthara, but also to Kelantan and Terengganu21. As a result of these ventures and the passing of time, and due to the community’s non-preservation of the traditional Cham script, Jawization – as mirrored in choice of script – has apparently obliterated the local Cham’s memory of their original script. Thereby, the symbolic question of script has acquired quasi-doctrinal overtones and a prominent role in identity formation, which reflects developments in Panduranga, where similar considerations have obstructed efforts to discard akhar thrah for a Romanized version of Cham22. Thus, it has been recently remarked that “[n] owadays C[h]am from Châu Đổc and Tây Ninh province still refuse to recognize akhar srah [i.e. thrah] and claim that the jawi-c[h]am script is the real script of the C[h]am language”23. The foundations for these important transformations were laid both before and during the time of Ner’s research, when a vibrant jawi scholarly community existed with Chau Giang as its centre, whose reputation far exceeded its immediate surroundings and drew students from distant Kampong Cham. This indicates that an important network of economic and religious communication linked Chau Doc to Muslim centres in Cambodia. Of course, Kampong Cham and Chroy Changvar also boasted major centres of Islamic learning. Nevertheless, students circulated among all of these places, whose teachers were, in turn, firmly linked to jawi learning in Patani, Kelantan and Mecca. Again, the absence of conflict and factional strife contrasts with much of Cambodia at that time. It is certainly not irrelevant that the region’s spiritual centre was located in the one place where more or less clearly differentiated Cham and jawa kur (i.e. Chvea) communities existed side by side, and where the unifying potential of less localized jawi Islam could therefore manifest itself most visibly. What Ner did not mention, however, was that the Chau Doc region also housed two notable shrines of local Muslim saints: the graves of Tuon Ku Umar 21 22 23

Po Dharma, “Les relations entre la littérature cam et la littérature malaise” in J.-L. BacquéGrammont, A. Pino & S. Khoury (eds.), Dʾun orient à l’autre: Actes des troisièmes journées de l’orient. Bordeaux, 2-4 octobre 2002 (Paris-Louvain: Peeters, 2005), p. 391f. Bruckmayr, “Between Institutionalized Syncretism”, p. 20. Phu, “Development of the Jawi-Cam Script”, p. 3.

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in Koh Khoi and of Tuon Kosem in Vinh Truong, both of whom are said to have flourished centuries ago and to have been of Arab, more precisely Sayyid, origin24. Most likely they were either Sufi saints or sanctified leaders of pioneering settlers in these villages, as is the case with venerated graves of alleged Cham princes in other places (e.g. in Roka Po Pram in Kampong Cham until the present, and in Tay Ninh in the not too distant past). Although we do not know how their origins and connections to their region of burial were framed in the period under immediate consideration, detectable recent shifts in their representation are intriguing. For example, an older tradition most probably derived from Vietnamese Chams fleeing to Kelantan in the 1970s, pictured Tuon Ku Umar as a Sayyid from Kelantan sent by a 16th century Cham king to teach Islam to the Chams living in Khmer territories25. At the turn of the century, however, local informants did not tell Taylor about this saint’s alleged connections to Kelantan or to Champa26. We may therefore speculate that the shrines’ connection to a distinctively Cham past was perhaps formerly far greater than it is now, a speculation supported by the fact that Taylor was told that Tuon Ku Umar, in the contending tradition claimed to have been sent by a Cham king, belonged, unlike Tuon Kosem, not to the Prophet’s lineage but to that of ʿAlī27. Intriguingly, it is a popular topos in Cham tradition (especially outside of Panduranga28), that the Chams had been converted by ʿAlī (or by his son Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya on ʿAlī’s orders). This narrative was doubtlessly conditioned by these two figures’ important place in Malay (and thus also Cham) hikayat literature but was apparently still of special importance to the Chams in the 19th and 20th centuries. As far as Malay hikayat are concerned, the most widely distributed Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiyyah and Hikayat Amir Hamzah, as well as other minor texts of the genre and numerous didactic texts are also characterized by a prominent role accorded to ʿAlī, Fāṭima and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya29. Although further research is necessary to verify 24 25 26 27 28 29

Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 77, 130-139. Abdullah bin Mohamed (Nakula), “Keturunan Melayu di Kemboja dan Vietnam: Hubungannya dengan Semenanjung dengan Tumpuan Khas kepada Negeri Kelantan”, wk, VIII (1989), p. 27. Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 131f. Ibid., p. 132. Needless to say, both the Prophet and his cousin ʿAlī belonged to the same lineage. In Panduranga, it seems that the above-mentioned conversion narratives about the Malay princes and the Malay princess prevailed. Braginsky, Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature, p. 117, 605-610; Wendy Mukherjee, “In Search of Fatimah” in Jan van der Putten & Mary Kilcline Cody (eds.), Lost Times and Untold Tales from the Malay World (Singapore: IseAS, 2009), p. 129-138; Mulaika Hijjas,

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this, it seems as if Cham versions of several such didactic stories have come down to us: the tales of “Po Rasulak”, “Po Ali”, “Po Phwatima” and one described as “a legend about her faithfulness to Ali”30. These stories’ great impact is most evident in Bani wedding ceremonies, as the bride and groom’s ceremonial names are the Cham renderings of ʿAlī and Fāṭima31. In Cambodia this practice has apparently survived only among some of the Kan Imam San, the formally organized historic opponents of Jawization. ʿAlī’s legendary introduction of Islam into Champa was also implanted in Cham chronicles. Thus, the afore-mentioned Cham chronicles found by scholars in Cambodia in the second half of the 19th century (with Po Nosiravan as starting point of the Cham royal line) also contain this tradition32. Accordingly, Bastian was told that “the prophet sent to the Cham was Patenta [prince, lord] Ali”33. Even more intriguing with respect to the above biography of Tuon Ku Umar is the genealogical information given to Jaspan in the 1960s by a Cham informant born in Roka Po Pram (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham) in 1885, who claimed descent from the Cham royal line: His ancestor Sayyid Mustafa, a descendant of ʿAlī, had come from Arabia to Champa to preach and search for the informant’s royal ancestor Po Brahim, because the latter had also been related to ʿAlī. Eventually Vietnamese pressure forced both of them into Cambodian exile34. Po Brahim’s shrine in Roka Po Pram remained a pilgrimage site until recent years. Still in the 1990s, when knowledge of Cham script had, as far as we know, long disappeared in Kampong Cham, Collins managed to record an oral tradition that Lord ʿAlī had sent Muḥammad ʿAlī Ḥanafiyya (sic) to Champa to teach Islam35. It thus seems reasonable to assume that the shrines near Chau Doc were initially associated with specific Cham ancestors or mythical history, rather

30 31 32 33 34 35

“Penghulu Segala Perempuan: Fāṭima in Malay Didactic Texts for Women” in Chiara Formichi & Michael Feener (eds.), Shiʿism in South East Asia. ʿAlid Piety and Sectarian Constructions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 79-98; Faried F. Saenong, “ʿAlid Piety in Bugis Texts on Sexual Arts” in ibid., p. 99-113. Lafont, Po Dharma & Nara Vija, Catalogue des manuscrits, p. 22f., 78, 87, 134, 156f., 189f., 193. Aymonier, “Chams and their Religions”, p. 53f.; Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 158. ʿAlī and Fāṭima likewise represent the groom and bride among the Bugis of South Sulawesi. Saenong, “ʿAlid Piety”, p. 103, 105-110. Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 137f. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 145. “Cambodian Cham History. Informant: Wan Abdul Hamid, born in Rokaa Bopram in 1885”, typescript, January 17th 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/2. Additional information was drawn from hand-written materials in the same folder. Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 62f.

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than with Sufi saints as such. Indeed, the story about Po Brahim and Sayyid Mustafa recorded in Kampong Cham was, with the addition of a distinctively local facet, also known in the Delta: one Sayyid Mustafa had traversed the area on his way to Cambodia after spreading Islam in Champa36. Nevertheless, recent decades have almost completely obliterated these remaining references to legendary Cham history, thereby clearing the space for the best Muslim saints: pure Arab Sayyids. 2

Jawization and Divergence in the Cham Heartland of Kampong Cham and Kratie

As was the case in the Mekong Delta region, Ner discovered no pronounced intra-community strife or factionalism in the Cambodian Cham heartland of Kampong Cham and Kratie. The term “Cham heartland in Cambodia” is well deserved because (1) it constituted one of the first (if not the very first) areas of Cham settlement in the country. (2) According to a recent survey, 42 per cent of Cambodia’s entire Muslim population resides in Kampong Cham37 and it is the only province in which they still represent the majority population of individual sub-districts/communes (khum). In the 1960s they were still numerically dominant in Krauchhmar district38, home to such important centres of Muslim life as Phum Trea, Svay Khleang and Chumnik. In addition, Cham-Malays in the region were frequently appointed to administrative positions. At the turn of the 20th century community members served as district governors of various srok in Kratie and Kampong Cham province, including Kratie, Kanchor39, Thbaung Khmum and Kampong Siem40. As far as settlement patterns 36 37 38

39

40

Michael Lidauer, Cham in Vietnam (unpubl. M.A. thesis Univ. of Vienna, 2002), p. 99. Kok-Thay, From the Khmer Rouge, p. 36f. Jean Delvert, Le paysan cambodgien (Paris: Mouton, 1961), p. 22, 605. In 2004 Chams made up 35 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, of the populations of Krauchhmar and Dambae districts. The largest number of Chams was then found in Thbaung Khmum (39.885, or 18 per cent of the district’s population). Kurt Bredenberg, “Educational Marginalization of Cham Muslim Populations: A Report from Cambodia”, jeid, III, no. 3 (2009), p. 9f. The author gives the number of 138.000 Chams for the whole province. Kanchor commune, close to the administrative border to Kampong Cham, is Kratie’s Muslim stronghold and probably has been so since the late 18th century. Indeed, the Cham story of Tuen Phaow has him staying in a place in Cambodia called Kenjaow. Mak Phoeun has taken this to mean Kanchor. Weber, “Ariya Tuen Phaow”, p. 155; Mak Phoeun, Histoire du Cambodge de la fin du XVIe siècle au début du XVIIIe (Paris: pefeo, 1995), p. 219. “Note sur la situation des Chams et des Malais”, anc-rsc 12722. Although this hand-written note is undated, accompanying documentation allows it to be dated to 1904 (also the last date mentioned in the document).

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are concerned, most major Muslim villages in the two provinces are located along the Mekong’s left bank, with smaller numbers on the right bank upriver and downriver from Kampong Cham city (e.g. Angkor Ban, Anlong Sar, Kampong Siem), inland south of the river until close to the Vietnamese border (e.g. Roka Po Pram, Memot) and on river islands (e.g. Koh Sautin). Generally, the picture presented by Ner is quite similar to the situation in the Delta. The spiritual centre of Phum Trea drew students from well beyond the region, as was the case with smaller subsidiary ones (most notably Chumnik and Svay Khleang). Hajjis and religious teachers educated abroad held prominent and influential positions. Knowledge of the Cham script was apparently already even less common than in the Delta, for Ner does not mention even one individual case41. This is in line with a 1908 report noting that Cham language in the area was written in “Arabic” script and that Chams tended to sign documents with Arabic characters42. Angkor Ban (srok Kang Meas, approximately 25km from the krong [city] of Kampong Cham), a village of 80 Cham houses, contained seven hajjis, one of whom had studied in Mecca for three years and served as imam and teacher of the local Qurʾanic school. Nearby Anlong Sar, almost double the size, also had such a school. In general, the Muslim villages of Kang Meas were clearly within the sphere of influence of the jawi scholars of the regional (and Indochina-wide) centre of Phum Trea. Consequently, a small number of children from the district studied there. Moreover, its most eminent teacher, Hj. Osman, would visit the villages, inspect their mosques and schools and arbitrate religious and civil affairs. It would not be long, however, until two Treaeducated scholars became renowned teachers in Kang Meas. The situation differed in Koh Sautin district, where Jawization was evidently already more developed and the connection to Phum Trea accordingly far stronger. There, two Cham villages boasted three mosques and two Islamic schools. Of the three teachers, one had studied for four years in Phum Trea and for another three years in Kelantan. Another had spent three years in Mecca, and the last one had studied under Hj. Osman43. Koh Sautin was also particularly well linked to the Mekong trading circuit due to its status as Cambodia’s most important center of cotton production already in the 1880s44. Today, it is

41 42 43 44

Admittedly, Ner did not visit all relevant areas. Nevertheless, the general trend is clear. Monographie de la province de Kratié (Saigon: F.H. Schneider, 1908), p. 49. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 175f. Francis Garnier, Voyage d’exploration en Indo-Chine (Paris: Hachette, 1885), p. 68.

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one of the last areas in Cambodia where, as among the Chams of the Delta45, traditional Cham (silk and mixed cotton-silk) weaving still exists46. Ner’s report on Kampong Siem district is too meagre to be of use here, as he did not visit the majority of its Muslim villages. With hindsight, Koh Roka village would have been a most interesting place to visit because its local hakem, Li Les (Saleh b. Ali, d. 1963), had been born in Panduranga, arrived in the area as a child around 1884 and carried the po title as Po Kay Leh47. Although his descendants did not inherit his authority over the village and its mosque, both of which ultimately developed along the lines of Jawization, Les Kosem (d. 1976), one of his grandsons, served as an extraordinary link to the Pandurangan past of most Cambodian Muslims in his capacity as military and political leader48. Albeit consciously championing the Islamic cause (e.g. he donated a minbar to the Koh Roka mosque49), it would have been highly improbable for a leader who appealed to diasporic consciousness and sentiments of the Chams in Cambodia to arise out of a milieu that had been fully absorbed by Jawization in the first decades of the 20th century. Indeed, Les Kosem claimed direct descent from the Cham kings, just as surviving members of his family still do. On the other hand, Jawization appears to have hindered his efforts to arouse diasporic fervor to begin a political Cham revival. Ner’s information for the district of Thbaung Khmum is also too fragmentary. This is particularly unfortunate because places that are crucial to 19th century Muslim history in Cambodia are located in this district, whose villages are lying at some distance from the Mekong, where all of (jawi) Islam’s regional centres are to be found. Among them are Kampong Pring (khum Moung Riev)50, 45 46 47 48

49 50

Taylor, Cham Muslims, p. 151f. Personal observation at Koh Sautin (July 18th 2005). There is also a practical religious aspect to this trade, as sarongs and headscarves are – and most probably have long been – clearly the most commonly produced items. Personal communication with Les Sary, born in Koh Roka, grandson of Li Les and brother of Les Kosem, Phnom Penh, April 29th 2012; notes by Jaspan in jp, dja (2)/1/8; “Koh Rokaa Village, in Srok Kompong Siem”, typescript dated December 19th 1966, jp, dja (2)/1/3. Until 1970 he was the leader of the anti-Vietnamese irredentist movement Front Unifié de Lutte des Races Opprimées (fulro), which he had established in 1963 with Cambodian state support. One of its main objectives was ostensibly the liberation of Champa. Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro. Une lutte des minorités du sud indochinoise 1955-1975 (Paris: Les Indes Savants, 2006); id., “Notes sur les Caṃ du Cambodge”, sk, III-IV (1981), p. 176-180. Jaspan described this mosque, which was adjoined by a surau also used as school, as “large and most impressive” (“Koh Rokaa Village”, jp, dja (2)/1/3). It was destroyed under dk. Due to the exodus led by Tuanko Po, which was evidently more encompassing than the deportations from other Thbaung Khmum Cham-Malay villages, Pring is now an allKhmer village. Mohamad Zain, Cam-Melayu Abad Ke-19, p. 177.

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home to the faction around the Ang Duong-loyalist po before its displacement, and Roka Po Pram, site of the fateful rebellion. However, his account of the one commune he did visit (Boeng Pruol, described as the largest agglomeration of Chams) is intriguing. Among the almost two thousand inhabitants were only eight hajjis. The local religious teacher is said to have “hardly merited the title guru”51. This probably meant that he had no command of Arabic or Malay to speak of, let alone the ability to read Cham script, which would certainly have been noted. Although being mere conjecture, Ner’s negative assessment might actually have been representative of the overall situation in the district: its Muslim villages were apparently somewhat disconnected from the contemporaneous religious developments in the Mekong villages as well as from much of their distinctively Cham heritage. Nevertheless, Ner’s information on Kang Meas and Thbaung Khmum shows that scholarly culture and religious leadership, and thus surely also religious practice, was far from unitary in Kampong Cham. Whereas some areas such as Kang Meas were, due to their proximity and better accessibility, subject to preaching and supervision by Phum Trea’s religious authorities (in an informal sense), Thbaung Khmum was then probably still far less exposed to this direct influence of Jawization. If this was indeed the case, a figure such as Hj. Osman would have wielded far less influence here than elsewhere. The slow pace of Jawization and the physical reminders of a long-gone Cham past in Thbaung Khmum also resulted in the prolonged preservation of specific practices and cultural traits. Thus, it is certainly not coincidental that Roka Po Pram was, in the 1990s, the only known site to which pilgrimages were made to a venerated tomb of a Cham prince52. Despite being strongly discouraged by religious functionaries and many common believers, the devotional practices at the grave of Po Behim/Po Prahim witnessed by Jaspan in the late 1960s53 were evidently easily revived after Khmer Rouge rule. Other important gravesites of persons connected to Po Behim/Po Brahim pointed out by Wan Abdul Hamid, an informant of Jaspan born in 1885, located in Prey Totoeng (in Prey Chhor district to the northwest of Kampong Cham city) and at “Kien Khleang near Phnom Penh” (i.e. Chroy Changvar), have evidently been erased from local memory. Again, similar to the mentioned shrines in the Delta, a comparably constrained accessibility of the site is noteworthy. A general decline in popular practices at venerated graves seems to have occurred over the first decades of the 20th century, probably because many of 51 52 53

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 176. Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 65f. “Cambodian Cham History. Informant: Wan Abdul Hamid, born in Rokaa Bopram in 1885”, typescript, January 17th 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/2.

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them were associated with ancestors and local spirits instead of Muslim saints. Some three decades before Ner’s research, Cabaton reported Cham and Malay veneration of “numerous tombs of saints or Ta Lak”54. Similar dynamics were also observed in Cambodian Buddhism at that time, for local spirits referred to as neak ta (lit. “ancestors”) had traditionally played an important role in village Buddhism. Indeed, the close interaction between mediums (including those receiving from neak ta) and the Buddhist monkhood distinguishes the local expression of Theravada from its counterparts in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka. Yet neak ta cults and rituals have been declining, either being abandoned or transformed by more pronounced “Buddhicization”. Accordingly, many neak ta are now “dead people who were famous for their practice of the Buddhist virtues during their lives”55, a view that fits neatly into our pattern proposed above of shrines of Cham ancestors becoming those of Muslim saints instead. Thus, against the background of parallel Cambodian trends of the gradual disappearance of shrine/tomb-based ritual practices and the Islamization of the remaining ancestor graves considered spiritually responsive, the persistence of ritual at Po Behim/Po Brahim’s grave becomes even more remarkable. In addition, Roka Po Pram was the only place in Kampong Cham and Kratie where at least fragments of an ancient Cham manuscript have recently come to light56. Otherwise, there is no evidence for any Cham script texts in the region apart from three specimens collected by Jaspan in Phum Trea in the 1960s and another one shown to him in Phum Roka (Kampong Cham city) around the same time57. It should be noted that the owner of the latter explicitly claimed Cham royal descent and – to Jaspan’s bewilderment – “denied any relationship between Cham[s] and Malay[s]”. In addition, his name Nur Savan (i.e. a variant of Nosiravan58) was clearly not “Muslim”59. Whereas Thbaung Khmum district, or at least some of its villages, arguably represented one end of Kampong Cham province’s Muslim spectrum (i.e. its 54 55

56 57

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Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 171. Didier Bertrand, “A Medium Possession Practice and its Relationship with Cambodian Buddhism” in John Marston & Elizabeth Guthrie (eds.), History, Buddhism, and New Religious Movements in Cambodia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2004), p. 158f. (quotation from p. 159). Agnes de Féo, Les Chams, l’islam et la revendication identitaire (Paris, Mémoire de dea, ephe IVe section, 2004), p. 71. Hull History Centre, sea 8, sea 39 & sea 42. Merle C. Ricklefs & Petrus Voorhoeve, Indonesian Manuscripts in Great Britain. A Catalogue of Manuscripts in Indonesian Languages in British Public Collections (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977), p. 41; id., “Indonesian Manuscripts in Great Britain: Addenda et Corrigenda”, bsoas, XLV (1982), p. 306. Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 137 n. 2. “Cambodian Cham: Rokaa – General Evaluation (2) & (3)”, typescript, December 19th 1966, jp, dja (2)/1/3.

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already weakened but still resilient linkages to distinctively Cham traditions), Krauchhmar district represented the other. Housing the largest proportion of Cham-Malays in Kampong Cham and Kratie provinces, its important agglomerations such as Trea, Svay Khleang and Chumnik made it the centre of Muslim life in the Cham heartland of eastern Cambodia and beyond. In fact, the local Islamic schools’ scholarly culture still influences Muslim communities throughout most of Cambodia and the Delta. From Ner’s account we can infer that this has been the case since at least the 1930s. As such, the area was also a main motor of Jawization. Many contend that Phum Trea has always been the spiritual centre of eastern Cambodia and of the kingdom itself. During my first fieldtrip in 2005, urban Phnom Penh Chams with no specific ties to Kampong Cham held that Phum Trea has played this role for approximately a century now60. The status of these and other important villages is also connected to demographic aspects. In 1903, the khum of Trea had an overwhelmingly Cham-Malay population. The commune was flourishing both economically and socially not least due to their fishing ventures, which featured Vietnamese and Khmers as aides61. Located at an important ferry-crossing, it also profited from the rubber boom unfolding in Kampong Cham and Kratie provinces in the mid-1920s and 1930s, despite its relative distance from the plantation areas62. Of greater relevance for our study is Phum Trea’s role as spiritual centre. It was the only village in Indochina to host two major Islamic schools. One of these was run by the afore-mentioned Hj. Osman, who also wielded significant influence in downriver districts such as Kang Meas. Born in the 1870s, by Ner’s time he had already educated generations of students. The 35 pupils enrolled during Ner’s visit came from all over Kampong Cham and Kratie as well as from distant Muslim communities in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kampong Chhnang. The Cham-Malays of the Phnom Penh area in particular would have had prestigious Islamic schools and teachers in their vicinity as well. Part of Hj. Osman’s credentials and reputation derived from three trips to Mecca, one of which lasted for five years. Indeed, it seems that he had studied under one of the most eminent Malay scholars of his day: Ahmad Patani (Aḥmad al-Faṭānī, d. 1907), 60

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Personal communication with Set Muhammadsis (then vice-secretary of the Cambodian Muslim Student Association, now employed in the Cambodian Ministry of Education), Phnom Penh, July 13th 2005; Dr. Sos Mousine (then Under-secretary of State, Ministry of Rural Development), Phnom Penh, July 14th 2005. Mathieu Guérin & Gérald Vogin, “La paroisse des affranchis: Communauté, identité et religion dans le village de Kdol, Cambodge (1898-1979)”, Aséanie, XX (2010), p. 88f. Margaret Slocomb, Colons and Coolies. The Development of Cambodia’s Rubber Plantations (Chiang Mai: White Lotus, 2007), p. 45-56.

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the Patani network’s pivotal figure and the founding director of Mecca’s Ottoman Malay printing press63. Ner notes that nobody could match his authority and so he was “called on from throughout the country to visit religious communities, maintain orthodoxy and decide disputes”64. His instruction evidently followed typical jawi patterns (“Il fait lire le Coran en arabe et divers livres de commentaires en malaise”)65. At least two of his sons, Yahya and Muhammad Amin, also became religious teachers in Phum Trea66. The other local Islamic school drew even more students (66) and had a unique character by Cambodian standards: It was the only one to rely on an integrated curriculum that combined religious with general education67. It is intriguing that this truly pioneering modern institution was not established in any of the Muslim communities around Phnom Penh, but deep in Kampong Cham. It was jointly run by the revered Hj. Roun (Hārūn) and his son Mat Sales (Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ), whose scholarly achievements commanded considerable respect even on the Malay Peninsula. Accordingly, Ner characterized Mat Sales as the region’s most learned Muslim. Yet he was too young to wield as much prestige as his father or Hj. Osman. All three were, however, deeply steeped in jawi scholarship. Mat Sales, who would exert a major influence on Cambodian Islam in later decades, had spent ten years in Kelantan. Whether the eminent Hj. Osman disapproved of his school, which most likely drew students from far and wide, is not known; however, there is no mention of any conflict between them. Both Osman and Roun are still remembered as local luminaries in Phum Trea. The latter’s unadorned grave on the serambi (porch, balcony) of the huge village mosque serves as a reminder of his past glory. Its location, right beside the beautifully engraved tombstone of an earlier Kelantanese religious teacher who had died in Trea, points to the high status he must have enjoyed at the 63

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At least one of Ahmad Patani’s students has been identified as a Hj. Osman from Cambodia. H.W.M. Shaghir Abdullah, Fatwa tentang Binatang Hidup Dua Alam. Syeikh Ahmad al-Fatani (Shah Alam: Penerbitan Hizbi, 1990), p. 70. Even though this arguably fragmentary information does not allow an unequivocal identification, it would – given the small number of Cambodian Muslims with longer study experience in Mecca at that time – seem improbable that the person in question could have been any other than the famed scholar from Phum Trea. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 177. Ibid., p. 178. The reference to “commentaries in Malay” should not be taken to literally mean works of tafsīr. Ner was evidently not as well-versed in Islamic literature as Cabaton and exhibited a tendency to describe different kinds of non-Qurʾanic Islamic literature generically as commentaries. Personal communication with Muhammad Nour, b. 1929 in Phum Trea, tuon and former student of Hj. Yahya b. Hj. Osman and Muhammad Amin b. Hj. Osman, at Phum Trea, May 16th 2012. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 178.

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time of his death. In any case, both schools and their teachers were undoubtedly instrumental in steering the course of Cambodian Islam both within and outside the region. Ner provides no details on religious schooling and the like in the neighbouring commune of Svay Khleang68, which remains known for its unique minaret (ch. seʾung/medagha, ml. menara) that most probably dates to around 190069. Although the mosque’s architecture was, in line with the wider Cambodian pattern, rather modest, this major additional architectural feature was a far cry from most Muslim places of worship in the country and particularly in Panduranga, which commonly lacked minarets. Thus, its construction at such an early date shows that this was an outward-looking community. Ner also remarked that the village contained numerous hajjis. Related to these aspects is Svay Khleang’s traditional role as the seat for the highest-ranking Cham-Malay official in Thbaung Khmum/Kampong Cham. The title and position of oknha samdech borates (variously reproduced as brates, botes or bautes70) as director of Cham-Malay (lit. foreigners’) affairs had been introduced at an unknown but perhaps early date. It is listed among the “dignitaries of the interior” in the kram srok of 169371. According to Doudard de Lagrée, Cambodia’s first French Resident (1863-1866), the “Oknha Sâmdach Bautês” oversaw Cham and Malay affairs72, though most probably only in Thbaung Khmum. It seems quite likely that the incumbent was residing at Svay Khleang. By the 1930s at the latest, the title was primarily defined in religious terms, as it referred specifically to the head of Svay Khleang’s mosque, who featured among the country’s three highest-ranking Muslim dignitaries73 but still functioned as “chefs des [Cham-]

68 69

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71 72 73

Ibid., p. 178. It has been suggested that it was built in the early 19th century. Apart from the fact that this would be a surprisingly early date, the same account confusingly also claims that a local leader connected to King Monivong (b. 1875, r. 1927-1941) commissioned it. This is supported by H., a granddaughter of the notable in question, who asserted that he had been responsible for its construction. Ser Sayana, So Farina & Eng Kok-Thay, Cambodia: The Cham Identities (Phnom Penh: dc-cam, 2011), p. 7f.; personal communication with H., Herndon (Virginia), October 6th 2013. This is in harmony with alternative pronunciations still current today. Allen P.K. Keesee, An English-Spoken Khmer Dictionary. With Romanized Writing System, Usage, and Idioms, and Notes on Khmer Speech and Grammar (London: Kegan Paul International, 1996), p. 116. Leclère, Codes cambodgiens, I, p. 115. de Villemereuil, Explorations et missions, p. 69. “Liste des dignitaires cham nommés par Ordonnance Royale et par Arrêté Ministériel” (1936), anc-rsc 28319.

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Malais” of Kampong Cham province74. As most of the titles still used for high Cham-Malay dignitaries in Ner’s time were evidently either introduced or rather reasserted through royal ordinances passed between 1913 and 1921, it may be assumed that the connection between the latter title and the Svay Khleang mosque went back at least to that period75. The even higher-ranking counterpart to the Kampong Cham’s oknha borates was Phnom Penh’s changvang. This post, earlier held by Tuon Li, evidently underwent a similar evolution. Formerly probably more of a political or even military leadership position, the changvang of colonial times was, partly due to French influence, likewise primarily religiously defined. Thus, he served (at least from 1921 onwards) as the Cambodian Muslims’ highest religious authority and, at the same time, headed a specific mosque (initially always in Chroy Changvar, later in Chrang Chamres). It is quite intriguing that during the mid 19th century both of these positions were held by members of a family that, as discussed above, had a quite different religious orientation, more conducive to Jawization, than say, the representatives of the po faction with their evidently strong connection to distinctively Pandurangan Islamic traditions. It is remarkable that the Khmer kings – under the direction of the French colonial authorities, who generally “recast tributary relations with small groups [such the Kampong Pring po and Tuon Li factions] as relations with ethnic groups”76 – valorized Cham-Malay/Chvea ethnic capital primarily as religious – a rather convenient way to deal with an ethnically composite religious community. On the other hand, this approach had the inadvertent effect of further strengthening the role of strictly religious functionaries (tuon, hakem) – many of whom, through their scholarly activities, formed part of the jawi ecumene – vis-à-vis other traditional authorities, such as the pos. The last oknha borates before Ner’s visit to the village, and probably the last to reside there for decades, was Phong Yismann (ʿUthmān)77, who had received a personal visit to

74 75

76 77

This can be inferred inter alia from a certificate drawn up by the incumbent in 1933. ancrsc 8772. In their majority, they were already in use in the 1880s. Cabaton’s 1907 report on Cambodia’s Muslim religious hierarchy notes the existence of an official four-person leadership nominated by the king. Fourès, “Royaume du Cambodge”, p. 186; Cabaton, “Notes sur l’islam”, p. 45. Shawn McHale, “Ethnicity, Violence, and Khmer-Vietnamese Relations: The Significance of the Lower Mekong Delta, 1757-1954”, jas, LXXII (2013), p. 369. He is undoubtedly the same person erroneously called Sulaiman by one of Ysa Osman’s informants. Ysa Osman, The Cham Rebellion. Survivors’ Stories from the Villages (Phnom Penh: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2006), p. 77, 87.

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the village by King Monivong (r. 1927-1941)78. Additionally, the construction of the village mosque’s minaret is attributed to him79. Yismann must have died not long after October 6th 1933, the date given on the latest document bearing his signature located so far80. Ner noted that he had died a few years before his visit and that two people now claimed the position, both of whom were local traders, thus indicating that the ethnic capital’s primary valorization as religious was still in its initial stages. However, Svay Khleang, which would emerge as Cambodia’s first stronghold of Islamic reformism in the late 1950s, was by then firmly embedded in the regional sphere of jawi scholarship and clearly within the orbit of its centre, Phum Trea. The same was evident in nearby Peus commune, where ChamMalays constituted around 58 per cent of the population. Thus, Ner met a large number of hajjis and local scholars educated in Kelantan and Mecca in the villages of Peus, Amphil and Kampong/Phum Soai81. He was further told that one Kampong Soai villager was still in Kelantan after ten years. One of the two village teachers had also spent a decade there and was now applying, together with other villagers, to go on hajj. As Mecca and Kelantan remained accessible only to the few, a “very high number” of locals studied in Phum Trea. For the commune’s entire Muslim community, Ner attested an “extraordinary propensity for scholarship [“gout de l’étude”]”. This thorough engagement with jawi scholarly networks soon bore fruits. By the late 1950s, even regular villages like Phum Soai and Amphil had become minor centres of religious studies that drew scholars from the region as well as from distant places like Kampot82. This also applies to Chumnik, which by the 1960s rivalled Phum Trea’s status as “unofficial capital of Champa in Cambodia”83, a claim resting on Islamic (jawi) purity rather than on linkages to Pandurangan heritage. Chumnik is also a special place, as it probably preceded Phum Trea as prime node of Jawization in the region. Indeed, local tradition attributes the beginnings of pondok education to Hj. Muslim b. Ong Mau’s activities in Chumnik in the 1880s. Three later scholars from the village (Hj. Abdul Malik b. Hj. Shamsuddin, Hj. Abdul Malik b. Ong Brom & Hj. Husin b. Ong Gat) spent between 78 79 80 81 82 83

With Phong Yismann, the connection of the position of provincial director of Cham-Malay affairs to a specific place (i.e. Svay Khleang) apparently came to an end. Ser, So & Eng, Cambodia: Cham Identities, p. 8. anc-rsc 8772. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 178. Interviews with Tuon Ismail, age 80, born in Kampong Kendal (Kampot), at Kampong Treach (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Imam Muhammad Hasan, born in Koh Phal (Peus, Krauchhmar), at Phnom Penh, April 30th 2012. “Ideals and barriers in education”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2.

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eleven and twenty years in Mecca84. With respect to the role of names as symbols of Jawization, this group warrants closer attention, for all of them, except Hj. Shamsuddin’s son, were most likely the first hajjis in their nuclear families. Moreover, all of the non-hajji fathers bore Cham instead of “Muslim” names, in each case preceded by the Cham appellation for aged men, ong (lit. “grandfather”)85. Clearly, they are representative of the gradual local shift from Cham to jawi models in religious and social practice. Ner’s report on Krauchhmar shows that this district was a main site of Jawization in Cambodia. Apart from the wider Phnom Penh area (including Chrang Chamres, Chroy Changvar, Khleang Sbek and Kampong Luong), it was clearly its main locus. Moreover, impulses from the main center of Phum Trea radiated throughout the country. The students of the hajjis Osman, Roun and particularly of Mat Sales Haroun were all prime agents in the growth of pondoks, madrasas and minor religious schools, well akin to earlier developments in Patani and Kelantan. This was most pronounced in such Krauchhmar villages as Chumnik, Phum Soai and Amphil, all of which had hosted immigrant religious teachers from Kelantan between the late 19th and mid-20th century86 and came to affect many other Muslim communities in the country. Another case in point in Kampong Cham is Speu in Chamkar Loeu district, which at the same time profited from the presence of renowned former students of Mat Sales Haroun and of a teacher from Patani (Abbas Patani) and his son (Hj. Li b. Hj. Abbas Patani), and thus drew scholars from all over Cambodia87. Ner, however, witnessed only an initial, although highly important, stage of this latter process. Despite his altogether meagre information for Chumnik, Speu and the 84 85 86

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“Institusi Pengajian Pondok di Kemboja”, pgmk, blog entry dated January 25th 2012 (accessed June 22nd 2012). On the usage of this and other Cham forms of address, see Lafont, “Contribution à l’étude”, p. 170f. Tok Berbulu from Pasir Mas settled in Chumnik around 1870, thereby probably providing an initial impetus for the village’s development into an early center of pondok education, whereas Tok Kemboja Tua stayed in Phum Soai from approximately 1912-1932. The Kelantanese Tuon Said taught in Amphil in the mid-20th century. Interviews with Tuon Him, b. 1942 in Kor (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham), in Chrang Chamres, May 8th & 13th 2012; Imam Muhammad Abdullah, in his native Norea Kraom (Battambang), May 11th 2012; Man Seu (Hj. Musa b. Sulaiman, Deputy Province Imam of Battambang), b. 1953 in Chroy Metrey (Kendal), in Dam Spey (Battambang), May 11th 2012; Asyari b. Saleh, in his native Chroy Metrey (Kendal), May 17th 2012. Even Mufti Sos Kamry (Kamaruddin bin Yusof) hails from Speu and acquired his religious education ­almost exclusively from teachers there (including Hj. Li Patani and Mat Sales Haroun’s student Ismail b. Adam Flahi). (accessed May 21st 2013).

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Cham communities in Kratie province88, we may infer from subsequent developments in the two former villages that at least the major community at Chhlong in Kratie likewise fell within Phum Trea’s orbit. But as his report on Thbaung Khmum district shows, not all Cham agglomerations were equally exposed to these influences. Kampong Cham, Cambodia’s Cham heartland, was both a main locus of Jawization and a site for the resilience and transformation of distinctively Pandurangan traditions and practices. What Ner perceived as a minimal level of Islamic scholarship prevailing among Thbaung Khmum’s religious treachers may very well have reflected a different religious orientation, an Islamic discursive tradition only marginally touched by the ongoing wave of Jawization in Cambodia and the wider Malay world. This, as well as the processual and gradual nature of religious change in Kampong Cham, also accounted for the survival of distinctively Cham Islamic traditions into the 1960s and 1970s in the face of a major expansion of jawi schooling and then Islamic reformism. Thus, it seems as if this heartland, despite befittingly being a main arena of Jawization, exhibited more internal Muslim diversity than the Delta, thereby clearly contradicting simple unitary narratives. That this greater internal diversity did not entail any intra-community strife was assumingly mainly due to two factors. Firstly, the wide geographical distribution of Muslim villages permitted the existence of markedly diversified social and economic patterns within the region. Cham-Malay settlements included typical fishing villages, trading centres at ferry crossings, bases for Mekong traders as well as inland farming and forestry communities. This complex economic situation both brought about and facilitated the sustenance of a certain level of social and religious differentiation, thereby rendering local transformation processes more gradual and subtle, rather than erratic and conflictual. Secondly, and closely tied to the notion of gradual change, the renewed interaction of Cambodian Cham-Malay Muslim tradition with its Pandurangan counterpart, precipitated by population movements during the late 18th and 19th centuries, unfolded primarily in this very region. Yet despite the seeming canalization of inter alia religious cleavages into political ones, such as those between the groups associated with the sons of Tuon Set Asmit and the po of Kampong Pring, such an encounter was not necessarily confrontational. Intriguingly, the only Islamic manuscript in Cambodia discovered so far that contains Cham written in both akhar thrah and jawi, as well as Arabic and jawi Malay is sea 39 of the Hull History Centre, obtained by Jaspan in Phum Trea in 88

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 179.

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1967. The main part of this elegantly written manuscript, tentatively dated to the 19th century, is evidently the Cham translation of a Malay Sufi treatise. Despite being a Cham language text in akhar thrah, the translations and explanations of regularly inserted more or less substantial portions in Arabic are commonly introduced by Malay conjunctions (given in jawi and marked by violet ink)89. An appendix, seemingly written by a different hand, consists of Malay notes on the fātiḥa and the obligations (sg. farḍ) of the Muslim90. Finally, in the margin to this appendix we find a Cham note, evidently of a more recent date, written in (Cham) jawi91. There can be little doubt that the original author, and – given its flawless style – also the copyist (unless it was an autograph), of the manuscript’s main part was literate at least in Cham akhar thrah and Malay jawi, if not also in Arabic. At the present date, the main text is completely unknown in Kampong Cham but still widely used (under the name Bayan syarik) in kis villages of Kampong Chhnang92, i.e. among the sole representatives of enduring successful antagonism to Jawization. Yet sea 39 clearly shows that such antagonism did not initially prevail in Phum Trea. Nevertheless, as in most of Cambodia, Jawization eventually submerged Islamic scholarship in akhar thrah, something highlighted by the marginal Cham jawi note of a later reader of the manuscript. 3

More Divergence: Ethnic and Religious Complexities in the Chvea South

Muslim communities in the southern provinces of Takeo, Kampong Som (Sihanoukville), Kampot and, through recent migration, also Koh Kong, are characterized by the dominance of Khmer-speaking Chvea. Despite the claim that a loss of Cham language occurred due to Khmer Rouge repression93, Ner’s report (as well as the existence of Chau Giang’s jawa kur community, which most probably moved into the area from Kampot) documents the restricted usage of Cham in the whole region at a much earlier date. Among Takeo’s approximately 1.100 Muslims, Ner came across Cham-speaking villages such as Tuol Amphil; howerver, in many others, including the largest Muslim village (Kampong Yuol), only Khmer was spoken. Only the imam of Tuol Amphil, 89 90 91 92 93

Hull History Centre, sea 39, fols. 3v-93r. Ibid., fols. 93v-94r. Ibid., fol. 93v. See fig. 1. Personal communication with hakem Kai Tam at Svay Pakao and Ong Khnour Kai Tam at Sre Brey (Au Russey), May 13th 2012. Osman, Oukoubah, p. 5.

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Figure 1

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Appendix to Bayan syarik: akhar thrah, Arabic, jawi and Cham jawi (in blue ink on the margin) writing side by side. sea 39 ( jp, dja 2/2/3/1). Hull History Centre

the (presumably aged) son of a Javanese father and a Cham mother, was mentioned as being acquainted with the Cham characters. On the contrary, even the smallest Muslim hamlets had a kind of religious organisation and a mosque, or at least a surau, and were visited regularly by religious teachers from Chau Doc94. This again shows that Chau Giang and other smaller centres of religious study in Chau Doc had, at least since (and probably only because of) the eventual French pacification of the region in the 1880s, an unrestrained outreach to their co-religionists in southern Cambodia. More substantial Muslim communities are found in Kampong Som (Sihanoukville), Kep and particularly Kampot provinces. During Ner’s research, these belonged to the single administrative unit of Kampot province. Unlike the situation in Kampong Cham, Kratie and the Muslim villages around Phnom Penh, no centrally recognized Cham or Chvea dignitaries or holders of elevated positions in the local administration could be found in the province. Whereas local Cham and Chvea mostly engaged in fishing and farming (as well as producing palm sugar [kh. seaw thnaut, ch. sata]), due to their settlement in a border province they also played an important role in the military. Thus, 94

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 172.

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Kampot’s indigenous militia counted several “Malay” officers between the ­early 1900s and the late 1930s95. In religious terms, Ner regarded Kampot’s Muslims as lacking (“peu instruits”) in Islamic knowledge in comparison to those of the Delta and Kampong Cham. Yet the overall pattern of Jawization is, with certain intriguing restrictions, clearly discernible here because Kampot Chams and Chvea were also visited by preachers and teachers from Chau Doc and, to a far lesser degree, the Malay world96. In addition, local Muslims were strengthening their contacts to centres of religious education in Chau Doc, Chroy Changvar and particularly Kampong Cham, particularly from the late 1950s onwards. Certain agglomerations, such as Kbal Romeas, witnessed a particularly lively development of religious schools in the 1930s. Nevertheless, present-day Kampot province in particular has shown, shows and will continue to show a great degree of diversity in religious practice, organization and orientation. Due to the significant proportion of consciously nonCham Chvea communities, this cannot be entirely attributed to opposing residual Cham and Malay Islamic discursive traditions. Although these have played a role, more complex formations, only discernible with difficulty, were under way. These were, and still are, directly related to the trans-Cambodian connections of Kampot’s Muslim communities, which were not only, as would be expected, conducive to Jawization. Indeed, some of the apparently oldest linkages to Muslim communities in the country’s centre have bound parts of the province’s Muslims together with the most resilient tradition of opposition to Jawization with its spiritual and organizational bases at Chhouk Sar/Au Russey (Kampong Tralach) and Oudong. The greatest number of Chvea and Chams in Kampot resided in five villages in the commune of Kampot (i.e. around krong Kampot). Ner, who considered the local villagers fairly ignorant in religious matters, mentioned the village of Kampong Kendal, where the deceased Phum Trea-educated teacher could only be replaced by a villager with a bare minimum knowledge of Arabic. Even the former teacher had, unbeknownst to Ner, been born in Kbal Romeas, where religious education was evidently more developed. Nevertheless, his school, which had received an official license to educate up to 25 pupils in 193497, seems to have sown the seeds for an enhanced involvement in Jawization in subsequent decades. Two Arab teachers had reportedly resided in Trey Koh of

95 96 97

anc-rsc 12722; Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 175. Ibid., p. 172. anc-rsc 31714.

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the same khum98, however. One of them died before Ner’s time, whereas the other had departed99. Approximately 2km from Kbal Romeas village is the maqām of a Yemeni (most probably Hadrami) ʿālim, known by the Malay-Arabic composite epithet Datuk Zahid (lit. “Grandfather Ascetic”)100, which clearly points to a Sufi background101. There is evidence for other champions of zuhd (renunciation, ascetism) in the area as well as historical and contemporary links between the ascetics of Kampot and the kis communities in central and northwestern Cambodia. Kampong Kendal seems to have once been a mixed Cham-Chvea village. At least Ner was informed that both Cham and Malay were spoken there. But he rarely heard these languages spoken, as Khmer had come to dominate. In Trey Koh only Khmer was spoken, and villagers asserted that this had been the case at least since their grandparents’ time. It may be recalled that the Chvea lore with its Sumatran imprint, collected by Leclère in Trey Koh in the 1890s, was also in Khmer. Even though Kampot villages such as Kampong Kendal seem to have been comparably detached from, or at least only passively involved in, the trans-Cambodian educational networks of Jawization, this would change within the next two decades. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the renowned Hakem Tayyeb of Amphil (Kampong Cham), champion of the cause of the (ml.) kaum tua / (ch.) phong klauʾ (lit. “old group”) in the intra-community strife sparked by Islamic reformism, reportedly taught about forty students from Kampot alone (including from Kampong Kendal)102. Other villages of the province, however, were already deeply involved in such educational networks in the 1930s such as the “twin” villages of Kbal Romeas and Kampong Keh, which shared a common mosque and hakem. Highly unusual for the local surroundings, all of the villagers spoke Cham. At the same time, religious education must have been greatly valued because Ner counted three “Qurʾanic schools” and ten “écoles familiales”103. The latter commonly 98 99 100 101

102 103

Written “Troy Kas” by Ner, this is also the place where Leclère collected the Chvea traditions discussed above. Nowadays, this island formed by the estuary of the Kampot River houses three Muslim villages (Trapeang Smach, Trapeang Pring and Don Tauk). Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 173. Personal communication with two generations of a family of local religious teachers, Kbal Romeas (Kampot), May 6th 2012. He may well have been one of the Arabs of Trey Koh. The category of zāhid (pl. zuhhād) gains visibility with the third generation of Islam and becomes a significant current by the middle of the 9th century as one of the different strands of Islamic mysticism. Christopher Melchert, “The Transition from Ascetism to Mysticism at the Middle of the 9th Century C. E.”, is, LXXXIII (1996), p. 51-70. Interview with Tuon Ismail, a former student of Hakem Tayyeb, age 80, born in Kampong Kendal (Kampot), at Kampong Treach (Kampot), May 5th 2012. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 173.

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provided religious education in private homes, mosques or suraus to a limited number of pupils and were therefore not required by the French to acquire an official license104. Conversely, the former can be described as colonially accredited agents of Jawization. As will be detailed below, French authorities had made proficiency in (written, i.e. jawi) Malay a major precondition for obtaining a license. Accordingly, the 1934 acte de notoriété (i.e. a certified document used in the absence of a birth certificate) of Wan Moth (Muhammad) of Kbal Romeas, lists his profession as “professor in Malay schools”105. Accompanying rsc documents, moreover, allow us to take a closer look at Islamic education above the “familial” level in Kbal Romeas. As Wan Moth’s request to establish an Islamic school was being processed, those of Moth Doeur (Muhammad ʿAbd al-Qadir, who signed his application in Arabic letters), Tes-Ny and Tes-Mek received official permits in 1934. As many pre-existant schools in the 1930s were now forced to acquire official permits, their issuance does not necessarily imply a sudden growth in religious education. Nevertheless, the young age of the only two individuals among those involved, for whom such data could be retrieved, seems to support the assumption that it was a comparably recent development. Wan Moth was born in 1900 and Moth Doeur, despite being “a professor for a long time”, was only 36 in 1937106. Part of the initial demand had most probably been fostered by earlier visits of teachers from Kelantan, who had ceased their activities in the area during the depression years of the early 1930s107. Due to its full integration into the Cambodian network of jawi schooling, some villagers also studied in Chroy Changvar and, unsurprisingly, Phum Trea108. In contrast to the (then still) strong Cham imprint of Kbal Romeas, Veal Sbau (today Phum Sbau in Kep province) and Mak Prang (srok Kampot) were typical Chvea villages. In the former, only Khmer and a little Malay were spoken. The village had a mosque and a school, many of whose graduates continued their studies in Phum Trea. Even though only a few individuals took the same route in Mak Prang, Hj. Osman was considered the greatest teacher of all even there, yet another testimony to his country-wide prestige. The villagers 104 105 106 107

108

“Proces-verbal de la reunion du conseil local de l’enseignement au Cambodge”, October 2nd 1932, anc-rsc 27006. anc-rsc 31709. Ibid. The Kelantanese Muslims’ almost complete non-involvement in transnational religious activities during these years is most visible in hajj statistics. From 190 pilgrims in 1930, the numbers dropped to three, five and eight in 1932-1934, respectively. William Roff, “The Conduct of the Hajj from Malaya, and the First Malay Pilgrimage Officer” in id., Studies on Islam and Society in Southeast Asia (Singapore: nus Press, 2009), p. 343. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 173.

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referred to themselves as Chvea and, while claiming to have lived in the region for many generations, traced their origins to Minangkabau, Kelantan and Patani. Even though Khmer was the prevailing language, most villagers also spoke Malay109. Besides the comparably limited interest in pursuing religious education outside the village, there is likewise no mention of any (full-fledged) religious school in Mak Prang. It is therefore presumably not coincidental, but nevertheless quite striking, that the village, despite its pronounced Chvea background, would eventually, in an era of renewed factional strife, become affiliated with the “pure Chams” (cham sot) of kis at the turn of the 21st century110. In the present-day Prey Nup district of Preah Sihanouk (Sihanoukville) province, Muslims were dispersed over two communes111. Here, Chams were also outnumbered by Chvea. An exception was Tuol Totueng, which had been settled by migrants from Kbal Romeas around the 1870s. As in its mother village, religious education occupied a prominent place, as can be inferred from the existence of three local Qurʾanic schools112. Ner’s information on the agglomerations of Muslims in the present communes of Au Chrov and Boeng Ta Prom (then forming one khum named Sre Cham – “Cham field”) seems to indicate that Khmer functioned both as a bridge to the Khmers and as a lingua franca within a diverse Muslim community made up of native Cham, Malay and Khmer speakers. In line with our contention that many Cambodian Muslims settled in hitherto underdeveloped or unexploited regions, an ethnically diverse yet homogeneously Muslim community held sway over the area until three decades of Khmer immigration beginning in 1905 overwhelmed it. According to local sources, Cham refugees from Panduranga settled in the area around the time their homeland fell to Vietnam (1830s), whereas Malay settlers came from Minangkabau and Terengganu. This already diverse community was joined in the first decade of the 20th century by, most probably Khmerspeaking, newcomers from Kampot. Eventually Khmer became so prevalent that only a few people could speak Cham and/or Malay. The rivet point of this assembly of close-by Muslim villages was evidently Daun Loy, which housed 109 110 111

112

Ibid. Personal communication with Tuon Muhammad Hassan, b. 1979, at Kbal Romeas (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman), b. 1937, at Prey Thnorng (Kampot), May 5th 2012. In 2008 the district had at least 9.824 “Khmer Islamic” inhabitants. Their number could be even higher, as it is not entirely clear whether the relevant data of all villages was recorded. National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development (ncdd), Prey Nob District Data Book 2009, p. 49. (accessed September 19th 2012) Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 174.

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the area’s only mosque. Yet the surrounding villages had their suraus, and Qurʾanic schools were numerous. Nevertheless, Ner considered them, in line with his general assessment of those of the whole (then) Kampot province, as hardly educated in religious matters and as being able to read, but not understand, the Qurʾan. No mention is made of any traces of Cham script materials. He further highlighted that local Muslims were commonly neither undertaking the hajj (he met a single hajji, whom he assumed to be unique) nor travelling abroad for religious studies113. Thus, were it not for occasional visiting teachers from Malay (Kelantan, Patani) and Cham-Malay religious centers (Chau Doc, Chroy Changvar and Phum Trea), and the exceptional case of Kbal Romeas, Muslim life in historical Kampot province could be regarded as more or less self-contained. In fact, the comparably low level of formal religious education, coupled with the absence of a regional spiritual centre, helped shield the community from the kind of factional strife arising elsewhere. Moreover, the general absence of standardizing “institutions” preserved the community’s eclectic make-up, especially in present Kampot, to a remarkable degree and canalized it into distinct amalgamations. The gradual replacement of respective mother-tongues by Khmer, which has been ongoing since Ner’s time, seems to be symptomatic of these processes. Unbeknownst to Ner, and probably in part obscured by his search for religiously well-educated (i.e. along the jawi lines of Chau Giang, Phum Trea, Chroy Changvar etc.) believers, a specific resilient Islamic tradition of zuhd had developed in Kampot. Counterintuitively, this tradition linked Kampot to Islam in Greater Patani as well as to pre-Jawization and Jawization-weary Muslim spiritual centers in Central Cambodia. Thus, we will now take a closer look at the available material in order to elucidate this tradition’s past and present manifestations. 3.1 The zuhhād of Kampot and the Kelantan and Oudong Connections The above-mentioned Datuk Zahid, purportedly of Yemeni origins, was not the only zāhid or Sufi to leave his mark in Kampot. Around 1850 Hj. Hasan bin Abdullah, a Sufi from Bukit Panau in Kelantan, arrived in Kampot. Born in Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat) in southern Thailand, he moved to Kelantan with his parents early in his life. It is claimed that he studied under the eminent Sufi scholar Daud Patani in Mecca and then travelled to Cambodia shortly after the latter’s death in 1847. Syeikh Ismail b. Syeikh Hussin, another mystic from Kelantan, joined him around 1860. After a few years of teaching, they moved to Kampong Luong north of Phnom Penh. Syeikh Ismail, remembered by local 113

Ibid.

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Muslims as “Tok Ngok” for the way he shook his head during dhikr, allegedly founded the Chvea village of Tuol Ngok (neighbouring Khleang Sbek and Kampong Luong). Conversely, Hj. Hasan gained the favour of king Ang Duong and left behind a larger-than-life image as the saint “Grandfather” (ch. ong, kh. ta) San, the eponym of Cambodia’s Kan Imam San Islamic community, whose shrine is located on Phnom Preah Reach Trap at Oudong. At least this is what the oral traditions collected by the Kampong Cham scholar Encik Hussin bin Yunus in the late 1960s relate114. Contemporary kis representations of Imam San, however, are quite different. In line with their role as (seemingly late-coming) leading historic opponents to Jawization, their Imam San has no Malay roots. Thus, Cambodia’s most eminent Muslim saint is a contentious figure whose legacy is disputed. A contemporaneous French source contradicts the validity of the kis narrative. Moura, who had met “Ta-San” on the “hill of Oudong” in 1874 (and noted his continued presence there in 1877), reported that he was “a Malay saint” who had spent a long time among Chams115. Similarly, the fact that Tuol Ngok is a Chvea (not a Cham) ­village may be regarded as instructive. In line with the pattern of ancestral graves being discursively turned into those of Muslim saints, it is remarkable that a tombstone closely resembling a patau kut (i.e. a Pandurangan Cham tombstone)116 in Chumnik (Kampong Cham), that has long ceased to be the object of devotion, is claimed to mark the grave of Tok Ngok. According to this tradition, both he and Imam San were from Chumnik and left it due to a dispute over religious issues with a returnee from Mecca117. Thus, these two figures were evidently claimed by many, which points to their eminence and its wide acknowledgment at a time immediately preceding a phase of major religious change and intra-community strife. This accounts for the conflicting ways of appropriation and the accompanying narratives. They may also point us to an earlier Muslim spiritual geography in Cambodia that was ultimately submerged by Jawization. We will return to the kis traditions about Imam San when discussing the community’s formation. In present-day Kampot, earlier local traditions about Imam San have apparently been largely forgotten. Even a local 75-year-old devotee and his wife, who travel to the saint’s mawlid virtually every year, had only heard his story 114 115 116 117

Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 28. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, I, p. 462f. Thành Phần, “Kut (Cemeteries) of the Cham”, p. 342f. Emiko Stock, “From Tuolngok to Ta Ngok – A Journey of Islam across Cambodia”, ChamAttic, blog entry posted February 11th 2012. (accessed May 9th 2013).

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(according to kis tradition) in Oudong118. Thus, selective amnesia on kis’ part, combined with vanishing memories in Kampot, have obscured the important historical links between the latter area and Imam San’s shrine in Oudong. Indeed, taking these links and the lasting existence of a distinct local zuhhād tradition into account may help us solve one of the most puzzling aspects of the recent factionalism and institutionalized difference within Cambodian Islam: the seemingly sudden affiliation of twelve Muslim villages in Kampot with kis since the first years of the 21st century. Although the accuracy of the claim that Imam San had studied under Daud Patani119, albeit not entirely implausible, may be questionable, its inherent irony and what it would imply for the historic process of Jawization in Cambodia must be stressed: Essentially, the eponymous figure of an historically-molded and institutionalized opposition to Jawization had once been a student of one of its main exponents. It is therefore quite striking that local Muslims in Kampot told Collins in the 1990s that they felt a particularly strong connection to a certain Shaykh Daud from Patani. Even though the anthropologist was unfamiliar with this name, there can be no doubt which Daud had been meant. However, the great prestige and local influence credited to Daud were apparently a mere consequence of Jawization, for he became the most prominent author in any jawi curriculum of religious education in Cambodia, Patani and Kelantan. Accordingly, students of religion from Kampot studying in Kampong Cham or elsewhere were thoroughly exposed to his thought, something that was ultimately reflected in local advanced Islamic schools. And so, it should come as no surprise that Collins’ informants associated Shaykh Daud primarily with texts allegedly brought in by ʿulamāʾ fleeing Thai oppression. In this context, another informant made an assertion that perfectly fits our understanding of Jawization (including the role of language and script) and our contention that Islamic religious practices were far from unitary in Kampot and were, in specific cases and ways. akin to and related to those prevailing in certain distant areas in central and northwestern Cambodia: “the Cham already had a Qurʾan in the Cham script, and only prayed once a week. But the Patani teachers brought a new writing and authoritative Islamic texts which successfully overcame jalil [sic, ch./ml. jahil – “ignorant”, i.e. ignorance]”120. Praying only once a week, the major distinguishing feature of kis (hence their name kaum jumʿat [“Friday Group”]), and a practice nowadays commonly 118 119 120

Personal communication with Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman) and his wife, at Prey Thnorng (Kampot), May 5th 2012. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 296. The author bases himself on a new article by Nakula contained in the most recent edition of tusm, which I have been unable to access. Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 68.

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– though inaccurately – seen as unique to it, constitutes another link between certain Muslim communities in Kampot and others in the central/northwestern region. Unsurprisingly, the Kampot affiliate villages of kis are drawn from among those where this practice has been largely preserved until quite recently or even today121. Yet even the Au Russey-based kis leader assumed that, whereas the believers in these villages had either preserved or revived many ancient traditions, they nevertheless were at least in part – contrary to the bulk of kis – performing the five daily prayers122. Tellingly, Ner visited places within this set of villages, such as Tadap and the self-declared Chvea village of Mak Prang, with its population of Minangkabau and Greater Patani ancestry. Thus, distinctly Pandurangan Cham traditions cannot be exclusively held responsible, once more indicating that Jawization and local responses to it also affected non-Chams in Cambodia. Surprisingly, Ner failed to note a quite specific local Islamic tradition that both linked the local Muslim communities to certain counterparts elsewhere and was strongly connected to particular locales and to the ritual life of surrounding non-Muslim Khmer (Theravada Buddhist) and Chinese (Mahayana Buddhist) communities. Evidence of shared sacred spaces in Kampot, with all that this implies for processes of religious amalgamation and interaction, only strengthens and concretizes our assumptions about the existence of a local zuhhād tradition associated with, among others, the names of Imam San, Ta Ngok and Datuk Zahid. Pavie’s field notes of the 1870s123 represent the first and only Western account of these dynamics. On a general note, this French explorer related that Khmers, Cham/Chvea (“Kiams”) and, to a lesser degree, the local Chinese of Kampot habitually used religious and seasonal festivities as occasions for amicable reunions, during which separation was observed only during religious ceremonies proper and communal meals. Dietary taboos were 121

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Personal communication with Tuon Muhammad Hassan, at Kbal Romeas (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman), at Prey Thnorng (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Sos Kriya (Zakariyya b. Yusof), at Prey Thnorng Cheung (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Sam Sou, at Thvi (Kampot), May 6th 2012. Three years later he asserted that belonging to kis, which, according to him applied to twelve villages in Kampot, depended upon practicing Islam as in Au Russey. This would clearly imply praying only once a week and visiting Imam San’s shrine for his annual mawlid. Personal communication with Ong Khnour Kai Tam at Sre Brey (Au Russey), July 9th 2009 & May 13th 2012. Even though contained in his books detailing the series of expeditions in Indochina known as the Mission Pavie (1879-1895), his observations in Kampot were obviously made during his posting there as telegraphist in the 1870s. Milton Osbourne, “Pavie, Auguste (1847-1925) – French Explorer-Diplomat” in Ooi Keat Gin (ed.), Southeast Asia. A Historical Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor (Santa Barbara: abc-clio, 2004), p. 1038.

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thus evidently respected, whereas sportive competitions (from boat and elephant races to wrestling), frequently engaging contenders from all three ethnic groups (“chacun se posait en champion de sa race”), served as shared fields of activity124. While most of these encounters arose around Buddhist festivities such as the pchum ben (ancestor) festival, which even local Chvea lore refers to, Pavie knew that local Muslims also celebrated several distinctively local festivities. Every year he was invited to the one held at a limestone hill near Kbal Romeas (Phnom Sla Taon, nowadays also called Phnom Kbal Romeas). On such occasions, numerous Muslim families assembled in a large cavern that apparently contained the tomb of a saint or venerated ancestor. In line with reports about practices until recently conducted in Roka Po Pram (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham), the latter was decorated with small devotional flags. Religious functionaries prayed at it and sprinkled scented water in the believers’ presence. Following the ceremony proper, plates with provisions, sweets and fruits were laid out for a feast that was joined by Pavie and the invited Khmers125. It is quite possible that this religious festival was not (yet) directly connected to the mentioned zuhhād figures, although at least Imam San and Ta Ngok’s activities must have preceded his visits to the cavern. Strikingly though, the afore-mentioned report attributing Kelantanese origins to Syeikh Ismail (Ta Ngok) relates that while living in Kampot he used to meditate in seclusion in a covered hole in the ground126. Yet Pavie was told that the festival at the cave had been convened annually ever since the local Chams had arrived, which he estimated as comparably recent. He mentions ancestors, but no Islamic saint, as being the subject of the ceremony. Of course, these two categories are not mutually exclusive. Yet differing frames and discursive manifestations must be considered as relevant to the topic of religious and cultural change. Thus, the celebrants could well have been adoring an (perhaps princely) ancestor, as was the case with Po Behim and probably also originally at the discussed shrines in the Delta. It is, however, the long afterlife of these practices observed around 140 years ago, in this and similar other localities, that sheds light on the interaction between them and local traditions of renunciation. Moreover, they alert us to the linkages between Kampot and Imam San’s shrine at Oudong. Fieldwork in the area has shown that devotional practices (with an increasingly pronounced relationship to zuhhād traditions) at Phnom Sal Taon have remained ongoing. Moreover, the rituals carried out in the cavern at its foot 124 125 126

Pavie, Mission Pavie Indo-Chine, p. 28-34. Ibid., p. 39f. Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 28.

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must have been wide-spread or at least current among certain local Muslims until the advent of Khmer Rouge rule (i.e. a hundred years after Pavie’s observations), with some remnants even surviving into the post-dk era. Indeed, two local hills with limestone caverns are still associated with inter alia Muslim worship. Apart from the afore-mentioned one, Phnom Chhnork also houses a (Khmer) Buddhist shrine and the remains of a pre-Angkorian Shivaite monument in an even larger limestone cavern. Several local sources asserted that in the past, old men would retreat into the caves for dhikr127. One informant stated that “there were many people in Kampot in the old days that only prayed and practiced dhikr”128. Tok Amad, a recluse at Phnom Sal Taon, allegedly gained particular prominence as a holy man and visited Kbal Romeas only for major religious festivities. After his death, his tomb in the cavern became a pilgrimage site for supplicatory group prayers (ar. sg. duʿāʾ, ml./ch. doa), usually to call for rain129. Some informants assumed that these practices had ceased since the dk era, whereas others, including a Khmer “cavern guide”, claimed that some old people had revived it130. One noted that the last such event had been observed in the mid-2000s131.  Mawlid ceremonies were performed at the hill, which local Muslims commonly call Phnom Mawlad. Residents of the local kis-associated villages hold mawlid ceremonies there, both on the Prophet’s birthday and on the day of the mawlid of Imam San at Oudong132. As most of these villages are located further away from the site than Kbal Romeas, these ceremonies obviously are connected to a pilgrimage, which is akin to or perhaps even partly substitutes for the one at Oudong. As such, even the non-Imam San version of the festival cannot be simply compared to normal village mawlids. As far as Kbal Romeas – with its locally outstanding legacy of formal religious education – is concerned, the figure of Tok Amad seems to have submerged spiritual linkages to Imam San and Oudong. Whereas the younger generation (i.e. now in their twenties or thirties) of a family mostly made up of religious teachers had heard about the former from their parents, until recently they were completely unaware of any 127

128 129 130 131 132

Personal communication with Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman) and his wife, at Prey Thnorng (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Sos Kriya (Zakariyya b. Yusof), at Prey Thnorng Cheung (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Radiah, at Kampot, May 6th 2012; and with two generations of a family of local religious teachers, Kbal Romeas (Kampot), May 6th 2012. Personal communication with Tourman, at Prey Thnorng (Kampot), May 5th 2012. One informant (Tuorman) attributed the effectiveness of supplications to “the special powers of the ancestors there”. This range of opinions came from the informants listed in n. 614. Personal communication with Sam Sou, at Thvi (Kampot), May 6th 2012. Personal communication with Tuon Muhammad Hassan, at Kbal Romeas (Kampot), May 5th 2012; Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman), at Prey Thnorng (Kampot), May 5th 2012

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local connections to Oudong, let alone of the figure of Imam San133. This certainly tells us something about the existence of diverging religious orientations and different Islamic horizons among Kampot’s Muslims. Albeit less pronounced than its counterpart near Kbal Romeas, Phnom Chhnork shares a similar history of Muslim worship, as local zuhhād also withdrew there. Phnom Chhnork is dominated by Buddhist imagery and is slowly gaining currency as a tourist attraction, whereas Islamic references are prevasive at Phnom Mawlad. Nevertheless, both are equally representative of the area’s culture of shared ritual spaces. Indeed, closer inspection of the Phnom Mawlad cavern reveals that the inner sanctuary, which is very difficult to reach, had served the Muslim, Khmer Theravada and Chinese Mahayana Buddhist communities, all of which have reportedly used a central limestone pillar broad enough for one or two officiants to stand on. It still shows remains of already crumbling cement, which had been used to create a flat surface to facilitate standing, sitting and particularly kneeling on its top134. Moreover, in this regard the zāhid closely resembles the Cambodian Buddhist “forest monk”, who was more commonly attached to a master than a monastery. Their ambiguous role and highly respected position among villagers have, at times, caused tensions in the monastic order135. In sum, the emergence of the distinctive zuhhād tradition and shrine culture in Kampot, which appears to be totally absent in neighbouring Preah Sihanouk province136, has been influenced by a variety of factors: the existence of sacred spaces shared by all local religious communities, distinctively Cham 133 134 135

136

Personal communication with two generations of a family of local religious teachers, Kbal Romeas (Kampot), May 6th 2012. Personal observations at Phnom Sal Taon and Phnom Chhnork, May 6th 2012. Alain Forest, “Buddhism and Reform: Imposed reforms and popular aspirations. Some historical notes to aid reflection” in Alexandra Kent & David Chandler (eds.), People of Virtue. Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today (Copenhagen: nias Press, 2008), p. 23f. O Trav in Prey Nup district could probably be regarded as an exception. The village had been founded at some point in the (assumingly late) 19th century by Chvea settlers from Kampot. The local grave of a village elder named Noh, possibly the leader of the migration into the area, was perhaps regarded as a spiritually responsive place in the past. At least it has its place in local memory and is currently considered as an “important historical artifact” by the Documentation Center of Cambodian (dc-cam), which plans to “renovate” the grave as part of its plan to turn the village (with its 1963 mosque, a former Khmer Rouge dining hall and the grave) into the site of a memorial, a museum and an education center. Ser, So & Eng, Cambodia: Cham Identities, p. 14-17. But on-site observation shows that virtually nothing has remained of Noh’s grave, as it was reportedly marked only by (now decayed) wooden posts. Personal observation and communication with villagers at O Trav (Preah Sihanouk), May 4th 2012.

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practices of ancestor worship with increasingly strong Islamic references, the influence of foreign and local Sufis and an almost forgotten earlier connection to Oudong, the only trans-Cambodian Muslim pilgrimage site. Most probably all of these influences enabled the prolonged diversification of Islamic practice in the province as specific legacies were emphasised or gradually devalued among different communities during periods of subtle as well as accelerated religious change. In addition, and most importantly, the local configurations and their historical evolution have been and remain extremely complex. Contrary to the standard view that kis is the last preserver of true Cham Islamic tradition, ethnic background or endo-definition (i.e. Cham vs. Chvea) was not the decisive element; rather, this was probably the degree of exposure to Jawization. It also provides the common thread running through religious change, preservation and modulation of traditions, and recent instances of factionalism. Thus, Kbal Romeas and neighboring Kampong Keh, as far as can be inferred from Ner’s report and from several pieces of archival evidence, both consciously Cham and at the forefront of Jawization in the 1930s, have travelled the route of Jawization. This is also reflected in the twin villages’ present religious makeup. Kbal Romeas now houses one of Cambodia’s three largest Tablīghī Jamāʿat (tj) centers (markaz), including a madrasa and a mosque (Nūr al-Hidāya), which draws students from Pursat and Kampong Cham and enjoys strong links to Malaysia. Many of its teachers completed their studies at the Tablighi Dār al-‛Ulūm in Sri Petaling (Kuala Lumpur)137, and their students are advised to do the same138. Kampong Keh presently houses two large madrasas, one of which belongs to the Cambodian Madrasa al-Nikmah network of integral Islamic schools (all known by the same name), which relies on a Malaysian syllabus for secondary religious schools139. Conversely, the Maahad Imam Syafie is run by the Malaysian ngo Akademi Imam Syafie (est. 2008)140. In contrast, 137 138

139 140

Founded in 1995 by graduates of Deoband, this institution serves as the tj’s national headquaters. Dietrich Reetz, “The Deoband Universe: What Makes a Transcultural and Transnational Educational Movement of Islam”, cssaame, XXVII (2007), p. 156. Personal communication with Muhammad Ali, founder of Nūr al-Hidāya, born in Khleang Sbek (Kendal), at Bunga Emas (Kampung Penambang, Kota Bharu, Kelantan), July 20th 2012; Math Ali b. Ismail, teacher at Nūr al-Hidāya, born in Tuol Ngok (Kendal), at Kbal Romeas, May 6th 2012; Tuon Muhammad Hassan, Kbal Romeas, May 5th 2012; and with two generations of a family of local religious teachers, Kbal Romeas, May 6th 2012. Philipp Bruckmayr, “The Cham Muslims of Cambodia: From Forgotten Minority to Focal Point of Islamic Internationalism”, ajiss, XXIII, no. 3 (2006), p. 11. Personal observation in Kampong Keh, May 6th 2012. Ustaz Ly Ysaeu (Isa b. Ali), the organization’s official Cambodian representative, was born in Prei Thnorng (Kampot) and tellingly received his (integral) high school education at a Malay school in Yala

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Chvea villages such as Mak Prang, only marginally connected to the Jawization networks in the 1930s, have recently affiliated theselves to the “pure Chams” of kis to deal with the sudden exposure to global Islamic flows that have posed the major religious challenge to local Islamic practice since the high times of Jawization. 4

Factionalism Observed: “Trimeu”, “Kobuol” and “Hyper-Traditionalists”

Ner directly observed intra-Muslim strife and factionalism only among the Muslims in Phnom Penh and the provinces of Kendal, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang. There he saw a community split into two diverging trends that had canalized into clearly identifiable group identities. As with present instances of intra-Muslim religious factionalism, each group controlled its own mosques or at least claimed individual ones for itself in cases of dispute141. Nowhere is the process of Jawization and the strain it brought about more evident than in the formation of what Ner dubbed the trimeu and kobuol groups. Even though these labels are not attested anywhere else and became obsolete within two decades of his article’s publication, they remain influential in academic works on Islam in Cambodia. Basically, Ner’s terminology was to scholarship on Cambodian Islam what Geertzʾ tripartite scheme of santri, abangan and priyayi was to Java, even though the former became empirically irrelevant far quicker142. Ner’s scheme also involved three groups, as he identified a minor community of “hypertraditionalists” (attaché à une tradition plus ancienne encore) at Au Russey (Kampong Tralach)143. As with other more well-known dichotomies within Southeast Asian Islam such santri/putihan-abangan (Java) or waktu lima-wetu telu (Lombok), inidividual pure-types of these categories are naturally rare

141 142

143

(Thailand). (accessed May 12th 2013). For an instructive case of early Muslim history, see Najam Haider, “Prayer, Mosque, and Pilgrimage: Mapping Shīʿī Sectarian Identity in 2nd/8th Century Kūfa”, il&s, XVI (2009), p. 151-174. Already by the 1960s, a French anthropologist noted that this distinction no longer existed. Julliet Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay à O Russey. Syncrétisme religieux dans un village cham du Cambodge (Paris: PhD. Dissertation, Université de Paris, 1968), p. 22. It presumably became obsolete with the emergence of local Islamic reformism in the late 1950s. This latter challenge evidently not only precipitated new dissensions, but also new (re-) alignments and a closing of certain otherwise disparate ranks. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 187f.

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and thus represent only the most extreme cases of the spectrum. In fact, they might not even really exist144. Nevertheless, even before the stage of formal organization, rarely achieved in pre-colonial times and often not even envisaged in post-colonial ones, the formation of factions with specific group identities, core values and symbols of belonging subscribed to either in their entirety or partially, is a truly significant and therefore perceptible phenomenon. Thus, despite these qualifications and the questionable actual currency of the trimeu/ kobuol labels, the factionalism and group formation described by Ner actually existed and was empirically recognizable. Moreover, Cambodian Islam is still reverberating from their long-term consequences. In addition, an important historical source (i.e. a fatwa emanating directly from a main node of Jawization) clearly testifies to the centrality of the contentious issues involved, which concerned the proper performance of Islamic marriage ceremonies (nikāḥ). According to Ner, this division dated back only to the turn of the 20th century, by which time the dominant trimeu group was “characterized by the place it accorded to Malay in religious instruction, the explication of the Qurʾan and in Muslim rites themselves”. Indeed, in Ner’s description the trimeu epitomize our concept of Jawization. He further noted that both terms derived from formulaic expressions used in the Muslim marriage ritual. Thus, the former “had substituted the Malay formula Akou trimeu [aku terima], ʿI acceptʾ, for the Arabic Kobuol hambeu [qabūl/kabul hamba], carrying the same meaning”. He then opined that the underlying reason had been a desire to re-invigorate Qurʾanic education by employing a Cham-related language so that more believers could understand its contents, as Arabic formulas were mostly recited without comprehension145. Although there was certainly more to the process of Jawization than this, Ner well captured Malay’s overwhelming role in it. The expression kabul hamba derives from the Arabic qabūl. Kabul is a loanword in Malay, Javanese and assumingly also in other languages of the jawi ecumene. It is already attested in old Malay-Cham word lists from Panduranga, written in Cham script and tentatively dated to the 17th century146. Conversely, hamba is a (now outdated) formal Malay first person pronoun147. Apparently, 144

145 146 147

Compare the revealing observations on Islam and factional identities in Lombok in the 1930s, 1970s and the 21st century. Bousquet, “Recherches sur les deux sectes”, p. 153; Cederroth, Spell of the Ancestors, p. 87; David D. Harnish, Bridges to the Ancestors. Music, Myth, and Cultural Politics at an Indonesian Festival (Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaiʿi Press, 2006), p. 31-33. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 187. Po Dharma, Quatre lexiques, p. 368. R.J. Wilkinson, A Malay-English Dictionary (Romanised), 2 vols. (London: MacMillan, 1959), I, p. 391. Modern concise Malay-English dictionaries usually do not list the usage of hamba as a pronoun at all.

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the self-proclaimed kobuol defenders of Arabic vis-à-vis Malay must have had only a little actual command or understanding of the language. What seems to have been guarded instead was an oral tradition – or one probably once written down in a now forgotten script (akhar thrah) – or an ancestral language that had been influenced by Malay models. This appears to be the first documented case of the conscious or unconscious negation of an historical Malay imprint on Cambodian Islam or, in other words, of an antagonism between the supporters of jawi-oriented religious change and an opposition that denies the validity of their general approach inter alia in historical terms. Accordingly, the present kis claim to represent pure Cham Islam is necessarily connected to their assertion of being unpolluted by Malay influence. For Ner, the trimeu’s complete triumph was already imminent in the late 1930s, for he estimated that that they made up almost 80 per cent of Cambodia’s Muslim population. This is a crucial statement as far as the foregoing discussions on “concealed divergence” are concerned. As he documented factional strife and the accompanying existence of specific group identities only in Central and Northwestern Cambodia, he must have counted all Cambodian Muslims who did not belong to the kobuol or the “hyper-traditionalists” in these parts as trimeu, thereby implying an implausible degree of homogeneity hardly borne out by his own observations. Whereas divergence clearly existed in Kampot and Kampong Cham, things there did not come to a head and Ner apparently saw nothing substantial (except some religious teachers and believers who were peu instruits – an attribute he also gives to the kobuol) that would have contradicted the general trend of Jawization. Local Muslims who would, due to many shared characterstics, have most probably been labeled as kobuol or passed themselves off as such elsewhere, did not acquire or subscribe to such a quasi-sectarian identity. Whatever different orientations and Islamic discursive traditions may have existed in these regions, its respective representatives evidently lacked entitivity, “the quality of forming a discrete entity”148. Whereas there was undoubtedly an entity of Cambodian Muslims (vis-à-vis their Khmer Buddhist neighbors), kobuol and trimeu constituted oppositional factional entities under pressure. This ephemeral entitivity, the result of a conflict dependent upon specific cicumstances, caused these trimeu/kobuol entities and identities to become obsolete as the conflict faded away. More than that, as was the case in other regions that had witnessed factional strife (i.e. among successively emerging Sufi ṭarīqas or lineages within them), the challenge posed by Islamic reformism precipitated a re-alignment of the hitherto 148

Stewart, “Creolization, Ritual and Syncretism”, p. 10.

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competing groups149. Under such circumstances self-ascriptions burdened with a legacy of conflict were soon discretely discarded. One possible explanation for the emergence of a local factionalism, which was elsewhere absent, would be that Jawization was more gradual and subtle in the latter areas. Structural issues related to the deportations under Ang Duong must also have played a role. At least Ner’s “hyper-traditionalists”, then seemingly rather detached from the main conflict, are obviously the descendants of the group led to Chhouk Sar and Au Russey by the po from Kampong Pring. While these explanations of why divergence was canalized into outright intra-Muslim factionalism only in some regions are not entirely satisfactory, the recognition of such divergence and its respective characteristics is crucial to understanding and appreciating the local Muslims’ later reactions and coping strategies to the new challenges of Islamic reformism and then of different facets of Islamic internationalism. Conversely, as can be inferred from the historical trajectory leading to kis’ emergence as an officially recognized Islamic community, concealed divergence (and therefore potential entitivity among counter-currents to hegemonic Jawization) not captured by Ner’s observations on the trimeu/kobuol split, also existed in Central and Northwestern Cambodia. And, the trimeu group’s eventual victory did not establish Jawization as the only option for the region’s Muslims. In line with our emphasis on the roles of the hajj and of scholarly links to the Malay world, Ner remarked that only the trimeu sent their sons to study abroad and that they also made up the majority of hajjis. He estimated the total number of hajjis in the country at approximately 500 people, almost one per cent of the local Muslim population150. Whereas he characterized the kobuol as traditionalists heralding their attachment to prophetic formulas, as 149

150

On the case of Minangkabau, cf. Werner Kraus, Zwischen Reform und Rebellion. Über die Entwicklung des Islams in Minangkabau (Westsumatra) zwischen den beiden Reformbewegungen der Padri (1837) und der Modernisten (1908). Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Islamisierung Indonesiens (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1984); Fathurahman, Tarekat Syattariyah, p. 42-50. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 186. Even though his estimate was perhaps too optimistic, it would seem that the Cambodian Muslim community did contain a disproportionately high percentage of hajjis when compared with Malaya or the Dutch East Indies during the period. This development seems to have continued unabated into the mid1960s, when the annual pilgrimage quota supervised by the changvang was set at 80 pilgrims a year, and the latter estimated the number of hajjis living in the country – with some degree of hyperbole – at around 2 per cent or 3000 people. Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 21f. Guérin, with some reservations about basing himself on Ner’s estimate, suggests a rate of 5-6 per mille for the 1930s, which would be more or less on par with Malaya (6‰), where Kelantan accounted for the greatest number of pilgrims for three successive years (1936-1938), but significantly above those of Indonesia or Egypt (both 1‰). Mathieu Guérin, “Les Cam et leur ʿvéranda sur La Mecqueʾ. Lʾinfluence des Malais de Patani et du

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o­ pposed to flaunting jawi credentials, he identified the group at Kampong Tralach as even more traditional, somewhat peripheral to the conflict (s’entend­ ent avec tous) and fully enmeshed in their own world of distinctly Cham traditions, even to the extent of relying upon Cham in their ritual formulas. They were the only ones to preserve the Cham manuscript culture and knowledge of their ancestral history. The notion of them being “more traditional” than the kobuol is, however, misleading at least in the way Ner framed it. Whereas the “hyper-traditionalists” may have been justifiably regarded as exclusively Cham, this does not seem to apply to the kobuol, which raises the question of whose tradition was older (i.e. more primordial) or was being defended here. Another important factor is represented by the Cham and the Chvea’s special relationship in the country’s center with the Khmer court, which was neither easy nor a stable or one-sided one. Yet despite its twists and turns, the court and the French eventually managed to either control or coopt all of the different Cham and Chvea groups and their leaders, who at times acted very much like mere warlords. Thus, even if the narrative of unquestioned ChamChvea loyalty to the throne, cherished by many present-day Cambodian Muslims and politicians, is not historically accurate, those Muslims residing near the centers of power clearly experienced a completely different kind of interaction with the court and the French authorities. Indeed, the local Muslims’ disproportionate exposure to Khmer and French authorities and their policies seems to have made them more prone to open intra-community conflicts that could and would be directly referred, among others, to the central powers. Such referrals would have seemed less inviting in the more enclosed worlds of Phum Trea or Thbaung Khmum151. But it was a particularity of Jawization in a colonial framework that, at least in the center of political life, the list of regularly consulted referees included jawi scholars in Mecca, Kelantan and Patani as well as Khmer and French officials. 4.1 Cambodian Muslims of the Central Reaches and the Court In Phnom Penh’s suburbs, Ner encountered a strong Muslim community dispersed over Chrang Chamres in the North, Chroy Changvar in the East and Prek Pra in the Southeast. In addition, important Cham and Chvea villages

151

Kelantan sur l’islam des Cam du Cambodge”, Aséanie, XIV (2004), p. 49. I have drawn the Malayan statistics from Roff (“Conduct of the Hajj”, p. 343). The 1924 annual report on Kampong Cham submitted by a colonial doctor explicitly viewed the local Cham community as “a world somewhat apart from the indigenous world”. Sokhieng Au, “Indigenous politics, public health and the Cambodian colonial state”, sear, XIV (2006), p. 73. This was certainly less pronounced in places such as Chroy Changvar or Kampong Luong.

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such as Khleang Sbek, Kampong Luong and Tuol Ngok were located in surrounding Kendal province. Whereas the area’s great scholarly and spiritual center was clearly Chroy Changvar – unlike Phum Trea, it no longer enjoys this status – Chrang Chamres also boasted important mosques and religious scholars. Moreover, the country’s centre also had the highest number of Muslim dignitaries, which indicates that valorizing ethnic/religious capital within the Cambodian clientele system was felt to be far more important here than in comparably remote regions such as Kampong Cham, let alone Kampot. Accordingly, the connection to Khmer kingship, including in military and even ritual spheres, was closest in these central (kh. kendal) regions around both the old capital (Oudong) and the new one (Phnom Penh). The presence as well as the coming and going of Malay and South Asian Muslim settlers and visitors were duly felt, and religious teachers from Kampong Cham often settled and taught in places such as Chroy Changvar, thereby strengthening the two regions’ scholarly and often economic linkages. The distribution of dignitary titles to Chams and Chvea eventually became tied to the heads of specific mosques. In 1936, fourteen out of a total of seventeen Cambodian Muslim dignitaries were affiliated to specific mosques in Phnom Penh and Kendal. These included, most prominently, the oknha reachea thipadey changvang as “supreme chief of the Muslims of Cambodia” and head of the Ek (Raingsei) mosque in Chroy Changvar. Apart from two additional dignitaries associated with other Chroy Changvar mosques, the others resided in Chrang Chamres (4) and the Kendal villages of Khleang Sbek (2), Tuol Ngok (1), Sambour Meas (Kampong Luong, 1), Baren (2) and Svay Chrum (1)152. Baren (srok Saang), located south of Phnom Penh at the Tonle Bassac, and Svay Chrum (srok Khsach Kendal), situated at a ferry crossing on the Mekong’s left bank across from Chroy Changvar, two of Kendal’s less illustrious Muslim settlements located far from the string of villages north of the capital along the Tonle Sap, also had their own (lower ranked) dignitaries. For historical reasons, the oknha khnour of Au Russey in Kampong Tralach, the direct precursor of the present kis leader, is best included in the list of dignitaries residing at the country’s center as well. Thus, only two title holders remain in Kampong Cham, particularly the oknha borates, to represent Muslim communities elsewhere. It was suggested above that the appointment of Cham, Malay and Chvea dignitaries seems to have undergone a gradual transformation from primarily political leaders or ethnic war-lords to religious ones. This is not meant to imply that religious connotations were alien to these earlier functions. At the 152

anc-rsc 28319.

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same time, we have hypothesized that the state’s official valorization of ethnic or religious capital, or of a combination of both, may have helped weaken the authority of those who bore the Cham po title. As for the first aspect, it is intriguing that Tuon Li (and his counterpart in Kampong Cham) had been known as oknha/samdech borates changvang (“chief/judge of the foreigners”) under Ang Duong. Although it was probably taken as self-evident that these “foreigners” adhered to a different religion, this fact apparently was not as prominent in terms of community leadership as it would become under the French. This is also indicated by the fact that the “supreme chief of the Muslims of Cambodia” (probably until sometime into Norodom’s reign) also directed the affairs of the 280 (mostly Chroy Changvar-based) Cham and Chvea oarsmen of the royal junks153. Needless to say, the French and King Sisowath, who proved to be far more cooperative in and responsive to the Protectorate’s reform initiatives in religious and educational spheres than Norodom154, would have hardly associated this duty with religious leadership. Intriguingly, the commander of the infamous Cham volunteer corps in the Siamese army was also designated as Phraya Jawang or Chang-Wang155. Concerning the second aspect, by Ner’s time the court had retrospectively rationalized the privileging of religious over ethnic/political capital due to the local lack of any legitimate or widely accepted claimant to the community’s political leadership. Thus, a 1936 letter from the Minister of the Interior and Cults to the Protectorate’s delegate to the Cambodian government, providing “necessary information on the general situation of the Cham-Malay clerical hierarchy of Cambodia”, claimed that even before the French arrived there had “not been a single authentic descendant of the Cham-Malay [sic] royal or princely family called Po-Thiay” in the country156. As a result, the dispersed population was living under the Khmer civil law while preserving its Islamic religion. This report contains an interesting concise sketch of the evolution of the Muslim dignitary system, which had, by the time it was drafted, developed into a hierarchy proper. Thus, we learn that “for many years the population had been placed, for each determined region, under the spiritual authority of the 153

154 155 156

The document in question, which dates to 1915, speaks of the oknha’s role in this sphere in the past tense and notes that the “deceased king” (i.e. Norodom, d. 1904) had invested two other functionaries (one Cham, one Chvea) with authority over the oarsmen. This seems to suggest that the arrangement stemmed at least from Ang Duong’s time and was then changed under Norodom. anc-rsc 23269. Forest, “Buddhism and Reform”, p. 26-28; John Tully, Cambodia under the Tricolor. King Sisowath and the “Mission Civilisatrice” 1904-1927 (Clayton: Monash Asia Institute, 1996). Raymond Scupin, “Islam in Thailand before the Bangkok Period”, jss, LXVIII, 1 (1980), p. 68f. anc-rsc 28319.

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head of a mosque”. Clearly, many areas with more or less numerically significant Cham or Chvea populations did, however, not figure among these “determined regions”. More intriguing is the information as to who was responsible for nominating the leaders in question. Surprisingly, this duty fell (until his death) to the Venerable Tieng, the patriarch of the Mahanikay Buddhist order. Norodom had installed him as the supreme patriarch (sanghareach) of Cambodian Buddhism in 1880, when he, following King Mongkut’s example in Siam, created a (not yet thoroughly structured) national sangha (community of Buddhist monkhood) to replace the established system of more or less autonomous pagodas. With this reform, Norodom also gave official (though secondary, as can be inferred from the distribution of the supreme patriarch title) recognition and legitimacy to the competing emergent second Buddhist order, the Thommayuth, which henceforth would be headed by its own patriarch157. It is quite plausible that this dual structure presaged, or provided the blueprint for, the official recognition of two separate Islamic communities over a century later. Moreover, the supreme patriarch’s role evidently extended even into the domain of Islam. Given the absence of an established country-wide system, most of the nominated Muslim dignitaries lived in areas close to the capital, where Tieng, in his capacity as head of the famous Wat Ounaloum158, was living even before his ascension to the post. Given this close association with the position of supreme patriarch, the seals of Muslim dignitaries would soon be closely modeled after those of Buddhist patriarchs (i.e. bearing the contours of respective, quite similar looking, pagodas/mosques). When Tieng died in 1913, a new process was devised: Mosque leaders would be nominated via royal ordinances issued directly by the palace. In 1921, toward the end of King Sisowath’s long reign (1904-1927), a new royal decree established the office of the oknha reachea thipadey changvang as the Muslim counterpart to the Buddhist supreme patriarch. This new position, in line with the similar (compared to Norodom’s system more thorough) pyramidal, hierarchical structure of the sangha introduced under Sisowath159, was defined as follows: “All the heads of mosques are subject to the spiritual authority of a supreme chief residing at Chroy Changvar, who is himself leader of a mosque. This supreme and spiritual leader is placed under direct control of the Ministry of Cults and has to serve as intermediary between the administration and the

157 158 159

Edwards, Cambodge, p. 109f. Ibid., p. 112. Forest, “Buddhism and Reform”, p. 27.

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diverse heads of mosques in matters of the Muslim religion”160. As the peculiar formulation “supreme and spiritual leader” appears several times, we may take it, despite the reference to religious issues, as an echo of earlier political notions of leadership among the Cham-Malays, which deliberately implies that the changvang was meant to represent the community not only in strictly religious terms. Apparently, this development went hand in hand with the nomination of provincial leaders, such as the oknha borates of Svay Khleang in Kampong Cham and in other provinces, making them the precursors of today’s province imams (imam khaet)161. Moreover, Sisowath’s 1921 decree specified that lowerranking Muslim dignitaries were to be appointed by the Ministry of Cults and higher-ranking ones (i.e. holding the oknha title) by the king162. Yet despite all attempts to reform and systematize the hierarchy of Muslim dignitaries, the pre-reform oknhas and other minor dignitaries kept their titles way into Ner’s time. This is also reflected in the selection process to find a successor to the deceased changvang Hj. Tuorman (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, d. 1935), who had served as head of the Chroy Changvar mosque of Ek and as national Muslim spiritual leader since at least 1906163. Thus, before making any nomination the Ministry of Cults felt compelled to “proceed with essential consultations with various mosque leaders, who are advanced in years and holding the oknha title with 7-9 huban (pâns de dignité)”. Holding on to the old pattern of title distribution was also one way to ward off the potentially controversial ascension of comparably young upstarts. By 1936 the trimeu/ kobuol conflict was well underway, as was intra-trimeu strife in crucial Chroy Changvar. It was presumably against this background that King Monivong had declared in December 1935, on the occasion of the tang tok festival (part of the celebrations of the king’s birthday) that traditionally involved Muslim dignitaries, that “young Chams and Malays were no longer to be directly accorded the oknha titles without having passed through lower dignitary ranks”164. But royal recognition and the distribution of titles did not necessarily coincide with the levels of prestige and authority accorded by the believers. This explains why the most widely revered Islamic

160 161 162 163 164

anc-rsc 28319. I have, however, only encountered unequivocal documentary evidence for such a position in Kampong Cham. “Ordonnance Royale”, January 13th 1921, anc-rsc 27641. “Commissaire Central Boucly à Résident Maire”, dated May 6th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. This source mentions a royal ordinance of 1906 specifying his intended role as religious leader. It was most likely issued upon his nomination to the position. anc-rsc 28319.

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teachers (be they in Phum Trea, Chroy Changvar or Chau Giang) wielded actual supreme authority within the community. The above reference to the tang tok festival brings up another aspect of the special relationship between the court and its Muslim dignitaries. These dignitaries (as well as the Cham-Chvea orchestras) were also, besides the more prominent representatives of the Buddhist hierarchy, among the official participants in all kinds of royal festivities. While this was certainly a long-established practice, a clearer picture of Muslim participation in court ritual emerges only through early 20th century French reports. Accordingly, “Malay” representatives were present at Norodom’s cremation in 1904165. Chams and Chvea were also known for their legendary role as competitors in the boatraces held during the water festival. Under Norodom, the royal port of Kampong Luong with its strong Muslim population (including two oknhas) had also been the site of a special “cérémonie antique de l’ondoiement” (apparently a kind of christening of ships)166. The ceremonies surrounding Sisowath’s coronation in 1906 included a procession featuring twenty Muslim mandarins and a “Malay” orchestra. Cham-Chvea musicians also performed during the “threeday-king” festival, marching in front of two hundred Chams and Chvea in full dress in the processions forming part of the celebrations related to the ritual “cutting of hair” of members of the royal family167. In 1904 Leclère observed the still extant practice of Muslim dignitaries (prêtres mahométans des Malais et des Chams) performing the prayers during the tang tok festival on the second day of the king’s birthday celebrations. Tellingly, the Muslim religious functionaries appeared after the two Buddhist orders had performed their hourslong prayers168. In 2012 one hundred Muslim dignitaries and officials were invited to the celebration during which, analoguous to the dual performance of Buddhist ritual, the Mufti of Cambodia and the oknhang khnour of kis both recited from the Qurʾan169. Both of their predecessors had most probably also participated in the 1904 ceremony, albeit – as opposed to the Buddhist context – not yet as the representatives of an officially bifurcated religious community. It should now be clear that the Cham-Chvea community in the country’s center was far more exposed and interacting with the Cambodian and French authorities than their counterparts elsewhere. As far as Chroy Changvar as seat 165 166 167 168 169

Henri Marchal, “Souvenir d’un ancien conservateur d’Angkor. Chapitre II: Cérémonie d’incinération du Roi Norodom”, Aséanie, XVIII (2006), p. 174. Leclère, Fêtes civiles et religieuses, p. 276. Ibid., p. 49, 313, 470. Ibid., p. 332. Personal communication with Mon Kriya, invited Muslim representative of the Ministry of Religion, Phnom Penh, April 30th 2012.

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of the changvang and home to a major Muslim community was concerned, its transformation into Phnom Penh’s sixth town quarter greatly enhanced this exposure because the local Muslims now found themselves subject to direct colonial intrusions into their lives. This included the application of French sanitary law, including the examination of corpses for epidemiological tracking, a practice that 300 local signitories of a petition opposed on religious grounds170. Similarly, the maintenance of order in cases of intra-religious conflict, which would become rampant in the 1930s, now fell under the purview of the metropolitan police. Clearly, the widening spectre of colonial administration meant that Islamic issues were no longer confined to Muslim circles. This latter aspect is, however, less visible in Ner’s report on the area’s contemporary intra-Muslim strife, which now will be revisited and analyzed. Mapping Muslim Factionalism in Central and Northwestern Cambodia During his fieldwork in Chroy Changvar (1931 and 1937), Ner noted that many Muslim villagers (or their ancestors) had only moved there from Khleang Sbek in 1867, after Norodom had left Oudong for Phnom Penh171. This move concerned the Chams as well as the Chvea, both of which tellingly agreed that the arrival of Malay Muslims had been instrumental in bringing local Chams into the fold of orthodox belief and practice. The position of the highest Muslim dignitary followed the king downriver to the new capital. Accordingly, Cambodian Muslims had informed Bastian in 1864 that “[t]he most senior member of their clergy [..] lived in Kransabek [Khleang Sbek]”172. Ner also remarked that the strong local orientation towards trade, fishing and river transport resulted from the Protectorate’s excluding them from administrative and military positions. Thus, adverse French policies could have strengthened contact with Muslim traders and communities along the main rivers. Indeed, although he is silent about Chroy Changvar’s connections to the Muslim villages and centers of learning along the Mekong in Kampong Cham, archival sources of the period show that many of the local religious teachers had roots in Krauchhmar. He duly noted the residence of the changvang Hj. Ismail, the successor of the afore-mentioned Hj. Tuorman, and other high Muslim dignitaries there, but not the existence of the village’s three mosques – he mentions those of Ek and Muk Dach, but not Kolaloum, which was also connected to a high ­dignitary 4.2

170 171 172

anc-rsc 1347; Sokhieng, “Indigenous politics”, p. 73f. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 165f. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 126.

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(i.e. the oknha masphty [mufti])173. Conversely, the number of two authorized Islamic schools allowed to function there (in 1937) appears to be accurate. Their presence (and the far more lively state of Islamic education there just a few years earlier) undoubtedly enabled Chroy Changvar, as opposed to other nearby Muslim villages, to serve as the regional spiritual center of Islam. The more prestigious school was directed by Hj. Mat Sales (Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ), “one of the most famous teachers in Cambodia, only rivalled by [Phum Trea’s] Hj. Osman and Mat Sales”174. Indeed, Chroy Changvar’s Mat Sales was an important but controversial figure, for he epitomized the process of Jawization. Born in the 1860s in Svay Khleang (Kampong Cham), he had spent fifteen years studying abroad175, eleven of them in Mecca176, and was presumably the most prominent Cambodian student of the eminent Meccan mufti Ahmad Patani (Aḥmad al-Faṭānī, d. 1907). Moreover, he evidently maintained contact with his teacher after returning to Cambodia, as can be inferred from a joint request for a legal opinion (fatwa) sent to Mecca by him and two other Cham scholars from Chrang Chamres (his earlier place of residence), who were most probably former students of Ahmad Patani as well177. Ner provides no information about the second licensed local Islamic school and its director. However, we learn from archival sources that a certain Moth Hj. Taos/Touos (Hj. Taos [?] b. Muhammad), born in 1884, passed the necessary examination for the teacher certificate in 1934. By that time, he was evidently an already well-established scholar who, following a longer period of study in Thailand (i.e. Patani), had spent a year in Mecca. The authorities credited him with great (Malay) language proficiency and noted that he had taught numerous Cham and Malay adults since 1923. Moreover, he had run an unregistered school in his house from 1914-1934. The authorities also stressed that his family had a tradition of Islamic scholarship and had settled in Chroy Changvar long ago178. Both Math Sales and Hj. Taos appear as paradigmatic trimeu scholars, local main agents of Jawization, with their strong connections to the jawi scholarly networks of the day stretching from Cambodia via Patani and Kelantan to 173

174 175 176 177 178

anc-rsc 28319. Only the Ek mosque, which was built during the reign of Norodom, dates back to the 19th century. anc-rsc 35825 (anonymous and undated “Rapport d’emissaire” in the file). Like most of its surrounding Muslim community, this historic mosque that survived the civil war and dk eventually fell victim to an ambitious urban development program in 2011. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 166. anc-rsc 35825. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 166. Aḥmad al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya (Patani: Patani Press, 1377/1957), p. 4. anc-rsc 8465; 26919; 8592.

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Mecca. What is more, they (and Mat Sales’ high-ranking patrons) were clearly not the only ones. Indeed, unbeknownst to Ner, the French had just closed seven unauthorized local schools in 1934, each of which had been operating for at least three up to seventeen years179. Ner most probably labelled most or even all of them as trimeu, thus making Chroy Changvar this faction’s stronghold, as he perceived it. As the kobuol, with their detachment from jawi scholarship and narrow focus on Qurʾanic recitation, rudimentary Arabic and oral expositions in Cham or Khmer, were a priori virtually barred from passing the mandatory examination to acquire certificates, the French crackdown possibly both narrowed the trimeu sphere and strengthened the prevailing process of Jawization at the expense of the last kobuol(-style) schools180. In contrast to seemingly totally trimeu Chroy Changvar, the even larger suburb of Chrang Chamres presented itself as being split along factional lines, with one of its mosques belonging to the trimeu and the other to the kobuol. This split was certainly not a very recent occurrence, for the afore-mentioned request for a fatwa from Ahmad Patani in 1903 was perhaps related to it. Unfortunately, Ner is silent about the respective mosques’s locations and names, although he does note that the trimeu mosque was juxtaposed between a beautiful minaret and a surau. The substantial number of 29 hajjis in the village was certainly also mostly drawn from among the trimeu. Perhaps reflective of their mosque’s more diversified congregation, its surau had been the gift of a Phnom Penh-based Indian cloth merchant181. More has plausibly argued that this donor might have been the Tamil Janab S. Abdul Karim (d. 1973), a successful merchant, local landholder and person of influence at court well into the 1940s182. This seems to be supported by the fact that he contributed to mosques in his native Karaikal (in the present-day Union Territory of Puducherry, India) and Saigon (i.e. the present Central Mosque at Dong Du Street) and evidently helped finance the rebuilding of a Chroy Changvar mosque in the early 1930s183. In Prek Pra, the remaining Muslim suburb of Phnom Penh located at the Tonle Bassac, Ner became acquainted with a scholarly family that ­encapsulated 179 180

181 182 183

anc-rsc 8465. Only two local schools remained open, namely the establishments of Hj. Taos and of Hj. Sop (Yusuf), the only individual among the listed teachers already past sixty. The latter’s school was allowed to continue as it had only two students. The locals probably regarded his mode of instruction as being out of date. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 166f. More, “Pathan and Tamil”, p. 121f., 126 n. 6. Coming from French colonial territory in India was certainly no disadvantage in this respect. anc-rsc 35825.

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the major shifts associated with Jawization within two generations184. The 800 Chams of this Muslim village, unusually devoid of any Malay element, specialized in livestock trading, which naturally required extensive networks. Cattle were purchased nationwide (presumably particularly in Kampong Cham) and resold to butchers in Phnom Penh, other Cambodian towns and especially in Saigon185. Beside the village mosque, Ner found a newly established Islamic school that had been built in 1936. Its founder-teacher was an obviously well-educated man, who, having studed for seven years in Kelantan, could speak and write in Khmer, Arabic, Malay and English, apart from knowing a little French. As instruction in English was not part of pondok education, the tuon must have attended the mui’s integrated Madrasah al-Muhammadiah (est. 1917) in Kota Bharu. Assuming that he acquired his written Arabic there as well, he must have begun his studies there before 1921, the final year of Arabic instruction at the school186. The fact that this prestigious madrasa had to close its Arabic division due to a lack of available teachers and funds is instructive concerning the character of Jawization in the self-proclaimed heartland of jawi Islamic education. This is not to suggest that Kelantan was entirely devoid of suitable Arabic teachers. Perhaps the limited numbers locally available have been unwilling to leave their pondoks and suraus to work for the mui and its modern-style school. However, it should draw our attention to jawi’s dominant role in religious education, which directly affected students from Cambodia or Vietnam. Thus, whereas Prek Pra’s tuon was the product of a by then well-established tradition of jawi education, another tradition was being lost in Prek Pra and the entire Phnom Penh area. Ner noted that the teacher’s 80-year-old father Males Muhammad, himself a hajji (most probably the first one in his family), was said to have been the last local Cham possessing knowledge of akhar thrah. In fact, he mentions no one else with such proficiency in his account of Muslim life in and around the capital. Evidently, Males Muhammad must have been the last (or one of the last) scholar of akhar thrah and its manuscript culture in this major area of Cambodian Muslim life. In contrast, his son became fully socialized in jawi traditions of learning without inheriting his father’s ability to access ancient Cham script, despite his versatility in language and script learning. In addition, Ner had the opportunity to witness this community’s outwardlooking nature in connection with a returning family of pilgrims – no less than 184 185 186

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 167. Ibid., p. 170. Abdullah Alwi, “Development of Islamic Education”, p. 196-198.

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twenty villagers journeyed to Saigon to receive a couple of hajjis who had left their two sons in Mecca to study. Given their village’s well-established business ties to Saigon, other incentives could also have been at play here. Nevertheless, the pilgrims’ very festive reception in Prek Pra included a long procession to their house and a feast, thereby testifying to the hajj’s centrality and the prestige associated with hajjis in the local imagination. A bit further downriver, the French scholar visited the Muslim community of Prek Tapeou (which he calls Prek Thnot) in Takhmau, located on the river’s opposite bank. The local Qurʾanic school teacher originated from Chau Doc, where he had pursued his studies, most probably in Chau Giang, the regional spiritual center and node of Jawization. The Muslim village of Svay Chrum (srok Khsach Kendal), located directly opposite Chroy Changvar, was still a recent settlement at the time of Ner’s visit187. Indeed, he reported that its inhabitants, all Chams, had only arrived around a decade ago (i.e. sometime in the 1920s) from Chroy Changvar. An archival record states that the administration of Chroy Changvar village (i.e Phnom Penh’s sixth quarter) had ordered their deportation188. Compared with what we know of that village’s religious and social spheres, with its strong exposure to and imprint of Jawization, Ner’s description of the Svay Chrum community is quite striking. Accordingly, the village’s ethnic and religious orientation appeared to differ markedly from that in Chroy Changvar. Whereas the village hakem, certainly no longer a young man, had some rudimentary knowledge of akhar thrah, very few villagers knew Malay. Moreover, Ner actually saw some explicit anti-Malay animosity, most probably not to be conflated with local Chvea but rather referring to visiting foreigners. Indeed, he was told that Malays had sojourned in the village and collected donations to build mosques but had subsequently departed without proving that the donated money had been spent for the intended purpose. Taking place in a religious framework, this negative experience could have reinforced pre-existent tendencies related to the intra-religious strife, which elsewhere in the area had canalized into the trimeu-kobuol conflict. Perhaps Ner did not label this village as kobuol, despite the obvious local reticence against things Malay and the low level (or virtual non-existence) of jawi education, because it was somewhat removed from the conflict zone, which then stretched north from Chrang Chamres up to Battambang, with all of the involved communities lying to the West of the Tonle Sap. He was also unaware that the village had been affected by a serious religious controversy a few years before his arrival. 187 188

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 168. anc-rsc 30385.

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Although some important details about the conflict remain obscure, it seems to have primarily resulted from public discontent with a new claimant, most probably with trimeu credentials, to local religious authority. Thus, whereas the village’s religious life had initially been untroubled, in 1933 a certain Mot Hoeu had reportedly demanded to be elected the mosque’s leader, a post that until then had been held by Kim Man (Hakem Sulaiman). Evidently the villagers must have initially yielded, which was most probably also related to the fact that Mot Hoeu had founded a religious school in the village189. Given this, I would suggest that he was perhaps a returnee who had studied in some Cambodian or Malay centre of learning, which provided him with a certain amount of local prestige. But the villagers soon became impatient with him, and the seeds of conflict were sown. Yet the ensuing conflict hardly qualifies as factionalism, for Mot Hoeu apparently became increasingly isolated and never became the leader of anything resembling a faction. In early 1934 he submitted three complaints to the authorities regarding a certain Moeu Leas and his company, whom he accused of “causing troubles among the believers to divide the [followers of the] Muslim religion into two parties during the religious ceremony”190. Notwithstanding this claim, 97 villagers – which must have constituted the great majority of male adults and, presumably, almost all the heads of the one hundred households noted by Ner a few years later – requested Mot Hoeu’s deposition and Kim Man’s reinstatement. Even though one reason given for this demand was the incumbent’s “ignorance of the Qurʾan”, a common-place denunciation in instances of intra-Islamic dispute, the others seem to support our picture of Mot Hoeu as a disruptive force due to his tactless promulgation of new teachings. Accordingly, he was also charged with lack of respect and obvious contempt towards the old and the educated. In any case, the changvang at Chroy Changvar eventually ruled in favour of Kim Man and the villagers191. This is of interest as the changvang, due to his own orientation, was more prone to support the expansion of the trimeu. Nevertheless, the overriding consideration seems to have been restoring calm, given that the overwhelming majority of villagers were pitted against an isolated scholar. Indeed, the villagers customarily initiated proposals for nominating the village hakems and imams via signed or fingerprinted collective petitions, and the leadership rarely overruled clear majorities for a specific candidate. Even though Kim Man 189 190 191

“Deliberation de la commission permanente du conseil des ministres”, dated August 17th 1934, anc-rsc 30385. “Mot Hoeu à Monsieur le Délégué du Protectorate auprès du Gouvernement Cambodgien à Phnom Penh”, dated May 28th 1934. Tellingly, the typed letter is signed in jawi. “Deliberation de la commission”, anc-rsc 30385.

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was eventually fully integrated into the hierarchy of high-ranking Muslim dignitaries192, Jawization does not seem to have been the dominant trend in his village in the 1930s. Moreover, chances are high that he was, apart from the oknha khnour in Au Russey, the last higher dignitary with any knowledge of the traditional Cham script. In Chroy Metrey, located upriver in Muk Kampoul district on the right bank of the Mekong, Jawization seems to have been far more developed than in Svay Chrum at that time. And yet vestiges of Cham literary heritage were, unbeknownst to Ner, still preserved. The latter only noted that the village consisted of slightly more than one hundred houses and had a teacher educated in Kelantan. Moreover, the villagers were reputed to be experienced contraband traders193. This illicit trade was conducted via riverine communication across the Vietnamese border, with Chroy Metrey serving as a relay point between Kampong Cham/Kratie and the Delta. People and texts, including religious scholars and pieces of traditional Cham literature, respectively, also apparently flowed through these channels. Accordingly, the (unnamed) Kelantan-educated teacher encountered by Ner was certainly either Hj. Ayyub or his son Abu Talep (d. 1976)194. The former had been born somewhere in Vietnam (most probably in the Delta) and eventually moved to Chroy Metrey. Both men studied with the most illustrious figure in the history of Islamic education in Kelantan, Tok Kenali (Muḥammad b. Yūsuf b. Aḥmad, d. 1933)195, who was also Ahmad Patani’s most eminent student. Although Tok Kenali may have taught his father in Mecca, Abu Talep’s studies under his guidance certainly post-dated Tok Kenali’s return to Kota Bharu in 1908. Primarily due to Abu Talep’s prestige and activities, a small circle of teachers established itself around him (including Ustaz Tayyeb, Tayyeb Kabir, Tayyeb Kecil, and Datuk Hj. Yaakub from Kampong Cham) and soon caused Chroy Metrey to function as a renowned centre of Islamic education, a status it enjoyed until the outbreak of civil war in 1970. It seems that this process had not yet gained momentum in Ner’s time, although considerable numbers of students would soon flock to Chroy Metrey from within Kendal as well as Kampot, Kampong Cham and Kampong Chhnang. In the mid-1960s Abu 192 193 194

195

anc-rsc 30385. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 168. According to some sources the short form Talep stemmed not from Abū Ṭālib but from ʿAbd al-Muṭallib, both of which are equally probable in Cham contexts. In archival sources Talep as derivation from the former is more frequently encountered (in jawi signatures). Abdul Rahman al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok Pemikiran Tok Kenali (Kuala Lumpur: Bahagian Kebudayaan, Kementerian Kebudayaan, Belia dan Sukan Malaysia, 1983), p. 44.

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Talep reportedly taught fifty local female pupils alongside forty advanced male students from the village as well as from the mentioned provinces196. As a main agent of Jawization in the region, despite lacking an official title, Abu Talep was evidently an outstanding Cambodian Muslim scholar because he left behind several works. In this regard, his legacy elucidates three main components of Jawization in Cambodia: the connection to transgenerational networks of jawi learning that linked local Muslims to scholars in or from Patani, Kelantan and Mecca, along with the extensive use of Malay jawi teaching materials and the turn towards jawi script for writing Cham. This latter aspect was far more developed with Abu Talep than with most contemporaneous Cham scholars in Cambodia, Chau Doc and Tay Ninh. Thus, he taught Qurʾan recitation, tafsīr, akhlāq (ethics), fiqh and ḥadīth exclusively from Malay books, but instructed his students in Cham jawi, and wrote all of his works in that language-script combination. Strikingly, among those preserved we find a jawi version of the above-mentioned treatise of traditional Cham moral admonition known as Muk Sruh Palei, otherwise encountered in Cambodia only in akhar thrah. If Abu Talep himself rendered the text into Cham jawi, this could imply that he still knew akhar thrah. But this seems rather unlikely, for it is more likely that he either based himself on an ealier Cham jawi rendering, perhaps brought by his father from Chau Doc (where such works have been produced), or even composed his text from an orally transmitted version197. In addition, he left several original works, or at least original renderings or translations into Cham: a poem (syair) on aspects of fiqh (Mawʿiẓat almujtahidīn), another poem entitled Syair Islam Cermin (Mirror of Islam) and a Cham version of the Hikayat Nabi Yusuf. The two poems were most probably intended to complement Muk Sruh Palei, for it makes only very marginal

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197

Information on Abu Talep is drawn from a spontaneously convened “village forum” at the local Masjid al-Raḥmānī (May 17th 2012) and interviews with the following former students of his: Man Seu (Hj. Musa b. Sulaiman, Deputy Province Imam of Battambang), b. 1953 in Chroy Metrey, in Damspey (Battambang), May 11th 2012; Asyari b. Saleh, in his native Chroy Metrey (Kendal), May 17th 2012; Hj. Ahmad Osman Ong Chu, b. 1934, in his native Chroy Metrey, May 17th 2012. Apart from Abu Talep’s work, there are, to my knowledge, no other known jawi versions of the Muk Sruh Palei outside of the Delta. Jaspan recorded an oral version delivered by a roving Cham raconteur, incidentally claiming birth in Panduranga, in Svay Khleang in 1967. Testifying to the process of Jawization, the local audience appeared to be mostly unacquainted with this Cham genre of moral admonition (kabuon) as well as with the text and its language. M.A. Jaspan, “The Kabuon: A Particular Genre of Cham Literature”, typescript (first draft of unpublished article), p. 3-5. jp, dja (2)/1/1.

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­references to Islamic concepts198. In contrast, the third work is obviously a Cham version of one of the widely distributed Malay stories about the Qurʾanic prophet Yūsuf, invariably entitled Hikayat (or Kisah) Nabi Yusuf. Such are to be found both as separate works and as parts of larger Malay collections of Qiṣāṣ al-Anbiyāʾ, the oldest extant Malay version of which dates to 1604199. A version of this story, which was published in several editions in the 1910s in Mecca by the Patani network200, is even ascribed to Daud Patani. Due to Yūsuf’s exemplary resolution of his moral dilemmas in the story and its known function in religious education throughout Southeast Asia201, this work ties in well with Abu Talep’s other writings. In sum, Chroy Metrey was apparently free of intra-religious strife and functioned, especially due to the efforts of Abu Talep and his connection to scholarly circles in Kelantan, as another central node of Jawization in Cambodia – but one that developed somewhat later than Phum Trea, Chau Giang, Chrang Chamres or Chroy Changvar. Likewise, its actual role in the process and development of Cambodian Islam has been unduly and completely overshadowed by the scholarly focus on Kampong Cham and the Muslim suburbs of Phnom Penh. Tellingly, copies of Abu Talep’s jawi Cham works, rare literary testaments to Jawization in Cambodia, are still preserved in private Cham collections in Chroy Metrey, Chrang Chamres and even in the usa202. Returning to Ner’s assessment of the situation in the 1930s, we shall now look at the areas north of Phnom Penh to the west of the Tonle Sap river and lake, in which the kobuol-trimeu conflict provided criteria for belonging to the residents of most Muslim villages visited by the ethnographer in the provinces of Kendal, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang. He first visited the strong agglomerations of Khleang Sbek and Tuol Ngok in Kampong Luong 198

Besides invoking the ancestor spirits (muk kei), a reference perhaps already purged from the jawi version, it also postulates the unity of Cham custom adat and Islamic law (hukum). “Kabuon Muk Soh Pelai. The Discourse of Muk Soh Pelai”, undated typescript, p. 4f. jp, dja (2)/1/1. 199 Ali Ahmad, Kisah-kisah Nabi Yusuf dalam Kesusasteraan Melayu (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1999). 200 Ibid., p. 53f.; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 261. 201 Edwin P. Wieringa, “The Story of Yusuf and Indonesia’s Islamisation: A Work of Literature Plus” in Andrew Peacock (ed.), Islamisation: Comparative Perspectives from History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), p. 444-471. 202 Personal observation. The xerox copies of Mawʿiẓat al-mujtahidīn and Muk Sruh Palei in the possession of Tuon Him in Chrang Chamres (see fig. 2) have evidently also been sent to a member of the community in Seattle. Olympia and Seattle in Washington State are both boasting veritable Cham villages, complete with their own mosques. Personal communication with Jay Willoughby, Reston (VA.), April 14th 2013.

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Figure 2

Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey, Mawʿiẓat al-mujtahidīn. Private collection of Tuon Him, Chrang Chamres, Phnom Penh

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commune of Ponhea Leu district (Kendal), located directly on the route along the Tonle Sap to Oudong203. Tuol Ngok has already been mentioned with reference to Kampot’s Syeikh Ismail (alias Tok Ngok). Although reportedly an area of resettlement under Ang Duong, due to its location at the royal harbor of Kampong Luong and near the former capitals of Lovek and Oudong, the local Muslim community’s history dates back to the early days of the Cham-Malay presence in the country. Ner duly noted, but without giving their respective mosque affiliations, the presence of the three high dignitaries: oknha reachea phakdey montrey Sop (Yusuf, head of the Khleang Sbek mosque), oknha reachea kiripatta puon Din (Syamsuddin?, Tuol Ngok mosque) and oknha reachea Res Hadji Sen (Hj. Zayn b. Idris, Sambour Meas mosque)204. Two of these mosques belonged to the kobuol faction. Ner also encountered three (presumably attached) Islamic schools. The community’s split nature is also reflected in the information he provides on the teachers: Two had spent a year in Mecca but showed little proficiency in Arabic, whereas the third, who had studied there for eleven years, spoke and wrote good Arabic and Malay. This latter person was presumably the one teaching at the trimeu mosque. Even though his account does not identify the trimeu-controlled mosque, it becomes evident later on that both Khleang Sbek and Kampong Luong (Tuol Ngok-Sambour Meas) had kobuol mosques205. He also emphasized that Khleang Sbek’s Muslims were Cham-speakers, whereas those of Kampong Luong were mostly Khmer-speakers (i.e. Chvea), a situation that persists today206. Thus, the dividing line was grounded in religious orientation, as opposed to differences of ethnicity or first-language use. This is even more intriguing if we consider the historical connection between Tuol Ngok and Kampot (with its zuhhād tradition), as well as the fact that the area was among the prime fields of activity of visiting Malay traders and preachers (orang pendakwah). Evidently, using and enhancing Malay as the prime vehicle of religious instruction was crucial in dividing the community, which, somewhat expectedly, later on fully embraced Jawization at the expense of the kobuol. Strikingly, Tuol Ngok remains one of the very few places where the formerly very controversial qabūl hamba formula is still employed in marriage

203

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 168f. He refers to the two villages as Khleang Sbek and Kampong Luong respectively, whereby Kampong Luong/Tuol Ngok assumingly included the hamlet of Sambour Meas. 204 Cf. anc-rsc 28319, where the mosque afilliations are recorded. 205 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 187. 206 Personal communication with villagers at Tuol Ngok, May 1st 2012; and former residents of Chrang Chamres, in Reston (Virginia), April 14th 2013.

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c­ eremonies207. Its persistence (now perceived as an oddity by Muslims of other villages) despite wide opposition and its defenders’ gradual disappearance as a specific faction, not to mention the wide destruction caused during the dk era – is truly intriguing. As such, it should alert us to the fact that other peculiar local traditions and orientations, even if seemingly dormant, can potentially resurface or be re-emphasized under new circumstances. Hence the apparently completely sudden re-configurations leading to the establishment of kis and its late joining by certain Kampot villages. In Kampong Chhnang’s Kampong Tralach district, Ner finally came across the presumptive descendants of the Ang Duong-loyalist faction led by the po from Kampong Pring. These Muslims formed a numerically even stronger agglomeration, primarily based in the villages of Au Russey and Chhouk Sar communes. He characterized them as holding on most firmly to Cham traditions, having undergone hardly any Malay influence, and as the last devoted guardians of Cham manuscript culture. According to him, many locals read akhar thrah or even knew long passages of texts by heart. The crucial marriage ceremony was – as all other religious ceremonies – conducted, apart from certain Arabic formulas, exclusively in Cham. Knowledge of Arabic was even more fragmentary than among the kobuol and was basically restricted to its letters, something that remains peculiar to the kis of today, which is centered on the Au Russey/Chhouk Sar community. Surprisingly, Ner did not mention the presence of the local dignitary holding the oknha khnour title, whose latter-day bearer currently presides over kis. In Ner’s time, the incumbent must have still been Him Kak (Ishaq b. Ibrahim, also known as Katep Kak), who had succeeded his predecessor Ses (or Les, derived from Saleh) in 1926. According to kis tradition, they were the fourth and fifth community leaders to hold this title since their ancestors’ arrival from Champa (together with Imam San)208. Notwithstanding the harmonious picture painted by Ner, the Chams of Au Russey and Chhouk Sar were hardly a religiously homogeneous community by then. Thus, Him Kak’s nomination specifically stated that he was to “administer the Chams belonging to the mosque of Au Russey East and those of the 207

Personal communication with na⁠ʾib hakem Ismail and other villagers at Tuol Ngok, May 1st 2012; with Imam Muhammad Abdullah of Norea Kraom (Battambang), married to a wife from Tuol Ngok (Norea Kraom, May 11th 2012). According to the imam villagers migrating from Khleang Sbek had also brought the practice to the neighbouring village of Norea Loeu, from where it has meanwhile, however, already disappeared again. This further indicates that contending trimeu and kobuol traditions most probably persisted for some time in both Tuol Ngok and Khleang Sbek. 208 Personal communication with Oknha Khnour/Ong Gʾnur Kai Tam at Sre Brey (Au Russey), May 13th 2012.

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same religion, who are practicing the religious rites of their Cham master San”209. A related earlier document cites different prayer rites prevailing in Au Russey’s two “pagodas” as the reason for restricting the oknha khnour’s mandate to the Eastern mosque210. This documentary evidence is intriguing because it both testifies to the antiquity of Au Russey’s particularly strong connection to the figure of Imam San and confirms that the community around the oknha khnour had already become a separate faction (i.e. also separate from kobuol and trimeu), as restricting the latter’s authority had certainly been demanded by parts of the local Muslim community that felt no loyalty towards him. The existence of different local orientations at such an early date helps explain why the area’s Cham villages are nowadays only partly affiliated to the historical anti-Jawization group of the kis. A similar degree of diversification still prevails throughout Kampong Chhnang province. Indeed, contemporary Kampong Chhnang is not merely split into kis villages and others following the Mufti. Among some of the latter, certain traditions associated with the present-day kis, or perhaps with the vanished kobuol group, persist. This reality has not only brought classical agents of Jawization and contemporary representatives of globalized Sunni Islam (i.e. the tj as well as Arab, Malay and Cambodian Islamic ngos) – all preying on wavering kis villages and seeking to improve Islamic practice and doctrine among those villages traditionally leaving much to be desired in this respect from their perspective – onto the scene, but also, just like in Kampot, the Ahmadiyya movement. For Pursat province, which today boasts almost as many kis-affiliated villages as Kampong Chhnang, Ner’s information is meagre. Strikingly, he described all local Muslims as Chams with little previous exposure to Malays, whereas Morizon had explicitly noted them to be Malays and not Chams211. But Ner should be trusted on this subject, for Morizon’s misrepresentation was perhaps based on their “Islamic” appearance (and certainly not linguistic considerations). Almost all of the province’s forestry sector was in “Malay” (i.e. Cham) hands. As wood was commonly floated downriver, this accounted for the predominant Cham settlement along the Pursat River (Stung Pursat), which bisects the province212. Intriguingly, Ner noted that Pursat’s entire Muslim community identified with the kobuol, which implicitly rendered it the group’s only still uncontested area. This was conditioned by its comparable 209 210 211 212

anc-rsc 25336 (dated June 21st 1926). Ibid. (dated May 27th 1926). Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 170; Morizon, Province Cambodgienne de Pursat, p. 71. Ibid., p. 71f., 133.

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remoteness from, and a fairly low degree of interaction with, other centers of Muslim activity. Nevertheless, the major local mosque communities were (at least by the 1930s) integrated into the administrative structure of Islam in Cambodia. Thus, the changvang nominated a certain Ka Sop (Abu Bakr Yusuf) and a Py Man (Py Sulaiman) as hakem and imam of Phum Thkoul (Krakor district), respectively, in 1934213. Among the 50 petitioners declaring their support for this duo, 47 signed in Arabic/jawi script. Even the formalities involved in this process reflected and supported Jawization. Thus, even though the relevant documentation consisted of items in Khmer and French, the changvang’s official letter of appointment was written in Malay (see fig. 3). In contrast, Ner’s observations in Battambang make it a paradigmatic site of the internal divisions created by Jawization. Despite noting that the local Muslims were mostly residing in the suburbs of Battambang town, he seems to have visited only two neighbouring villages: Chvea Thom (now Norea Loeu) and Veal Norea (now Norea Kraom). According to Ner, Chvea Thom was a kobuol village whereas Veal Norea was a trimeu village. While the entire community had been kobuol about forty years before his visit, their contenders soon began to arrive from Mekong villages and “Indonesia” (i.e. the Malay world). As their numbers grew through migration, interchanges with other Muslim communities and participation in scholarly networks, the community eventually split over which group would control the mosque. This division was formalized by the establishment of a second mosque with its own religious functionaries. Ner also stressed that the kobuol faction contained no hajjis (against six among the trimeu) or religious scholars educated outside the village214. Bastian had noted the existence of a local Islamic village school in 1864215. Although the available documentary and oral sources do not allow us to establish the course of events with certainty, it seems probable that the kobuol had built a separate mosque after losing control of, or becoming marginalized at, the old one. In any case, the conflict was inter alia fuelled by highly diversified patterns of Mulim settlement in the village over a longer period of time. Bastian had spoken of a predominantly Chvea community in 1864, with ancestors coming from Melaka and Patani, interspersed with smaller numbers of Chams. The grandfather of one instrumental figure in the local factionalism had come from Minangkabau. Whereas Ner mentioned more recent immigration (i.e. since the 1890s) from Mekong villages and the Malay world, local memory has preserved the arrival of settlers from Chrok Romiet (Chhouk Sar, 213 214 215

anc-rsc 30364. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 170f. Bastian, Journey in Cambodia, p. 100.

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Figure 3

Letter of appointment to Muslim dignitaries in Pursat. Cambodian National Archives, anc-rsc 30364

Kampong Tralach, Kampong Chhnang), Khleang Sbek and the Phnom Penh area around the same time216. Today Norea is an almost exclusively Chvea village, with only one Cham-speaking household (descended from a family from Chroy Metrey) in the entire section of Norea Loeu217. Cambodian archival sources enlighten us about a conflict over mosque leadership in Veal Norea in the early 1930s. Although the specific factions involved are not identified, this case might have represented the local kobuol’s last futile attempt to claim control over the village mosque. As in Svay Chrum, 216 217

Personal communication with Imam Muhammad Abdullah, tuon Musa b. Muhammad Abdullah and mephum Leh Sa (Ysa b. Saleh) at Norea Kraom, May 11th 2012. Personal communication with villagers at Norea Loeu, May 10th 2012.

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the authorities became involved after receiving a petition from a mosque leader who felt that local co-religionists were threatening his authority (and in this case even his life). Thus, in 1933 a certain luong reacsar prates Ma, introducing himself as head of the local mosque, demanded that the authorities summon and question four villagers about an incident that three of them had recently provoked in the mosque and that the mosque be closed until the issue was resolved. Ma, on whose initiative and estate the mosque had been built in 1896 and officially registered and measured in 1902 (i.e. at a time when Siam still ruled Battambang), claimed that numerous villagers had lobbied for his nomination as mosque leader in 1931. One day, after two years of allegedly fulfilling this function in tranquillity (which is of course open to doubt), the three ringleaders entered the mosque at prayer time and urged the believers to invite a certain Hj. Sulaiman (the fourth person Ma requested to be summoned) to lead the prayers. They also advised their partisans to block the mosque’s entrance, which Ma claimed amounted to a premeditated attempt on his life218. When the local police summoned the four individuals, their supporters voluntarily joined them and declared that Ma had imposed himself as the mosque’s leader without securing the majority’s support. While conceding that Ma owned the land, had been taking care of the mosque and, aged 63 years, was the community’s most senior member, they declared him to be an unlettered person who was intellectually incapable of running the mosque’s affairs. Furthermore, they charged him with furnishing a fictive list of petitioners. The group also used this visit to again push for Hj. Sulaiman’s nomination219. Evidently, Ma and his supporters had taken advantage of the vacuum generated by the death of tokaley Yoeur (d. 1927), the last village hakem. Possibly Yoeur had been the kobuol’s last hakem to fill that post, and Ma, as village elder and the mosque’s proprietor, was seen as the best choice to restore the old order. Nevertheless, even before the joint visit to the police post, a collective petition in support of Hj. Sulaiman, bearing the signatures or fingerprints of 138 villagers (59 of whom signed in Arabic/jawi), had been submitted to the authorities220. In early 1934 changvang Hj. Tuorman of Phnom Penh officially appointed – again in jawi Malay – Hj. Sulaiman “Jawi” (!) as tok kadi (evidently referring to the function of hakem and the Khmer title tokaley) and Hj. Samsou 218 219 220

“Luong-Reacsar-Prates Ma à Monsieur le Résident”, dated August 21st 1933, anc-rsc 30380. “Le Maréchal-des-logis Chef de Gendarmerie ROUE, faisant fonctions des Commissaire de Police à Monsieur le Résident Chef de Province à Battambang”, dated August 30th 1933, anc-rsc 30380. anc-rsc 30380 (Khmer collective demand dated August 22nd 1933). See fig. 4.

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as his deputy (riya kadi, i.e. na⁠ʾib hakem), thereby asserting his supreme authority over the country’s Muslims (changvang Chroy Changvar yang berkuasa atas muslimin)221. An accompanying Khmer document stressed that both men had previously studied in the Malay world222. It is evident from Hj. Tuorman’s letter of appointment that the “Jawiness” of Hj. Sulaiman, whose Minangkabau grandfather had served as district governor, was seen as an asset by the changvang and Hj. Sulaiman’s supporters. Born in 1891, he was, in contrast to most villagers (including his father Ya [Yahya] Kaley Leas) not a fisherman but a trader223, an occupation that probably had earlier led him to travel throughout the Malay world. Ner, obviously unaware of the recent conflict’s details, noted that he had studied in Mecca and visited the Dutch East Indies and Malaya from Kota Bharu to Penang224. These last two destinations, besides being renowned places for religious studies, would have been prime locations to acquire kitab jawi, in the former particularly from the Patani/Kelantan-run Ottoman Malay printing press in Mecca and from different Penang publishers in the latter225. Although Penang was even farther away from Cambodia than Patani or Kelantan and does not feature in standard accounts of the scholarly networks of Cambodian Muslims, its Madrasatul Mashoor al-Islamiyah, founded in 1916 and previously considered to have been “about the best in Southeast Asia” as far as Arabic language instruction is concerned, also had students from the country226. If we go by the evidence suggesting that, like education abroad, making the pilgrimage was generally the purview of the trimeu in the early 20th century, then Hj. Sulaiman’s deputy Hj. Samsou (b. 1900) came from a family with trimeu tendencies as well, for already his father Math had been a hajji227. Samsou spent ten years studying in Kelantan and the mosque’s katip (ar. khaṭīb) had spent two. Again, the correlation between education in Malay centers of religious learning (including Mecca) and the spread of and leadership within the trimeu is evident. It was certainly due to their efforts that Ner regarded

221 222 223

anc-rsc 30380 (Malay letter dated March 18th 1934). anc-rsc 30380. “Acte de notoriété Yi-Salây-Man”, dated November 5th 1933, anc-rsc 30380. Such documents, including three signed testimonies regarding the veracity of the personal data contained, were used in the (common) absence of birth certificates. All six testimonials in the cases of Hj. Sulaiman and Hj. Samsou were signed in jawi. 224 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 171. 225 Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 47f. 226 Omar Farouk Shaeik Ahmad, “The Arabs in Penang”, mih, XXI, no. 2 (1978), p. 8. 227 “Acte de notoriété Samsou”, dated August 14th 1933, anc-rsc 30380.

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Figure 4

Petition for the nomination of Hj. Sulaiman as hakem of Norea (Battambang). Cambodian National Archives, anc-rsc 30380

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the ­local proportion of people able to speak and write in Malay as very large; many even knew a little Arabic228. As trimeu dominance of the mosque was, however, initially far from undisputed, it engendered a veritable, even if short-lived, split along factional lines. It turned out that the deposed Ma was eventually found not to be, in principle, objecting to Hj. Sulaiman’s nomination, but rather felt compelled to stress that it amounted to his elimination from the mosque, due to the new hakem and his partisans’ overt hostility. And so, he demanded guarantees from Battambang’s French Resident that his rights, as well as those of his 29 followers, would be respected229. It is therefore perhaps not coincidental that Norea Kraom’s mosque, according to Ner a consequence of the trimeu/kobuol conflict, was reportedly built in 1936230, only two years after Hj. Sulaiman’s official nomination. Yet the complete Jawization of both parts of Norea was a comparably shortterm affair. By the 1960s Norea Kraom’s Patani-educated hakem, yet another Hj. Sulaiman, was also serving as province imam (imam khaet) of Battambang. At the same time the village developed into one of the country’s most underrated centers of Islamic learning under his son and successor as hakem, Hj. Math Zayn (d. 1975), who had studied in Bangkok (assumingly with members of the Patani scholarly network), Mecca and at al-Azhar (from 1963-1967) and drew students from as far as Pursat and Kendal. Besides teaching the Patani-Kelantan network’s standard kitab jawi, he also employed a self-produced Khmer translation of a Thai textbook for the study of Arabic and wrote a textbook for instruction in the Khmer language and script231. While the latter endeavors may appear to not really fit into our scheme of Jawization, such a combination must have helped to further detach a predominantly Chvea community (including its Cham minority) from any remaining elements of kobuol or distinctively Cham Islamic discursive traditions. The local process of Jawization was further strengthened by a scholar locally known as Hj. Abdul Rahman 228 229

230 231

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 171. anc-rsc 30380 (Khmer letter with handwritten French translation, dated August 31st 1933). The numbers are hardly legible. It is nevertheless obvious that Ma also had a notable following, albeit only amounting to slightly more than a fifth of the number of petitioners for Hj. Sulaiman. Personal communication with Imam Muhammad Abdullah, tuon Musa b. Muhammad Abdullah and mephum Leh Sa (Ysa b. Saleh) at Norea Kraom, May 11th 2012. Ibid.; with Asyari and Nasir, former students of Math Zayn b. Sulaiman, born at Norea Kraom and Norea Loeu respectively, at Bunga Emas, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, July 26th 2012. According to informants interviewed in the 1980s, Math Zayn had also studied in Medina. Ben Kiernan, “Orphans of Genocide: The Cham Muslims of Kampuchea under Pol Pot”, bcas, XX, no. 4 (1988), p. 31.

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I­ ndonesia, who arrived in the 1940s after twelve years of study in Malaya and Mecca and a brief career as a roaming teacher and missionary in Thailand and Cambodia232. Ner was also aware of a village of 30 Cham families, all former residents of Kampong Tralach, who had resettled at a place he calls Veal Damleng in the Southeast of the province in 1937, due to prevailing economic hardship in their home region. Even though I did not manage to locate the place, this reminds us that, despite the strong prolonged process of Jawization in such Battambang suburbs as Norea, Phum Chen, Dam Spey and Slakaet, the province also houses the largest number of kis villages233. Veal Damleng certainly figures among these. Highly probable locations would be Srama Meas (khum Prey Svay, srok Moung Russey), which is known to have been established by settlers from Au Russey234, as well as Srah Chineang (khum Russey Krang, Moung Russey), which is one of the rare repositories of akhar thrah manuscripts in Cambodia235. East of the Tonle Sap and thus outside the reported kobuol/trimeu conflict zone, Ner noted the existence of a small Cham community that had moved from Chau Doc to Siam Reap. In harmony with their home region, he described them as fluent in Cham, Khmer and, to a lesser extent, Malay. Conversely, he was unable to visit the Muslims of Kampong Thom236. Unsurprisingly, the Muslims of both areas were apparently well set on the path of Jawization by then, not least due to their integration into scholarly and other networks. The mosques in Kampong Thom’s Baray district were only built in the early 20th century237, and yet by 1928 the Chams of Tuol Lovieng in Baray had requested and received official permission (usually not sought for minor establishments) to open a Qurʾanic school238. These Muslims were evidently also connected to the scholarly center of Phum Trea in Kampong Cham. Thus, in the person of 232

233 234 235 236 237 238

Hj. Abdur Rahman left Norea with other refugees in 1975 and died in the exile community of Bunga Emas (Kota Bharu) in 1998. Personal communication with Asyari and Nasir, born in Norea Kraom and Norea Loeu respectively, at Bunga Emas, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, July 26th 2012. Personal communication with Oknha Khnour Kai Tam at Sre Brey (Au Russey), May 13th 2012; with Man Seu (Hj. Musa b. Sulaiman, Deputy Province Imam of Battambang), in Dam Spey (Battambang), May 11th 2012. Personal communication with Imam Muhammad Abdullah, tuon Musa b. Muhammad Abdullah and mephum Leh Sa (Ysa b. Saleh) at Norea Kraom, May 11th 2012. Kitap Saong Takai Chanau, p. i. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 171; Cristiano Calcagno, Kampong Thom and its Province. History, Geography and Archaeology of the Heartland of Cambodia (n.p.: n.p., 2011), p. 20f. Ibid., p. 52. anc-rsc 27286.

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Tuon Hj. Yusuf Awny (d. 1977) of Trapeang Chhouk (Boeng, Baray district), one of the province’s two major concentrations of Chams, a student of the eminent Mat Sales Haroun was locally engaged in teaching Islam239. Even though there was still no Islamic school proper in Siam Reap during the 1960s, as religious education was provided in the afternoons and evenings at the mosque, a local tendency towards Jawization was obvious. The initial settlers from Chau Doc were soon joined by newcomers from the suburban Muslim communities of Phnom Penh, including members of a prominent Cham family from Prek Pra (a site of Jawization already noted). In the 1960s a scion of this family, Hj. Karim, was appointed hakem of Siam Reap’s Phum Cham. Besides preserving the Cham language, the local community was also noted for its extensive participation in public affairs, including enrolment in public schooling. As a result, its exponents held important commercial and administrative positions. The anti-Communist political activist brothers Abdul Gaffar Peang Meth (b. 1944) and Abdul Gaffour Peang Meth, representatives of this trend, stem from a family that had migrated from Chrang Chamres to join Siam Reap’s Muslim community240. This evolution, which helped form a disproportionate part of the national Muslim elites, went hand in hand with a predisposition towards urban expressions of Islam espoused at the centre, which were (albeit evidently in the 1930a still far from unchallenged) influenced by as well as influencing the process of Jawization. 5

Conclusion

Intra-religious difference among the Muslims of Central and Northwestern Cambodia had, in contrast to the concealed or at any rate less pronounced divergences elsewhere, escalated and canalized into factional identities. The last guardians of Cham script and its literature, concentrated around Au Russey, 239

Personal communication with Tuon Him, b. 1942 in Kor (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham), in Chrang Chamres (Phnom Penh), May 13th 2012. The fact that Osman (Oukoubah, p. 124) lists Yusuf Awny as a “professor from Saudi-Arabia”, something which was denied by Tuon Him, may point to the fact that he had also studied there for a longer ­period. 240 “Ideals and Barriers in Education”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2; “Secondary and Tertiary Education: Cham”, typescript dated January 15th 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/2; “Genealogy of Hadji Haroun”, undated typescript with handwritten notes, jp, dja (2)/1/2; jp, dja (2)/1/4; Justin Corfield & Laura Summers, Historical Dictionary of Cambodia (Oxford: Scarecrow Press, 2003), p. 1f.; Gaffar Peang-Meth, “Islam – Another Casualty of Cambodian War” in Douc Rasy (ed.), Khmer Representation at the United Nations ( London: n. p., 1974), p. 251.

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were apparently largely confined to the sidelines during the trimeu­-kobuol conflict. The emergence of the latter faction, which transpired most probably in response to Jawization’s intrusion into largely untouched village and mosque communities was evidently neither an exclusively Cham nor a strictly rural phenomenon. According to Ner’s account, the group kept or established its control over mosques in the suburbs of Phnom Penh (Chrang Chamres) and Battambang (Norea). Tuol Ngok and Norea were predominantly Chvea villages, whereas Chrang Chamres was certainly somewhat mixed and Khleang Sbek, albeit predominantly Cham, is at least Tuol Ngok’s sister village. Against this background of internal diversity, the absence of similar factional identities elsewhere and the kobuol’s intriguing geographic distribution, represented by a string of villages stretching west of the Tonle Sap from Chrang Chamres to Norea, should be regarded as revealing rather than puzzling. Indeed, especially if seen as a reactive development, the formation of these two groups only in this specific region, despite the documented general process of Jawization in the country, is suggestive in two ways. Firstly, it points to the fact that the Central and Northwestern regions had, since the deportations under Ang Duong, experienced a very specific development. Apart from Chroy Metrey, which would have probably been better grouped together with Kampong Cham, and Chroy Changvar with its extensive contacts (economic, scholarly, familial and other) to the latter province, the local Muslims apparently had far more contact with the area’s other Muslims than with their co-religionists elsewhere. In other words, besides the Au Russey group and its dependents with their prolonged adherence to specifically Cham Islamic discursive traditions coupled with an extraordinary strong connection to the legacy of Imam San, yet another distinct Islamic tradition, eventually known as kobuol, had developed there during the 19th century. Strongly influenced by lively exchanges among local Chams, Chvea and Khmers, it was apparently not mirrored elsewhere. Although reflective of some elements of Jawization, such as the loss of akhar thrah among Cham-users, the pre­servation of which would have constituted an obstacle (i.e. in the exclusion of the ­Chvea) to the process of Muslim re-configuration at hand, or the usage of the (ac­ tually) Malay kabul hamba formula, its full onslaught, as brought about by the main agents of Jawization, was apparently taken as a threat to established practices. Therefore, it seems more adequate to talk about the kobuol as presentist rather than traditionalist. Clearly, both factions laid claim to a specific Islamic tradition. Yet, by way of rephrasing a statement of Edwards to describe the stance of those who opposed to the Buddhist reformist wing within the Cambodian Mahanikay order, the kobuol “were driven not by an intellectual

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death wish, but by a desire ʿto keep alive a life-formʾ”241. Crucially, this form of life hinged on different aspirations and assumptions of what it meant to be Muslim (and what it may take to become a better one) than was the case with the trimeu, who prioritized an evolution towards jawi models. An indicator for the actual existence of such a regional expression is the absence of both the kobuol label and the associated formula in all other regions. Specific linkages accounted for the emergence and prevalence of particular group identities and their emblematic features (e.g. specific canonized ritual formulas) in places as distant as Chrang Chamres and Norea (approximately 280km by road). Naturally, those who sought to hold on to the tradition eventually known as kobuol and its practices vehemently opposed the trimeu challenge. In addition, some of the kobuol leaders, due to their proximity to political centers and their accompanying historical role, also had positions and titles to lose. Moreover, whereas other communities were gradually drawn into Jawization via the expansion of religious schooling, which would eventually happen to most of Ner’s kobuol villages, proponents of the kobuol remained rather removed from the trans-Cambodian scholarly networks and those stretching to Kelantan, Patani and Mecca242. When they identified these networks as part of the problem, their withdrawal was presumably deliberate. Secondly, the assumption that former kobuol villages would eventually constitute the nuclei of kis, though most probably at least partly accurate, cannot be substantiated from taking Ner’s observations as a starting point. Indeed, apart from Pursat, every village he identified as kobuol eventually embarked on the path of Jawization, for they already had in their majority both kobuol and trimeu mosques and adherents. Once united, after the kobuol faction had literally died out or was marginalized by Jawization, places such as Norea and Chrang Chamres became important centers of jawi education. Looking at the kobuol as a regional Islamic discursive tradition gradually swallowed up by a larger wave of hegemonic, standardizing Jawization, and considering its obvious fusion of Cham, Chvea and Khmer elements (especially the latter to a degree certainly far stronger than would have been conceivable in the comparably 241

242

Penny Edwards, “Making a Religion of the Nation and its Language: The French Protectorate (1863-1954) and the Dhammakāy” in John Marston & Elizabeth Guthrie (eds.), History, Buddhism, and New Religious Movements in Cambodia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2004), p. 66. Indeed, opposition to the growing Jawization of Islamic education was also not unknown in Kampong Cham. Thus, the French authorities noted in 1933 that some local Muslims considered the Patani-born teacher at a school in Svay Khleang and a Cham scholar active in Kampong Siem as breaking with traditional education due to their overt focus on ­Malay and not Arabic. anc-rsc, 26929 (note by the Resident of Kampong Cham, dated December 30th 1933).

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distant Muslim strongholds of Kampong Cham), one can look at this faction from an entirely different, unconventional angle, namely, as the most distinctively Cambodian (as opposed to Cham or jawi) expression of Islam. Similarly, the dying out of the kobuol should not be taken as merely metaphorical. Movements of religious change are often generational phenomena. Even though Jawization and thus the trimeu’s spread appears to have been generally subtler than the, sometimes iconoclastic, missions of the kaum muda reformists, hints at generational shifts as decisive background dynamics in the given localities were abundant. Firstly, outside of Au Russey/Chhouk Sar, a few old men were always the last ones to know akhar thrah. At Svay Chrum, where the majority of local Muslims were apparently still harbouring kobuol(-like) tendencies, one of these emerged victorious in a leadership contest. In Norea, more in harmony with nation-wide developments, the community elder failed to reassert his authority as a kobuol leader. A new generation would soon challenge the only recently established order of Jawization by introducing Islamic reformism, thereby potentially uniting both the erstwhile kobuol and trimeu ends of the spectrum as kaum tua contenders to kaum muda subversion. It is therefore all the more remarkable that the kobuol formula, an isolated and unrecognized reminder of long-forgotten cleavages, was preserved in Tuol Ngok and some other places. This also goes for the traditions of parts of the presumptive descendants of the po group from Kampong Pring at Au Russey and for the temporarily dormant but now revived spiritual links between it and selected villages in Northwestern Cambodia and, more astoundingly, Kampot. On a general basis, this chapter has elucidated two aspects of Islam’s development in Cambodia in the early 20th century and beyond. Firstly, the early ethnographers’ picture of a homogenous Islam was, somewhat expectedly, illfounded. Diversity, albeit in certain cases concealed because not necessarily contentious, was the order of the day. This concerned areas with no factional strife (e.g. Kampong Cham and Kampot) as much as the conflict zones in the center and the northwest. Moreover, in addition to differentiation within certain regions, those between regions appear to have been likewise quite marked in certain cases, such as Kampot’s distinct zuhhād tradition and the regional Islamic discursive tradition of Central and Northwestern Cambodia (i.e, the kobuol). Intriguingly, both seem to have been linked to each other, not least importantly through the figures of Imam San and Tok Ngok. Although nothing is known about the kobuol’s relationship to Imam San’s shrine, it seems reasonable to assume that it figured prominently in its religious life and also provided the main – or probably even the only decisive and lasting – link to the Au Russey group with its otherwise significantly different orientation.

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Conversely, this chapter was also the tale of a major process of standardization within the parameters of Jawization. The ancient Cham script and its manuscript culture, and therefore also much of the distinct (Pandurangan) Cham Islamic discursive tradition, disappeared in all but certain northwestern pockets (most notably Au Russey). Instead, jawi script was adopted to write Cham, although apparently only on a limited scale. A very small amount of existent Cham literature was selectively transposed into the new script (particularly in the Delta and by Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey). Centers of jawi education, characterized by the primary use of Malay books and models, which partly accounts for the limited headway made by Cham jawi materials, sprang up in Chau Giang, Trea and Chroy Changvar and drew the surrounding Muslim populations into their orbit. Students and teachers evidently circulated between these centers as well as between schools and scholarly circles frequented by Cambodian and Delta Muslims in Kelantan, Patani and Mecca. The most eminent teachers had acquired their education in the latter places, whereas the strata of tuons below them had at least been educated in one of the three mentioned local hotspots or the emergent, increasingly relevant, subsidiary centers in villages such as Chumnik, Speu, Chroy Metrey and, later on, Norea. We now turn to the Cambodian Muslim community’s strong connections and exposure to developments in the Malay world to elucidate some important mechanisms of Jawization before, during and after Ner’s time.

Introduction

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Agents, Nodes and Vehicles of Jawization This chapter elucidates some of the deep structures and mechanisms underlying Jawization in Cambodia by dealing with the infrastructural, organizational, personal and institutional factors influencing Islam there and its development leading up to the state of affairs in the 1930s (as described in the preceding chapter) and beyond. Jawization, like the later introduction of jawi Islamic reformism, was a complex process of localization based on extensive prolonged and differentiated interaction with the Malay world, particularly and overwhelmingly with Kelantan and Patani, and with its extensions into the Ḥaramayn and, to a lesser degree, Cairo and Bombay. Accordingly, it identifies, highlights and analyzes the roles of major agents, primarily religious teachers and functionaries (both Malay and indigenous), nodes (e.g. formal and informal centers of religious learning and scholarly networks between Cambodia, Kelantan, Patani, Bangkok, Mecca and Cairo) and vehicles of Jawization in the country. Such discussions must include Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and Tay Ninh regions, where Islam developed very much in tandem with Cambodia1. As far as the vehicles and media of Jawization are concerned, the relevance of kitab jawi, particularly the quasi-canon of books written and/or produced and disseminated by the Patani-Kelantan network, will be described. Islamic periodicals also proved influential, as Cambodians soon came to both read and contribute to them. In this connection, the role of fatāwā, both as original sources on intra-religious conflict or otherwise on issues relevant to Cambodian Muslims intent on leading a religiously grounded life, and as measurements of the actual extent of their religious networks and the perceived transnational hierarchies of Islamically-defined legal and social authority as seen from local perspective, will be scrutinized. Many of the main figures have already been noted, at least in passing: Ahmad Patani and Tok Kenali, the two most eminent Malay scholars associated with Jawization in Cambodia, as well as the two institutions strongly connected to their personas, the Ottoman Malay Printing Press in Mecca and the Majlis Ugama Islam (mui) of Kelantan. Closely affiliated to these scholars was 1 This depended not only on the intense Muslim networking between these areas, but also on the fact that French Indochina – and much of this chapter falls into the period of French rule – was a “non-national space with ambiguous borders”. McHale, “Ethnicity, Violence, and Khmer-Vietnamese Relations”, p. 367.

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a family of ʿulamāʾ who also played a major role in this regard: that of Muhammad Zayn Awang, whose Kota Bharu pondok represented one of the prime local destinations for Cambodian and Vietnamese students, besides the town’s main mosque and the mui’s Madrasah al-Muhammadiah. Similarly, a second major scholarly family of Kelantan, that of Tuan Tabal and his progeny, was also of prime relevance for Cambodian Muslims. Intriguingly, all of these individuals had some relationship to the Aḥmadiyya/Idrīsiyya ṭarīqa, the only Sufi path with an attested presence in Cambodia during the period. Abu Talep b. Hj. Ayyub and his literary output were detailed in the preceding chapter; here, the role and oeuvre of his contemporary Mat Sales Haroun will be fully examined. The truly significant numbers of Malay teachers active in Cambodia and/or having Cambodian students in Patani, Malaya or Mecca, will also be discussed. 1

Scholarly Networks of Jawization and Their Nodes

1.1 Early Malay Teachers in Cambodia and the Mekong Delta Cambodian Muslims frequented Kelantan’s alleged first pondok, founded in the 1820s by Daud Patani’s student ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. Faqīh Hj. Abdullāh (Tok Pulai Chondong, d. 1873), and attended that of Tok Malek (Abdul Malik b. Hassan, d. 1926) at Sungai Pinang2, which most probably dates from the 1860s. Nothing specific is known about their students from the region. The picture of Cambodian participation in the transnational networks of jawi religious education only becomes clearer with the students of Ahmad Patani, Tok Kenali and other late 19th/early 20th century Malay scholars. In contrast, the names (and in certain cases the spheres of activity) of a small number of earlier Malay scholars teaching in Cambodia have been preserved. Most of them were apparently active in the Kampong Luong and Kampong Cham areas, contributing to Jawization and, in the former case, probably also to the local factional strife. The purported cases of Imam San and Tok Ngok were apparently part of an earlier phase of scholarly exchanges that preceded the era of large-scale Jawization, which seems to be supported by the arguably fragmentary and contested information presented about their time in Kampot. In contrast to the decisiveness of Malay language and jawi script (in both its Malay and Cham forms), Imam San reportedly produced a number of akhar thrah translations of Arabic Sufi treatises3. Although this tradition 2 tusm, I, p. 115. 3 Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 13. Here this information is misplaced under the biography of Hj. Syeikh Ismail b. Muhammad Zayn. It is, however, clear (especially when compared with the

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may well derive from proto-kis circles4, it may be accurately directing us to the fact that Imam San belonged to a period when akhar thrah and Cham language had not yet been completely or almost completely submerged by Jawization, its script and the related preference for Malay kitab jawi. In fact, the last Cambodian akhar thrah manuscripts produced or at least distributed outside the present-day kis domains apparently also date to the mid-19th century. Hj. Wan Saleh b. Hj. Omar (b. 1820s) from Pasir Mas (Kelantan) came to Cambodia around 1870. Locally known as Tok Bebulu (“hairy”, from ml. berbulu), he taught and died in Chumnik5. Given the village’s local reputation as one of the country’s earliest centres of pondok education, it probably received part of its initial impetus from him. Another early Kelantanese religious teacher, Hj. Wan Ngah b. Wan Mat Yunus from Pasir Puteh, went to Cambodia in 1889 and taught in several Kampong Cham villages, including Phum Trea, and in other provinces. He returned to Kelantan in 1917, leaving numerous offspring on both sides of the Gulf of Thailand6. A still more profound external influence on Phum Trea’s transformation into the country’s most renowned center of jawi education was certainly exerted by a Kelantanese scholar locally remembered as Mufti Hj. Math (Ahmad), who reportedly hailed from Pasir Mas. It is claimed that he had previously served as mufti in Kelantan or acted as such in the village7. However, his biography, only partially preserved, could have been confused with that of Hj. Ahmad b. Muhammad Zayn Awang (see below), a later main agent of Jawization who died in the village (c. 1916) after having declined the Sultan’s appointment as Mufti of Kelantan. In any case, the extraordinary prestige and reverence accorded to Hj. Math in Phum Trea is illustrated by his beautifully engraved tombstone preserved in an enclosure on the local mosque’s verandah, right beside the grave of the local luminary Hj. Haroun. As it bears the aH date 1307 (1890 ad)8, it must belong to Hj. Ahmad of Pasir Mas and not to Hj. Ahmad b. Muhammad Zayn from Kampung Atas Banggol in Kota Bharu, who died over two decades respective entries in his “Keturunan Melayu” [p. 28f.]) that it belongs to Imam San. 4 kis and former kis circles are adamant (due to their engrained historically molded antiJawization stance one may suspect) that those akhar thrah manuscripts in their possession with exclusively religious content have been directly translated from Arabic and not Malay sources. Personal communication with hakem Kai Tam at Svay Pakao (Kampong Tralach, Kampong Chhnang), July 9th 2009. 5 Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 29. 6 Ibid. 7 Personal communication with Hj. Saleh, aged 82; Hamad Daud, aged 65 & Hj. Shukry, aged 58 (all born in Phum Trea), in Phum Trea, May 15th 2012; with Muhammad Ali, born in Khleang Sbek (Kendal), at Bunga Emas (Kampung Penambang, Kota Bharu, Kelantan), July 20th 2012. 8 Personal observation at Phum Trea, May 15th 2012. See fig. 5.

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later. It must be noted here that during the second half of the 19th century, Pasir Mas was just becoming one of Kelantan’s major pondok clusters9. Thus, it is certainly not coincidental that this area produced several of the Malay teachers who were active in Cambodia and the Delta in the late 19th century. Kampong Luong (i.e. Tuol Ngok, Khleang Sbek and Sambour Meas) also received a bunch of Kelantanese scholars around the same time. The most famous one, Hj. Syeikh Ismail b. Muhammad Zayn of Ketereh, arrived in Cambodia around 1890 and allegedly became one of its best known religious teachers. The local people are said to have built a mosque for him at Kampong Luong, where he remained until his death. It seems that he was instrumental in furthering Jawization in the region. His son Hj. Syamsuddin also resided and then taught there, after studying in Kelantan from 1917-192010. It thus seems plausible that he can be identified with the head of the Tuol Ngok mosque in the 1930s, referred to as oknha reachea kiripatta puon Din by Ner and in archival sources11. Hj. Wan Ismail b. Wan Musa and Hj. Wan Ahmad b. Wan Ismail, from villages in Pasir Mas and Pasir Puteh, respectively, arrived in Kampong Luong in 1892 after learning of the local demand for religious teachers through Cambodian acquaintances in Mecca. The latter ultimately moved to Koh Khoi in the Chau Doc area, where jawi scholarship had already begun to flourish as evinced by the locally produced 1893 Arabic-Malay Umm al-barāhīn manuscript. The presence of Hj. Ismail b. Yusuf from Kota Bharu, who travelled to Cambodia directly from Mecca around 1890, similarly testifies to scholarly linkages between Kelantan and Cambodia, as well as between Kampong Cham and Chau Doc. He first settled down in “Suwai Krang” (i.e. Svay Khleang) in Kampong Cham, where he married a Cham woman. After working as a roving religious teacher for some time, he eventually settled down in Chau Doc12. Finally, in harmony with Ner’s otherwise isolated report about the prominence of Chvea of (partly) Kalimantan Malay descent in Kampong Luong and Chroy Changvar, two locally active Malay scholars from the island must be mentioned. Hj. Muhammad Nur Putih al-Funtiani, a scion of a Pontianak scholarly family and known as Wan Muhammad Daram (ml. deram – “roaring”), spent many years in Cambodia, most probably during the late 19th century. After his return, Muhammad Nur intriguingly named his newly founded village in Pontianak Kampung Kemboja. His son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Funtiyānī, 9 10 11 12

Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 422. Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 34. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 168f.; anc-rsc 28319. Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 29-31. He could thus also be a candidate for authorship of Cabaton’s Umm al-Barāhīn manuscript.

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Figure 5

Epitaph of Mufti Hj. Math. (Phum Trea, Kampong Cham) Photo by author

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author of two published kitab jawi, became a major Pontianak scholar and ­acted as a Naqshbandiyya murshid from his home in Kampung Kemboja. ­Given the relevance of Islam in Lombok as a comparative case, it is striking that Wan Muhammad Nur’s other son, Hj. Sulaiman, is credited with spreading Islam and establishing a pondok there, undoubtedly championing the case of the waktu lima and functioning as important local agent of Jawization13. Another Malay scholar from Kalimantan was Hj. Yusuf Saigon al-Banjari, a grandson of the eminent Muḥammad Arshad al-Banjārī. Born in Pontianak, he became a successful and widely-travelled diamond trader and scholar. During the First World War, he lived for some time in Saigon and then in Cambodia, where he reportedly married a woman of a local kampung melayu. By 1926 he had returned to Pontianak, where he established his own Kampung Saigon. Consequently, the nisba al-Banjari was soon all but forgotten, and many locals assumed that its founder hailed from Saigon. Ironically, it was located close to al-Funtiani’s Kampung Kemboja. The fact that a town such as Pontianak could boast of both a Kampung Kemboja and a Kampung Saigon tells us something about the attachment of Cambodia’s Muslim community to the Malay world and its jawi ecumene. Just as a descendant of al-Funtiani would become a notable agent of Jawization in Lombok, Hj. Yusuf Saigon would also make a major contribution to its unfolding in Pontianak by co-founding West Kalimantan’s first major pondok, known until the Second World War as the Pondok Pesantren Saigoniyah14. In general, these arguably fragmentary reports fit perfectly with our foregoing mapping of Jawization’s development in the 1930s. Even though (suburban) Muslim communities of Phnom Penh, Battambang and Chau Giang are strikingly absent, the role of the Khleang Sbek-Kampong Luong and Chau Doc areas, and of such Kampong Cham scholarly centers as Phum Trea, Chumnik and Svay Khleang, as prime recipients of visiting teachers should therefore come as no surprise. In addition, the recurrent theme of Malay scholars coming to Cambodia and Vietnam at the invitation of indigenous pilgrims and students in Mecca (and assumingly also in Kelantan) reveals that these more 13

14

Hj. Wan Mohd. Shaghir Abdullah, Koleksi Ulama Nusantara, I (Kuala Lumpur: Khazanah Fathaniyah, 2009), p. 142-145 (henceforth cited as kun); id., “Ulama-ulama Pontianak dan Karya Mereka”, Ulama Nusantara Blogspot (unb), entry dated March 27th 2008, (accessed June 19th 2013). kun, II, p. 135f. Intriguingly, Hj. Yusuf Saigon’s brother Hj. Muhammad Arsyad al-Banjari is, besides the Minangkabau kaum muda pioneer Hj. Abdul Karim Amrullah (d. 1945), the father of the eminent Islamic scholar and Muhammadiyah activist HAMKA (Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah), a contender for the honor of having penned the first uṣūl al-fiqh work ever to be written in Malay. Ibid., p. 138.

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widely-travelled local Muslims perceived a gap between Islamic practice and scholarship back home and that of the Malay community in Mecca and other places of study. 1.2 The Main Agents of Jawization The most eminent Malay scholars exerting a major influence, both direct and indirect, on Islam in Cambodia at this time and beyond were Ahmad Patani (through his prominent students Hj. Osman of Phum Trea and Mat Sales of Chroy Changvar) and Tok Kenali (who taught Hj. Ayyub and his son Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey). Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Zayn al-Faṭānī (Ahmad Patani, d. 1907) was, after the towering foundational figure of Daud Patani, the most prominent representative of Patani jawi scholarship and its networks, as inter alia proven by his place in Cambodian Muslim affairs. Besides being an author and renowned teacher in Mecca whose legal opinions were sought by believers from all over Greater Patani and Cambodia, he played a major role in Jawization by editing, publishing, popularizing and distributing the texts of Daud and other Patani scholars, and, to a lesser extent, the works of al-Sinkīlī, alPalimbānī, Muḥammad Arshad al-Banjārī and other Malay scholars. Due to this latter activity, he arguably also greatly contributed to the emergence of the pondok and madrasa textbook canon that prevailed in Kelantan, Patani and Cambodia. 1.2.1 Ahmad Patani, His Family, and His Students The influence of Ahmad Patani, born in Yaring (Patani) in 1856 to a family of religious scholars, on Islamic scholarship in Cambodia cannot be exaggerated. His grandfather, Hj. Wan Muṣṭafā b. Wan Muḥammad Faqīh al-Faṭānī (Tok Bendang Daya Tua), had founded Pondok Bendang Daya, one of Patani’s main centers of religious education, which was passed on to his son ʿAbd al-Qādir (Tok Bendang Daya Muda, d. 1894) after his death15. This institution soon became the prime destination in Patani for Cambodian students. Consequently, we may assume, given the absence of any detailed reports, that the bulk of local scholars credited with having been educated in Patani, either in the archival sources or by Ner, had studied at this pondok. Among its teachers, ʿAbd al-Qādir has been singled out for producing Cambodian ʿulamāʾ16. But this did not necessarily take place at his Patani pondok, for he also taught in Mecca until he returned to direct the school17. 15 16 17

For their biographies and their pondok see kun, I, p. 194-199. Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 316. kun, I, p. 195.

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In addition, other members of the extended family had students from Cambodia. Ahmad’s father Muḥammad Zayn (d. 1908) had been active for some time at Bendang Daya and taught in Mecca from 1860 onwards, although never commanding the same prestige as his brother ʿAbd al-Qādir or his son Ahmad18. Known among his students from Kelantan, Patani and Cambodia as Wan Din b. Pak Wa Patani19, he was perhaps of some importance for students from Cambodia and Vietnam in Mecca during the crucial period of the 1860s and 1870s, when ʿAbd al-Qādir had already departed and Ahmad was still young. ʿAbd al-Qādir’s son Wan Ismāʿīl (Pak Da ʿEl Patani, d. 1965), who became an important jawi teacher in Mecca particularly after the Saudi takeover and the resulting departure of many jawi scholars, must have become a main local teacher for Cambodian students in the 1930s and beyond20. He also taught and wrote a commentary on Farīdat al-Farāʾid21, Ahmad Patani’s most popular work in Cambodia. One of his students in Mecca, Hj. Hasan Ketereh (d. 1977), founded a pondok in Ketereh in 1915 that attracted students from Cambodia22. ʿAbd al-Qādir’s brother ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, one of the numerous descendants of deportees from Patani by the Siamese, was an erstwhile teacher at Bendang Daya and later in Bangkok and its vicinity23. His son Wan Ismail, who studied under his cousin Ahmad Patani in Mecca, became the imam and chief teacher at Nonthaburi’s Tha It mosque and taught at the Anjuman Islam Bangkok. Hj. Math Zayn, Battambang’s major Islamic teacher, had most probably studied with him during his time in Bangkok. Ahmad Patani, who was taken to Mecca by his father as a youth, spent most of his life there. He studied with the city’s major Arab, Patani and Kelantanese scholars, among them the holy city’s appointed shaykh al-ʿulamāʾ and Mufti for the Shāfiʿi school of law, Aḥmad b. Zaynī Daḥlān (d. 1886), Mecca’s most prestigious scholar at that time and an immensely popular figure within the jawi ecumene, and his rival Muḥammad Ḥasab Allāh al-Makkī (d. 1917). His jawi teachers featured Nik Dir Patani (ʿAbd al-Qādir b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Faṭānī, d. 1898), a former student of Daud Patani and prolific author, and his pupil Wan Ali Kutan (Muḥammad ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Kalantānī, d. c. 1913)24. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 354. Rahimullah, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 312. On this cousin of Ahmad Patani see ubp, p. 167-180. Rahimulla notes that he was known in Cambodia. Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 315. ubp, p. 173, 177. tusm, II, p. 292-294. Umaiyah Haji Umar, The Assimilation of Bangkok-Melayu Communities in the BangkokMetropolis and Surrounding Areas (Kuala Lumpur: Allwrite, 2003). On these two scholars see ubp, p. 43-51; Abdul Halim, “Pendidikan Islam”, p. 12-14; Abdul Rahman al-Ahmadi, Pengantar Sastera (Kota Bharu: Pustaka Aman Press, 1966), p. 163165.

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Members of the jawi ecumene routinely consulted the group’s first three members, both in and far beyond Mecca for fatāwā, a position that Ahmad Patani would later also fulfill for Malay, Thai-Malay and Cambodian Muslims25. Another important Arab teacher of his, who would have a lasting influence on Islam in Southeast Asia, was Daḥlān’s pupil and biographer Sayyid Bakrī b. Muḥammad Shaṭṭāʾ al-Dimyāṭī (d. 1893). His major fiqh work, Iʿānat al-Ṭālibīn, was an instant success and remains a major reference in the region26. In addition, Ahmad Patani devoted himself to Sufism. Although inter alia initiated into the Shādhiliyya and Naqshbandiyya ṭarīqas27, his affiliation to the Aḥmadiyya-Idrīsiyya proved crucial for Muslims in Cambodia and Kelantan. He most probably took the Aḥmadiyya directly from Ibrāhīm al-Rashīd (d. 1874), one of its foundational figures, and studied under his successor Muḥammad al-Dandarāwī (d. 1909)28. Certain Kelantanese Aḥmadiyya figures, many of them students of Ahmad Patani, who was never primarily known as a Sufi, were major (either direct or indirect) agents of Jawization in Cambodia. Therefore, his affiliation to the ṭarīqa should be regarded as consequential for the history of Cambodian Islam, even though its introduction into both Kelantan and Cambodia owed as much (or even more) to the activities of his older contemporary Tuan Tabal (ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, d. 1891) and his family in Kelantan. Ahmad Patani’s overall literary output surpassed that of his famous predecessor Daud. Consisting of at least 65 Malay and Arabic works, it covered virtually all branches of Islamic knowledge, including medicine and history. Thus, he is credited with being the first Patani author to compose prolifically in Arabic29. At least in Cambodia and perhaps also elsewhere, he was best known for his basic Malay text on Ashʿari ʿaqāʾid (creed), entitled Farīdat al-Farāʾid fī ʿIlm al-ʿAqāʾid, which is, as are so many other jawi texts of the genre, strongly 25

26

27 28 29

The bilingual Arabic-Malay fatwa collection Muhimmāt al-Nafāʾis, first published in Mecca in 1310/1892, contains 89 fatāwā of Daḥlān, nine from Ḥasab Allāh, and eight from Nik Dir. Nico Kaptein, The Muhimmât al-Nafâʾis: A Bilingual Meccan Fatwa Collection for Indonesian Muslims from the End of the Nineteenth Century (Jakarta: inis, 1997), p. 3-6. The work also contains a fatwa by Daḥlān. Sayyid Bakrī b. Muḥammad Shaṭṭāʾ al-Dimyāṭī, Iʿānat al-Ṭālibīn ʿalā Ḥall Alfāẓ Fatḥ al-Muʿīn (Cairo: ʿĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, n. d.), II, p. 380. In contrast to the long-held view that works on Islamic substantive law (furūʿ) soon became irretrievably detached from the actual life-worlds of Muslims, it was actually longestablished practice to include recent fatāwā on contemporary legal problems into such works. Wael B. Hallaq, “From Fatwās to Furūʿ: Growth and Change in Islamic Substantive Law”, il&s, I (1994), p. 29-65. Mark J. Sedgwick, Saints and Sons. The Making and Remaking of the Rashīdi Aḥmadi Sufi Order, 1799-2000 (Leiden: Brill, 2005), p. 123 n. 2; Martin van Bruinessen, “The Origins and Development of the Naqshbandi Order in Indonesia”, di, LXVII (1990), p. 165. Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, p. 124; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 356. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 357.

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indebted to al-Sanūsī’s Umm al-barāhīn. This book became so popular that it was published and reprinted early on in at least two different editions in Cairo, Mecca, Penang and Riau30. In fact, in Cambodia its author was known as “Tok Farīda”. His al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, the collection of 107 of his fatāwā, clearly mirrors his unmatched prestige among Cambodian Muslims and their thorough engagement with the jawi ecumene, including its highest scholarly representatives in Mecca. For our purposes, this work’s exceptional value stems from the fact that it is a collection of so-called primary fatwas that has not undergone the standard editing processes commonly associated with producing secondary fatwa collections or incorporating individual fatwas into fiqh manuals (furūʿ). The most crucial component of this editing process was the removal of elements of fatwas irrelevant to legal scholars but of prime interest to his­ torians, namely the names and other particularities (e.g. places of origin) of the petitioners (sg. mustaftī)31. While the bulk of requests came from Patani ­Malays, questions were also sent from Kelantan, Siam (presumably the Patani Malay community in and around Bangkok), Songkhla and, tellingly, Cambodia. Strikingly, the largest number of non-Patani Malay fatwa requests came from Cambodia (five), followed by Songkhla (four) and Kelantan (three)32. Unfortunately, only one Cambodian fatwa lists the names of the three mustaftīs, most probably all former students of the mufti, whereas the others at least indicate their provenance among Cambodian Muslims. ­Because of their extraordinary significance for the documentation and study of Jawization in the country, these fatāwā will be discussed in detail below. Within the overall jawi ecumene, but perhaps not within the Kelantan-Patani-Indochina region, Ahmad Patani’s scholarly standing was only matched by Muḥammad Nawawī Banten and Zayn al-Dīn al-Sumbāwī in the 1880s and 1890s. An outstanding editor and publisher of Arabic works, and particularly of kitab jawi, Ahmad Patani additionally became heavily involved in printing Malay books in Mecca, Egypt and Istanbul from the late 1870s onwards33. In Mecca, he and other Malay scholars, most notably his uncle Dāʾūd b. Muṣṭafā al-Faṭānī (d. 1935) and Idrīs b. Ḥusayn al-Kalantānī, set up a coordinating board to edit and print Malay books (Badan Pentashih dan Mencetak Kitab Jawi). Due to his experience in Cairo (under the auspices of Muṣṭafā al-Bābī 30 31 32 33

Madmarn, Pondok and Madrasah, p. 27; Matheson & Hooker, “Jawi Literature”, p. 29; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 480. Hallaq, “From Fatwās to Furūʿ”, p. 32-34, 44-55. Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 386. Hj. Wan Mohd. Shaghir Abdullah, Al ʿAllamah Syeikh Ahmad al-Fathani Ahli Fikir Islam dan Dunia Melayu (Kuala Lumpur: Khazanah Fathaniyah, 1992), p. 50.

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al-Ḥalabī)34, in 1884 he was appointed director of the Ottoman Malay Printing press, then known as al-Maṭbaʿat al-Mīriyyat al-Kāʾina and later as Maṭbaʿat al-Tarraqī al-Mājidiyyat al-ʿUthmāniyya. After his death, and from 1896-1902, his two Badan Pentashih associates directed it. As Snouck Hurgronje observed, the Meccan publishing house’s output was thoroughly biased towards Patani scholars, particularly Daud Patani35, whose works amounted to around 75 per cent of its publications, beginning with the inaugural publication of his alDurr al-Thamīn (on ʿaqāʾid)36. It also published some of Ahmad Patani’s books and a number of kitab jawi by other 19th century Patani authors, most notably Tuan Minal (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī, d. 1913)37. Ahmad Patani and his associates likewise prepared lithographic editions of books by the major Palembang and Banjarmasin scholars of the 18th and 19th century. A major pioneering undertaking was the first publication of al-Sinkilī’s Qurʾanic commentary Tarjumān al-Mustafīd, the only printed Malay tafsīr available at that time, which had apparently entered Cambodia in the 1900s. Arabic works, such as Sayyid Bakrī’s Iʿānat al-Ṭālibīn, were also published, but to a lesser extent38. While many of its publications had already been published elsewhere in the Malay world, Mecca, Istanbul, Cairo or Bombay39, Ahmad Patani’s efforts enabled the writings of Daud Patani and other later Patani authors in particular to achieve an unprecedented degree of distribution and outreach. Strikingly, the canon of textbooks studied in religious schools in Patani, Kelantan and Cambodia from the 1890s way into the 1960s largely coincides with the publication record of al-Maṭbaʿat al-Mīriyyat al-Kāʾina/Maṭbaʿat al-Tarraqī al-Māji­ diyyat al-ʿUthmāniyya. As this selection also mirrored Ahmad Patani’s teaching preferences, which many of his students and then their students inherited, he 34 35 36 37 38 39

Michael Laffan, “Understanding al-Imam’s Critique of Tariqa Sufism” in Azyumardi Azra, Kees van Dijk & Nico J.G. Kaptein (eds.), Varieties of Religious Authority. Changes and Challenges in 20th Century Indonesian Islam (Singapore: iseas, 2010), p. 20. Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka in the Latter Part, p. 306f. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 477. This publication was evidently so successful that it was already reprinted two years later. Dāʾūd b. Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Faṭānī, al-Durr al-Thamīn (Mecca: al-Maṭbaʿat al-Mīriyyat al-Kāʾina, 1303/1886). Himself a graduate of Pondok Bendang Daya (besides studies in Mecca), he was a prolific author of kitab jawi also used in Cambodia. ubp, p. 62-73; kun, I, 160-163. The sequence of published Patani literature is detailed in Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 477486. For a list of Arabic and Malay publications edited and/or published by Ahmad Patani see Abdullah, Al ʿAllamah Syeikh Ahmad, p. 49-52. See Proudfoot (Early Malay Printed Books, passim) on early publications in the Malay world and Bradley (Social Dynamics, p. 486-490) on Patani works published in other places of publication.

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made a major contribution to the emergence and enduring maintenance of a jawi/Arabic canon of standard mosque, pondok and madrasa literature with a heavy focus on Patani scholarship. Ahmad Patani’s most direct influence on Islam in Cambodia came through his students from that country. The names of ten Islamic scholars from Cambodia and the Delta who studied under him in Mecca have come down to us through his grandson Wan Mohammad Shaghir Abdullah40. Whereas some of these reports consist of only their names, a few contain additional information. Most importantly, individual scholars can be more or less securely identified with persons mentioned in other sources. The most influential of these local agents of Jawization were Hj. Osman of Phum Trea and Hj. Mat Sales of Chroy Changvar, Cambodia’s most eminent Islamic teachers during the first decades of the 20th century. Their unmatched prestige as the true leaders of Cambodia’s Muslim community, as asserted by Ner, was certainly related to their legacy as students of Mecca’s most prominent Malay teacher and mufti. Mat Sales featured among a group of mustaftīs (from what was most probably Chrang Chamres’ trimeu mosque) who requested a fatwa from Ahmad Patani on the proper terminology to be used while imparting knowledge about (alSanūsī’s) twenty attributes of Allah. There is a great probability that the other two petitioners, Tengku Sulaiman and Hj. Abdul Hamid, had also been students of the mufti in Mecca, as claimed by Shaghir Abdullah. Both of them are credited with actively propagating Islam in Chrang Chamres and other villages with a Kelantan/Patani Malay element41. It is, however, evident from the fatwa request that they were non-Malay Cham speakers (see below). A certain Hj. Muhammad Tahir b. Nuh, imam of Kampong Bang Din in Cambodia42, is reported to have sent money (assumingly donations) for his former teacher with the annual pilgrim delegation43. This suggests a constant interaction of at least individual community members with Ahmad Patani and likewise indicates that he was considered deserving of monetary gifts. In addition, mention must be made of a certain Hj. Abdul Malik, who may be identified with either an early scholar at Chumnik or a Phnom Penh-based teacher who studied with Ahmad’s disciple Tok Kenali (see below). Among Shaghir Abdullah’s list we also find a certain Hj. Ismail Kemboja. Given the Patani scholars’ preoccupation with Umm al-barāhīn and studying the sifat dua puluh (twenty attributes) derived from it, he could well have authored the interlinear 40 41 42 43

Shaghir Abdullah, Fatwa tentang Binatang, p. 50. Ibid., p. 50 (ns. 52 & 53). I was unfortunately unable to identify this place. Ibid., p. 50 n. 54.

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Malay translation of the text seen by Cabaton in Chau Doc and/or be the Hj. Ismail of Koh Khoi, who is variously credited with being the Delta’s first student in Kelantan or with leading a group of Chau Doc and Kampong Cham Muslims for studies at the pondok of Hj. Muhammad Zayn Awang44. In any case, all of the foregoing – except Hj. Muhammad Tahir b. Nuh and Hj. Osman, who probably left Mecca before Tok Kenali embarked on his own teaching career – are known to have also studied with Tok Kenali45. Ahmad Patani’s major Indochinese students played a considerable role in the process of Jawization in Cambodia. However, their own quests for religious knowledge in the teaching circle of Mecca’s most eminent jawi scholars of the late 19th century, alongside many others of the jawi ecumene, testify to the process and Cambodian Muslims’ participation in the scholarly networks of Southeast Asian Islam and its personal and systemic links to Meccan society. Mat Sales of Chroy Changvar and Hj. Osman of Phum Trea were among Cambodia’s most authoritative teachers and arbiters in Islamic matters. Moreover, the former and his associates, as well as Hj. Muhammad Tahir b. Nuh, also functioned as direct channels of communication to the famed Meccan who apparently acted as highest authority for unresolvable questions debated in Cambodia. Yet Ahmad Patani was only the pinnacle of the Patani-KelantanCambodia network at that time. Apart from his relatives in Bangkok and at Pondok Bendang Daya in Patani, his many students, particularly his purported favorites Tok Kenali and Wan Ahmad b. Wan Muhammad Zayn (and then their students), transmitted his teachings to Cambodia’s Muslims. 1.2.2 Tok Kenali and His Students Allegedly, Ahmad Patani’s favorite student was Muḥammad b. Yūsuf b. Aḥmad (d. 1933), a native of Kelantan better known as Tok Kenali. Born in 1863 in Kampong Kenali at Kubang Kerian near Kota Bharu, he was only seven years younger than his teacher. When he arrived in Mecca in 1886, Ahmad Patani was already a well-established scholar. Unsurprisingly, the two shared a substantial number of teachers, inter alia Muḥammad Ḥasab Allāh al-Makkī, Sayyid Bakrī and Wan Ali Kutan. He also studied with ʿAbd Allāh al-Zawāwī (d. 1924), Mufti of Pontianak (1896-1908) and then Shāfiʿi Mufti of Mecca, and with

44 45

jp, dja (2)/1/2; Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 48. Lists of Cambodian and Vietnamese students of Tok Kenali have been compiled by alAhmadi and al-Qari. al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 44; Abdullah al-Qari b. Hj. Salleh, Kelantan Serambi Makkah di Zaman Tuk Kenali (Kenali: Pustaka Asa, 1988), p. 62, 77f.

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the staunch early Minangkabau reformist (kaum muda) leader Aḥmad Khaṭīb al-Minankabāwī (d. 1915)46. Tok Kenali and Ahmad Patani have been routinely described as strongly influenced, not least due to their visits to Cairo, by the Islamic reformism of Muḥammad ʿAbduh (d. 1905), whom some claim they actually met47, and Rashīd Riḍā (d. 1935). Although they espoused some reformist ideals, such as a pronounced appreciation of print culture and the new medium of Islamic periodicals, and in Tok Kenali’s case the desire to establish new forms of Islamic education, they were not partisan reformists as were Aḥmad Khaṭīb and other kaum muda leaders in Singapore and Sumatra. In other words, they adopted an intermediate position. Ahmad Patani’s literary output, as well as the works he felt compelled to print, was fairly traditional in character. Both were evidently of a natural conciliatory nature, and Tok Kenali later personified his intermediate stance by establishing a traditional pondok and simultaneously playing a major role in founding of Kelantan’s first modern Islamic school. This reveals that the Greater Patani-Cambodia sphere within the jawi ecumene had its own trajectories of Jawization, which caused its experience to differ from its Javanese-speaking parts and the Outer Islands as well as from Sumatra, the Straits Settlements and elsewhere. Despite the common overall process, these differences resulted inter alia in variegated manifestations and responses to Islamic reformism. This especially concerned the virulence of accompanying intra-community cleavages and conflicts, which played out on a much smaller scale in places such as Kelantan and Patani. Although not devoid of friction, more serious confrontations between kaum muda and kaum tua began to disrupt Kelantan and Patani, with some notable delay, only from the late 1930s into the 1960s. It was thus natural that Cambodia witnessed this new conflict and its ensuing factionalism only from the 1950s onwards. The earlier trimeu/kobuol split, which was a dramatic reaction to Jawization, should not be confused with kaum muda/kaum tua strife. Tok Kenali, who was neither a prolific author nor an important figure in book publishing, nevertheless became a teacher of great renown who made important contributions to Arabic language instruction and to establishing Islamic periodicals in Kelantan. In addition, he was a frequent contributor to religious periodicals (including in the rather unusual form of short stories), which he had started to read in Mecca upon Ahmad Patani’s advice, 46 47

Abdul Rahman al-Ahmadi, “Pokok Pemikiran Haji Mohamad Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kenali (Tuk Kenali)”, tm, IV (1995), p. 1410. Ibid., p. 1411.

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as well as an instrumental figure in founding various Islamic institutions in Kelantan. In 1908, shortly after Ahmad Patani’s death and after more than twenty years of study in Mecca, Tok Kenali returned to his native Kelantan48. He soon acquired considerable prestige as a teacher in his own pondok (established in 1910 in his home village) as well as in Kota Bharu’s main mosque (later rebuilt and known as Masjid Muhammadi), where he served as head-teacher from 1917-1925. He has been specifically credited for modernizing and systematizing instruction in Arabic. His Kelantanese student and former teaching assistant Hj. Muḥammad ʿAlī Salāḥ al-Dīn b. Awang (Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang, d. 1968)49 posthumously edited his lessons in Arabic grammar. In 1915 Tok Kenali was appointed a council member of the newly formed Majlis Ugama Islam dan Adat Istiadat Melayu Kelantan (henceforth mui), the first centralized body for the administration of Islam in any Malayan state50, and, in 1917, its director of Islamic education. In this capacity, he was instrumental in founding Kelantan’s first modern Islamic school, the Madrasah al-Muhammadiah, which, like those championed by the Muhammadiyah in Java, adopted a modern class and examination basis and combined religious and secular subjects. He was likewise a main figure (including as “principal honorary editor”) in and frequent contributor to the mui’s journal Pengasuh (est. 1918). Just as Tok Kenali managed to straddle the educational divide, which elsewhere separated the kaum muda and their contenders, by being equally active in both the traditional pondok and the emerging integrated madrasah/sekolah agama (religious school) system, Pengasuh was rather non-partisan in comparison to the likes of al-Imām (est. 1910) or al-Munīr (est. 1911)51. While clearly sharing some of the kaum muda’s religious and social reform agendas, Pengasuh did not 48

49 50 51

For his biography and influence see al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok & “Pokok Pemikiran”; al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah & “Toʾ Kenali: His Life and Influence” in W.R. Roff (ed.), Kelantan: Religion, Society, and Politics in a Malay State (Melbourne: Oxford Univ. Press, 1974), p. 87-100; Wan Mazwati Wan Yusoff. “Tok Kenali (Muhammad Yusof bin Ahmad). Modernisation of the Pondok” in Rosnani Hashim (ed.), Reclaiming the Conversation. Islamic Intellectual Tradition in the Malay Archipelago (Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2010), p. 72-90. Muḥammad ʿAlī Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, al-Durūs al-Kinaliyyat al-Ibtidāʾiyya (Kota Bharu: Maṭbaʿa Majlis Ugama Islam, 1945). Roff, “Origin and Early Years”. As the first Southeast Asian organ of Islamic reformism, Singapore’s al-Imām drew heavily on Cairo’s al-Manār in both form and content, as did its Minangkabau counterpart alMunīr (published in Padang). HAMKA (Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah), Ayahku. Riwayat Hidup Dr. H. Abd. Karim Amrullah dan Perjuangan Kaum Agama di Sumatera, 2nd ed. (Jakarta: Penerbit Widjaya, 1958), p. 76-79, 86; Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 148-151, 172-178.

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claim to represent either camp52. When Kelantan’s Sultan Ismail (r. 1920-1943) commissioned the translation of al-Shāfiʿī’s Kitāb al-Umm and of the “Tafsīr al-Khāzin” in 192953, the mui entrusted the (eventually uncompleted) task to Tok Kenali. More importantly, he produced a whole generation of authors of religious works, teachers and pondok founders, primarily in Kelantan but also in Terengganu, Sumatra and Cambodia. Already in 1917 Tok Kenali was teaching 300 students54. Thus, more Indochinese Muslims studied with him than with the permanently Mecca-based Ahmad Patani. Significantly, the number of Tok Kenali’s Malay students who would become teachers of Cambodian Muslims was impressive. Combined with his contributions to religious institutional development in Kelantan, Tok Kenali’s role in Jawization in Cambodia and the Delta was tremendous. Moreover, although he was not a major mufti like his teacher, he helped set up the most important fatwa-issuing body for Cambodian Muslims after Ahmad Patani’s death, for he was a driving force in the creation of Pengasuh’s fatwa section through his membership in the mui’s Meshuarat Ulama (Committee of Religious Scholars)55, established in 1918 as Kelantan’s official and exclusive institution of iftāʾ56. An estimated thirty Cambodian Muslims (including those from the Delta, likewise referred to as orang kemboja in Kelantan) studied with Tok Kenali either at his pondok or in Kota Bharu’s main mosque. This would place them on par with their colleagues from Kedah, but above those from Siam, which had its own famous pondoks, and even Terengganu (both estimated at twenty)57. Seventeen of his Cambodian students are known by name58; a few of them had earlier been students of Ahmad Patani. These included, most prominently, the Phnom Penh scholars Mat Sales, Hj. Abdul Malik and the latter’s son 52 53

54 55 56 57 58

Khoo Kay Kim, “Malay Society, 1874-1920s”, jseas, V (1974), p. 191f. al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 126. The second work is actually Lubāb al-Ta⁠ʾwīl fī Maʿānī al-Tanzīl of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Khāzin (d. 1340), a narrative-based Qurʾān commentary enjoying lasting popularity in the jawi ecumene since at least 1600. Riddell, Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World, p. 45f., 142-146, 161. Kim, “Malay Society”, p. 187. al-Qari, “Toʾ Kenali”, p. 93. Roff, “Origin and Early Years”, p. 140f. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 94. I am basing myself here primarily on the lists in al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 44; alQari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 62, 77f. Only two of Tok Kenali’s students to be discussed below (both coming from the Delta) were not recorded by these two authors. Just as in the case of Ahmad Patani’s students, nothing but the names have been preserved of some of these scholars, who will, accordingly, in their majority be left out from the following discussion, save for cases in which a tentative identification can justifiably be made.

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­ uhammad Tahir59. The remaining ones are Hj. Ismail from the Delta and a M certain Hj. Sulaiman b. Muhammad Tahir60, who is most probably identical with the student of Ahmad Patani who called himself Tengku Sulaiman in the above-mentioned fatwa request. Among Tok Kenali’s students who had not also studied with the Patani luminary, we have already discussed Hj. Abu Talep and his father Hj. Ayyub, who had moved to Chroy Metrey from the Delta and were decisive in turning their village into a center of religious education. Mention has likewise been made of Muhammad Amin, a son of Phum Trea’s famous Hj. Osman. It was of course befitting Hj. Osman, as a student of Ahmad Patani, to send his son to study under the latter’s most illustrious disciple. Another of Tok Kenali’s Cambodian students, a certain Ahmad Tawil, was noted to have hailed from Kendal province. The Hj. Idris found on both al-Ahmadi’s and al-Qari’s lists, was probably the advisor to the Mufti of Cambodia of the early 1970s, who hailed from Baren (Kendal)61. We may assume that he was instrumental in firmly connecting the village to jawi networks of learning stretching from Chroy Changvar to Kampong Cham. The same connection is apparent with another scholar, who can be identified with a degree of certainty. Thus, there is a great probability that our list’s Hj. Yahya is identical with the archival sources’ Hj. Katoeu-Ya (Hj. Yahya b. Abd al-Qadir). Born in Chroy Changvar in 1902, he solicited an official license to establish a religious school in Kampong Treas in Kampong Cham’s Krauchhmar district (not be conflated with Phum Trea in the same srok) in 1933, after securing a teaching certificate from the authorities62, thereby testifying to his command of written (jawi) Malay. The authorization was granted the following year63. The interconnectedness of Muslim communities in Kelantan, Cambodia and the Delta is particularly apparent with two other Indochinese students of Tok Kenali. Hj. Yasya Asmath (Ahmad b. Yahya), a tuon (religious teacher) and orang pendakwah (propagator of the faith) from the Chau Doc area, eventually 59

60 61 62 63

As indicated above it is not entirely certain that it was the Phnom Penh and not the Chumnik scholar Abdul Malik, who studied with Ahmad Patani, whereas the studentship of the Phnom Penh scholar and his son under Tok Kenali is firmly established. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 77; al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 44, 66, 90. Shaghir Abdullah also lists both a Hj. Abdul Malik and a Hj. Muhammad Tahir (different from Ahmad Patani’s long time Cambodian supporter and contact Muhammad Tahir b. Nuh). Shaghir Abdullah, Fatwa tentang Binatang, p. 50. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah di Zaman Tuk Kenali (Kenali: Pustaka Asa, 1988), p. 62. Osman, Oukoubah, p. 122. anc-rsc 8772. He also signed plainly as Hj. Yaḥyā in jawi. anc-rsc 8465. This was, however, intriguingly soon revoked for “political reasons”. ­a nc-rsc 8772.

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became a highly important figure in Cambodian Islam after having studied under the Kelantanese luminary. Initially teaching in Saigon among the growing community of Muslim migrants from the Delta, he later taught in a Phnom Penh mosque and finally rose to the position of advisor to the Mufti/changvang of Cambodia after the Second World War64. In Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic (19701975), he still formed part of the Muslim community’s official four-person religious leadership65. In contrast to most other Muslim officials and community leaders, he escaped the dk regime’s killing spree and settled down in Pasir Mas in Kelantan. His role as a rare survivor among Cambodian Islamic scholars and former students of Tok Kenali turned him into one of al-Ahmadi’s two local informants on fellow Cambodian students of Tok Kenali66. Similarly, also al-Ahmadi’s second informant presumably survived only because he was living abroad during the dk years. Born around 1900 in Svay Khleang67, one of the main early centers of Jawization in Kampong Cham, Yakoub b. Mahmud was among the few Indochinese Muslim scholars to become teachers in Kelantan instead of in their homeland. While it is not entirely clear whether he returned to Cambodia after studying with Tok Kenali, we do know that he was teaching at a pondok in Ulu Sa⁠ʾ (Machang, Kelantan) by the 1960s68. When al-Ahmadi met him in the 1980s, he was still active despite his advanced age. He presumably had Kelantanese, Indochinese and local descendants of Indochinese Muslim migrants as students. In fact, Jaspan noted that Cham farmers settled down in the area during the interwar period69. Two other important students of Tok Kenali with roots in the Delta are strikingly absent from both of our lists. Muhammad Idris, hakem of Chau Giang for over a half century from 1951 onwards and discussed above, had studied inter alia with Tok Kenali at the Masjid Muhammadi from 1930 onwards70. The second scholar became a major teacher in his own right in Kelantan, where he was known as Hj. Ayyub b. Hj. Husayn Kemboja71. As he is more strongly 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71

al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 44, 90; al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 78. Le martyre des musulmans khmers (Phnom Penh: La Direction des Affaires Religieuses et Islamiques, Association Islamique Centre de la Republique Khmere, Association de la Jeunesse Islamique, [1974]), p. 37. al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 54 n. 52. Ibid., p. 20 n. 14, 54 n. 52. jp, dja (2)/1/2. Ibid. lpd, “Haji Muhammad Idris”. Muhammad Salleh b. Wan Musa (with S. Othman Kelantan), “Theological Debates: Wan Musa b. Haji Abdul Samad and His Family” in W.R. Roff (ed.), Kelantan: Religion, Society, and Politics in a Malay State (Melbourne: Oxford Univ. Press, 1974), p. 165.

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a­ ssociated with his other famous local teachers, which perhaps also accounts for his absence, he will be discussed in subsequent sections of this chapter. We now turn to the last component of the upper tier of the Jawization network around Ahmad Patani, Tok Kenali and the family of Muhammad Zayn Awang, as well as their many Cambodian and Malay students who taught new generations of Cambodian Muslims. This component is represented by three generations of religious scholars and teachers from the family of a Kelantanese Aḥmadi named Hj. Muhammad Zayn Awang. Another Kelantanese scholarly family (i.e. that of Tuan Tabal), similarly influential in Kelantanese and Cambodian Islam during the period and arguably strongly connected to the described network on various levels, will be mentioned briefly but dealt with separately due to its adoption of a rather confrontational stance towards Tok Kenali and the mui. 1.2.3

Muhammad Zayn Awang, His Family, and Kota Bharu’s “Pondok Kemboja” Arguably, Wan Muhammad Zayn Awang of Kota Bharu is a rather shadowy figure in comparison to Ahmad Patani or Tok Kenali. And yet he, along with some of his children and grandchildren as well as one of his sons-in-law, had a major influence upon Cambodian Islam. In fact, no other scholarly family in Kelantan was linked to the label kemboja as closely as his. Moreover, his son Ahmad b. Muhammad Zayn was reportedly, besides Tok Kenali, Ahmad Patani’s second favorite student72. Likewise, two different lines of transmission of the Aḥmadiyya converged in his family. Hj. Wan Muhammad Zayn, often referred to as Hj. Awang Atas Banggol after his native kampung in Kota Bharu, was one of Tok Kenali’s early teachers before the latter left for Mecca73. He also taught Arabic to Hj. ʿUmar b. Ismāʿīl Nūr al-Dīn Sungai Keladi (d. 1946), another major local scholar and later teacher of Cambodian students, most prominently Phum Trea’s Mat Sales Haroun74, and was connected to another of Tok Kenali’s local teachers, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ (d. 1891), better known as Tuan Tabal. The latter, who introduced the Aḥmadiyya into Kelantan and Cambodia, must be regarded as one of Jawization’s earliest indirect agents in Cambodia. Born in Tabal in Southern Thailand in 1816 but raised in Kelantan, he was, like Ahmad Patani later on, initiated into the Aḥmadiyya by Ibrāhīm al-Rashīd in Mecca. Sometime during 72 73 74

al-Ahmadi, “Pokok Pemikiran”, p. 1411. al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 23f. tusm, I, p. 278; Ismail Awang, “Hajji ʿUmar Sungai Keladi: Ulama Tokoh Falak”, Pengasuh, 420 (Dec. 1976/Zul-Hijjah 1396), p. 20.

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the late 1860s/early 1870s he left Mecca at the invitation of a local notable, Tok Semian, to teach in Kota Bharu’s main mosque. He later established his own place for teaching, which came to be known as Surau Tuan Tabal or Pondok Tok Semian75 and was conveniently located to draw students from the chief mosque76. There he also transmitted the Aḥmadiyya and conducted its dhikr. However, he did not regard himself primarily as a Sufi Shaykh and thus spread it, very much as al-Rashīd and some of his other khalīfas (i.e. those entitled to spread the path on his behalf) had, as a ṭarīqa primarily for scholars77. His student body included both local and Cambodian Muslims78. Most of his at least six Malay works on Sufism, fiqh and uṣūl al-dīn were soon printed in Mecca and/or Kelantan79. Hj. Awang must have been among his disciples in Kelantan, for they were so close that he was one of the four Kelantanese ʿulamāʾ who washed and prepared Tuan Tabal’s body for burial80. Apparently, his children, both male and female, were initiated into the Aḥmadiyya. Following Tuan Tabal’s death, Hj. Awang seems to have gone to Mecca for some time, where his son Ahmad was already studying with Ahmad Patani. In Mecca, his daughter Safiyya married Muḥammad Saʿīd al-Linqī (Linggi, d. 1926), a Minangkabau-descended scholar from Negeri Sembilan. Already an Aḥmadi, Safiyya introduced her husband to al-Rashīd’s Egyptian successor, Muḥammad al-Dandarāwī, who appointed Muḥammad Saʿīd as his khalīfa in 190081. Muḥammad Saʿīd then headed to Malaya to spread the path, first from his family’s native Negeri Sembilan, then from Kota Bharu and eventually from Seremban in Negeri Sembilan82. When he reached Kelantan sometime between 1902 and 1905, he initially set himself

75 76 77 78

79 80 81 82

Hamdan Hassan, Tarekat Ahmadiyah di Malaysia. Suatu Analisis Fakta secara Ilmiah (Selangor: Percetakan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1990), p. 71-77. Ibid., p. 76. Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, p. 79f. It must be noted, that the original path of Ibn Idrīs knew no such position as khalīfa. Ibid., p. 80, 177; Werner Kraus, “Sufis und ihre Widersacher in Kelantan/Malaysia. Die Polemik gegen die Aḥmadiyya zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts“ in Frederick de Jong & Bernd Radtke (eds.), Islamic Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Controversies and Polemics (Leiden: Brill, 1999), p. 741. al-Ahmadi, Pengantar Sastera, p. 158-163. al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 48 n. 9. Che Zarrina Sa⁠ʾari, “Perkembangan Tarikat Aḥmadiyyah di Negeri Kelantan Darul Naim”, Afkar, II (2001), p. 71 n. 38. For his biography and role in the Aḥmadiyya in Kelantan see Hassan, Tarekat Ahmadiyah, p. 55-57, 62f.; Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, p. 126-131; Sa⁠ʾari, “Perkembangan Tarikat Aḥma­ diyyah”, p. 68-74; kun, I, p. 27-31.

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up in Hj. Awang’s house83 and proceeded to establish a surau right there in Atas Banggol. Tuan Tabal’s Rashīdi-Aḥmadi transmission to Kelantan thus converged with the second – the Dandarāwi – Aḥmadiyya lineage spreading to the Malay state within the family of Hj. Awang. Muḥammad Saʿīd, the subject of a major controversy surrounding the Aḥmadiyya in Kelantan finally brought before Ahmad Patani in Mecca by Sultan Muhammad IV (r. 1899-1920)84, also gained followers from Cambodia and Vietnam85. His endeavors led him to Saigon, Ayutthaya (Thailand) and most probably Cambodia to establish an Aḥmadi presence in those areas86. Whereas his mission to Saigon apparently had no lasting results, as did the one to the former Siamese capital, his target group was certainly the local jawi community (i.e. Muslims from the Delta and the Malay world). Although best known for carrying the Aḥmadiyya beyond strictly scholarly circles and for the controversies his branch created in Kelantan, Muḥammad Saʿīd was a scholar in his own right, one fully integrated into the existing networks of jawi learning. He had studied with the eminent Patani teacher and writer Tuan Minal (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī, d. 1913) in Patani and then in Mecca with Ahmad Patani, some of the latter’s own non-jawi teachers (e.g. Ḥasab Allāh al-Makkī and Sayyid Bakrī) and with other significant jawi scholars such Wan Ali Kutan, Nawawī Banten, al-Sumbāwī, and, like Tok Kenali, with the Minangkabau reformist Aḥmad Khaṭīb al-Minankabāwī. At al-Azhar, he studied with the Shāfiʿi shaykh al-azhar Shams al-Dīn al-Anbābī (in office 1886-1895)87. Although not all of his at least ten works88 were printed, he was clearly aware of the relevance of print to disseminating Aḥmadi teachings, which had perhaps been instilled by his teacher Ahmad Patani. Indeed, besides translating al-Rashīd’s ʿIqd al-durar al-nafīs, he also organized the printing of a Malay version of the Aḥmadi awrād, together with a text of the path’s eponym Aḥmad b. Idrīs in the margins (Kunūz al-jawāhir), which has otherwise been preserved only in manuscript form throughout the Muslim

83 84 85 86 87 88

al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 48 n. 9; Sa⁠ʾari, “Perkembangan Tarikat Aḥmadiyyah”, p. 72 n. 39. On this and other Aḥmadiyya-related controversies in Kelantan see Kraus, “Sufis und ihre Widersacher“. kun, I, 27f.; Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, p. 137, 177, 179. He was most successful in Ayutthaya, where he contracted another marriage. Hassan, Tarekat Ahmadiyah, p. 62f., 226; Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, p. 137, 173-177. Sa⁠ʾari, “Perkembangan Tarikat Aḥmadiyyah”, p. 70f.; kun, I, p. 28; Dodge, Al-Azhar, p. 193f. kun, I, p. 30.

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world89. Intriguingly, this publication seems to have found its way into Cambodia90. Despite the prominent and at times notorious activities of Hj. Awang’s sonin-law Muḥammad Saʿīd, his own sons made the greatest contribution to Jawization in Cambodia and the Delta from within the ranks of his family. The biography of his eldest son Ahmad is strongly connected to both the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network and Cambodian Islam. These two features are best exemplified by his hagiographic status as the alleged second favorite student of the Meccan mufti (besides Tok Kenali) and by his epithets Hj. Ahmad (b. Muhammad Zayn Awang) Kemboja and Pak Da Mat Kemboja in Kelantan91, which he acquired due to his residence in Cambodia late in his life. Moreover, because of his teacher’s high opinion of him and his particular concern for Cambodian Muslims, he was supposedly sent to Cambodia by Ahmad Patani himself to teach Islam and convince the local Muslims to first seriously study in Kelantan and Patani before coming to seek knowledge from him in Mecca92. This, however, is a matter of some doubt since Ahmad Kemboja arrived in Indochina roughly seven years after his teacher’s death. After studying under his father in Kelantan, Ahmad Kemboja proceeded to Mecca to study with Ahmad Patani and other jawi as well as non-jawi teachers there. Even though he is not known to have left any written works, this may imply that he, like Tok Kenali, concentrated on teaching and spiritual progress. Given his family and scholarly backgrounds, we may take his membership in the Aḥmadiyya for granted, despite the lack of any firm evidence. Contemporaries who stayed with him in Mecca reported that he was an extraordinarily pious Sufi scholar. Even when he was sleeping, the name of Allah came from his lips as he exhaled93. Intriguingly, he spent more time in Mecca than Tok Kenali94. It is unclear whether he briefly returned to Kelantan to teach at his father’s surau, which Hj. Awang had established in Atas Banggol after his own return from the holy city sometime in the 1890s. Some sources assert that he did so95, while others maintain that he traveled directly from Mecca to Cambodia around the year 191496. This latter account seems to be more likely. 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96

Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, p. 130. At least the awrād was reportedly recognized by a Cambodian visitor to the Aḥmadi surau in Ampangan (Negeri Sembilan). Ibid., p. 137. tusm, II, p. 387. al-Ahmadi, “Pokok Pemikiran”, p. 1411. Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 13, 48. Ibid., p. 13. Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 351. This account is considerably confused as the author assumes Ahmad Kemboja to have been one of Tuan Tabal’s sons. Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 48.

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Strikingly, it is unanimously reported that Sultan Muhammad IV asked him to become the Mufti of Kelantan. He is said to have rejected this request by letter (presumably from Mecca) because doing so would run counter to his soul (karena jawatan ini tidak sesuai dengan jiwanya)97 and, purportedly, his desire to spread Islam in Cambodia before accepting the post. This must have taken place already in 1907-1908, when the first new-type State Mufti of Kelantan was to be appointed as the most senior – now administrative and judicial – official serving the sultan, whose authority the British had just effectively restricted to matters of religion and custom (agama dan adat)98. Intriguingly, Tuan Tabal’s son Wan Musa, an Aḥmadi as well as a disciple of Ahmad Patani who was then a comparably young returnee from Mecca, eventually received the appointment. This has generally puzzled scholars of Islam in Kelantan, not least due to his youth99. But if we assume that he had not been the first choice, but rather the more senior Ahmad Kemboja, this appears less startling. Apparently, the ruler merely decided to appoint a younger Aḥmadi-affiliated Mecca-based ʿālim from another major Kelantanese scholarly family. Perhaps his acquaintance with students and colleagues from Mecca’s Cambodian Muslim community led Ahmad Kemboja to travel there. Most likely arriving in 1914 or 1915, his career as a roving teacher who visited Muslim villages in Cambodia and Vietnam was cut short by his premature death, significantly in Phum Trea, in 1915 or 1916100. Due to his important position in the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network in Mecca and his intimate connection to both of Kelantan’s Aḥmadi lineages with their Cambodian students, we may assume that he was already known in Cambodia. As noted earlier, his biography apparently became somewhat confused with that of an earlier Kelantanese agent of Jawization who had died in Phum Trea, the “mufti” Hj. Math (Ahmad) from Pasir Mas (d. 1890). Local memory recalls only one such figure, and it was pointed out to me repeatedly that he had died approximately 80-100 years ago101, which would apply to Ahmad Kemboja but contrasts sharply with 97 98

99 100 101

Ibid.; Shaghir Abdullah, Fatwa tentang Binatang, p. 45. Roff, “Origin and Early Years”, p. 123. There had only been one earlier Mufti of Kelantan, Hj. Nik Wan Daud b. Hj. Wan Sulaiman (d. 1907), already appointed under Sultan Mansur (r. 1891-1900), who was then followed by an interim, named Hj. Wan Ishak b. Imam Hj. Abdullah. tusm, I, p. 89f. Tellingly, also Wan Ishak’s son Muhammad would later teach in Cambodia for two decades (see below). Sedgwick (Saints and Sons, p. 125) suggested that the Sultan may have thought that the young scholar “would prove amenable”. Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 48; id., “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 34. Personal communication with Hj. Saleh, aged 82; Hamad Daud, aged 65 & Hj. Shukry, aged 58 (all born in Phum Trea), in Phum Trea, May 15th 2012.

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the death date of 1307 A.H. given on Hj. Math’s tombstone102. Intriguingly, present references to his alleged influence on local Islam fit neatly with our conception of Jawization as revolving around the notions of religious change and written transmission of Islamic knowledge in jawi Malay. Thus, one elderly informant claimed that Hj. Math brought kitab jawi and religious knowledge from Kelantan, and that the people of Phum Trea had previously performed only three daily prayers103. Another long-term consequence of his visit to Cambodia and the Delta was that the Kota Bharu pondok of his father Muhammad Zayn Awang in Atas Banggol became particularly popular with the area’s Muslims. Already in 1916, a group of Muslims from Cambodia and the Delta set out for the pondok under the direction of its most senior member, Hj. Ismail (Kemboja) of Koh Khoi. Other recorded travelers from the Chau Doc area were Hj. Ayyub b. Hj. Husayn and his younger brother Hj. Abu Bakr, as well as a Kampong Cham native known as Yakoub “Bangkok” or “Boeung Kaok”104. Despite remaining a shadowy figure to me, this latter person just might be Toun Yakoub, an important Phum Trea teacher in the 1960s and early 1970s who was killed during the first Khmer Rouge purge of religious leaders in the village in 1974105. When Jaspan met Tuon Yakoub in Phum Trea during the late 1960s, he was struck by the latter’s unusually “hostile attitude”106. The tuon, evidently a staunch advocate of Jawization, twice interrupted the audio-recording of traditional Cham spells of Islamic magic recited over women in labor to facilitate delivery107. His former local student Ibrahim b. Tukang Sulaiman was similarly representative of Jawization’s course and scope. Already a tuon, Jaspan noted that, due to his studying with Tuon Yakoub and a Kelantanese teacher (in Cambodia), he “spoke perfect Malay” and was a religious teacher and successful ­vendor

102

103 104

105 106 107

Arguably, this date is hardly legible from outside of the grave’s low-lying enclosure in the verandah of the Phum Trea mosque. Nevertheless, I concur with the reading of the tj’s junior leader Muhammad Ali, that 1307 is the most likely reading. Personal observation in Phum Trea, May 15th 2012; personal communication with Muhammad Ali, at Bunga Emas (Kampung Penambang, Kota Bharu, Kelantan), July 20th 2012. Personal communication with Tuon Rosad, Phum Trea, May 15th 2012. Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 48. Nakula spells the latter name as “Yaʿqūb Būngkūq”, which might imply either a connection to Bangkok or to a location bearing the popular Cambodian place name Boeung Kaok. Villages of that name are to be found in Kampong Cham in Koh Sautin and in Thbaung Khmum district. Osman, Oukoubah, p. 123; id., Cham Rebellion, p. 121. jp, dja (2)/1/3. “Cham personality: evaluations and attitudes toward. Srok Krauch Mar”, typescript, dated January 10th/11th 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/3.

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of the white skullcaps (ml. kopiah/ar. kūfiyya)108 that became so popular with Cambodian Muslims as the local process of Jawization advanced. It eventually supplanted the traditional white turban still worn today by the kis community. Ibrahim apparently not only purveyed the religious and cultural content, but also the aesthetic tastes associated with Jawization. Hj. Ismail Kemboja, who led the group traveling to the Pondok Hj. Awang in 1916, died only a few years after arriving in Kelantan. Whatever influence he might have had on Jawization in Cambodia and the Delta must therefore have resulted from his earlier activities there before he left for Kota Bharu. Things were different with Hj. Ayyub and Hj. Abu Bakr. Originating from Châu Phong in the Delta, their father Hj. Husayn had brought his sons to Patani for religious education even before their time in Kelantan109. However, it is unknown if they formed part of the above-mentioned group, for another and most probably more reliable source states that Hj. Ayyub b. Hj. Husayn (d. 1970), the more illustrious brother, came to Kelantan in 1925110. Once in Kota Bharu, and evidently not content with studying just at Pondok/Surau Hj. Awang, he also studied with Tok Kenali. The local teachers who apparently had the strongest impact on his later career and activities were Hj. Wan Musa and, to a lesser degree, Hj. Abdullah, both sons of Tuan Tabal and thus representative of Kota Bharu’s other Aḥmadi lineage. Whereas Hj. Wan Musa established his own surau in Jalan Merbau, his brother Hj. Abdullah took over their father’s surau, where he led the Aḥmadi dhikr and rātib111. Hj. Ayyub was thus not only a student of Kelantan’s most famed teacher (i.e. Tok Kenali) and its former Mufti (Wan Musa felt forced to resign in 1916) but was also strongly entrenched in the state’s Aḥmadi milieu. After a stay in Mecca, he returned to Kelantan in 1934112 to establish himself as a teacher. His scholarly credentials were such that his former teacher Wan Musa hired him to educate his son Nik Leh (Muhammad Salleh, d. 1972)113. It may thus be taken for granted that he also drew students from Cambodia and Vietnam. Before his death in 1970, Hj. Ayyub reportedly only returned to his native Châu Phong on two occasions114. Nevertheless, his influence on religious developments there proved to be tremendous. Strongly imbued with the 108 109 110 111 112 113 114

jp, dja (2)/1/3. Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 48. Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 165 n. 25. Hassan, Tarekat Ahmadiyah, p. 79. tusm, I, p. 214; Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 165 n. 25. Ibid., p. 165. Agnes De Féo, “Les musulmans de Châu Doc (Vietnam) à l’épreuve du salafisme”, Moussons, XIII-XIV (2009), p. 362.

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reformist spirit championed by Wan Musa and some of his sons, he and his brother Hj. Abu Bakr are locally commonly identified as representing one of the two channels for introducing kaum muda thought and practice into the Delta115. We will return to Hj. Ayyub Kemboja when discussing the role of Hj. Wan Musa’s family in Jawization. The growing number of students coming from Cambodia and the Delta to study at Pondok Hj. Awang caused it to become known locally as “Surau Kemboja”116. This name also stuck because Ahmad b. Hj. Awang was not the last family member to earn the quasi-nisba “Kemboja”. His younger brother Hassan (d. 1934), who assumingly served as the school’s head teacher during most of this period, also received this epithet, which led to it becoming more commonly known as “Surau Hj. Wan Hassan Kemboja”117. In contrast to his older brother, who spent most of his adult life in Mecca, Hassan was well entrenched in Kelantan’s scholarly community. By 1917 at the latest, he was one of the illustrious scholars teaching in Kota Bharu’s main mosque118. Besides directing the Surau Kemboja, he continued his activities there into the 1920s and most probably until his death in 1934119. Besides teaching Cambodian students in both institutions, Hassan Kemboja followed in his brother’s footsteps by undertaking two missions to Cambodia. He first traveled there in 1924 with a young Kelantanese associate, Hj. Idris b. Hj. Salleh (d. 1983), who had earlier stayed in Mecca together with Ahmad Kemboja. The two scholars lived in Cambodia for two years as traveling teachers. Accordingly, Hj. Idris became known as “Tok Idris Kemboja” upon his return to Kelantan120. Among the places they were known to have stayed longer were “Chrumantri” (i.e. Chroy Metrey) and “Kaknor” (i.e. Roka Khnor in Krauchhmar, Kampong Cham)121, a village and a district strongly associated with the dynamics of Jawization. Wan Hassan returned to Cambodia once more, for about one year, in 1928122. These visits both directly contributed to Jawization in the country and further enhanced the popularity of his surau and his lessons in Masjid Muhammadi, Kota Bharu’s chief mosque. 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122

Ibid., p. 364f. Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 48. Nik Abdul Aziz, “Islam dan Masyarakat”, p. 18 n. 14.; id., “Approaches to Islamic Religious Teachings in the State of Kelantan between 1860 and 1940”, Sari, I (1983), p. 81 n. 2. Abdullah Alwi, “Development of Islamic Education”, p. 200 n. 88. tusm, II, p. 392. Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 13, 48. Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 36. Here Nakula, in an obvious error, has him accompany a “Hj. Wan Muhammad Zain b. Hj. Wan Muhammad” instead of Hj. Wan Hassan b. Muhammad Zayn. Id., “Orang Melayu”, p. 48.

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The next generation of Hj. Awang’s family produced another Islamic scholar with teaching experience in Cambodia – Hj. Wan Muhammad Zayn b. Hj. Wan Ahmad Kemboja, who accompanied his father to Mecca and on his final journey through Indochina. After his father’s death, he returned to Kelantan but revisited Cambodia on several occasions until 1928123. Hj. Wan Muhammad Zayn most probably taught at his grandfather’s surau in Atas Banggol, which remained the preferred residential area for Cambodian and Vietnamese students in Kota Bharu until the late 1960s. In 1967 Jaspan estimated their number at forty124. Although this choice was certainly related to the proximity to Masjid Muhammadi as well as to the existence of several other suraus/pondoks in its vicinity, some of which also drew Cambodian students, it must have owed much to the fame of the suraus of Hj. Awang and his son-in-law Muḥammad Saʿīd Linggi. The “Kemboja brothers” Ahmad and Hassan focused on teaching the arkān, ʿaqīda and fiqh in Kelantan and Cambodia, whereas Hj. Awang’s other sons, Hj. Abdul Rahman and Hj. Daud, carried on the Aḥmadiyya of Muḥammad Saʿīd. Accordingly, Hj. Abdul Rahman was installed as his khalīfa for Kelantan and began to convene weekly dhikr sessions at Muḥammad Saʿīd’s former surau in Atas Banggol after the latter left that state’s hostile climate for Negeri Sembilan. Upon his death, Hj. Abdul Rahman was succeeded by his brother Hj. Daud b. Hj. Awang, who handed over responsibility for the surau, which had become largely disconnected from the center at Negeri Sembilan after Muḥammad Saʿīd’s death in 1926, to his own son Wan Ja⁠ʾafar in 1941. Thus, with respect to the second Atas Banggol surau connected to Hj. Awang, the third generation of his family continued to carry its banner. But due to Wan Ja⁠ʾafar’s early death in 1946, the Aḥmadiyya of Atas Banggol became dormant until 1978, when an emissary from Negeri Sembilan revived it and entrusted it to Wan Ja⁠ʾafar’s son-inlaw Hj. Sa⁠ʾari b. Hussain125. Hj. Sa⁠ʾari continues to direct regular dhikr ceremonies to this day126. Although the surau has been relocated several times, it still bears the name “Surau Hj. Awang Alim”, which seems befitting as it has remained in his family’s hands for over a century. 1.2.4 Other Malay Scholars of the Network As the foregoing exposition on the network revolving around Ahmad Patani, Tok Kenali and Hj. Awang and its influence on Cambodian Islam was not 123 124 125 126

Id., “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 34. jp, dja, (2)/1/2. Sa⁠ʾari, “Perkembangan Tarikat Aḥmadiyyah”, p. 83-85. Personal communication with Che Zarrina bt. Sa⁠ʾari, e-mail, August 8th 2012; with the surau’s guardian, Kota Bharu, July 21st 2012.

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exhaustive, this section will draw attention to some of its other figures who either taught Cambodian students in Malaya or in Cambodia. Several accounts claim that Ahmad Patani not only personally entrusted Ahmad Kemboja with the task of spreading Islamic knowledge in Cambodia, but also two other prominent students: Hj. Sulong, the early Patani nationalist and pioneering Islamic reformist, and Hj. Ibrahim b. Hj. Yusuf, Mufti of Kelantan from 1927 to 1941. Although the account about Hj. Sulong is most probably spurious – or in any case dubious – the latter certainly is not. Hj. Sulong (Hj. Muhammad Sulum b. Hj. Abdul Kadir, d. 1954) was born in Kampong Anak Ru in Patani in 1895127. A grandson of the eminent Patani scholar Tuan Minal (d. 1913), some of whose works already formed part of the regional kitab jawi canon, he naturally became a scholar. After studies in Patani, he arrived in Mecca in 1907; however, his teachers there are not known128. Claims that he was taught by Ahmad Patani129, and more far-reaching claims of his alleged dispatch to Cambodia, are unsubstantiated. Any possible association would have been short-lived, as Ahmad Patani died within one year after Hj. Sulong’s arrival. In 1914-1915 Hj. Sulong allegedly spent time teaching in Cambodia and Vietnam while en route to Patani. Suspected of being an Ottoman spy, various reports state that he was either hidden from the French authorities by Muslims in Vietnam130 or arrested by them in Kampong Cham. According to the latter version, he was released after a few days and subsequently set out for his homeland131. His stay there was brief, however, for he departed for Mecca the following year, where he took up teaching, and then returned to Patani sometime in the mid-/late-1920s. As Southern Thailand’s first major spokesman for the kaum muda reformist movement, he stirred up serious conflict within the local scholarly establishment. The hallmark of his activities was the 1933 establishment of his Madrasah al-Ma⁠ʾarif al-Wataniah Fatani, Thailand’s first Islamic school with an integrated (i.e. religious and ­secular) curriculum132. The authorities, suspecting it of separatist political 127

128 129

130 131 132

On his life and scholarly activities see ubp, p. 129-148; Joseph Chinyong Liow, “Religious Education and Reformist Islam in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces: The Roles of Haji Sulong Abdul Kadir and Ismail Lutfi Japakiya”, jis, XXI (2010), p. 34-42; tusm, I, p. 339ff. ubp, p. 130. al-Ahmadi, “Pokok Pemikiran”, p. 1411; Liow, “Religious Education”, p. 35. Liow even claims that he had close relations with Ahmad Patani and Tok Kenali during his second stay in Mecca from 1916 onwards. Of course, the former was dead for seven years by then, whereas the latter had been living Kelantan for almost as long. al-Ahmadi, “Pokok Pemikiran”, p. 1411; Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 49. Liow, “Religious Education”, p. 35 n. 20. ubp, p. 131f.; Liow, “Religious Education”, p. 36-41.

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leanings, closed it in 1935. With Hj. Sulong’s mysterious disappearance in Thai custody in 1954, the reformist project in Patani, by then mostly submerged by the local Malay political struggle, became dormant until the 1960s, coinciding with major kaum tua/kaum muda disputes in Cambodia. Hj. Sulong’s pioneering madrasa project was similar in character to both the mui’s Madrasah al-Muhammadiah (est. 1917) and the school of Hj. Haroun and his son Mat Sales in Phum Trea, which had apparently adopted an integrated curriculum in the second half of the 1930s. Two particularities must, however, be emphasized in this regard. Firstly, the two latter schools were never regarded as specifically controversial. While this was probably due in part to the facts that they were neither aggressively promoted nor understood as reformist institutions, it could also imply that Patani’s Islamic scholarly culture had, a quarter of a century after Ahmad Patani’s death, grown far less dynamic than in Kelantan and even in Cambodia. It was therefore presumably very significant that Kelantan, Patani’s erstwhile junior partner and first follower in the regional process of Jawization, had come to increasingly marginalize Patani as a destination for Cambodian students. Secondly, although Mat Sales Haroun’s school remained a singular instance until the actual ascendancy of the kaum muda in Kampong Cham under Li Musa from the late 1950s onwards, it clearly shows that Cambodia was hardly a late-comer in that respect, if the first and only such school in Thailand’s (then still Malay-dominated) South had been inaugurated just a few years earlier. We are on much firmer ground with Ahmad Patani’s third alleged emissary to Cambodia, Hj. Ibrahim b. Hj. Yusuf (d. 1952), whose family had come to Kelantan from Minangkabau133. After receiving his early education in Kelantan, inter alia at Tok Malek Sungai Pinang’s (Abdul Malik b. Hassan, d. 1926) pondok, where he may have first come into contact with Cambodian students134, he embarked for Mecca, where he became a student of Ahmad Patani, Wan Ali Kutan, Ḥasab Allāh al-Makkī and others. Like his illustrious colleagues Tok Kenali and Ahmad Kemboja, Hj. Ibrahim is also associated with Cambodian students in Mecca. In fact, he traveled to Cambodia in (or around) 1903 not because his teacher asked him to, but because his Cambodian friends invited him to come. He is arguably the only one of Ahmad Patani’s alleged emissaries 133 134

For brief biographies see Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 348f.; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 431f. It has been noted that Tok Malek, born in 1834 (or, according to some claims even in 1813) and therefore too old to form part of the network around Ahmad Patani, had Cambodian Muslims among his students. tusm, I, p. 113-115. His pondok was presumably, besides Pondok Pulai Chondong, among the earliest destinations for Cambodian students coming to Kelantan.

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to have travelled there during the latter’s lifetime. Although he spent two years in Cambodia and became fluent in Cham135, it is not known where he resided. As his great-uncle Hj. Said b. Hj. Isa had left Kelantan for Chrang Chamres shortly after Hj. Ibrahim’s return to Kota Bharu136, there is a great probability that he had been based there. Naturally, their presence would have contributed to the emerging local kobuol/trimeu split. The confirmed presence of former local students of Ahmad Patani in Chrang Chamres, probably the same individuals who had invited Hj. Ibrahim, naturally adds weight to this assumption. Hj. Ibrahim’s engagement with Cambodian Muslims, however, did not stop there. Firstly, he reportedly continued to move among Kelantan, Cambodia and Mecca for much of the first two decades of the 20th century137. In 1917 he, along with Tok Kenali, Wan Hassan Kemboja and others, was appointed one of the eight teachers at the mui’s new Madrasah al-Muhammadiah, where he also had Cambodian students. Indeed, its first class of 139 registered students came from all over the Peninsula, Patani, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Cambodia138. His position as one of Kelantan’s major Islamic scholars was testified to by his appointment as State Mufti in 1927, a post he held for eight years. Strikingly, he was neither the only nor the first Mufti of Kelantan to teach Cambodian students on both sides of the Gulf of Thailand. The first of Hj. Ibrahim’s two printed works was published by Ahmad Patani’s printing press in Mecca in 1904139, clearly indicating his respect for his former student’s scholarship, and probably also distributed in Cambodia. His son Hj. Muhammad Nur (1905-1987) also taught at institutions drawing Cambodian students, namely the mui’s Jamiʿ Merbau al-Ismaili (est. 1939 as a follow up to the Arabic section of the Madrasah al-Muhammadiah) and the Masjid Muhammadi, from 1945 and 1949 onwards, respectively, and served as Mufti of Kelantan (1968-1987)140. The influence of these two scholars, not to mention the activities of their relative Hj. Said in Chrang Chamres, on the process of Jawization in Cambodia was significant. A prolific writer141, Hj. Muhammad Nur’s Durūs al-Tawḥīd became a standard textbook for three standards in the Jamiʿ Merbau. His (jawi) Malay Tafsīr al-Raḥmān (or Tafsir Pimpinan alRahman), co-authored with Abdullah b. Muhammad Basmih and, significantly, 135 136 137 138 139 140 141

Nakula, “Orang Melayu”, p. 13; id., “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 31; Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 349. Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 31f. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 431. Abdullah Alwi, “Development of Islamic Education”, p. 200 n. 88. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 432 n. 37. tusm, II, p. 318. Ibid., II, p. 320-324.

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first published in Ramadan 1388/1968 by the Prime Minister’s Office of Kelantan, is still used in Cambodia. As such, this tafsīr also elucidates the described networks’ enduring salience. For instance, I encountered it lying on the table in the house of Battambang’s deputy Province Imam Man Seu (Hj. Musa b. Sulaiman), a former student of Tok Kenali’s disciple Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey142. A good friend of the present Cambodian Mufti Sos Kamry, Man Seu has been teaching a classical jawi curriculum to hundreds of students from the area (including the Muslim settlements of Dam Spey, Norea and Slaket) since the end of the dk era143. Sos Kamry and his former deputy Zakariyya Adam of Svay Khleang are also known to keep the work in their private collections144. Tok Bermin (Hj. Wan Muḥammad b. Wan Idrīs al-Faṭānī, d. 1957), another former student of Ahmad Patani and contemporary of Hj. Ibrahim, was active in Jambu (Patani). His pondok, the Madrasa Nūr al-Islām al-Barminiyya, was highly popular through the 1920s to 1940s145 and frequented by students from Indochina, such as Hj. Muhammad Idris of Chau Giang, who studied there from 1928-1930146. Whereas most of the scholars discussed so far had been more or less directly connected to Ahmad Patani, many of the remaining ones discussed below became part of the network primarily through Tok Kenali. Another Kelantanese scholar who acquired the epithet “Kemboja” was Hj. Muhammad Saleh b. Penghulu Mamat (Tuan Hj. Awang b. Mamat, d. 1937)147, better known locally as “Tok Kemboja” or “Tok Kemboja Tua” (“Tok Kemboja, the Old”). Born in Terap near Kota Bharu, he went to Mecca with Tok Kenali in 1886, where he became a specialist in uṣūl al-dīn and tajwīd (recitation)148 before returning to Kelantan with his close friend in 1908. After another trip to Mecca around 1912, he proceeded directly to Cambodia to settle down and teach in “Kampung Suwaithin” in Kampong Cham (i.e. Kampong/Phum Soai in Krauchhmar). He stayed in Kampong Cham for approximately twenty years, teaching in different villages, and took an additional wife from its Vietnamese community. Due to his empathic style of teaching and gentle voice in recitation, he became locally known as “Hj. Wang Lemak (“gentle”)”. He died a few years after his return 142 143 144 145

146 147 148

Personal observation in Dam Spey (Battambang), May 11th 2012. Personal communication with Man Seu, Dam Spey (Battambang), May 11th 2012. Bajunid, “Place of Jawi”, p. 138. ubp, p. 149-165; Hj. Wan Mohd. Shaghir Abdullah, “Tok Bermin al-Fathani cergas, cermat dan kemas”, unb (November 12th 2006). ubp holds his name to have been Aḥmad and not Muḥammad. As Shaghir Abdullah is citing his name inter alia on the basis of original written documents, his opinion seems more reliable. lpd, “Hj. Muhammad Idris”. tusm, II, p. 395. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 70; tusm, I, p. 139.

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in Kelantan; some of his Cambodian descendants would arrive there later as refugees from dk brutality and civil war149. Hj. Ahmad b. Hj. Abd al-Manaf (d. 1952), a younger contemporary of Tok Kemboja Tua who settled down in Cambodia around the same time, was known in Kelantan as Tok Kemboja Muda (“Tok Kemboja, the Young”)150. After studying in Kelantan, he continued his studies with jawi scholars in Mecca. His only known teacher there was Tok Senggora (ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad Qāsim al-Fiqhī al-Sanqūrī, d. 1930), a scholar from Songkhla (South Thailand),151 who was well entrenched in the network due to having studied under Ahmad Patani and his father Muhammad Zayn152. As a renowned tajwīd (and, to a lesser degree, fiqh) specialist, Tok Senggora certainly drew Cambodian students. The Ottoman governor acknowledged his talent in Qurʾān recitation and reportedly rewarded him financially. His major Malay work on the subject, Mawrid al-Ẓamʾān fī mā yataʿallaq bi-Tajwīd al-Qurʾān, was printed by Ahmad Patani’s Meccan printing press in 1316/1898153. Tok Kemboja Muda went directly from Mecca to Cambodia in 1912. Settling down in Kampong Luong (Kendal), later a major site of kobuol/trimeu factionalism, he taught there and elsewhere for ten years. His return to the holy city was cut short by the outbreak of the second Wahhabi war, which soon forced him to return to Kelantan for good154. A number of the network’s scholars never went to Cambodia but nevertheless influenced Islam there through the Cambodian students coming to their major pondoks, primarily in Kelantan. One of them, Tok Selehong (or Selehor, Hj. Abdul Rahman b. Hj. Uthman, 1871-1935)155, began his education, just like the later Mufti Hj. Ibrahim, at Tok Malek Sungai Pinang’s pondok. After further studies in Patani, he went to Mecca and became close to Tok Kenali156. Following his return, Tok Selehong founded his own pondok around 1920, which soon drew students from Cambodia, Patani, Sumatra and even Java157, and kept in close contact with Tok Kenali, who famously regaled him with the title “Our Poet” (penyair kita). This scholar is still remembered for holding what were probably Kelantan’s largest and most elaborate mawlid celebrations158. Given this event’s contentious nature in present-day Cambodia – it is the most 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158

Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 32f.; id., “Orang Melayu”, p. 13. tusm, II, p. 398. ubp, p. 86. Ibid., p. 85. Ibid., p. 87-89. Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 34. tusm, I, p. 163-171. Ibid., I, p. 166. Ibid., I, p. 163, 167. Ibid., I, p. 168f.

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e­ mblematic dividing line between today’s major contending factions (i.e. the tj with its strong linkages to Southern Thailand and Malaysia and the Salafis with their Arab supporters) – this may well be regarded as significant. Tok Selehong’s younger Kelantanese contemporary Hj. Muhammad Saman b. Awang Senik (1881-1935), better known as Tok Seridik, lived and studied in Patani for more than twenty years before journeying to Mecca. As he arrived several years after Ahmad Patani’s death and Tok Kenali’s departure, his prime network connection was Ahmad Patani’s son Wan Ismail, who was one of his local teachers159. Subsequently, he established his own school in Kelantan (Pondok Kuala Nipah), which became so popular that it had to be enlarged in 1930. Its students came from all over the Peninsula as well as from Cambodia160. We have already mentioned Hj. Muḥammad ʿAlī Salāḥ al-Dīn b. Awang (Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang, d. 1968), who posthumously prepared his teacher Tok Kenali’s Arabic grammar lessons for publication through the mui. One of his brightest students, Tok Kenali had selected him as his teaching assistant161. We may thus take it for granted that Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang early on taught many of Tok Kenali’s Cambodian students. His mastery of Arabic syntax was such that Tok Kenali advised anybody seeking such knowledge to study it with him162. Before his time at Pondok Kenali, Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang’s search for knowledge had already brought him inter alia to the pondok of Tok Malek Sungai Pinang in Patani and, finally, for three years to Mecca. During the 1930s, he established his own pondok (Madrasat al-Falāḥ) in his native Pulau Pisang. Already a widely-known scholar due to his work at Pondok Kenali, his school soon boasted students from various peninsular Malay states, Borneo, Sumatra and Cambodia163. Even though most foreign students left when the Japanese took over Kelantan, his teaching career continued. A long-standing teacher at the Masjid Muhammadi (until 1967), he also taught at Jamiʿ Merbau al-Ismaili from 1943 onwards, where he must have had Cambodian students. The mui published both his al-Durūs al-Kinaliyyat al-Ibtidāʾiyya (1945) and a tafsīr on surah Yā-Sīn (Q 36), which identified him as a teacher at the Masjid Muhammadi on its title page164. 159 160 161 162 163 164

Ibid., I, p. 177-179. Ibid., I, p. 186f. Ibid., II, p. 170. Ibid., II, p. 167. Ibid., II, p. 168-173; al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 37. ʿAlī Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, Risāla Shurbat al-Ẓamʾān fī Tafsīr Qalb al-Qurʾān (Kota Bharu: Maṭbaʿa Majlis Ugama Islam, 1959), p. 1. Yā-Sīn is one of the most widely recited surahs, due to the prophetic exhortation to recite it for the dying as well as for funeral prayers. G.H.A. Juynboll, Encyclopedia of Canonical Ḥadīth (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 9.

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Other network members from outside Kelantan also had students from Cambodia. A case in point is Hj. Muhammad Saleh Kedah (d. 1944), who studied with Ahmad Patani in Mecca and subsequently took over Kedah’s oldest pondok, which his grandfather Hj. Ishaq (d. 1871), a former disciple of Daud Patani and Palimbani, had founded. Incidentally, it was also called Pondok Pulau Pisang. Under Hj. Muhammad Saleh’s aegis, the pondok acquired unprecedented popularity and began to attract students from other regions, including Cambodia. In harmony with our notion of the jawi ecumene, the latter mingled there even with colleagues from Burma165, certainly drawn from the country’s Pashu or Myedu (i.e. Muslims with Malay ancestry) community in the Tanintharyi region166. 1.2.5 Mat Sales Haroun: a Major Cambodian Node in the Network Although the bulk of the Malay scholars mentioned in this section have so far not been treated together with any of their Cambodian students, concrete extensions of a major scholarly lineage within the network from Mecca to Kelantan and Kampong Cham will be highlighted in this sub-section. Mat Sales began his studies under his father Hj. Haroun and Ahmad Patani’s student Hj. Osman, Phum Trea’s two renowned teachers. Subsequently, he went to Kelantan with another future local scholar, Tuon So167. Jaspan dates his arrival in Kelatan to 1934168. Yet, this is most probably a misprint and should be read as 1924. Indeed, Mat Sales finished one of his works in Kelantan in April 1934, by which time he must have already completed his studies. Ner noted that he had studied in Kelantan for ten years169. We know two of his teachers in Kelantan, both of whom were firmly embedded in our network. His most important teacher, Hj. ʿUmar b. Ismāʿīl Nūr al-Dīn Sungai Keladi (d. 1946)170, had studied locally under Hj. Muhammad Zayn Awang. After reaching maturity and interrupting his studies for a few years, the early death of his wife prompted Nūr al-Dīn to resume Islamic scholarship, this time in Mecca. He stayed there for 165 166

167 168 169 170

kun, I, p. 64-66. Cf. Curtis Lambrecht, “Burma (Myanmar)” in Greg Fealy and Virginia Hooker (eds.), Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia. A Contemporary Sourcebook (Singapore: iseas, 2006), p. 2325; Gabriel Defert, “Les Musulmans en Birmanie. Une minorité ʿpara-nationaleʾ” in Michel Gilquin (ed.), Atlas des minorities musulmanes en Asie méridionale et orientale (Paris: cnrs Éditions, 2010), p. 141f. Personal communication with Muhammad Nour, b. 1929 in Phum Trea, tuon and former student of Hj. Mat Sales Haroun, at Phum Trea, May 16th 2012. jp, dja (2)/1/2. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 178. The following account of his life and activities is drawn from Awang, “Hajji ʿUmar Sungai Keladi”; tusm, I, p. 277-289.

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twelve years, sitting at the feet of the great jawi and non-jawi scholars of his day: Ahmad Patani, Wan Ali Kutan, Tok Senggora, Sayyid Bakrī, Ḥasab Allāh al-Makkī and ʿAbdullah al-Zawāwī, from whom he took the Naqshbandiyya. Returning to Kelantan in 1899, he soon began teaching at Kota Bharu’s future Masjid Muhammadi. In 1913 he moved from Kampung Atas Banggol to Sungai Keladi to establish his own pondok. He was then appointed a member of the mui, where he remained until a few years before his death. Put in charge of writing and translating religious texts from 1917-1922/3, his Kitab Jalan Sejahtera, which dealt with questions of Islamic law and ethics, was the first book ever published by the mui’s printing press in 1917. In addition, Nūr al-Dīn was, like Tok Kenali, involved in the unfinished translation project of al-Khāzin’s tafsīr. His numerous published works reveal that he was a prolific author and had mastered fields otherwise comparably neglected or else underdeveloped in the jawi ecumene, including mathematical calendric calculations and astronomy. Especially in the latter field, he would find a remarkably talented student in Mat Sales Haroun, who eventally surpassed him in this field in certain respects. Moreover, astronomy (ilmu falak) had just gained greater prominence in the jawi ecumene due to the need to accurately calculate prayer times, the prayer direction and the beginning of Ramadan. The novel insistence on using it in the two latter spheres often proved highly controversial from Java to Cambodia171. Mat Sales’ second local teacher, Hj. ʿAbdullāh Ṭāhir (d. 1961), enjoyed a standing similar to that of Nūr al-Dīn. It is claimed that Tok Kenali’s achievements in perfecting local instruction in Arabic grammar were matched by Hj. ʿAbdullāh Ṭāhir’s in the sphere of Shāfiʿi fiqh172. He had studied with Tok Kenali at Pondok Kenali for fifteen years before he went to Mecca in 1926173, where he spent four years studying inter alia with Muḥammad Nūr b. Muḥammad alFaṭānī (d. 1944), a son of the important Patani scholar and kitab jawi author Nik Mat Kecik Patani (Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Faṭānī, d. 1915)174. The Mecca-born Muḥammad Nūr, unsurprisingly a former student of Ahmad Patani, had also 171

172 173 174

On the historical and contemporary controversy surrounding calculations of the beginning of Ramadan see Zulfiqar Ali Shah, The Astronomical Calculations and Ramadan. A Fiqhi Discourse (Herndon, VA.: The International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2009). On the similarly historically contentious calculation of prayer times and the qibla see ibid., p. 8-12. tusm, II, p. 54. Unless otherwise noted data on ʿAbdullāh Ṭāhir is derived from ibid., II, p. 49-64; al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 34f. Nik Mat Kecik most probably also had Cambodian students in Mecca. He was likewise perhaps even responsible for the Indochinese pilgrims in his role as pilgrimage shaykh (muṭawwif). Among his most illustrious students we find familiar names such as Ahmad

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studied in Egypt. In 1910 he took advantage of new Ottoman regulations that admitted new teachers to the ḥarām after examination175. Eventually, he became the leader of Mecca’s numerically strongly reduced jawi community after the Saudi takeover in 1924176. We may safely assume that he taught the holy city’s Cambodian and Vietnamese Muslims during the late 1920s and 1930s (i.e. during Ner’s time). Moreover, he was important enough for his biography to appear in both a Malay biographic dictionary of Patani scholars as well as in its Arabic counterpart detailing the life and times of Meccan ʿulamāʾ177. Back in Kelantan, Hj. ʿAbdullāh Ṭāhir taught at the Masjid Muhammadi and founded his al-Madrasat al-Aḥmadiyya in Bunut Payong in 1931. It soon developed into Kelantan’s largest pondok with approximately 800 students, including some from Cambodia178. He was appointed a member of the mui’s (fatwa-issuing) Meshuarat Ulama179 and left several works on fiqh, prayer, uṣūl al-dīn, Arabic grammar and other topics180. A list of the foremost twenty-three among his hundreds of students mentions Mat Sales Haroun of Phum Trea181. The latter’s prominence in Kelantan and other Malay states, unmatched by all other Cambodian scholars with the partial exception of Hj. Ayyub Kemboja, stemmed from his important kitab jawi on astronomy. Entitled Pedoman Bahagia Membicarakan Sukutan Waktu dan Kiblat yang Mulia, it was published in Kota Bharu in 1934182. This unprecedented feat for a Cambodian Muslim scholar testified to the process of Jawization in the country and brought into rare focus that Cambodian Muslims were part of a Southeast Asian jawi scholarly community, in which they not merely played the role of students and mustaftīs outside their own country. Some of them, such as Mat Sales, Hj. Ayyub and Yakoub b. Mahmud, built up their own scholarly reputation and careers in the

175 176 177 178 179

180 181 182

Patani, Tok Kenali, Nūr al-Dīn Sungai Keladi and the pondok-educated Sultan Zainal Abidin III of Terengganu. ubp, p. 76, 79. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 175. Ibid., p. 223. ubp, p. 268f.; ʿUmar ʿAbd al-Jabbār, Siyar wa l-Tarājim Baʿḍ ʿUlamāʾinā fī l-Qarn al-Rābiʿ ʿAshr li l-Ḥijra, 3rd ed. (Jidda: al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī al-Saʿūdī, 1403/1982), p. 269-272. tusm, II, p. 59. William R. Roff, “Whence Cometh the Law? Dog Saliva in Kelantan, 1937” in id., Studies on Islam and Society in Southeast Asia (Singapore: nus Press, 2009), p. 252, 259. tusm (II, p. 63) and al-Qari (Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 34) are speaking of a “Jemaah Ulama⁠ʾ” and “Dewan Ulamaa⁠ʾ” respectively. Roff’s identification is, however, certainly correct. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 35. tusm, II, p. 61. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ b. Hj. Hārūn Kemboja, Pedoman Bahagia Membicarakan Sukutan Waktu dan Kiblat yang Mulia (Kota Bharu: Maṭbaʿat al-Kamāliyya, 1353/1934).

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competitive environment of Kelantan, which attracted students from all parts of the Western Malay world. Mat Sales’ work received wide recognition in Kelantan, as indicated by the accolades from major Kelantanese scholars that appear on the publication’s initial pages. His great teacher Nūr al-Dīn found all of its contents to be correct, according to his knowledge (maka didapati segala amalan padanya itu sahih pada pengetahuan saya)183. The Kelantanese notable Datuk Seri Diraja Muhammad Said Jamaluddin expressed his hopes that “by the grace of Allāh, the children of our Malay race may pick some of the fruits contained in the treatise in order to break free from the inadequacy of ignorance which leads to sin” (Mudah-mudahan ditawfik Allah akan anak-anak bangsa melayu kita memetik akan buahan kandungan risalah ini supaya terlepas daripada taksir kejahilan yang membawa kepada berdosa)184. Hj. Ibrahim, at that time Mufti of Kelantan, entertained and expressed such hopes in similar wording. Given his own teaching experience in the country, he must have been intimately familiar with the situation of scholars, such as Mat Sales Haroun, from among the sons of Cambodia (min abnāʾ kambūjā). Thanks to it being written in Malay, he expected the book to become a gate for the Malay youth to learn about its subject matter (pintu bagi anak-anak bangsa melayu pada membelajari akan dia)185. Hj. Ahmad Mahir b. Hj. Ismail (d. 1968), a mui member and the editor of Pengasuh, whom the author credits with reviewing and editing the treatise186, provided the longest foreword. This illustrious student of Tok Kenali, soon to be appointed Hj. Ibrahim’s successor as Mufti (1941-1968)187, described the book as very timely and stressed that some of its figures and diagrams had never been available before in the Malay language (bahasa kita). In view of prevailing conceptions of the Malay world as the region where Malay served as commercial, diplomatic and religious lingua franca, as well as the idea of the Malay world as home to the jawi ecumene, it is noteworthy that Ahmad Mahir also speaks of the Malay-speaking world (alam perbahasaan melayu) in this regard188. Clearly, partaking in the jawi ecumene did not depend on whether one belonged to the bangsa melayu (Malay race). Thus, Mat Sales notes in his introduction that he “is not from among the true Malays” (bukan daripada anak 183 184 185 186 187 188

Ibid., p. 2. Ibid., p. 3. Ibid., p. 4. Ibid., p. 8. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 18-22. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, Pedoman Bahagia, p. 5.

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melayu jati)189 and states his hope that his effort will benefit different races and especially the people of his fatherland (menjadikan manfaat bagi bangsabangsa dan ahl watan hakir khususan)190. An appended list of places with their respective longitudes and latitudes includes Prek Tomboung, Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Chau Doc and Saigon (the latter two are grouped under kemboja), thereby highlighting his connection to and conception of the fatherland. It is, however, sufficiently clear from the other entries in this section that the jawi ecumene as a whole was the work’s intended audience. Thus, excluding these Indochinese localities, 62 out the 97 entries related to places in the Malay world (the easternmost and westernmost being Ambon in Maluku and Aceh, respectively)191. We may assume that Mat Sales was personally acquainted with the whole array of major scholars and officials who provided such enthusiastic reviews of his work. It must also be noted that only a small group of scholars concerned itself with issues of ilmu falak, despite the fierce debates it had engendered since the beginning of the century. In Kelantan, only two comparable works had been published before: Nūr al-Dīn Sungai Keladi’s Shams al-Fatḥiyya and, as expressly noted in Ahmad Mahir’s foreword and Mat Sales’ introduction192, Pilihan Mustika pada Menerangkan Qiblat dan Ketika by Mufti Hj. Ibrahim’s son Muhammad Nur. Both had been put out by the mui just a few years before Pedoman Bahagia appeared, namely in 1344/1926 and 1351/1932, respectively. The notorious Minangkabau reformist Muḥammad Ṭāhir b. Jalāl al-Dīn (d. 1956), who had studied ʿilm al-falak at al-Azhar193, finished his first work on calculating the qibla and the prayer times (employing logarithms) only in 1356/1937194. In Kelantan, astronomy was introduced into the curriculum of 189

190 191 192

193 194

Ibid., p. 8. In present Indonesian/Malay and Cham (Sanskrit-derived) jati means mostly “genuine” and “real”. Jones, Loan-Words in Indonesian, p. 133; Muḥammad Zayn, Yūsuf, Aḥmad & ʿĀrifīn, Qāmūs Melāyū-Čam, p. 170. In colonial times and in early Malay nationalism, i.e. well before the Malay bumiputra (nativist) discourse, melayu jati (“real, pure [bloodied] Malay”) was employed to define the members of the bangsa melayu. Wilkinson, Malay-English Dictionary, I, p. 451; Shamsul, “History of an Identity”, p. 364. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, Pedoman Bahagia, p. 9. The remaining are mostly cities of the Arab World and India, but also of Europe and East Asia. Mecca and Medina are naturally listed first. Ibid., p. 48-53. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, Pedoman Bahagia, p. 6f. Mat Sales also makes reference to a second work which he used as a basis for Pedoman Bahagia, namely Taman Buahan-buahan by his teacher Nūr al-Dīn. As this title is absent from biographical accounts of the latter, it has presumably remained unpublished. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 129. kun, I, p. 72. Afterwards he devoted yet two more works to the calculation of the qibla. Already the first one was, however, representative of a gradual weakening of Jawization in

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the mui’s Jamiʿ Merbau al-Ismaili in the 1940s, due to the efforts of Hj. Muhammad Nur b. Hj. Ibrahim (i.e. the author of Pilihan Mustika)195. Thus, Mat Sales was evidently, with this work on calculating the prayer times and the qibla with recourse to the quadrant (ar. rubʿ), at the forefront of developments in this regard196. In the late 1960s Jaspan reported that Pedoman Bahagia was still “used as a guide by Cham[s] throughout Cambodia and by Malays on the East Coast of Malaya”197. The prestige Mat Sales had acquired in Kelantan is also testified to by the fact that he could show Ner a “Malay certificate” – assumingly an ijāza from one of his teachers or even a tauliah (i.e. certified teaching permit) from the mui, which would have allowed him to teach officially in Kelantan – and another one issued by the British Advisor to the Government of Kelantan (i.e. a testimony to his good conduct)198. Jaspan noted that Pedoman Bahagia had been of particular importance to the Muslims in his native Krauchhmar district due to the recurrent uncertainties about the beginning and ending of Ramadan, especially when the skies were clouded199. It must, however, be emphasized that Mat Sales, unlike many kaum muda partisans, did not position himself as a stern advocate of calculation instead of direct sighting of the new moon (ruʾaya). While he specifies Ramadan as a month of thirty days and explains how to calculate the beginning of the months to come, he also admits that the result will be approximate, as it may either accord with or predate the ruʾaya by one day200. But he remains neutral on the preferable method. This combination of supplying the mandatory tools for (potentially disruptive) calculation with a non-partisan stance on this hotly debated issue appears to be typical of the mui and Pengasuh201. It (especially “Indonesian”) reformist circles. Thus, it was published in a combination of Arabic and rumi (i.e. employing the Latin alphabet) Malay. 195 tusm, II, p. 321. 196 On qibla calculations with sine quadrants in medieval times see David A. King, “alKhālidī’s Qibla Table”, jnes, XXXIV (1975), p. 109-115. 197 “I. Haji Mohamed Saleh”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2. 198 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 178. 199 “I. Haji Mohamed Saleh”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2. 200 Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, Pedoman Bahagia, p. 45f. 201 Unfortunately, local informants were unaware of the method actually used in Phum Trea during the 1930s and 1940s. Personal communication with Mat Sales former students Hj. Saleh (b. 1930) and Muhammad Nour (b. 1929), at Phum Trea, May 15th & 16th 2012. According to one informant, the kaum tua of Kampong Cham relied on taqwīm (i.e. an almanac) instead of moon sighting, whereby certainly not an astronomically calculated but a traditional octaval calendar was meant. Personal communication with Tuon Him (Chrang Chamres, May 8th 2012). Natives of Chrang Chamres have asserted that still in the 1960s emissaries from Kampong Chhnang would come down to their village to enquire about the changvang’s decision regarding the beginning of Ramadan, which clearly points to

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must be noted, however, that Nik Dir Patani (ʿAbd al-Qādir b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Faṭānī, d. 1898), the student of Daud Patani and teacher of Ahmad Patani, had set a precedent in the late 19th century via a fatwa stating that a knowledgeable person must calculate Ramadan’s beginning if the new moon cannot be discerned202. The luminary from Phum Trea is also the most instructive example of how Jawization expanded in Cambodia through the teaching activities of the network’s central nodes in Mecca, Kelantan and Cambodia itself. As a student of former students of Ahmad Patani and Tok Kenali (i.e. Nūr al-Dīn and ʿAbdullāh Ṭāhir), after his return he perhaps became Cambodia’s most influential Islamic religious teacher. He thus seems to have been even more instrumental in transmitting Jawization’s canonical works and Ahmad Patani and Tok Kenali’s ideas than their direct major Cambodian students, such as Hj. Osman of Phum Trea, Mat Sales of Chroy Changvar and Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey. Indeed, he reared a whole generation of Islamic scholars, primarily in Kampong Cham but also in other areas. Returning to Phum Trea a few years before the outbreak of the Second World War, his madrasa, the popularity of which Ner had earlier observed, soon developed into the country’s largest203. Whereas Ner had recorded 66 students there in the late 1930s, their number had risen to approximately 100 in the 1940s204. Many of these students became tuons. One of the few still living and active teachers is Muhammad Nour of Phum Trea. Aged 82, he was still teaching the Qurʾān to eighty pupils in his house in 2012205. Mat Sales’ instrumental role in moon sighting on the changvang’s part. Personal communication with Ysa Meth and Syafii, b. in Chrang Chamres around 1950 (Herndon, VA., October 6th 2013). Among the kis of Au Russey, moon sighting is still the method followed. Kaori Ueki, Prosody and Intonation in Western Cham (Manoa: unpublished PhD. Dissertation, University of Hawaiʾi, 2011), p. 26. 202 ʿAbd al-Salām b. Idrīs al-Āshī (ed. & trans.), “Muhimmāt al-Nafāʾis fī Bayān As’ilat alḤādith” in Nico Kaptein, The Muhimmât al-Nafâʾis: A Bilingual Meccan Fatwa Collection for Indonesian Muslims from the End of the Nineteenth Century (Jakarta: inis, 1997), p. 107 (references to pagination of the Arabic/jawi facsimile). This fatwa collection was also among those distributed by the Patani network. Two of its five known editions were published by Ahmad Patani’s Ottoman Malay Printing Press (1325/1907 & 1331/1913). Kaptein, Muhimmât al-Nafâʾis, p. xii, 17. 203 jp, dja (2)/1/2. 204 Personal communication with Hj. Saleh, aged 82, former student of Mat Sales Haroun; Hamad Daud, aged 65 & Hj. Shukry, aged 58 (all born in Phum Trea), in Phum Trea, May 15th 2012; with Muhammad Nour, b. 1929 in Phum Trea, tuon and former student of Hj. Mat Sales Haroun, at Phum Trea, May 16th 2012. 205 Personal observation and communication with Muhammad Nour, at Phum Trea, May 16th 2012. See fig. 6.

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199

Tuon Muhammad Nour (former student of Mat Sales Haroun) and his wife (Phum Trea, 2012) Photo by author

Jawization’s expansion in Cambodia is brought into even sharper focus by looking at his non-Phum Trea students who carried his legacy back home and way beyond his premature death in the late 1940s into the 1970s (many of them were killed or died during the dk regime and the earlier civil war) and beyond. Indeed, Kampong Cham’s landscape soon became dotted with schools run by his most talented students. Hj. Muhammad Kachi (“Little Muhammad”) b. Musa (executed in 1975206), for instance, became a famed tuon and leader of the local kaum tua in Chumnik207, where he taught until 1973208. 206 Osman, Oukoubah, p. 123. 207 Personal communication with Muhammad Kachi’s former students Imam Muhammad Hasan, tuon and imam of Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak mosque (International Dubai Mosque), b. 1935 in Koh Phal (Krauchhmar, Kampong Cham), at Phnom Penh, April 30th 2012; Tuon Him (b. Tukang Basih), tuon and former Deputy Mufti of Cambodia, born 1942 in Kor (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham), at Chrang Chamres, May 8th & 13th 2012; Tuon Ismail, born 1932 in Kampong Kendal (Kampot), at Kampong Treach (Kampot), May 5th 2012; and Asyari b. Adam, b. 1973 in Stung (Kaong Kang, Ponhea Kraek, Kampong Cham), at Chroy Metrey (Kendal), May 17th 2012. 208 Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 122.

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Interestingly, his father Wan Musa b. Wan Abdullah had also been a religious teacher in Chumnik, and their family history is strongly suggestive of Jawization’s dynamics. Accordingly, Wan Musa still guarded a genealogy marking him out as a descendant of Champa’s last king209. His father had, however, evidently discarded the Cham po title for the Malay wan. No claims to Cham royal descent are related regarding Muhammad Kachi, whose fame rested exclusively on his outstanding stature as a jawi scholar. Osman’s informants about his 1974 arrest by the Khmer Rouge unanimously stated that he had been renowned throughout the country210. His prominence is further attested to by the fact that Sos Man (d. 1975), the leader of the soon-to-be-disbanded (in 1974) Eastern Zone Islamic Movement that had been established to encourage local Muslims to join the revolution211, appointed him “director of Islam” in 1973212. Unsurprisingly, his son Fadil was by then likewise a tuon213. Mat Sales’ most skilled student in ilmu falak, the Phum Trea-born Ismail b. Adam Flahi (i.e., falaki – “astronomer”), eventually settled down in Speu (Chamkar Loeu, Kampong Cham) and taught alongside Hj. Li Patani (Hj. ʿAlī b. ʿAbbās al-Ṣabrī al-Faṭānī)214. Among his students were the present Mufti of Cambodia Sos Kamry (b. 1950) and the former Deputy Mufti Tuon Him (b. 1942). Two teachers from the scholarly circle around Abu Talep in Chroy Metrey, Tayyeb Kabir and Tayyeb Kecil, had also studied with Ismail Flahi and Hj. Li Patani in Speu215. Just like Muhammad Kachi, his son and the three scholars from Chroy Metrey, Ismail Flahi did not survive the dk years. He died in 1978216. Another former student of Mat Sales who acquired prestige as a teacher was Ahmad Syarhi (“commentator” – derived from ar. sharḥ) of Koh Phal in 209 jp, dja (2)/1/6. 210 Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 121-123. 211 Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 15f; Peang-Meth, “Islam – Another Casualty”, p. 253f.; Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime. Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979 (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1997), p. 67, 258, 261f. Sos Man had acted as a spokesman for Muslims within the insurgent National United Front of Kampuchea since at least 1971. Corfield & Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 400. 212 Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 122. 213 He was fatally shot in the village by Khmer Rouge. Ibid. 214 Personal communication with his former student with Tuon Him (b. Tukang Basih), at Chrang Chamres, May 8th & 13th 2012. 215 Personal communication with tuon Asyari b. Saleh, in his native Chroy Metrey (Kendal), May 17th 2012. 216 Osman, Oukoubah, p. 123. Abu Talep and the two Tayyebs died after deportation to Battambang due to sickness, injuries and malnutrition, respectively. Personal communication with Abu Talep’s student and fellow deportee Man Seu (Hj. Musa b. Sulaiman, Deputy Province Imam of Battambang), b. 1953 in Chroy Metrey, in Damspey (Battambang), May 11th 2012.

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Krauchhmar217. Not least due to its inhabitants’ strong Islamic consciousness, this village was, together with the even more developed jawi center of Svay Khleang, in 1975 one of the two sites of truly rare instances of a popular antidk uprising218. Due to the devastating punitive measures, only around 10 per cent of Koh Phal’s residents – but not Ahmad Syarhi – survived the dk ­period219. Other well-known teachers who had studied under Mat Sales220 were Hj. Sulaiman Shukry (d. 1975) and Tuon Him (d. 2010) of Phum Trea, Ismail Fikri and Tuon Saleh Sebyan (“childlike” – derived from ar. ṣibyānī) of Kang Meas, Yusuf Atrey (“fragrant” – from ar. ʿaṭir/ʿiṭrī) of Ponhea Kraek (near the border with Tay Ninh) as well as Tuon Hj. Ahmad (Roka Po Pram, Thbaung Khmum) and Hj. Said Saʿdi (also Thbaung Khmum). Outside of Kampong Cham, Hj. Yusuf Awny of Trapeang Chhouk in Kampong Thom (d. 1977) must be noted again. Yakoub Ahmad (Ahmad b. Yakoub) of Chumnik and Hj. Sulaiman b. Yusof of Phum Trea, both sons-in-law of Mat Sales, also became renowned teachers. Whereas the former studied with his father-in-law in Phum Trea, the latter accompanied his prospective father-in-law to Kelantan and later went to alAzhar on a three-year scholarship (1963-1966). He then re-established Mat Sales’ madrasa, which even drew students from Phan Rang’s small nascent cam baruw/jawa community221, thereby extending Phum Trea’s role as a central node of Jawization into former Panduranga. A few remarks are in order about this Mat Sales-centered sub-network. The fact that many of his major students were known by epithets, most probably acquired during their student days in Phum Trea, suggests that his was a tight-knit and (positively) competitive scholarly community222. The influence 217 218

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221 222

Personal communication with Tuon Him, born 1942 in khum Kor (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham), at Chrang Chamres, May 13th 2012. For the whole dk period only two other cases on a comparable scale have been recorded. Solomon Kane, Dictionnaire des Khmers rouges (Paris: Aux lieux d’être, 2007), p. 322f. A minor rebellious outbreak had already occured in Phum Trea in 1973. Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 120f. The cia noted “small-scale revolts” of Cham villagers in Kampong Cham and Kratie starting in fall 1973. cia Intelligence Memorandum, “The Rebellious Chams”, dated January 22nd 1974, na, cia-RDP86T00608R000300070003-0, 25X1. Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 53. On the two rebellions see ibid., p. 53-111. Data in this paragraph is based, unless otherwise noted, on personal communication with Tuon Him, born 1942 in khum Kor (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham), at Chrang Chamres, May 13th 2012; and with a son of Mat Sales’ locally born student Tuon Him (d. 2010), at Phum Trea, May 16th 2012. “I. Haji Mohamed Saleh”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2; “Phum Trea: Inf. Suleiman bin Youssouf”, typescript, December 28th 1966, jp, dja (2)/1/3. Following this pattern also the director of Chumnik’s most renowned Islamic school in the late 1960s, Ahmad Sohir (from ar. ẓāhir, i.e. a specialist in the exoteric sciences) b.

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of his many students on Jawization in Cambodia must have been tremendous. Some of his major students came from areas far from the Mekong, such as Ponhea Kraek and even Roka Po Pram, which were still largely untouched by Jawization in the 1930s. Quite a few of the individuals chosen for scholarships to study at al-Azhar in the 1960s were part of his network223. Among them were his son-in-law Sulaiman b. Yusof, the future Deputy Mufti Tuon Him of Kor (a student of Ismail Flahi and Muhammad Kachi) and Muhammad Hasan, the present imam of Phnom Penh’s International Dubai Mosque and inter alia a former student of Muhammad Kachi. The emerging picture of a new scholarly elite is complemented by the fact that Muhammad Kachi eventually became a leader of Cambodia’s kaum tua in its confrontation with the local Islamic reformists, and that Sos Kamry (a student of inter alia Ismail Flahi) became Mufti of Cambodia in 1996224, when the office was officially re-established after more than twenty years. In this regard, the long-term perspective for religious literature in Cham jawi is also of interest. Intriguingly, the first book ever published in Cham jawi was a work on fiqh by Ḥusayn (b.) Yaʿqūb of Thbaung Khmum, printed in Malaysia in 1990225. The author had studied with three of Mat Sales’ major students, namely Yusuf Atrey, Imam Hj. Ahmad of Roka Po Pram and Muhammad Kachi of Chumnik226. The next Cham jawi book to be published, also the first to be properly printed and published in Cambodia (“Let’s come to pray”, 2009) was penned by Sos Kamry227. Earlier, he had produced a few hand-written Cham jawi treatises, including a two-volume Kitab Fiqh Islam, which had been Musa, was probably part of the group. It testifies to Chumnik’s character as one of the main centers of jawi education in the country, that the village housed four major Islamic schools catering to the needs of over 200 students at that time. Even two cam baruw/jawa from Phan Rang were studying there in the 1960s. “Ideals and barriers in education”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2. 223 In 1966 official Cambodian sources reported eleven Cambodian Muslims to be studying at al-Azhar with scholarship from the Egyptian government. “Ideals and barriers in education”, jp, dja (2)/1/2. In 1968 the Egyptian government again offered ten such scholarships. Shimon Avimor, Lʾhistoire contemporaine du Cambodge (1949-1975) sous un perspective israelienne (Aix-Marseilles: unpublished PhD. Dissertation, Université de Provence, 1982), p. 303 n. 1. 224 Björn Atle Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis: Islamic Education and Politics in Contemporary Cambodia” in Robert W. Hefner (ed.), Making Modern Muslims. The Politics of Islamic Education in Southeast Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʾi Press, 2009), p. 177. 225 Ḥusayn Yaʿqūb, al-Fiqh al-Islāmī bi l-Lughat al-Tshāmiyya. Fiqh Tuei Bahasa Cam (Petaling Jaya: Office of Muslim Minority Affairs – abim, 1990). 226 Ibid., p. [i f.]. 227 [Sos Kamry (Qamar al-Dīn b. Yūsuf)], Mai Weʾ Drai Sembahyang (Phnom Penh: al-Majlis al-Aʿlā li-Shuʾūn al-Islām fī Kambūdiyā, n.d. [2009]).

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d­ istributed in photo-copied form228. In 2012 Muhammad Kachi’s student Imam Muhammad Hasan was teaching the Qurʾan almost daily to an adult audience at Phnom Penh’s central International Dubai Mosque, based on its first published Cham jawi translation229. Despite sharing some concerns with the kaum muda (e.g. accurate calculation of the qibla and modernizing Islamic education), neither Mat Sales and his students nor his mui-affiliated patrons were representatives of Islamic reformism as such. Indeed, some of his students, such as Muhammad Kachi, would later emerge as champions of the kaum tua cause in Cambodia. Conversely, the genealogy of Islamic reformism in the country runs through the second (i.e. besides Hj. Awang’s family) and most important major Kelantanese scholarly family belonging to the Ahmad Patani network: the descendants of Tuan Tabal and, specifically, the family of his son Wan Musa. Wan Musa and some of his sons would often be in conflict with the mui and its ʿulamāʾ, which otherwise played such an important role for the Cambodian Muslims favorably disposed towards Jawization. 1.2.6 Wan Musa and Islamic Reformism in Indochina As noted above, Hj. Abdullah inherited his father’s (Tuan Tabal) surau after the latter’s death in 1891. But it was his other sons Wan Musa (d. 1939) and Hj. Muhammad who would rise to the highest post in Kelantan’s religious bureaucracy. Despite succeeding each other as Muftis, they evidently traveled different paths. Hj. Muhammad was selected as a quietist replacement for his younger brother, who had seriously fallen out with both the Sultan and the mui. As only the controversial Wan Musa would become strongly connected to religious developments in Cambodia during the period, we will focus here on his persona and sons. Wan Musa, who had studied under Ahmad Patani together with Tok Kenali and Ahmad Kemboja, took the Aḥmadiyya from the former, and not from his father Tuan Tabal230. Like Tok Kenali, he allegedly also returned to Kelantan in 228 229

230

Bajunid, “Place of Jawi”, p. 138, 146. Personal observation on various occasions, April & May 2012; Aḥmad Yaḥyā (gen. ed.), alQurʾān al-Karīm Lang Tuei Bahasa Cam (Phnom Penh: Jamʿiyyat al-Taṭwīr al-Mujtamaʿ al-Islāmī bi-Kambūdiyā, 2011). Then, the mosque was actually only a large barrack, as the dilapitated testimony to Islamic internationalism in Cambodia (built in 1994) had been torn down to make room for a yet more impressive structure to be named after its chief donor ʿĪsā b. Nāṣir b. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Sirkāl, a Dubai businessman with an extensive record of funding the construction of (so-called Dubai) mosques in Cambodia. Bruckmayr, “Cham Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 9 (here erroneously referred to as Hishām b. Nāṣir). Sedgwick. Saints and Sons, p. 123.

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1908231. Shortly after founding his own surau (conveniently located at Jalan Merbau), he was appointed Mufti, the highest office in Kelantan’s religious administration. Despite this promising start, he soon became a burden to Sultan Muhammad IV, who took care not to appoint him to the mui when it was established in 1915. This paved the way for decades of conflict of Wan Musa and some of his sons with the mui. Although the reasons were not exclusively religious and doctrinal, it must be noted that Wan Musa’s side was far more prone to explicitly and emphatically champion the kaum muda than its mui contenders. The outbreak of an open kaum muda/kaum tua controversy in Kelantan in the 1930s, somewhat delayed in comparison to the Archipelago and the Straits Settlements, can be traced back to his family. Thus, despite clearly forming part of the Ahmad Patani network, Wan Musa and those of his sons who gained similar notoriety evidently represent a noteworthy counter-current to all of the scholars discussed so far, the great majority of whom were associated in some way with the mui. Thus, it is hardly surprising that Wan Musa, his sons and their Cambodian disciples came to impress and fuel different trends within the wider pattern of Jawization in Cambodia than the latter. Indeed, their names are closely associated with the genealogies of Islamic reformism in Cambodia and the Delta. In Kelantan, things first came to a head after the newly-formed mui diverted a substantial portion of the now centralized zakāt and fiṭra collection to constructing Kota Bharu’s new main mosque (i.e. Masjid Muhammadi). Declaring this an unlawful use of funds destined for the needy, Wan Musa publicly opposed the Sultan and the mui. Ahmad Patani would have most probably backed his claims; his own teacher Aḥmad Zaynī Daḥlān, the Meccan Mufti of the Shāfiʿis, had ruled the same232. Tensions were soon compounded by a dispute over inheritance matters and Wan Musa’s refusal to recant a ruling that was detrimental to the Sultan’s interests. After resigning from his position in mid-1916 and going into exile to neighboring Terengganu and, apparently, Cambodia, he only returned after the death of Muhammad IV (d. 1921) and was patronized by his son Sultan Ismail233. Due to the controversy, Wan Musa never set foot in the Masjid Muhammadi, arguably one of the most important locations for Cambodian students in Kelantan. 231 232

233

Ibid., p. 124 n. 8 has convincingly argued that an earlier date would be more plausible. al-Āshī, “Muhimmāt al-Nafāʾis”, p. 56. Two other fatwas in the same collection, one by an unidentified jawi mufti and one by Daḥlān’s assistant and successor Muḥammad Saʿīd Bā Buṣayl (d. 1912), concur with Daḥlān’s view. Ibid. p. 83, 91f. On the Hadrami Bā Buṣayl see Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka in the Latter Part, p. 201; Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 103, 108. Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 156-160.

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Notwithstanding Sultan Ismail’s patronage, a significant portion of the local ʿulamāʾ and notables remained opposed to the stubborn Wan Musa. New conflicts soon arose. This time Wan Musa and his son Hj. Nik Abdullah (d. 1936), supported by one branch of the royal family around the heir apparent Tengku Ibrahim, were pitted against the Mufti, the mui and another branch of the royal family over the permissibility of dog-keeping, which was affirmed by Nik Abdullah and seconded by his father234. Intriguingly, we find three familiar names among the four leading ʿulamāʾ opposing Wan Musa and Nik Abdullah. Their most vocal critics included Hj. Ibrahim b. Yusuf (i.e. the Mufti), Hj. Ahmad Mahir and Hj. ʿAbdullāh Ṭāhir (representing the Meshuarat Ulama, the mui’s fatwa-issuing body), all of whom were deeply involved in educating Cambodian Muslims in Kelantan and featured among Mat Sales Haroun’s local patrons. It was therefore only natural that both sides were bound to feed divergent trends within Cambodian Islam235. Nik Abdullah’s younger brother Muhammad Salleh (known as Nik Leh, 1920-1972) was an even more controversial figure. Spreading reformist thought branded “heretical” by the mui and, like his father, passing legal opinions on fiṭra collection regarded as detrimental to the mui’s interests, he quickly drew its wrath upon himself after his 1946 return to Kelantan from long years overseas. Thus, Nik Leh never received the required tauliah (certified teaching permit) from the mui to become an accredited teacher of religion. In 1947 the mui banned his Filsafat Berumahtangga (Philosophy of Having a Family Household)236. Perhaps upon the mui’s initiative, this and other works of Nik Leh were rebutted in books and fatāwā issued by scholars and the State Muftis of Terengganu, Johor and Pahang. As a last step and at the behest of his surviving brothers, who evidently did not share the reformist predilections of his

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Roff, “Whence Cometh the Law”. Still it has to be emphasized that the contenders were not at odds in all points associated with kaum muda reformism. Thus, Ahmad Mahir is known to have likewise opposed certain practices cherished by the kaum tua such as talqīn. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 20f. Unfortunately, this work was inaccessible to me. But judging from the brief description by S. Othman Kelantan, and despite the latter’s relentless emphasis on the influence of Shāh Walīallāh, the propounded view of the ultimate purpose of the family being the formation of society, is in harmony with modern conceptions to be found in the writings of ʿAbduh and other Arab reformers. The latter relied in their discussions on the modern term ʿāʾila, meaning family in the sense of a unit of habitation consisting of parents and children. Tellingly, also Nik Leh’s usage of rumah tangga (family household) carries the same connotation. Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 168; Asad, Formations of the Secular, p. 227-235.

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father and Nik Abdullah, his father’s surau, in which he taught informally, was razed to make room for a new one partly financed by the mui237. The controversies over Wan Musa and his two stubborn sons resulted partly from their denunciation of numerous customary practices in local Islam as bidʿa (innovation), which was fully in line with the kaum muda’s agendas throughout the jawi ecumene. In 1914 Wan Musa even wrote to Rashīd Riḍā’s journal al-Manār in Cairo about talqīn (i.e. a ritual meant to advise the dead for the questioning of the grave)238. Therein he also took issue with the positive stance towards this practice, of which the kaum muda strongly disapproved, that was found in “al-Birmāwī’s commentary on the work of Ibn Qāsim” (i.e. Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-Birmāwī’s [d. 1694] gloss on Fatḥ al-Qarīb by Ibn Qāsim al-Ghazzī [d. 1512]239, one of the jawi ecumene’s most popular Arabic fiqh manuals240). In this context, his break with established practice and doctrine within the Patani network at large, as well as specifically within the network around Ahmad Patani, is obvious, as is his conventional but unprecedentedly critical engagement with its texts. Indeed, the issue of talqīn is raised twice (in fatwas nrs. 28 and 107) in Ahmad Patani’s al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya. Far from generally condemning or questioning its validity, the mufti only declares certain Arabic formulas used during the ritual to be correct and others to be forbidden241. Evidently both were commonly practiced in the jawi ecumene. Strikingly, Ahmad Patani further explains that the correct formulaic expressions are found in Daud Patani’s Kayfiyyat Khatm al-Qurʾān, a prayer manual published in Singa­pore and Bombay in 1877 and 1880, respectively. The mufti further clarifies that the invocations relied upon by Daud appear word for word in alBirmāwī’s ḥāshiya and Sayyid Bakrī’s posterior Iʿānat al-Ṭālibīn242. Intriguingly, fatwa nr. 107 reflects an awareness of general resentment against the practice 237 238

Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 167-169. al-Manār, XVII (1332/1914), p. 413-416. Even though the signatory to the fatwa request only calls himself Mūsā ʿAbd al-Ṣamad of Kelantan, without any additional information, we may safely conclude that this is Wan Musa’s unspecified “lost” correspondence with alManār mentioned by one of Sedgwick’s informants. Sedgwick. Saints and Sons, p. 125. 239 Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Anbābī, Taqrīr al-Anbābī ʿalā Ḥāshiyat al-Birmāwī ʿalā Sharḥ Ibn Qāsim ʿalā Matn Abī Shujāʿ (Cairo: al-Maṭbaʿat al-ʿĀmira, 1319/1901). It shall be noted that the author of this super-gloss to al-Birmāwī’s text was not only shaykh al-azhar but also one of the teachers of Muḥammad Saʿīd al-Linqī, the Aḥmadi master with followers in Cambodia and Vietnam. 240 van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 246. 241 al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 74f., 217f. 242 Ibid., p. 75, 218. In Bakrī’s time, also Snouck Hurgronje observed talqīn as a regular feature of burials in Mecca. Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka in the Latter Part, p. 161.

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in certain circles. Accordingly, it is stressed that Daud merely conveyed the ­respective formulas without explicitly mandating talqīn243. Wan Musa further voiced typical kaum muda criticism against widespread practices, such as the mandatory verbal pronunciation of the niyya (intention) formulas for prayer and other rituals as well as elaborate mawlid celebrations244. His propensity for looking to reformers in Cairo for adjudication also resurfaced during the “dog saliva affair”. After a public council of debate in 1937, which was attended by two thousand people and therefore has come to epitomize the kaum tua/kaum muda conflict in local memory, proved inconclusive, Wan Musa asked the Fatwa Committee of Cairo’s al-Azhar245, then led by Muḥammad Muṣṭafā al-Marāghī (Shaykh al-Azhar 1927-1929 and 1935-1945), about the permissibility of dog-keeping and the necessary ablutions after being touched or licked by one. Many Azharis had strongly opposed al-Marāghī’s initial appointment due to the radicality of his reform program, which also included establishing the Fatwa Committee in 1935246. Unsurprisingly, he ruled in Wan Musa’s favor. Moreover, the reformism of Wan Musa and his sons introduced an entirely new element into Cambodian Islam as far as scholarly and intellectual genealogies and networks are concerned: a connection to the Indian Deobandi school and the legacy of the Indian reformer Shāh Walīallāh (d. 1762)247. Wan Musa became closely associated with Abu Abdallah Said al-Tukki al-Ghilazi (d. 1943), better known as Tok Khurasani, a local figure who was instrumental in spreading these teachings. According to this paradigmatic “globalized” Islamic 243

al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 218. Intriguingly, this was, in contrast to nr. 28, one of merely seven (out of 107) fatwas in the collection in which question and answer was originally in Arabic. 244 Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 159. Around the same time niyya/uṣallī, talqīn and certain mawlid-related practices were also attacked inter alia by the kaum muda of Minangkabau. HAMKA, Ayahku, p. 79f. It shall be noted that also for the kaum tua the fight over the validity of such practices took transnational forms. Thus, the Minangkabau kaum tua requested fatwas in their support from ʿAbd Allāh al-Zawāwī in Mecca, whereas Hj. Abū Bakr al-Muʾarī (d. 1938), kadi of Muar (Johor) and notorious kaum tua polemicist, even wrote a refutation of Rashīd Riḍā’s stance on the niyya as bidʿa, which was subsequently translated into Malay. J.G. Kaptein, “Southeast Asian Debates and Middle Eastern Inspiration: European Dress in Minangkabau at the Beginning of the 20th Century” in in Eric Tagliacozzo (ed.), Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Islam, Movement and the Longue Durée (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2009), p. 187f.; kun, I, p. 10-13. 245 Roff, “Whence Cometh the Law”, p. 252, 262. On the Fatwa Committee see Dodge, AlAzhar, p. 173f. 246 Ibid., p. 148, 171, 194. 247 Cf. S.A.A. Rizvi, Shāh Walī-Allāh and His Times (Canberra: Ma⁠ʾrifat Publishing House, 1980).

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scholar’s somewhat deformed nisbas, we may assume that he was a Pashtospeaking member of the Tōkhī sub-tribe of the Ghilzay tribal confederation that inhabits Afghanistan and, to a lesser degree, present-day Pakistan. The Ghilzay’s confrontation with the British and especially with the Afghan Emir ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Khān (r. 1880-1901) in the 1880s248 could have prompted Tok Khurasani’s emigration to India, South Africa and, finally, Kota Bharu. After studying at the Dār al-ʿUlūm Deoband under Maḥmūd al-Ḥasan Deobandī (d. 1921), Tok Khurasani spent three years preaching in Cape Town and, according to different sources, arrived in Kelantan in either 1911/12 or 1915/16 as a religious teacher and cloth merchant. Known as Kelantan’s first ḥadīth specialist, he taught from his home and then – from 1928 onwards – in Masjid Muhammadi during the reign of the reformist-minded Sultan Ismail249. One of Tok Khurasani’s many local students was Wan Musa’s son Nik Abdullah. After arriving in Mecca to further his studies, Nik Abdullah became a pupil of ʿUbaydallāh al-Sindhī (d. 1944), a contemporary of Tok Khurasani at Deoband. This scholar, along with Wan Musa, is credited with convincing Nik Abdullah, along the lines of Shāh Walīallāh’s thought250, of the relevance of ḥadīth studies and talfīq (i.e. selecting rulings, or components thereof, from different Sunni legal schools in accordance with their suitability to present circumstances). He also taught him the latter’s major works. In fact, some suggest that al-Sindhī was the main one to popularize Shāh Walīallāh, which resulted in the prevailing view that the latter was the starting point for all South Asian Islamic reformist endeavors, and particularly those of Deoband251. Thus, it was no surprise that Nik Abdullah became famous in Kota Bharu for teaching Shāh Walīallāh’s books alongside al-Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ between his return and premature death252. Nik Leh further solidified this inclination towards Shāh Walīallāh’s teachings and the Deoband connection by studying briefly with al-Sindhī in Mecca in 1936, then at Deoband (1937-1939) and finally in Delhi at the Jāmiʿa Milliyya Islāmiyya (1940-1943), where al-Sindhī had founded his Bayt al-Ḥikma, an institute that focused on Shāh Walīallāh’s teachings253. With the Cambodian 248 R.N. Frye, “Ghalzay”, ei², II (Leiden: Brill, 1991), p. 1001. 249 tusm, I, p. 257-259; Roff, “Whence Cometh the Law”, p. 255. 250 Jonathan Brown, The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon (Leiden: Brill, 2011), p. 319f. 251 Jan-Peter Hartung, Viele Wege und ein Ziel. Leben und Wirken von Sayyid Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī al-Ḥasanī Nadwī (1914-1999) (Würzburg: Ergon, 2004), p. 246 n. 262. 252 Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 162-164. 253 Ibid., p. 164-166. The Jāmiʿa Milliyya had been founded in 1920 by a broad-based board featuring Islamic scholars drawn from different, otherwise at times mutually hostile, currents (including Deobandis and Ahl-e Ḥadīth). Sikand, Bastions of the Believers, p. 89.

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students of Wan Musa, Nik Abdullah and Nik Leh, a specific facet of Jawization (i.e. the kaum muda discourse) entered Cambodia and the Delta. Ironically, the subsequent conflicts and factionalism, far from reversing Jawization’s progess, seem to have been instrumental in uniting (former) kobuol partisans with local major agents of Jawization, such as the illustrious students of Mat Sales Haroun. According to some accounts, Wan Musa had planned to teach in Cambodia shortly after (or even before) his return from Mecca; however, Sultan Mansur (r. 1891-1902) reportedly wanted to keep the promising young scholar in Kelantan254. If this is accurate, which it may well be, it would indicate that Wan Musa had returned from Mecca several years before being appointed Mufti in 1909. In addition, it also shows that embarking on a teaching mission to Cambodia was a matter of personal prestige for Kelantanese scholars, especially for those linked to Ahmad Patani’s network. With Wan Musa, Hj. Ibrahim b. Yusuf and Wan Ahmad Kemboja, no less than three individuals proposed for, or serving as, State Mufti actively spread their teachings there. Hj. Ibrahim’s activities there predated his prestigious appointment; Wan Musa only arrived after his resignation in 1916. Although it is usually only noted that Wan Musa spent his following years in exile in Terengganu until the early years of Sultan Ismail’s reign, which began in 1921, he must have used this marginalization to carry out his earlier plans of travelling to Cambodia. Thus, he spent part of exile teaching in Indochina. After returning to Malaya, his devoted student Hj. Ayyub b. Husayn of Châu Phong in the Delta is said to have carried on his mission255. Yet, as noted above, Hj. Ayyub also headed for Kelantan in 1925 and spent the next decade studying there and in Mecca with Wan Musa, his brother Wan Abdullah (who had taken over their father’s surau) and Tok Kenali256. Although nothing is known about his teachers in Mecca, he must have studied with Muḥammad Nūr b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī (d. 1944), the leader of the local jawi community in the new Wahhābi/Saʿūdi era. In this respect, the latter’s own record of engaging with both Daud Patani’s classical jawi texts and with works of traditionalist Salafism seems to be, in conjunction with Wan Musa’s decidedly jawi kaum muda influence, mirrored in Hj. Ayyub’s own later reformist mission in Kelantan and his native land. Indeed, the confluence of the post-Daud Patani network’s legacy and (still decidedly jawi) kaum muda discourse is exemplified by two of Muḥammad Nūr al-Faṭānī’s major works: a lengthy commentary on 254 Hassan, Tarekat Ahmadiyah, p. 79. 255 Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 427f. 256 Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 165 n. 25; tusm, I, p. 214.

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Daud Patani’s fiqh work Sullam al-Mubtadiʾ entitled Kifāyat al-Muhtadī, and a Malay translation of al-Hadīyat al-Saniyya fī l-ʿAqīdat al-Salafiyya257 by Sulaymān b. Saḥmān (d. 1930), a Wahhābi apologist of global import258. Generally, however, Muḥammad Nūr’s shift towards Salafism appears to have been a result of the Saudi takeover. In the early 1920s, he had still issued a written endorsement of a work refuting Wan Musa’s stances on issues such as niyya259. In addition, Wan Musa’s son Nik Abdullah certainly featured among Hj. Ayyub’s teachers in Mecca. Indeed, during his 1926-1934 stay, Nik Abdullah taught numerous students from the jawi ecumene, including from Cambodia, while he studied with al-Sindhī260. Given his prior association with Wan Musa and his brother Hj. Abdullah, Hj. Ayyub was surely one of them. As Hj. Ayyub and Nik Abdullah are both known to have returned to Kelantan in 1934, they most likely traveled together. In Kota Bharu, Nik Abdullah drew students from Indochina, among them Hj. Muhammad Idris, who later served as hakem of Chau Giang for over 50 years261. Returning to Hj. Ayyub, it is evident that Wan Musa must have been quite satisfied with his former student’s scholarship and doctrinal orientation. Thus, it was most probably not only Nik Abdullah’s premature death but also the full appreciation of his qualities that prompted him to select Hj. Ayyub as a teacher for his youngest son Nik Leh262. Besides Nik Leh and other locals, Hj. Ayyub, who died in Kota Bharu in 1970263, also had students from Cambodia and especially the Delta. Through the latter, he left a strong mark on religious practice in his native Châu Phong, despite returning there only twice. One of his visits eventually resulted in building the Chau Doc area’s first distinctively kaum muda mosque, the Muhammadiyah mosque of Châu Phong, in 1963. Four decades later, its imam related that Hj. Ayyub was the first person to bring a book from al-Azhar to the 257

ubp, p. 269; Matheson & Hooker, “Jawi Literature”, p. 25, 32f.; Madmarn, Pondok and Madrasah, p. 26; ʿAbd al-Jabbār, Siyar wa l-Tarājim, p. 269. As only his Arab biographer ʿAbd al-Jabbār makes mention of the latter work, we may infer that it had much less appeal in Southeast Asia than the more conventional Kifāyat al-Muhtadī. 258 He not only published a defence of the Wahhābiyya in Amritsar (India) in 1897, but also had two of his works printed, with Saudi funding, at al-Manār in the early 1920s. Reinhard Schulze, Islamischer Internationalismus im 20. Jahrhundert (Leiden: Brill, 1990), p. 135-137. Much of his writing centered on the condemnation of shrine-related Sufi practices. Henri Lauzière, The Making of Salafism. Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century (New York: University of Columbia Press, 2016), p. 47f. 259 Maḥmūd Zuhdī al-Faṭānī, Tazkiyyat al-Anẓār wa Tashfiyyat al-Afkār (Cairo: Muṣṭafā alBābī al-Ḥalabī, 1341/1922-3), p. 3. 260 Roff, “Whence Cometh the Law”, p. 255. 261 lpd, “Haji Muhammad Idris”. 262 Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 165. 263 tusm, II, p. 405 (nr. 68).

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village264, thereby probably reflecting Wan Musa’s affection for Cairene reformism. Intriguingly, the second and arguably even more influential strand of kaum muda reformism in Cambodia and the Delta was closely connected to Wan Musa’s family and Hj. Ayyub as well. Its main actor was Li Musa (Musa b. Ali) of Svay Khleang (Krauchhmar, Kampong Cham), the kaum muda’s figurehead in its factional strife with the kaum tua in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in 1916 or 1917265, he left his native village at the age of twelve to work in the town of Poipet (Banteay Meanchey province) at the Thai-Cambodian border, at that time a place largely devoid of Muslim residents266. Probably due to this situation, within a few months a Thai Muslim trader took him to Bangkok as his adopted son and arranged for him to attend school and learn how to read and write Thai. After a few years in Bangkok he traveled to Patani and Kelantan in search of Islamic knowledge and business opportunities. In Kelantan he apparently first studied, beginning in the early 1940s, with the common mui-affiliated agents of Jawization at the Jamiʿ Merbau al-Ismaili. His teachers must have included the future Mufti Hj. Muḥammad Nūr b. Hj. Ibrāhīm and Tok Kenali’s former assitant Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang. Apart from this official education under the mui’s auspices, Li Musa also attended the pondok of Nik Leh267, Wan Musa’s youngest son and Hj. Ayyub’s former student, which was then also frequented by other students from Svay Khleang. Through his association with Nik Leh, he certainly saw how the latter was soon removed from his own foundation, the al-Iṣlāḥ school, due to doctrinal differences with his less kaum muda-inclined relatives268. Nevertheless, Li Musa continued to attend his lessons until his return to Cambodia in 1948269. In Kota Bharu he also met Son Ahmad, his future congenial partner in spreading kaum muda reformism in Cambodia, a fellow Svay Khleang native 264 De Féo, “Musulmans de Châu Doc”, p. 362. 265 Mohamad Zain, “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 60; “Household Census of Cham Villages, Cambodia 1966-67”, undated typescript with handwritten entries, jp, dja (2)/1/2. 266 Nowadays Poipet is, besides Koh Kong and Stung Trang provinces as well as srok Malai in Banteay Meanchey, among the new frontiers of Muslim settlement in Cambodia. Recent years witnessed the construction of mosques in Malai and Poipet to cater to the needs of the new internal migrant community. Personal observation in Poipet, July 11th 2009; personal communication with Abdul Halim Ahmad, involved in the mosque foundation in Malai, in Phnom Penh, May 17th 2012; with the son of the imam of the Poipet mosque, in Phnom Penh, May 2nd 2012. 267 Mohamad Zain, “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 60. 268 Muhammad Saleh, “Theological Debates”, p. 167. 269 Mohamad Zain, “History of Education”, p. 90.

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studying at a pondok in Melor in Kota Bharu270. In line with the educational choices of Wan Musa’s sons and those of a few other Kelantanese scholars at that time, Son Ahmad continued his education at Deoband and became the first (and most probably the only) Cambodian ever to graduate from the famous Dār al-ʿUlūm271. After returning to Cambodia in 1956 or 1957, he joined forces with Li Musa. Now known as Imam Mat India of Amphil, he, along with Li Musa, gained notoriety as one of Cambodia’s leading kaum muda figures272. Hj. Muhammad Badri of Da Phuoc (d. 2005), the major propagator of reformist thought in the Delta apart from Hj. Ayyub, who was rarely in the country, was primarily inspired through Li Musa. After studying in Trea, Kelantan and at alAzhar, it was allegedly only his acquaintance with Li Musa in the early 1960s that convinced him to adopt the kaum muda path273.Whereas the kobuol/ trimeu factionalism represented a conflict between the agents and positivelyinclined recipients of Jawization and the opponents of the religious and social changes that it engendered, the renewed intra-community strife represented by the kaum muda/kaum tua confrontation in Cambodia was grounded in contending visions of Jawization. With its outbreak, the arena of intra-religious strife mainly shifted from Central and Northwestern Cambodia to the early centers of Jawization in Kampong Cham’s Krauchhmar district and Chau Doc in the Delta. Both of these latter areas had predominantely Cham-speaking Muslim populations, in contrast to some of the chief locations of the kobuol/ trimeu conflict. The main actors on both sides were clearly in their majority products of the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network, albeit belonging to different lineages. The Cham nomenclature used to describe the emerging new group identities betrays a strong jawi imprint: the kaum muda/kaum tua labels were phong bhaw (“new group”) and phong klauʾ (“old group”), respectively. 270 271

272 273

Id., “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 60. The school in question was presumably Melor’s Pondok Mahligai. Internal statistics for foreign students in the period 1866-1994 are listing only a single person from Cambodia (i.e. Son Ahmad). Reetz, “Deoband Universe”, p. 145. In 1998 the Indian government decided to refrain from issuing visas to prospective foreign students at Deoband and other madrasas in the country. Sikand, Bastions of the Believers, p. 271. Retrospectively, his most illustrious co-student at Deoband was certainly Kelantan’s longestrunning Prime Minister Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat (b. 1931, in office 1990-2013), who studied briefly at the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College Aligarh and then for five years at the Dār al-ʿUlūm from 1952 onwards. Peter G. Riddell, “Shariʿa-mindedness in the Malay World and the Indian Connection: The Contributions of Nur al-Din al-Raniri and Nik Abdul Aziz bin Haji Nik Mat” in R. Michael Feener & Terenjit Sevea (eds.), Islamic Connections. Muslim Societies in South and Southeast Asia (Singapore: IseAS, 2009), p. 180. Mohamad Zain, “History of Education”, p. 91; id., “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 60; Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 93f. De Féo, “Musulmans de Châu Doc”, p. 361f.

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However, the more obvious renderings of Malay categories, phong mudeu and phong tueu, were also in use274. As with the kobuol/trimeu factionalism, strict separation affected only a small fraction of the community, and conflicts arose primarily in the immediate areas of activity of the kaum muda leaders. Accordingly, Krauchhmar’s contending groups were represented by Li Musa and Son Ahmad on one side, and by Muhammad Kachi (Chumnik), Hakem Tayyeb, Hj. Yahya Ibrahim and Tuon Said of Amphil on the other275. In Chau Doc, leadership fell to Muhammad Badri of Da Phuoc and (Omar) Ali of Chau Giang, respectively276. Another important kaum tua figure outside of Krauchhmar was Hj. Li of Speu (Chamkar Loeu, Kampong Cham), son of the Patani scholar Hj. Abbas who had settled in the village277. Tuon Said had come to Amphil from Kelantan, whereas all of the other factional leaders were Cham. Moreover, the discursive field of intra-religious conflict transcended national borders, as the partisans of both groups in Kampong Cham and Chau Doc were apparently in close contact. Indeed, Li Musa proved to be highly influential in Chau Doc and Saigon. When things came to a head in 1955, the two groups were represented in a major debate by the Cambodian Li Musa and the Vietnamese Hj. (Omar) Ali278. The reaons for the conflict between Li Musa and the local ʿulamāʾ fall into the wider pattern of kaum muda/kaum tua division within the jawi ecumene. Li Musa was criticized for wearing Western-style attire instead of the traditional sarong or the Arab garb typically worn by hajjis279. Strongly reminiscent of the famous controversy surrounding the family of his teacher Nik Leh in Kelantan, Li Musa also kept a (watch) dog because, he claimed, of his detractors’ unrestrained animosity. In addition to these departures from established 274 275

276 277 278 279

“Cham political organisation. Inf. Seman Mohamad & Math Sleyman of Khbop Leu [&] Pah Villages, Krauch Mar”, typescript dated January 14th 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/3. Khmer officials in the late 1960s described the contending groups to Jaspan as “clans”. “A Peliminary Exploration in Cham Sociology”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/3; jp, dja (2)/1/2; personal communication with Imam Muhammad Hasan, former student of Muhammad Kachi, b. 1935 in Koh Phal (Krauchhmar, Kampong Cham), at Phnom Penh, April 30th 2012; with Tuon Ismail, age 80, born in Kampong Kendal (Kampot), former student of Hakem Tayyeb, Hj. Yahya Ibrahim and Tuon Said, at Kampong Treach (Kampot), May 5th 2012; with Tuon Him (b. Tukang Basih), former student of Muhammad Kachi, born 1942 in Kor (Thbaung Khmum, Kampong Cham), at Chrang Chamres, May 8th 2012. Mohamad Zain, “History of Education”, p. 92; id., “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 63; De Féo, “Musulmans de Châu Doc”, p. 364f. Mohamad Zain, “History of Education”, p. 92. Mohamad Zain, “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 63. In early 20th century Minangkabau debates about the permissibility of wearing European dress likewise featured among the causes of kaum muda/kaum tua contention. Kaptein, “Southeast Asian Debates”, p. 176-195.

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practice in personal lifestyle, his positions on prayer, education and women attending the mosque proved to be particularly controversial. He rejected such cherished practices as reciting the qunūt (i.e. a specific duʿā) as part of the dawn prayer and rubbing one’s forehead after prayers280. Additionally, Li Musa’s efforts to set up a system of more modern Islamic schools, inter alia by introducing secular subjects and particularly “non-Islamic languages”, were criticized as threatening the established tuons’ positions. Ironically, many of the major kaum tua partisans had studied under Mat Sales Haroun, who pioneered (modestly) integrated pondok curricula in Cambodia. Li Musa’s most controversial steps were his urging young people to attend public schools and, even more sacrilegious, his advocacy of women attending the mosque and being educated281. Some of his kaum tua contenders branded his locally unprecedented permission for women to attend the congregational prayers as outright heresy282. Conflicts also arose over burial rites. Unsurprisingly Li Musa and his adherents condemned practices such as talqīn283. In 1953, he and a few of his followers founded the Sangkhum Li Musa (Li Musa Association) to establish schools. Two years later they set up the first secular primary school in Svay Khleang with government backing. Another such school was soon founded in Kampong Ro (Chhlong, Kratie province)284, despite the reluctance and at times overt hostiltity towards the public school system displayed by some local Muslims of the kaum tua majority285. Li Musa, 280 Mohamad Zain, “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 62. Positions on the place and nature of qunūt are varying greatly among traditionists, the legal schools and individual jurists. Cf. Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer. Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid, trans. Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee (Reading: Garnet, 1994), I, p. 145f., 232; Juynboll, Encyclopedia, p. 145, 489, 622f., 660. Cambodia’s present mufti Sos Kamry shows himself to be a faithful follower of his kaum tua teachers by introducing qunūt as a part of the morning prayer. Sos Kamry, Mai Weʾ, p. 40f. 281 Li Musa was, however, neither the first nor the only religious scholar in Cambodia and the Delta/Saigon with female students. In the 1930s the Chroy Changvar scholars Hj. Kateur and Chi Mo Seu were noted for teaching females. anc-rsc 8465. As early as 1967 a Cambodian Cham girl, Adika bint Muhammad, won the third prize in the annual Qurʾān recitation contest in Kuala Lumpur, where in addition also a Cham girl from Vietnam participated. “Politico-religious organization”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/3; Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 40 282 “Biography of Lymusa”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/3. 283 Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 93f. 284 Mohamad Zain, “History of Education”, p. 94f. Allowing these schools to function was clearly part of Sihanouk’s “first attempt at Cambodianization” of the educational system in newly independent Cambodia between 1955 and 1958. David M. Ayres, Anatomy of a Crisis. Education, Development and the State in Cambodia, 1953-1998 (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2003), p. 39-43. 285 “Ideals and barriers in education”, jp, dja (2)/1/2.

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however, devoted even more energy to creating a system of integrated religious schools, for which he vainly sought state support and official recognition. Around 1964 he founded the Madrasa Anṣār al-Sunnat al-Muḥammadiyya in Kbop, adjacent to Svay Khleang, and appointed a Phum Trea-educated follower, Ibrahim b. Kosem (Ibrāhīm b. Qāsim), as its head teacher286. A few years later, three schools in Svay Khleang and its vicinity bore his name287. The secular subjects taught in his religious schools were maths and French. Jaspan, however, deemed the quality of instruction in these fields as lamentably low288. As Li Musa considered the lack of funds a major obstacle to improving the Muslim community, he resorted to the devices of waqf (pious endowment), for example, for the projected creation of a school and a cemetery in his home village289, and cooperative financing via farmland acquired by the Sangkhum Li Musa290. Education at his schools was thoroughly jawi, for textbooks were imported from Kelantan and Penang291; however, instruction in Cham and Arabic was probably more pronounced than in most kaum tua schools. Transcripts of his lectures, in either jawi or Cham jawi, were copied and passed around. Li Musa also gave evening lessons based on his Cham translations of the Qurʾān, tafsīr and hadith to male and female adult villagers292. His opponents charged him with falsely translating the Qurʾān into Cham293, which again testifies to the fact that Malay had become the preferred medium for teaching the Qurʾān for many Cambodian jawi scholars294. His schools also employed the highly unusual medium of self-composed Cham songs and religious chants to urge their pupils toward educational advancement and adopting a proper 286 “Cham Primary Schooling: The Madrisah at Kbop, Srok Krauch Mar”, typescript dated January 25th 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/2. 287 “Biography of Lymusa”, jp, dja (2)/1/3. 288 jp, dja (2)/1/6; “Cham Primary Education”, typescript dated January 25th 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/2. 289 It is not clear whether these projects came to fruition. Yet, Jaspan had observed in the late 1960s that the land for the cemetery had already been cleared from trees. “Biography of Lymusa”, jp, dja (2)/1/3. 290 Mohamad Zain, “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 64. 291 Id., “History of Education”, p. 94. 292 Ibid., p. 92. Personal communication with H., former female student of Li Musa, October 6th 2013, Herndon (Virginia). According to her, Li Musa taught tafsīr based on “a [jawi] book from Malaysia”. Most probably, the work in question was the then still brand-new Tafsīr al-Raḥmān by his former teacher Hj. Muhammad Nur and Abdullah b. Muhammad Basmih, published in Kelantan in 1968. 293 “Cham political organization”, jp, dja (2)/1/3. 294 Cf. Mohamed Effendy Bin Abdul Hamid, “Understanding the Cham Identity in Mainland Southeast Asia: Contending Views”, Sojourn, XXI (2006), p. 235.

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religiously conscious lifestyle. His pupils sang two of these songs for Jaspan in 1967, who made recordings and transcripts of a Syair Soal dalam Kubur (Poem of the Questioning of the Grave) and a Leguw Siyet Ugama (Song on Serving the Religion)295. Before the 1960s, however, Li Musa’s ability to carry out his agendas was ­severely restricted. His conflicts with the kaum tua intensified after the 1955 debate with Hj. Omar Ali and Son Ahmad’s return from India. Following kaum tua claims that he was connected to a us-sponsored opposition group, in 1958 he and Son Ahmad were banished to Thailand for a year (or two). After three months on the Thai side of the border near his erstwhile home Poipet, he snuck back into the country296. Supported by loyal villagers, including the family of Cambodia’s present Deputy Mufti Zakariyya Adam, he awaited the end of his banishment near Svay Khleang297. Yet, even afterwards he remained temporarily under surveillance and was briefly re-arrested in 1966. Despite being acquitted of all charges, he was for a time barred from residing permanently in Kampong Cham province298. In 1967 two of Jaspan’s local Krauchhmar informants estimated (very roughly) the number of kaum muda followers in the country at 30 per cent299. As with earlier instances of intra-Muslim factionalism in Cambodia, and from the 1990s onwards, such inter-group fault-lines sometimes led to separation among villagers, even family members, not to mention physical separation inside those mosques that were still shared but contested. Especially in Krauchhmar (and presumably in Chhlong), some villages reportedly acquired a kaum muda majority. Unfortunately, little is known about the kaum muda leaders’ relationship with the religious authorities in Phnom Penh, which certainly sought to keep peace within the community. Certain indicators, however, show that Cambodia’s kaum muda movement was mostly an affair of its eastern part and that many of Phnom Penh’s Muslims deemed its agendas to be well off the mark. This seems to be supported by a French observer in the 1960s who conducted research in the Au Russey community; however, her judgements regarding the wider Muslim community were obviously shaped by her Phnom Penh-based informants. Labelling her prime target group in Au Russey as syncretic, in opposition to the orthodox majority, she noted that approximately 295 jp, dja (2)/1/6. 296 “Biography of Lymusa”, jp, dja (2)/1/3; “Cham political organization”, jp, dja (2)/1/3; “Politico-religious organization”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/3; Mohamad Zain, “Dynamics of Faith”, p. 63. 297 Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 93f. 298 “Cham political organization”, jp, dja (2)/1/3. 299 Ibid.

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ten years earlier an imam returning from Malaysia had founded “a less orthodox group”, which was confined to Kampong Cham, had only a few adherents and was known as “Moudar”300. Eminent Phnom Penh scholars such as Hj. Srong Yousos (Yūsuf), who led Chrang Chamres’ km7 (Nūr al-Islām/al-Iḥsān) mosque and was president of the committee for translating Islamic books during the 1960s, most probably disapproved of the kaum muda’s zeal. Strikingly, this scion of a scholarly family301 who had spent seven to ten years at al-Azhar and was wealthy enough to maintain a Chrang Chamres house for each of his four wives, was also known locally as a spiritual healer who engaged in Islamic magic302. Hj. Omar Ali, the Chau Doc kaum tua leader and a major figure in the Jawization of parts of Phan Rang’s Bani community, and his followers in South Vietnam reportedly engaged in similar practices, which the kaum muda regarded as anathema. In the same vein, only the kaum tua defended and supported the rituals at the shrines of Islamic saints in Chau Doc303. In that respect, the kaum muda challenge was certainly conducive to a rapprochement of the local jawi establishment and surrounding Muslim populations hitherto less exposed to Jawization, both of which now faced a common threat. This state of affairs probably led Po Dharma, who spent 1968-1972 in Cambodia as a fulro304 operative (presumably mostly in the eastern border areas with Vietnam), to make the claim that only one third of Cambodia’s Muslims were “orthodox” and thus were greatly outnumbered by “traditionalists”. He described the latter group as having undergone only minimal Malay (i.e. jawi) influence and upholding many Bani-like practices305. Despite his supposed specific point of observation from the fringes of Jawization (i.e. at some distance from its centers in the Delta and in Phnom Penh) and the fulro-related desire to emphasize a distinctively Cham heritage, this somewhat biased 300 Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 22. 301 His maternal grandfather, a native of Padang in Minangkabau, had fled from Dutch persecution to Mecca. From there he went to Cambodia together with local Muslims and married in Chrang Chamres. Srong Yousos’s mother (born in 1886) later married a Kampong Cham native, who eventually became the leader of the mosque, a position which his son inherited. “Genealogy of a religious leader”, undated handwritten note, jp, dja (2)/1/3. Many later Azharis of the 1960s, such as Muhammad Kachi’s students Tuon Him and Muhammad Hasan of Koh Phal, would develop tendencies more in line with the kaum muda. 302 Personal communication with Ysa Meth, Ismail & Syafii, all born around 1950 in Chrang Chamres, in Reston (Virginia), April 14th 2013. 303 De Féo, “Musulmans de Châu Doc”, p. 362-364. 304 See below. 305 Po Dharma, “Notes sur les Caṃ du Cambodge. Religion et organisation”, sk, V (1982), p. 103-114.

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assessment rightfully highlights that the process of Jawization in Kampong Cham was uneven. On the other hand, it seems to indicate that the challenge of Islamic reformism may have furthered and transformed it by bringing established agents of Jawization and hitherto less receptive groups closer together. Similar instances of realignment were observed regarding the successive emergence of different reform movements in Minangkabau306. For Lombok, it has likewise been documented how, in the early 1970s, instances of intra-community strife as well as social and personal crises could cause a tuan guru agent of Jawization to champion the wetu telu cause or prompt another stern waktu lima leader to (re-)embrace at least part of the Sasak Muslims’ ritual and memorial world that had ostensibly been left behind by the expansion of waktu lima Jawization307. At least in Svay Khleang, time worked in favour of Li Musa until the advent of the dk era. In the last years preceding his ultimately futile 1971 flight to Phnom Penh to escape the encroaching Khmer Rouge, his initially very controversial school was already attracting students from all over the country308. Under Khmer Rouge interrogation in 1975, he claimed that “Lon Nol had made him ʿkingʾ of the Chams”309. The emergence of Islamic reformism in Cambodia was a direct outgrowth of the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali-Hj. Awang network. Moreover, in contrast to its development in Indonesia and Singapore, which was soon characterized by the Romanization of religious literature in Malay/Indonesian310, kaum muda reformism in Cambodia and the Delta – as in Kelantan and Patani – remained fully within the jawi fold. Tellingly, Patani’s own kaum muda/kaum tua conflict was only seriously sparked in the 1950s and 1960s as Li Musa’s contemporaries Hj. ʿAbdullāh b. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Bendang Kebun (1912-1991), a student of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Faṭānī’s son Wan Ismāʿīl (Pak Da ʿEl Patani, d. 1965) in Mecca, and the Kelantan-born Tok Guru Ghani (Abdul Ghani Fikri, d. 1982) began attacking certain established practices. In particular, they condemned such funerary rites as talqīn, feasting (kenduri) and tahlīl (i.e. a dhikr based on the shahāda’s first part) at the deceased’s house, and broke with the conventions of traditional pondok education311. In Bangkok, where Thai (not jawi) Islamic 306 307 308 309 310 311

Kraus, Zwischen Reform und Rebellion; Fathurahman, Tarekat Syattariyah, p. 42-50. Cederroth, Spell of the Ancestors, p. 72-88. Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 77f. Ibid., p. 48. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 178-180. ubp, p. 208-218; Madmarn, Pondok and Madrasah, p. 17-22. Ghani himself had been educated at Hj. Abdullah Tahir’s al-Madrasat al-Aḥmadiyya Bunut Payong and at the Masjid Muhammadi. Kenduri and tahlīl are still condoned and practiced in Cambodia also by

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reformism had developed earlier under the influence of the Minangkabau exile Ahmad Wahab, its main figure from the late 1940s onwards has been Direk Kulsiriswasd (Ibrahim Qureyshi, b. 1922), the son of a Pakistani father and a Cham mother from Ban Khrua (Bangkok’s old Cham quarter)312. Clearly, the process of Jawization in Cambodia was closely aligned to similar developments in Patani and particularly Kelantan, which also experienced a remarkable contemporary expansion of Islamic education. The Cambodian Muslims’ interaction with jawi scholarly circles in Kelantan, Patani, Mecca and, to a lesser degree, Cairo was instrumental in shaping Cambodian Islam during the 20th century. These interchanges occurred both outside the country and, to a significant degree, within Cambodia and the Delta. Moreover, it was the extensive network revolving around and flowing from Ahmad Patani, Tok Kenali and Hj. Awang that largely drove this development’s transnational and domestic facets. 2

Testimonies of Jawization: Fatwas for Cambodian Muslims

Apart from the presented extensive biographic information that allows us to measure the extent and intensity of jawi scholarly networking between Cambodian Muslims and the wider jawi ecumene, a number of fatwas issued for Muslims living in the kingdom serve as valuable evidence for Jawization in the country and its linkages to Malay scholars abroad. Intriguingly, all of these fatāwā were delivered by members of the Ahmad Patani network. Thus, whereas the specific type of documents (i.e. requests for legal rulings on specific questions and the resulting responses in jawi) involved illustrate the dynamics and external dimensions of Jawization in Cambodia, this is even more so the case with the individuals and institutional bodies who produced them. In addition, the particular content of most of these fatwas is highly revealing in terms of various aspects of Muslim life in Cambodia, for they shed light on local factionalism, problems of translating and transposing concepts between the Malay, Cham and Arabic logospheres, and the community’s relationship to the non-Muslim majority population and its authorities. Issues well known for

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members of the network in important positions in the administration of Islam such as Man Seu, deputy province imam of Battambang and former student of Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey. Personal observation at Dam Spey (Battambang), May 11th 2012. He also produced the first full Thai translation of the Qurʾān. Raymond Scupin, “Islamic Reformism in Thailand”, jss, LXVIII, 2 (1980), p. 1-9; id., “Muslim Accommodation in Thai Society”, jis, IX (1998), p. 251f..

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their contemporaneous contentious nature from other parts of the jawi ecumene, such as determining the correct qibla, are also found therein. The fatwas discussed below stem from two different sources and periods. Those of the first group are contained in the al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, a collection of legal opinions issued by Ahmad Patani. Although hardly any of its questions or fatwas are dated – one notable exception is a fatwa request from Cambodia in 1321/1903-1904 – it has been assumed that they mostly pertain to the final years of the mufti’s life (i.e. the first years of the 20th century until his death in 1907)313. Those of the second group were issued over two decades later and can only be ascribed to a fatwa-issuing body, as opposed to an individual legal scholar. All of these legal opinions were published between 1927 and 1930 in the mui’s journal Pengasuh (est. 1918). In contrast to al-Manār, whose editor Rashīd Riḍā answered all of the fatāwā requests, the responses in Pengasuh’s fatwa section were collectively credited to the mui’s Meshuarat Ulama (est. 1918). However, it has been suggested that many of the journal’s fatwas were actually the legal opinions of Tok Kenali, its most prominent member314. Other prominent members who belonged to the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network were Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang315 and Hj. Abdullah Tahir. But it is unclear whether the latter was part of the council in the late 1920s316. Given that no complete survey of Pengasuh’s fatwa section exists, there is a good chance that more fatwas for Cambodian Muslims contained in its pages will surface at some point in the future. The legal opinions unearthed so far, all of which address multiple and not always closely related questions, may, however, suffice for our present purpose, since they belong to a crucial period of Islam’s history in Cambodia. No fatwa requests are recorded from Cambodian Muslims in al-Manār317, the composite bilingual collection Muhimmāt 313 314 315 316 317

Cf. Rahimulla, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 379-381. Roff, “Origins and Early Years”, p. 230 n. 102. tusm, II, p. 176. His fiqh work entitled Ajwiba al-Jaliyya may well be a fatwa collection or at least contain some of his fatwas but was unfortunately inaccessible to me. al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 35. The number of 134 established by Bluhm and still relied upon by Burhanudin, must represent complete requests for fatwas (sg. istiftāʾ) from Southeast Asian Muslims. According to my own counts, based on the index of the journal compiled by Yasushi et al., 175 individual questions (including twelve from Siam and Bangkok, and ten from ṣūlū [i.e. either the Sulu Archipelgo in the Philippines or Solo/Surakarta on Java]) were sent to al-Manār. J.E. Bluhm, “A Preliminary Statement on the Dialogue Established Between the Reform Magazine ʿAl-Manarʾ and the Malayo-Indonesian World”, ic, XXXII (1983), p. 37; Burhanudin, “Aspiring for Islamic Reform”, p. 10; Yāsūshī, Ībis & Khūrī, Faḥras Majallat al-Manār, p. 366-418.

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al-Nafāʾis or in ʿAbd Allāh al-Zawāwī’s al-Fatāwā al-Saniyya fī l-Mazāʿim alBidʿiyya, which also consists of responses to questions coming from within the jawi ecumene318. Perhaps surveys of other jawi journals, such as al-Imām or al-Munīr, could provide additional evidence of such communication between Cambodian Muslims and the wider jawi ecumene. But we may safely assume that fatāwā requests from Cambodian Muslims circulated primarily within the geographically vast confines of the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network or, in any case, the Patani-Kelantan circuit of Jawization. 2.1 Fatwas in Aḥmad al-Faṭānī’s al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya The first fatwa for Cambodian Muslims contained in Ahmad Patani’s collection, the one requested in 1903-1904 by his students Mat Sales, Tengku Sulaiman and Hj. Abdul Hamid of Chrang Chamres, is highly suggestive as regards two aspects of Jawization in Cambodia. Firstly, it reflects some of the typical dynamics of Islamic scholarship in countries where local Muslims participated in the jawi ecumene and Jawization without, however, a majority of them being native speakers of its carrier language (i.e. Malay). It is thus highly revealing as regards the changes of logospheres (in this case primarily from Cham to Malay) and the clashes of the logospheres of Arabic (the Islamic religious and scholarly language per se), Malay (the ecumene’s Islamic supra-language) and of the two local languages Cham (spoken by the local Muslim majority) and, to a lesser degree, Khmer (the first language of most remaining local Muslims). Secondly, it demonstrates the Cambodian Muslim scholars’ full integration into the theological debates seemingly unique to the jawi ecumene. Indeed, the fatwa in question revolves around no legal issue as such, but is concerned with discussions of the twenty divine attributes (sifat dua puluh) as elaborated upon in al-Sanūsī’s Umm al-barāhīn. Apparently, al-Sanūsī’s teachings of the attributes nowhere in the Muslim world received as much attention as in staunchly Shāfiʿi-Ashʿari Muslim Southeast Asia, where a distinct sifat dua puluh literature developed in Malay, Javanese and other regional languages319. Accordingly, teaching the sifat dua puluh 318 319

Kaptein, “Southeast Asian Debates”, p. 187f. Cf. Bruckmayr, “The šarḥ/ḥāshiya Phenomenon”. Arguably, the Umm al-Barāhīn was also of tremendous significance for Islam in the Fulfulde and Hausa-speaking spheres of West Africa, where memorization of the text as well as of (mostly oral) Fulfulde and Hausa translations was similarly an integral part of formative Islamic education and proved in certain cases likewise to serve as a tool for either the establishment or the critique of specific sectarian identities. Despite these similarities, neither Muslim Southeast Asia’s emphasis on the twenty attributes as the most emblematic element of the text, nor the accompanying high degree of literary production appear to have been mirrored in West Africa. Louis Brenner, West African Sufi. The Religious Heritage and Spiritual Search of

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became a point of contention and differentiation between kaum muda and kaum tua (as well as, more recently, between local Salafis and their counterparts320) and an oft-discussed subject in fatwas. Two examples, one predating and the other postdating Ahmad Patani’s work, are a late 19th century fatwa by Aḥmad Daḥlān and a question sent to al-Manār from Sambas in Kalimantan321. The three Cambodian scholars asked Ahmad Patani about a primarily linguistic problem associated with the correct translation of the attribute qidam (pre-existent), one of the sifat dua puluh derived from al-Sanūsī. According to the mustaftīs, the Chams had long (daripada masa yang dahulu-dahulu) regarded the Malay term sedia as equivalent to the Arabic term qidam, for Cham lacked a satisfactory term. But according to the enquirers, some of the Cambodian Chams had recently started to claim that the Cham klauʾ was equivalent to both qidam and sedia (setengah-tengah manusia yang bangsa cam dari ahli kemboja di dalam dua tiga tahun ini bahawasa sifat qidam [..] yang terjemah dengan bahasa melayu sedia itu terjemah dengan bahasa cam itu klauʾ). Vehemently rejecting this assertion, the three scholars stress that klauʾ clearly has negative connotations. They concede that it is used in the sense of “old” but emphasize that its common application to objects subject to deterioration renders it completely inadequate in reference to Allāh. Extending their discussion to the second prevalent first-language of Cambodian Muslims, they further note that klauʾ is cah-cah (i.e. the reinforcing reduplication of chah [“old”]) in the Khmer language (bahasa kemboja), which carries the same meaning as the Malay tua (“old”) –again something that cannot be said about the divine. Clearly testifying to Malay’s perceived superior status as a language of religious scholarship, they conclude by stressing that although there is a Khmer equivalent to Malay sedia, this term cannot attain the same degree of accuracy as the latter322. The mufti responded with a lengthy exposition of more than ten pages. After first explaining the different usages of qidam and their Malay renderings, he stresses that sedia is better suited for describing the divine attribute qidam than its direct translation lama (“old”), for it does not imply existence with a definite beginning323. It must be noted here that rendering qidam as sedia is

320 321 322 323

Cerno Bokar Saalif Taal (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), p. 79-86. I am indebted to Stefan Reichmuth (Bochum) for this reference. Joseph Chinyong Liow, “Muslim Identity, Local Networks, and Transnational Islam in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces”, mas, XLV (2011), p. 1405. al-Āshī, “Muhimmāt al-Nafāʾis”, p. 67; al-Manār, XXXI (1349/1930), p. 120-124. al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 4f. Ibid., p. 5f.

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well established in jawi scholarship and particularly so within the Patani network. A few examples may suffice to demonstrate this. One of the most widely used works of ʿaqāʾid and Malay commentaries to Umm al-barāhīn from the Patani network, authored by Tuan Minal (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn b. Muḥammad alFaṭānī, d. 1913) in 1308/1890-1891, explains that qidam means sedia (qidam artinya sedia)324. Likewise, the Malay interlinear translation in the 1893 Umm al-barāhīn manuscript seen by Cabaton in Chau Doc uses sedia for qidam325, thereby providing us with an earlier example of this usage among jawi scholars in Cambodia and the Delta. One of the intriguing aspects of Jawization was that scholars of Arab stock living in Southeast Asia began to compose works in jawi, even in the unique genre of sifat dua puluh. The eminent Batavia-based Ḥaḍramī author Sayyid ʿUthmān b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAqīl al-ʿAlawī (d. 1914)326, undoubtedly the most prolific of local Ḥaḍramī writers of the day327, also translated qidam with the same (Sanskrit-derived) term328. Of specific interest are the mufti’s comments on the Cham use of klauʾ and the potential ensuing controversies. While discussing its appropriateness, he notes that it naturally hinges upon its actual meaning and connotations in Cham. In this respect he further declares that, according to his understanding, klauʾ could (like Malay lama) refer to either the past or the future329. As the istiftāʾ does not raise this specific issue, this statement could imply that Ahmad Patani had discussed the matter with some of his Cham students still in Mecca. In any case, he opines that klauʾ may well be a suitable rendering of qidam, while hastening to add that this would not be the case should it also have negative (kasar) and therefore potentially misleading connotations such as Malay lama. In such a case, it would be better to find a more suitable expression330. Yet he cautions that while it is forbidden to say despicable and ugly things about God and His attributes, this would not necessarily be so in teaching and 324

Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī, ʿAqīdat al-Nājīn fī ʿIlm Uṣūl al-Dīn (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n.d.), p. 18. 325 Cabaton, “Une traduction interlinéaire”, p. 133; Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Yūsuf alSanūsī al-Ḥasanī, Matn al-Sanūsiyya fī ʿilm al-tawḥīd (Cairo: al-Maktaba wa l-Maṭbaʿat al-Maḥmūdiyya, n.d.), p. 1. 326 Nico J.G. Kaptein, Islam, Colonialism and the Modern Age in the Netherlands East Indies. A Biography of Sayyid ʿUthman (1822-1914) (Leiden: Brill, 2014). 327 Peter G. Riddell, “Arab Migrants and Islamization in the Malay World during the Colonial Period”, I&MW, XXIX (2001), p. 120f. Strikingly, 27 out of his at least 38 works were written in Malay. 328 ʿUthmān b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAqīl al-ʿAlawī, Kitab Sifat Dua Puluh (Batavia: n.p., 1317/1899), p. 5. 329 al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 8. 330 Ibid., p. 9f.

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studying if the teachers were using klauʾ with the best intentions and in the actual sense of qidam. Although the usage of klauʾ should be considered carefully if it should show itself liable to misunderstanding, its use would still be preferable if students could not grasp the meanings of qidam or sedia. His permissive attitude towards translation, which apparently exceeded that of the three questioners, becomes even clearer as his line of argument continues. Thus, he states that an initially objectionable word may become pleasant once it has achieved common terminological acceptance (sesuatu kalimah yang hudoh331 terkadang jadi elok ia apabila beristilah atasnya oleh kebanyakan manusia)332. In his conclusion, the mufti stresses that this and other contested issues must not result in one side calling the other side infidels. In an attempt to prevent factionalism and intra-community strife, he provides three equally commendable options: (1) to agree on the Cham term beluh (a possible equivalent to Malay lama), which the mustaftīs had invoked but intriguingly rejected on the grounds that it was taken to mean sudah (i.e. the grammatical indicator for the present perfect and past perfect tenses) in Malay; (2) both parties could agree to use klauʾ; or (3) they could stick to Malay sedia and explain its meaning without using the potentially misleading klauʾ333. It is striking that these mustaftīs display a degree of Malay (jawi) religious linguicism evidently not shared by their mufti. By linguicism we mean “ideologies, structures, and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and immaterial) between groups which are defined on the basis of language”334. Religious linguicism, which rests on claims to religious leadership based on demonstrated or alleged access to or proficiency in a culturalized and (quasi-) sacralized language, in Muslim contexts only associated with access to or proficiency in Arabic, is yet another phenomenon that occurrs with Islamic supralanguages and their hegemonic logospheres. This is most obvious in the mustaftīs’ conviction, undoubtedly conditioned by their exclusive recourse to Malay literature on the subject, that sedia is superior to any term in their own language. Finally, a few remarks about the reasons behind the possible causes for this istiftāʾ. Of course, it fits neatly into the pattern of Jawization and its manifestation in the trimeu-kobuol conflict. The claim that a group using klauʾ to translate qidam had only recently emerged could well be incorrect, as divergent 331 332 333 334

This is a Patani dialectal form of odoh. Ibid., p. 12f. Ibid., p. 15. Kramsch, Language and Culture, p. 76 (quoting Phillipson).

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trends and traditions were normal in Cambodian Islam. There is a great possibility that klauʾ was the well-established rendering of qidam among those Cham scholars not yet fully exposed to Jawization. Indeed, Cham texts on the sifat dua puluh in akhar thrah are still preserved in kis villages and recent breakaways from the group335. In the 1960s, the collection of Cham manuscripts kept by Sam Saly, then oknha khnour at Au Russey, contained a Cham book called “Siphat Tua Puluh” by Baccot336. Although knowledge of akhar thrah had strongly declined by the early 1900s, the Cham-speakers among the more orally-oriented kobuol and other sceptics of Jawization may well have preserved the Cham renderings used in these old texts. The second question sent to Ahmad Patani is less specific: Is the prayer for the dead performed by people who have missed a number of the prescribed prayers valid or not337? Strikingly, the mustaftī(s)338 specify that should it be deemed invalid, the dead would have to be buried without any funeral prayers because no such person existed in the area339. This question appears to reflect wider contemporary developments within Southeast Asian Islam. Undoubtedly, Jawization in Cambodia, as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, resulted in the common believer’s much wider participation in daily religious ritual. Among the Cham Bani and the present kis community and, for example, Lombok’s wetu telu, regular mosque attendance (usually only on Fridays) remains the exclusive domain of religious functionaries or the priestly class. Especially in the diversified Muslim landscapes of Kampong Chhnang and Kampot, the evidently historically rooted attitude that the imams pray for the entire village still prevails in many of the villages barely touched by Jawization but not formally associated with kis340. Naturally, they are nowadays prime destinations 335

Kai Tam, the imam of until recently kis-affiliated Svay Pakao owns such a manuscript. Personal observation at Svay Pakao (Kampong Tralach, Kampong Chhnang), July 9th 2009. 336 Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 102. 337 The Muslims of Minangkabau were around the same time very much divided over the question if the missed prayers of the dead could be redeemed through payments (ar. sg. fidya, ml. fidiah/fidyah) by their heirs. HAMKA, Ayahku, p. 81. 338 As is also the case with the remaining fatwa requests from Cambodian Muslims in the collection no names are given. 339 al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 72. For an overview of scholarly discussions – often characterized by a strong degree of realism – concerning the failure to pray among persons, who in principle acknowledge the obligation to do so, see Marion Holmes Katz, Prayer in Islamic Thought and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 162-172. 340 In some of these villages the imams have until recently also merely observed prayers on Fridays. Personal communication with Abdul Halim Ahmad, organizer of daʿwa qāfila (“Preaching caravans”) into destitute Kampong Chhnang villages, in Phnom Penh, April

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of preaching missions by independent Salafis, Malay and Cambodian Islamic ngos, tj, the Ahmadiyya movement and, presumably, kis. Despite a more pronounced aid component today, there is little reason to believe that these missions differ substantially from those conducted by Malay and Cambodian scholars a century earlier. Literally, the call to prayer was certainly then and now a major concern for Islamic missionaries. As in Java, Lombok, Sumatra and elsewhere, Jawization led to a sharp increase in individual observance of the daily prayers341, as prayer manuals such as Daud Patani’s Munyat al-Muṣallī became immensely popular throughout the region342. Of course, this remains the case today, also without jawi as prime carrier of (written) religious discourse343. Thus, this istiftāʾ probably reflects this changed attitude towards prayer. Ahmad Patani, who was not concerned with such wider issues, ruled that it was valid for negligent but repentant Muslims to perform the funerary prayers. Moreover, always conscious of the potential divisiveness of disputes over proper religious observance, he stressed that keeping people from saying the prayers within the prescribed timeframe could easily result in lasting harm and strife344. The next question addressed the political circumstances of Cambodia’s Muslim community under the French Protectorate (1863-1953), as it was 28th 2012 & May 1st 2012; with Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman), b. 1937, at Prey Thnorng (Kampot), May 5th 2012; personal observation in Prey Thnorng Cheung (Kampot), May 5th 2012. 341 The issue of ṣalāt was of course central in Santrization/Jawization on Java and Lombok and its observance was a main disitinguishing feature between putihan (or santri)/abangan and waktu lima/wetu telu, just as it still is in Cambodia between kis and the Muslim mainstream. Ricklefs, Polarising Javanese Society, p. 82, 90, 97; Bousquet, “Recherches sur les deux sectes”, p. 160f; Harnish, Bridges to the Ancestors, p. 30. Regarding Sumatra, Marsden noted in 1783 that, except “such as were in the orders of the priesthood”, he rarely observed local Muslims in prayer. Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 346. 342 Francis R. Bradley, “Sheikh Da⁠ʾud al-Fatani’s Munyat al-Musalli and the Place of Prayer in 19th-Century Patani Communities”, i&mw, XLI (2013), p. 198-214. 343 Apart from its obvious continuation in present-day Cambodia, again the case of Java is intriguing. Whereas it was estimated that only 0-15 per cent of the inhabitants of Javanese villages observed the daily prayers in the 1960s, 90 per cent of the respondents of a recent survey at least claimed to do so. Merle C. Ricklefs, “Foreword to the Second Edition” in Mitsuo Nakamura, The Crescent Arises over the Banyan Tree. A Study of the Muhammadiyah Movement in a Central Javanese Town, c. 1910s-2010, 2nd Enlarged Edition (Singapore: IseAS, 2012), p. xxif. 344 al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 73. It is generally advised to hasten the burial. Even in cases in which a delay is recommended (to be able to ascertain death), three days of such delay are considered sufficient in classical Islamic law. Ibn Rushd, Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, I, p. 259f., 280.

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apparently drafted in response to the French ban on slavery: Is the sale of a non-Muslim of a non-Muslim country (kafir harbi) by either a non-Muslim or a Muslim of the same country, such as Cambodia, to a Muslim valid or not345? Ahmad Patani responds that such a sale would be valid only if the seller, regardless of religion, had captured that person in battle and emphasizes that a Muslim in a non-Muslim country can only engage in battle with its inhabitants if his safety is threatened. If the state is guaranteeing his personal safety, he would be liable to payments (membayar, i.e. of taxes) and was to refrain from any hostile acts346. The French had begun to abolish all forms of slavery in the country with the inauguration of their administrative reforms in 1876, which were greatly accelerated in 1884. Accordingly, this ban was among the strongly resented policies that lead to a major anti-French rebellion in 1885-1886347. The concerned istiftāʾ was most probably an expression of the uncertainties precipitated by such major social and political changes. The next fatwa in the collection deals with whether both members of a married Cambodian Muslim couple establishing a cotton plantation together, albeit with differing work loads and different tasks, are entitled to the same property shares. It also asked what should be done with the property in the case of divorce or a spouse’s death348. The collection’s last Cambodian fatwa request, again of particular interest, repesents the earliest testimony of the discussions lying at the root of the peculiar taxonomy of the kobuol-trimeu factional strife. Moreover, even though it was most probably not such an emblematic issue in the first decade of the 20th century, Ahmad Patani’s fatwa is arguably the only, and therefore highly valuable, external evidence encountered so far that supports Ner’s description of the prevailing factional nomenclature and its underlying divergent ritual practices in the 1930s. Given that every single scholar of late working on Islam in Cambodia has taken the accuracy of his report for granted without any external evidence, this fatwa of a major jawi scholar of Mecca who died three decades before Ner’s research is naturally of the utmost relevance. At the outset, the mustaftī explains that some people in Cambodia are using kabullah hamba menikahi dia (“I consent to marry her/him”) to express their ritual acceptance of a marriage proposal. Highly reflective of the dynamics of Jawization, he asks the mufti whether this is correct, according to the common 345 346 347 348

al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 94. Ibid., p. 94f. Muller, Colonial Cambodia’s ʿBad Frenchmenʾ, p. 189-218. al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 104.

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practice among the Malays (maka adakah lafaz ini betul dengan yang ghalib dipakaikan dia orang melayu). The enquirer further requests a clear explanation of this phrase as well as of the expression usually used by most people of knowledge. This seems to imply that he was convinced that the quoted phrase was not prevalent among learned members of the jawi ecumene349. Self-assurance is, of course, often the driving force behind fatwa requests. Ahmad Patani’s responses are quite instructive. He initially explains that qabūl is an Arabic word that means terima in Malay, whereas the Malay counterpart to the Arabic nikāḥ would be kahwin (“marriage”). Accordingly, the quoted phrase would be terimalah hamba mengahwini dia in (pure) Malay. But the kabullah phrase would also be correct and could serve as a valid declaration of consent as long as the speaker understood its meaning and implications. Yet, assumingly very much to the mustaftī’s delight, the mufti hastens to add that it indeed differs from the established practice of the Patani Malays and others (bersalahan dengan barang yang ghalib dipakaikan dia oleh kebanyakan orang melayu patani dan lainnya), who would rather routinely say terimalah nikahnya. Finally, he suggests that if the Cambodian Muslims’ phrase is too hard to understand, it would probably be easier and clearer to say berkahwinlah hamba akan dia (“I will marry him/her”)350. Evidently, this last bit of advice was ignored because the use of either the kabul or the terima phrase became a distinguishing feature in the ensuing kobuol-trimeu factional strife. While it may seem startling that the kabul hamba phrase came to be taken as Arabic, Jawization also provided for the (perceived) complete integration of terima into the Cambodian Cham lexicon. Thus, informants in Phum Trea, where terima has prevailed, told me it was a Cham word351, whereas kabul has only survived in this function352 as an oddity in certain villages, without any potential for revived conflicts. The Cham term taduol (“to accept”) also has wide currency among Cham speakers in Cambodia and the Delta353. Strikingly, and probably related to the continuing appeal 349 350 351 352

353

Ibid., p. 112f. al-Faṭānī, al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, p. 113. Personal communication with villagers at Phum Trea, May 15th 2012. The part of the marriage involving the negotiation of the dowry and the declaration of consent is still refered to as kobuol by Cambodian Muslims. Cf. Ysa Osman, Navigating the Rift: Muslim-Buddhist Intermarriage in Cambodia (n.p.: n.p., 2010), p. 57-59; “For Chams, Traditional Wedding Season Begins”, Voice of America Khmer, December 9th 2009, (last accessed May 3rd 2012). Personal communication with villagers on the occasion of a wedding in Svay Pakao (Kampong Chhnang), May 13th 2012; with Abdul Halim Ahmad, born in Phan Rang (Vietnam),

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of the Malay terima phrase, some informants from Chrang Chamres claimed that taduol is a Khmer word354. While the actual ritual practice mandated by visiting and resident Malay imams and religious scholars heaved the eventually eponymous terima formula into its prominent position, jawi legal manuals, used both as teaching texts and reference works, certainly also played a decisive part in this development. Indeed, Daud Patani’s Īḍāḥ al-Bāb li Murīd al-Nikāḥ bi l-Ṣawāb was, in many respects, his most influential and most popular work among many of the ecumene’s Muslim communities because it clarified Shāfiʿi law on marriage in a concise manner355. Completed in Mecca in 1224/1808-1809356 it was soon disseminated throughout Muslim Southeast Asia and even in the ecumene’s most far-flung outposts, including Cape Town’s Malay community357. It was printed for the first time in Singapore in 1870; the next edition was published there only four years later358. In Īḍāḥ al-Bāb, Daud Patani emphasizes that marriage is invalid without a declaration of consent. The proper Arabic formulas are either qabaltu nikāḥahā or qabaltu tazwījahā, which he translates by employing terima instead of kabul. He notes that one can use another language (dengan bahasa ʿajamiyya) as long as all of the parties involved can understand it359. In his more elaborate general legal manual al-Jawāhir al-Saniyya, he initially leaves qabaltu untranslated, but then again renders qabaltu nikāḥahā as aku terimalah nikahnya360. In line with our contention that Jawization reflects larger similar processes within the Muslim world, heightened sensibilities for properly performed marriage rituals are, at the same time, noticeable elsewhere, including other Muslim-minority contexts, such as the nascent sphere of Tamil Muslim printing and Les Sary, born in Koh Roka (Kampong Cham), in Phnom Penh, May 17th 2012. Cf. Muḥammad Zayn, Yūsuf, Aḥmad & ʿĀrifīn, Qāmūs Melāyū-Čam, p. 179, 401. 354 Personal communication with Ysa Meth, Ismail & Syafii, all born around 1950 in Chrang Chamres, in Reston (Virginia), April 14th 2013. There is indeed a cognate in Khmer language (totuol), which may once have been the source word for Cham taduol. Yet, already the Cham-French dictionary of 1906 records it in two different spellings (taduol and daduol) as a word of (Cambodian) Cham. Aymonier & Cabaton, Dictionnaire, p. 173, 213. 355 Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 326. 356 For brief descriptions see Matheson & Hooker, “Jawi Literature”, p. 23; Madmarn, Pondok and Madrasah, p. 26. 357 Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 310f., 318, 326f. 358 Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 135. Another early edition (1304/1886) was produced in Constantinople. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 486. 359 Dāʼūd b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Faṭānī, Īḍāḥ al-Bāb li Murīd al-Nikāḥ bi l-Ṣawāb (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n. d.), p. 8. 360 Id., al-Jawāhir al-Saniyya fī Sharḥ al-ʿAqāʾid al-Dīniyya wa Aḥkām al-Fiqh al-Marḍiyya wa Ṭarīq al-Sulūk al-Muḥammadiyya (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n. d.), p. 167, 169.

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that witnessed the publication of six texts on the topic by contemporary Tamil scholars during 1885-1916361. 2.2 Fatwas in the mui’s Pengasuh The second group of fatāwā is drawn from the Kelantanese mui’s journal Pengasuh, which, along with its fatwa section, was intimately linked to the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network, largely due to the paramount role played by Tok Kenali and some of his disciples in the journal and the Meshuarat Ulama as a fatwa-issuing body. The following section will deal with four requests sent from Cambodian Muslims to the mui in the late 1920s. All of them are more detailed than the ones discussed above and either consist of several different questions or at least address several specific issues that flow from the initial question. One even lists twelve separate points of enquiry. As was the case with Ahmad Patani’s fatāwā, passed two decades earlier, these Cambodian fatwa requests provide an inside view on certain social, religious and political issues of concern to the Muslim community. Similarly, they allow us glimpses of the legal and scholarly mindset of Kelantan’s ʿulamāʾ elite in a more practical manner than could be found in their theoretical writings. Moreover, its discourse is unadulterated in such original documents, something that cannot be taken for granted with the biographic collections mainly relied upon in the preceding section. The first relevant fatwa was a reply to an enquiry from a certain Shams alDīn b. Ḥājj Aḥmad Kemboja, who raises four points362, two of which shed considerable light on the social and religious worlds of Cambodian Muslims, as a religious minority in the Khmer Buddhist kingdom. Intriguingly, the first two questions deal with issues of conversion and inter-religious marriage. Firstly, can a female convert’s marriage be performed without a witness to her having said the shahāda, and, if so, would it nevertheless be sunna to search for one? Strikingly, the brief response notes that it would be sunna to have witnesses to the marriage ceremony and ignores the – in Kelantan certainly far less salient – conversion issue363. As noted, inter alia by Ner, intermarriages of Khmer women with Cambodian Muslim men, invariably accompanied by the future wife’s conversion, were rather frequent at that time364. 361

J.B.P. More, Muslim Identity, Print Culture and the Dravidian Factor in Tamil Nadu (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2004), p. 232, 236, 238-242, 268-271. 362 Pengasuh, IX, 216 (Ramaḍān 15th 1345/March 18th 1927), p. 3. 363 Ibid., p. 4. 364 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 191. Such intermarriage is presently again on the rise, probably to a hitherto unprecedented degree. A survey in 2006 in 47 Muslim villages found out that intermarried couples made up 3.5 per cent of the total (4.4 per cent in

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The second question is likewise related to the particularities of intermarriage, conversion and the issue of sincerity in changing one’s religion under such circumstances. Furthermore, it adds illicit sexual intercourse, certainly another feature of local social reality. This part of the istiftāʾ revolves around the case of a Muslim woman who had “committed zināʾ with an unbeliever, for example a Chinese”. After her parents told him that he could marry her upon embracing Islam, the culprit agrees to do so. But he shows himself to be unhappy with Islam, indicating that it is highly probable that one day he would return to his original religion. Consequently, Shams al-Dīn’s question, which clearly reveals him to be a hakem or some other religious functionary, is whether they (kita, i.e. the local ʿulamāʾ) are, against this background, supposed to teach him the confession of faith at all. The mufti’s swift response makes it clear that they must do so if he requests it. Notably, any discussion about the punishment for illicit sexual intercourse is absent. The third question is of a spiritual nature. Here, the questioner asks about the exact meaning, background and technicalities of the ʿulamāʾ’s exhortation to make the Prophet present in one’s heart (hadirkan didalam hati) before calling down God’s blessings upon him in prayer. The mufti stresses that this depends upon the individual believer’s spiritual knowledge and capacity. He then provides a hadith from “a commentary to [al-Ghazālī’s] Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn”, most probably Palimbānī’s jawi work Sayr al-sālikīn ilā ʿibādati rabb al-ʿālamīn (a commented partial translation of the Iḥyāʾ enriched with additional material) and not to the enormous Arabic Itḥāf al-sādat al-muttaqīn of the Indian scholar Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī (d. 1791)365, to the effect that man is not expected to burden himself with anything beyond his capacities. The last question is about a strictly legal issue related to inheritance. It deals with two specific cases, one of which involves the division of property among a polygamous man’s two widows366. As there is nothing peculiar about the questions raised or the legal rulings derived from them, suffice it to say that they testify to the rarity of polygamy, both then and now, among Cambodian urban and 3.1 per cent in rural settings), whereas the proportion for 1970 was retrospectively estimated at 0.64 per cent. Significantly, both spouses were found to be eventually professing Islam in 88 per cent of the cases in 2006. Osman, Navigating the Rift, p. 143f. 365 Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Zabīdī, Itḥāf al-sādat al-muttaqīn bi sharḥ asrār Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, 10 vols. (Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.). On the author see Stefan Reichmuth, The World of Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī (1732-91). Life, Networks and Writings (London: Gibb Memorial Trust, 2009). Generally, “the presence of the heart” (ḥuḍūr al-qalb) ranked very high on al-Ghazālī’s list of “‘interior factors’ that ‘enlivenʾ prayer”. Katz, Prayer in Islamic Thought, p. 63. 366 The second case concerns the husband and a number of still premature children as inheritors of a female Muslim’s properties.

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Muslims367, which was likely to give rise to legal problems. Contrary to Southeast Asian Muslim-majority contexts, where the colonial legal administration completely transformed indigenous law during the 19th century, including everything regarded as deriving from Islam, no form of Muslim/Islamic law was administered in French Indochina368. In the second fatwa, the enquirer is clearly a high Cambodian religious dignitary because he introduces himself as raja kadi (i.e. reachea kaley) ʿAbd alRaḥīm369. At least just a few years later (in 1936), this title was bound to the leadership position in the so-called “Southern Mosque” of Chrang Chamres and came along with eight huban, thus belonging to the second highest category attainable to Muslim dignitaries370. The legal problem he raised strongly reflects the community’s minority situation and its, sometimes contentious, relationship with the ruler, who was then still King Sisowath (d. 1927)371. In his istiftāʾ, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm refers to the grievances that had arisen over a piece of land (most probably located in Chrang Chamres) belonging to the non-Muslim king (raja kafir, i.e. Sisowath)372. The Muslims had been allowed to occupy it and, in turn, had to pay a land rent. Despite the annual payments, the king would not allow them to build a mosque. Accordingly, the reachea 367

A famous case of a religious scholar with four wives in the mid-20th century was Srong Yousos of Chrang Chamres. In 1975 a report by a us Army officer of the medtc (Military Equipment Delivery Team Cambodia), who had been dispatched to evaluate troops in the Oudong-Lovek area, exhibited clear bewilderment at the fact that a (Muslim) battallion commander had his two wives staying with him at the front. “MEDTC-AR, Memorandum for: chmedtcsacsa”, dated January 7th 1975, na, 270/80/24/2 (Box 9) (Brigade eiuis). Nowadays many Cambodian religious leaders argue that the necessary preconditions for marrying more than one wife in harmony with Islamic precepts are plainly impossible to meet for Cambodian Muslims. Osman, Navigating the Rift, p. 62f. The perhaps most widespread form of polygamy involving Cambodian Muslims is represented by Malaysians, and to a lesser degree Cambodian Muslims with Malaysian citizenship, who have (often without acknowledgement) taken wives on both sides of the Gulf of Thailand. Abdul Hamid, “Understanding the Cham Identity”, p. 252 n. 19. 368 M.B. Hooker, “Muhammadan Law and Islamic Law” in id. (ed.), Islam in Southeast Asia (Leiden: Brill, 1983), p. 166f. 369 Pengasuh, X, 217-218 (Shawwāl 15th 1345/April 18th 1927), p. 4f. 370 “Liste des dignitaires cham nommés par Ordonnance Royale et par Arrêté Ministériel” (1936), anc-rsc 28319. 371 Although published in 1927, the fatwa was issued in 1926. 372 The Russey Keo and Chrang Chamres area on the northern fringes of Phnom Penh had been assigned by Norodom to Vietnamese of all religious persuasions upon his move to the city as his new capital. Muslims were by then certainly already settled there, which, however, does not preclude further assignment or lease of land to Muslim newcomers, although the majority of those joining Norodom in his move from the Oudong-Lovek area were settled in Chroy Changvar. Edwards, Cambodge, p. 56.

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kaley’s question was whether they should nevertheless press on with their project. He volunteered his own interpretation of a section drawn from one of the Patani network’s most popular and widely disseminated legal texts, the Maṭlaʿ al-Badrayn of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl Dāʾūd al-Faṭānī (Nik Mat Kecik Patani, d. 1915)373, according to which the mosque could not, from the perspective of Islamic law, be legally constructed under such circumstances. The mufti concedes that ʿAbd al-Raḥīm’s conclusion is correct, as the land in question belongs to the king. But he also clarifies that the cited material refers to a different and incomparable case: the estate of a deceased person in a non-Muslim state. This fatwa clearly shows that Cambodia’s Muslims were not completely free of state interference in their mosque building ventures as well as Maṭlaʿ al-Badrayn’s relevance as a major reference work for both local Cambodian scholars and their muftis in Kelantan. Indeed, it was among the most important works of the educational canon relied upon by exponents of the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network. The next two fatwas, respectively issued in 1928 and 1929374, are directly related to the production and reception of jawi scholarly literature as well as to a debate that became prominent throughout much of Muslim Southeast Asia, including Java, Banjarmasin (Kalimantan), Kelantan and Cambodia, from the late 19th century onwards, particularly in the first decades of the 20th century – how to calculate the qibla correctly. This was epitomized by its notorious correction in the Great Mosque of Yogyakarta by Ahmad Dahlan (d. 1923), the future founder of Indonesia’s Muhammadiyah organization (est. 1912), in 1896375. Mat Sales Haroun of Phum Trea was one of the pioneering authors who addressed these questions a few years later in his Pedoman Bahagia (pub. 1934). These two fatwas testify to the demand for such a work in Kelantan and Cambodia. The mustaftī of the first fatwa introduces himself as Hj. ʿAbd al-Ghanī b. Aḥmad of Chroy Changvar (Phnom Penh) and begins by explaining that his village has two mosques. Some local Muslims had recently found out that each mosque had a different qibla. One faction opined that both were correct. However, Hj. ʿAbd al-Ghanī suggested that this was wishful thinking, for neither mosque’s congregants knew anything about astronomy. He thus wanted to know whether they were right or not. He also stressed that their calculations had been done without any suitable tools and were thus merely based 373 374 375

On the work see Matheson & Hooker, “Jawi Literature”, p. 32; ubp, p. 77; Madmarn, Pondok and Madrasah, p. 31f. Pengasuh XII, 263 (15 Dhū l-Qaʿda 1347/24 April 1929), p. 2-4; XIII, 289-290 (1 and 15 Shawwāl 1348/1 and 15 March 1930), p. 2f. Kaptein, Islam, Colonialism and the Modern Age, p. 224-226.

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on opinion (zan, ar. ẓann). From this comes the (rather rhetorical) question of whether their interpretation must be followed, especially if some locally available people have superior knowledge of the matter. More intriguing, however, is his follow-up question, which clearly hints at the kind of intra-community strife that occurred in Yogyakarta, which only came to a temporary halt when Ahmad Dahlan was sent to Mecca around 1900376. Thus, Hj. ʿAbd al-Ghanī further asks about the legal implications of an imam facing the wrong prayer direction and the congregation either following him or turning to another ­direction. In his response, the mufti asserts that the faction arguing that both qiblas are correct was clearly wrong. Not only did they reject the (true) ijtihād given to them, but also their prayer was invalid because one of its obligatory conditions (i.e. being directed towards the (actual) qibla) was unmet. Considering their practice to be based not on Islamic legal reasoning (ijtihad pada syarak) but on personal opinions and guesswork (sangka-sangka), he strongly emphasized that no one was obliged to follow them. Finally, the mufti declared it obligatory to correct any mosque’s prayer direction once it had been declared incorrect377. Strikingly, the remaining fatwa also deals with the correct qibla378, thereby testifying to the issue’s paramount role in debates among Cambodia’s Muslims at that time and again pointing us toward the timely nature of Mat Sales’ Pedoman Bahagia. One of the two mustaftīs is marked out as a high-ranking Muslim dignitary – the istiftāʾ bears the names of tok kadi (Khmer tokaley) Hj. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Hj. Yūnus Kemboja of Chrang Chamres (Phnom Penh). The former can be identified with the person listed by the French in 1936 as tokaley “To-Man”, head of the northern mosque of Chrang Chamres379 and member of the second highest tier of Cambodian Muslim dignitaries. While describing his background, Hj. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān presents his mosque as the country’s most widely known one, besides that of the “Mufti” (i.e. changvang of Chroy Changvar), and states that its builders had established the qibla based on the setting sun. In this connection, his Cambodian context becomes evident because he refers to a month (ml. bulan) called cayt, which, he felt compelled to explain, denoted the fifth month in Malay. This must be taken as a reference to chaet, 376 377 378 379

Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 168f.; Mitsuo Nakamura, The Crescent Arises over the Banyan Tree. A Study of the Muhammadiyah Movement in a Central Javanese Town, c. 1910s2010, 2nd Enlarged Edition (Singapore: IseAS, 2012), p. 51f. Pengasuh, XII, 263 (Dhū l-Qaʿda 15th 1347/April 24th 1929), p. 2-4. Pengasuh XIII, 289-290 (1 and 15 Shawwāl 1348/1 and 15 March 1930), p. 2f. anc-rsc 28319.

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the fifth month of the Khmer lunar calendar. And yet his first question is only related to the overall validity of the sun-based method of qibla calculation. More specifically, the mustaftīs wanted to know what to do with the large prayer mats if the mosque’s qibla had to be changed. Moving away from their own mosque but sticking to the methodological issue at hand, they then asked about its suitability for those living in the woods or in the middle of a jungle with a restricted view of the skies and the horizon. As a next step, they sought confirmation of a quotation from al-Banjārī’s Malay Sabīl al-muhtadīn, according to which there are six kinds of proofs for the qibla: longitude, latitude, the polar and other stars (ar. kawākib), the sun, the moon and the wind380. Out of this flows the next set of questions: Should the people act upon it and in which way (i.e. collectively or individually; by employing any or all of the proofs). Additional clarification is sought regarding what the book says about using the sun and the moon to calculate the qibla, as the mustaftīs deemed the available information unclear381. Whereas the foregoing part of the istiftāʾ helps reveal the prominence of Sabīl al-muhtadīn in Islamic scholarship in Cambodia at that time, the subsequent one reflects specific disputes and the resulting inter-community factionalism. More intriguingly, it gives us a clear indication of the degree to which parts of the community regarded Kelantan’s mui and its scholars as higher authorities and thus natural arbiters in such cases. The mustaftīs explain that only half of Cambodia’s Muslims adhered to the relevant ijtihād and reliance upon one of the six possible determinants as obligatory. In the absence of an accepted source of authority, quarrels among the ʿulamāʾ and the common believers had become rampant. Thus, the enquirers held “high hopes that the sirs of the mui would be able to dispel the darkness which had been absent [..] until it transpired [..] that children broke with their fathers and siblings.” Clearly hoping that the higher authorities would side with them, the mustaftīs also asked about the legal judgment (hukum syarak) on scholars who try to hide the sharīʿa’s rules in order to pass rulings before matters have been conclusively decided, thereby creating divisions382. Their final request concerned a passage in al-Palimbānī’s Sayr al-sālikīn that it is enough to determine the kaʿba’s direction by relying upon the proofs 380 Cf. al-Banjārī, Sabīl al-Muhtadīn, I, p. 189. Well ahead of his time, al-Banjārī (d. 1812) had himself already caused controversy during a stay in Batavia due to his efforts at determining exact directions of prayer. Laffan, Islamic Nationhood, p. 169. 381 Indeed, the work is much more concerned with calculations through longitude/latitude and the polar star, which are accordingly explicitly described as the strongest indicators for the purpose. al-Banjārī, Sabīl al-muhtadīn, I, p. 188-190. 382 Pengasuh, XIII, p. 2.

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e­ stablished in the Qurʾan and the Sunna as well as by analogy. The Cambodian scholars thus wanted to know if al-Palimbānī’s position was reliable or rather weak, as some other Cambodian ʿulamāʾ were claiming383. This last point clearly indicates that Sayr al-sālikīn was a widely distributed and frequently studied work in Cambodia and that despite its primary categorization, especially in Western scholarship, as a book on Sufism, al-Palimbānī’s work equally served as an important reference for questions of ritual law384. The mufti notes that the first two queries were dealt with in the earlier fatwa for Hj. ʿAbd al-Ghanī Kemboja. He then stresses that naked-eye observation of the sunset alone is not a proper method of determining the prayer direction, as the eye of the qibla (ʿayn al-qibla, i.e. the kaʿba itself) differs in every country and even within the same country. Thus, such a method can only determine the general direction. He then addresses the whole set of issues connected to the quoted passage from Sabīl al-muhtadīn in one combined response: It is an obligation and necessary condition to determine the correct qibla for the prescribed prayers to be considered valid, and the proofs expounded upon by alBanjārī are means to comply with it. Accordingly, one of these proofs should be relied upon. After this, the mufti immediately lashes out at the representatives of the traditionalist trend in connection with the mustaftīs’ enquiry about Islamic scholars who allegedly hide the truth about judgments of the Islamic law from their followers. He emphasizes that it is clearly forbidden for such individuals to issue fatāwā and decisions and that such behaviour would be especially reprehensible as they must have studied dozens of books. And yet they were falsely instructing people about what has – according to their claims – been definitely established (ar. jāzim) in such matters as the alleged obligatory nature of verbalizing the niyya before making wuḍūʾ. At this time, kaum muda partisans across Southeast Asia had rejected the latter view385. Al-Qari lists rejection of verbalizing the niyya/uṣallī as a trait of certain students of Tok Kenali386, who himself characteristically kept out of the ensuing disputes. We can therefore at least tell that this unsolicited condemnation was not voiced by 383 384

Ibid., p. 2f. Certain parts of the work (inter alia chapters 2-6) are mainly concerned with proper outward ritual performance. al-Palimbānī, Sayr al-Sālikīn, I, p. 105-413 & II, p. 1-107. Yet, also the hidden inner aspects of prayer are duly discussed. Ibid., I, p. 200-217. 385 Verbal utterance of the niyya was already prevalent in Ibn Taymiyya’s time (d. 1328). Whereas the latter, just like the later Southeast Asian kaum muda, condemmed it as a reprehensible innovation, many other jurists considered it as a good innovation (bidʿa ḥasana). Katz, Prayer in Islamic Thought, p. 45. 386 al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 49, 96.

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Tok Kenali, but perhaps by one of his students appointed to the Meshuarat Ulama. Finally, the mufti addresses the contested reliability and legal implications of the passage from Sayr al-sālikīn. Again, the crux of the matter is whether facing the ʿayn al-qibla or merely in its general direction is a condition for valid prayer and whether inaccuracy could render it invalid. Strikingly, the response ignores al-Palimbānī’s text and points out that while the istiqbāl al-ʿayn (i.e. facing the ʿayn al-qibla) had achieved a degree of common acceptance (masyhur, ar. mashhūr) within the Shāfiʿi school, the contending position (istiqbāl aljiha) also had strong supporters. He invokes a whole array of Shāfiʿi authorities as examples and furnishes a long quotation from a work merely introduced as Bughya. This quotation highlighted how the actual difficulties of establishing the kaʿba’s direction and the uneven distribution of such elevated knowledge has impacted the general discussion as well as the different positions concerning the obligation and its applicability to scholars and common people alike. The passage is given in Malay, but is undoubtedly taken from the Arabic Bughyat al-mustarshidīn of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muhammad Bā ʿAlawī (d. c. 1835), a former mufti of the Hadhramaut387. It is noteworthy that Ahmad Patani likewise used this book as a reference388. Moreover, it was distributed through channels directly linked to the jawi ecumene. In fact, it was published early on in Cairo by Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī’s printing press, which inter alia produced jawi and Arabic publications specifically for the Southeast Asian market389. Upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that the earlier passage, which enumerated various Shāfiʿi proponents of the istiqbāl al-jiha approach, has also been translated from Bā ʿAlawī’s work390, although in this case the source was not acknowledged. The foregoing expositions have elucidated how Jawization in Cambodia was both resulting in and conducive to the Cambodian Muslims’s increasing participation in the jawi ecumene’s scholarly networks. They also indicate the degree to which these Muslims came to regard Malay scholars in the holy city as 387

Pengasuh, XIII, p. 3. The quoted text is much longer than indicated by the quotation marks in the mufti’s response, as it indeed runs until the very end of the fatwa. Cf. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad Bā ʿAlawī, Bughyat al-mustarshidīn fī talkhīs fatāwā baʿḍ ala⁠ʾimma min al-ʿulamāʾ al-muta⁠ʾakhkhirīn (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1418/1998), p. 53. 388 Rahimullah, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 407f. 389 Shaghir Abdullah, Al ʿAllamah Syeikh Ahmad, p. 97; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 492-494. The work was later also printed in Surabaya (Java), further testifying to its reception and consumption in Southeast Asia. It also appears in van Bruinessen’s survey on Arabic and jawi literature used in the pesantren milieu. van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 249. 390 Bā ʿAlawī, Bughyat al-mustarshidīn, p. 52.

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well as at its perceived balcony (serambi Makkah, i.e. Kelantan) as supreme authorities. Indeed, as Kaptein has noted, calling upon an external legal scholar to adjudicate local conflicts usually represents the last attempt to resolve such disputes391. Moreover, a given fatwa rarely serves as an unanimously accepted conclusion to any intra-religious dispute, as they usually have an afterlife. This is particularly visible in the case of the intriguing terima/kabul question addressed to Ahmad Patani in the early years of the 20th century, which acquired such an emblematic status in trimeu/kobuol factionalism during the following three decades. These factional identities had most probably not yet concretized during the mufti’s lifetime but had obviously taken shape by the time the Cambodian istiftā’s for Pengasuh were drafted. In that respect, we may assume that only the (proto-)trimeu, with their proverbial proficiency in Malay, communicated with muftis living overseas. Even though Ner’s account of trimeu/kobuol factionalism in the 1930s focuses on disputes over language use in Islamic ritual and education, the discussed fatāwā in Pengasuh suggest that the qibla question played a part in the commotion as well. Indeed, apart from Ahmad Patani’s marriage fatwa, the last of the discussed istiftā’s sent to Pengasuh clearly has the strongest smack of factionalism of all. Just a few years later, Ner experienced Chrang Chamres as a divided community with both a trimeu and a kobuol mosque. Revisiting the charges against rival scholars made by the mustaftīs Hj. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Hj. Yūnus Kemboja, as well as the former’s bold statement that his mosque was the second most important after the changvang’s, one wonders whether it was not primarily the local contending mosque, and its hakem and adjuncts, who were the addressees of the involved malignancy. Indeed, oknha reachea kaley Eyman Yourat had assumed the responsibility as new hakem of the Southern Chrang Chamres mosque in 1926, thereby becoming endowed with as many huban of dignity as oknha tokaley Hj. ʿAbd alRaḥmān of the Northern Mosque392. As both of these scholars still held their positions in 1936393, we can conclude that they were leading the contending factions at the time of Ner’s research (i.e. Yourat the kobuol and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān the trimeu) and that they had been opposed to each other for a while. Reading these sources reveals that even the trimeu held various opinions regarding this and other issues brought before their Malay muftis. In contrast to our Cambodian mustaftīs, Mat Sales Haroun, the most outstanding Cambodian scholar at that time, produced a work inter alia on the complexities of 391 392 393

Kaptein, Muhimmât al-Nafâʾis, p. 9. anc-rsc 25315. anc-rsc 28319.

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qibla calculation that proved to be most welcome among the scholars of the serambi makkah. As some of the fatwas directly addressed the authoritative nature of certain jawi and Arabic books, we will now turn to the canon of literature commonly relied upon by that period’s Malay and Cambodian agents of Jawization. 3

The Canon of Jawization

The Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali network’s major exponents (e.g. teachers, preachers and muftis) also played a considerable role in the emergence and subsequent perpetuation of a specific canon of literature for teaching, deriving law and formulating guides for legal and particularly ritual practices (e.g. marriage ceremonies and prayer) in Kelantan, Patani and Cambodia. The main figure here was clearly Ahmad Patani. From the 1890s onwards, this canon, which largely coincides with the output of titles of his al-Maṭbaʿat al-Mīriyyat al-Kāʾina publishing company in Mecca, remained more or less unaltered and uncontested well into the 1960s. Given its disproportionate bias towards Patani authors, Daud Patani is by far the most important writer. As the works of the major late 18th-early 19th century scholars of Palembang and Banjarmasin were also staples of the canon, it is not incidental that, for example, al-Palimbānī’s Sayr al-sālikīn was invoked several times, by both Cambodian mustaftīs and Kelantanese muftis, in the foregoing fatwas. We use “canon” here primarily in reference to what Sheppard has defined as “Canon 2”, which may take the form of a standardized list or catalog of books. Even though these books clearly are not invested with the same epistemological value as the scriptural canon of the Qurʾān and the canonical hadith collections, the texts employed for teaching, reference and, in certain cases, as practical guides evidently also had the potential qualities of “Canon 1”, namely to act “as a criterion between truth and falsehood”394. Although one could question the validity of particular claims made in Sayr al-sālikīn and other popular texts, the procedures laid out for marriage or prayer rituals in such works as Īḍāḥ al-bāb and Munyat al-muṣallī, or the framework of the sifat dua puluh contained in virtually all texts on ʿaqīda in the canon, were held to represent both correct practice and religious truths. The following section will identify, and in certain cases take a closer look at, the actual items of this canon comprised of printed agents of Jawization. By 394 Brown, Canonization of al-Bukhārī, p. 25 (with reference to Gerald T. Sheppard, “Canon” in Mircea Eliade [ed.], The Encyclopedia of Religion [New York: MacMillan, 1987], III, p. 66).

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and large, the ventures of Ahmad Patani and his predecessors signified the protracted demise of manuscript culture in the regions in question. For our purpose, we will primarily draw upon reports in biographical accounts about the teaching preferences of various scholars, most of whom have already been discussed. This will be supplemented by data derived from interviewees who attended Cambodia’s mosque schools, pondoks and madrasas during the 1950s and 1960s, where they also studied under scholars mostly already mentioned above. We will focus almost entirely on the canon’s jawi books. As they were clearly less numerous than their (lesser studied) Arabic counterparts, it is far easier to argue for the existence of a specific canon in terms of defining and perpetuating a communal vision and trans-regional identity, not merely as Muslims but specifically as members of the jawi ecumene. Indeed, literature written in jawi language and script was instrumental in precipitating and shaping the emergence of the jawi ecumene as a trans-Southeast Asian expression of Islam. It also served as a primary vehicle for disseminating its hegemonic homogenizing de-localizing discursive tradition into different localities within and on the borders of its geographical confines, to the detriment of more localized Islamic discursive traditions (e.g. Cham, Javanese, Sasak and Batak). Moreover, it was not the use of specific Arabic texts or of Arabic as a scholarly language that differentiated the jawi logosphere from its Urdu, Persian or Swahili counterparts (all of which were thoroughly engaged with Arabic), which likewise stretched far beyond the confines of first-language users in their capacities as shared linguistic mental spaces for scholarly expression. This resulted in a certain degree of homogenization and commonality, including cultural expression, in each case. Secondly, and perhaps more pertinently, jawi books were the true mass media of Islamic education within the ecumene and the process of Jawization. Unlike Arabic works, which remained confined to the highest tiers of what we might term, despite its actual lack of systematization at that date, the Islamic educational system of the areas in question, their jawi counterparts were used on all levels and for more practical purposes, beginning with the study of jawi versions of the Muqaddam as most basic texts for teaching children395 up to 395

The Muqaddam (or Muqaddam Alif-Bāʾ-Tāʾ) is, as can be inferred from its full title, a guide to the Arabic letters, usually supplemented with reading passages consisting of the short surahs of the Qurʾān (Q 1 and Q 78-114 [in reversed order] and at times Q36 [Ya Sin]), which also account for its additional monicker as “little Qurʾān”. Some versions come along with Malay interlinear translations. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 352. More recent editions include graphic illustrations on how to perform the ablutions and prayers. After the destructions of the dk era, the Muqaddam was, apart from the Qurʾān,

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invoking the Sayr al-sālikīn as a proof text in fatāwā and using the Pedoman Bahagia (the work of a native Cham speaker) to calculate the qibla and prayer times. We will draw upon information specifying the “curricula” or literature used for teaching by ten individual scholars and one group of teachers. In their entirety, only two of the mentioned figures have not yet been elaborated upon in this study, and it will become evident that their inclusion is fully justifiable for our purpose. What emerges is an inventory of the books taught by members of the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali-Hj. Awang network. Our sample includes (1) Tok Malek Sungai Pinang (d. 1926, one of the earliest directors of a Kelantan pondok frequented by Cambodian students)396, (2) Tok Kenali (d. 1933)397, (3) his student Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang (d. 1968)398, (4) Hassan b. Hj. Awang Kemboja (d. 1934)399, (5) Tok Seridik (d. 1935)400 and (6) Wan Daud (Dāʾūd Khaṭīb b. Ismāʿīl al-Faṭānī, d. 1936)401, all of whom were active in Kelantan (and, in Hassan Kemboja’s case, in Cambodia as well). Wan Daud, the only one who has not been discussed yet, was khaṭīb and teacher at Masjid Muhammadi and Madrasah al-Muhammadiah from 1917-1930, along with Tok Kenali and Hassan Kemboja, all of whom must have shared some of their Cambodian students. His only known student from Indochina was Hj. Muhammad Idris, the renowned hakem of Chau Giang in the Delta402. Wan Daud is also important to the history of jawi publishing, for he worked with Ahmad Patani at the Ottoman Malay Printing Press and was instrumental in its continued operations between the latter’s demise and its folding in 1914403. Further included in the sample are (7) Hj. Muhammad Saleh (d. 1944)404, the Cambodian Muslims’ man in Kedah, as well as (8) Hj. Sulong (d. 1954)405 and (9) Tok Guru Dala (Hj. Abdul Rahman b. Muhammad Arshad, d. 1975) of

396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405

the most frequently distributed book by transnational Islamic ngos from Malaysia active in the country. As such it still largely forms the basis of elementary religious instruction for Cambodian Muslims throughout the country, despite the publication of Mai Weʾ Drai Sembahyang (tellingly in Cham jawi) by the present Mufti of Cambodia in 2009, which fulfills some of the same functions. Bajunid, “Place of Jawi”, p. 132f.; Sos Kamry, Mai Weʾ. tusm, I, p. 118. Partly overlapping lists of books are found in al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 44; and Wan Mazwati, “Tok Kenali”, p. 81. Abdullah Alwi, “Development of Islamic Education”, p. 201 n. 88. Ibid., p. 200 n. 88. tusm, I, p. 183. Abdullah Alwi, “Development of Islamic Education”, p. 200 n. 88. lpd, “Haji Muhammad Idris”. ubp, p. 266-268; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 483-485. kun, I, p. 67. ubp, p. 132.

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Patani406. The latter is included due to his status as student and son-in-law of Hj. Idris b. Hj. Abd al-Karim (Pak Cu Yeh Tok Raja Hj., d. 1935), another Patani scholar with strong educational and familial links to the families of Hj. Sulong, Ahmad Patani and the Bendang Daya shaykhs407. Finally, the books reportedly taught by (10) Hj. Math Zayn (d. 1975) of Norea (Battambang)408 and (11) the kaum tua scholars Hakem Tayyeb, Tuon Said and Hj. Yahya Ibrahim of Amphil (Kampong Cham) in the late 1950s and early 1960s409 will be considered. As an initial disclaimer, this sample’s individual items are unevenly distributed, as the number of recorded books in the respective cases range from five to over twenty. In addition, the data on those works taught by Tok Kenali and Ali Pulau Pisang is strongly biased towards Arabic titles. However, one can conclude from the available material’s comparable uniformity that their teaching preferences closely matched that of their own students and fellow teachers included in the sample. This uniformity also allows us to speak of an actual canon of teaching materials. Regarding our definition of Jawization in Cambodia, it is similarly significant that the sample’s three Cambodian informants studied an almost exclusively jawi curriculum. Indeed, the only Arabic books they mentioned were the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn and Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawāwī’s (d. 1277) famous hadith collection Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn. This clearly indicates that, apart from Qurʾānic commentary and hadith, where jawi alternatives were arguably limited, only the most elevated students of Islam in Cambodia proceeded beyond the Islamic supra-language (i.e. Malay) to Arabic. This was also conditioned by the fact that, in contrast to the Patani and Kelantan Malays, this supra-language was also a foreign language. 3.1 The jawi Books at the Core of the Canon Daud Patani and a selected few later Patani authors represent the dominant strand within the canon and thus within the sample. For example, Daud Patani authored seven of the twenty recorded jawi books: his fiqh works Furūʿ al-masāʾil, Sullam al-mubtadiʾ, Bughyat al-ṭullāb; the more specific Munyat alMuṣallī (on prayer) and Īḍāḥ al-Bāb (on marriage); as well as al-Durr al-thamīn, 406 Ibid., p. 195. 407 Hj. Idris was a cousin of Hj. Sulong’s grandfather Tuan Minal. Besides studying with his cousin, he also sat at the feet of Ahmad Patani and the latter’s uncle Abd al-Qadir, who married one of his daughters to Hj. Idris. Ibid., 193f., 261-263. 408 Personal communication with Asyari and Nasir, former students of Math Zayn b. Sulaiman, born at Norea Kraom and Norea Loeu respectively, at Bunga Emas, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, July 26th 2012. 409 Personal communication with Tuon Ismail, b. 1932 in Kampong Kendal (Kampot), former student of Hakem Tayyeb, Hj. Yahya Ibrahim and Tuon Said, at Kampong Treach (Kampot), May 5th 2012.

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his main work on ʿaqīda/uṣūl al-dīn; and his translation of al-Ghazālī’s Minhāj al-ʿābidīn (Sufism). Tuan Minal (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī, d. 1913) is represented with his two best-known works, his Malay commentary on Umm al-barāhīn, entitled ʿAqīdat al-nājīn, as well as Kashf al-lithām, his major fiqh work410. Similarly, two books by his contemporary Nik Mat Kecik Patani (Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Faṭānī, d. 1915) appear in our sample: Maṭlaʿ albadrayn, his best-known work, which covers the arkān, tawḥīd and fiqh in the familiar composite fashion well established by Daud, and his much briefer Wishāḥ al-afrāh on the pillars of the faith, including its practical aspects concerning wuḍūʾ, ṣalāt and duʿāʾ. Finally, Ahmad Patani is represented by his main ʿaqīda/uṣūl al-dīn work, Farīdat al-farāʾid. Thus, Patani scholars account for twelve of our sample’s twenty jawi books. All of our survey’s remaining works, except for two, have already been mentioned or were written by familiar non-Patani authors. Al-Palimbānī’s Sayr alsālikīn and Hidāyat al-sālikīn, an enriched adaptation of a text by al-Ghazālī detailing mystical interpretations of sharīʿa rules (Bidāyat al-hidāya)411, are featured. Similarly, Daud’s and al-Palimbānī’s scholarly contemporaries from Banjarmasin are represented: Muḥammad Arshad al-Banjārī with his opus magnum Sabīl al-muhtadīn and Muḥammad Nafīs al-Banjārī with his mystical al-Durr al-nafīs. The final work is by a third, lesser-known, bearer of the nisba al-Banjārī (hailing from Kedah): Miftāḥ al-janna, yet another work based on al-Sanūsī’s Umm al-barāhīn, authored by Muḥammad Ṭayyib b. Masʿūd alBanjārī (al-Naqshbandī al-Khālidī, d. after 1879). As he had inter alia been a teacher of Tuan Minal al-Faṭānī, this work was unsurprinsingly also printed by Ahmad Patani’s Ottoman Malay Printing Press in Mecca412. Intriguingly, the sample includes only two works produced by pre-19th century scholars, clearly proving that the era of al-Palimbānī, the two Banjāris and Daud, all of whom died in the first half of the 19th century, marks the general historical bottom line for the canon of Jawization in Cambodia. Yet even these two works were both apparently first seen to the printing press by Ahmad Patani and his associates. The two titles in question are ʿAbd al-Ra⁠ʾūf al-Sinkilī’s (d. 1693) Qurʾānic commentary Tarjumān al-mustafīd, first prepared for lithography by Ahmad Patani and his associates Dāʾūd b. Muṣṭafā al-Faṭānī and Idrīs b. Ḥusayn alKalantānī in 1884 and subsequently published in Istanbul the same year and at 410 411 412

Matheson & Hooker, “Jawi Literature”, p. 34f. Azra, Origins of Islamic Reformism, p. 131f. Wan Mohd. Shaghir Abdullah, “Muhammad Thaiyib penerus tradisi ulama Banjar“, uo, January 8th 2007. (accessed December 8th 2013).

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Cairo’s Bulāq the following year413, and Bidāyat al-hidāya (completed in 1170/1757) by Muḥammad Zayn b. Faqīh Jalāl al-Dīn al-Āshī414. This pioneering Malay commentary on Umm al-barāhīn415 had possibly been printed before Ahmad Patani’s effort, but only as an appendix to early printings of an important brief Arabic legal text of the canon, the Safīnat al-najā of Sālim b. Sumayr al-Ḥuḍrī (d. 1854)416, a Ḥaḍrami trader-scholar writing in Batavia417. In any case, just like Tarjumān al-mustafīd and the five other canonical works not written by Patani authors, it was later printed and distributed under the supervision of Ahmad Patani, who at some point also arranged editions of virtually all of the sample’s Patani books418. Note that only five of our sample’s twenty jawi books were printed (in either Southeast Asia or Bombay) before his activities in that sector from the early 1880s onwards419. Thus, his popularization of Patani literature via his publications and network of students cannot be overestimated. Indeed, only one of the sample’s books cannot be directly linked to his publishing ventures, namely the Tafsīr nūr al-iḥsān of Kedah-native Muḥammad Sa‛īd b. ‛Umar Qāḍī al-Qadaḥī (d. 1932). As a former student of the two eminent Pondok Bendang Daya shaykhs Wan Mustafa Patani and Abd al-Qadir Patani, he was hardly unacquainted with this network. His contribution is noteworthy 413

414 415 416 417 418 419

Rahimullah, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 324f.; Sugahara Yumi, “Towards Broadening the Audience: The Role of Authors and Publishers of Jawi Kitabs from the 19th to 20th Century in Southeast Asia”in id. (ed.), Comparative Study of Southeast Asian Kitabs. Papers of the Workshop Held at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan on October 23, 2011 (Tokyo: Institute of Asian Cultures, Center for Islamic Studies, Sophia University, 2012), p. 27. These editions were on sale in Southeast Asia by 1887 at the latest. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 496. It has to be noted, that the Tarjumān al-mustafīd (actually a Malay rendering of the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn, enriched with additional content from other tafsīr works) was prepared by Ahmad Patani and his associates in Mecca under the misleading title Tafsīr Bayḍāwī Melayu. Shaghir Abdullah, Al ʿAllamah Syeikh Ahmad, p. 51. Bruckmayr, “The šarḥ/ḥāshiya Phenomenon”, p. 31f. Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 450f. This identification is, however, not beyond doubt. Both editions only contain a title (Bidāyat al-hidāya li tarīq uṣūl al-dīn), but not the author’s name. L.W.C. van den Berg, Het Mohammedaansche godsdienstonderwijs op Java en Madoera en de daarbij gebruikte Arabische boeken (Batavia: Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, 1887), p. 9f.; Riddell, “Arab Migrants and Islamization”, p. 120. Cf. Shaghir Abdullah, Al ʿAllamah Syeikh Ahmad, p. 50-52; Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 477482. These were Daud’s Furūʿ al-masāʾil, Īḍāḥ al-bāb and al-Durr al-thamīn, al-Banjārī’s Sabīl al-muhtadīn and al-Palimbānī’s Hidāyat al-sālikīn. Cf. the list in Sugahara Yumi, “The Publication of Vernacular Islamic Textbooks and Islamization in Southeast Asia”, jsas, XXVII (2009), p. 25.

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for being only the second complete Malay tafsīr after the Tarjumān al-mustafīd. It was first printed in Egypt in 1930-1931420. As far as ranking these twenty works is concerned, only two of them were taught by as many as five of the teachers in question (Daud’s Sullam al-Mubtadiʾ and Ahmad’s Farīdat al-farāʾid), whereas three appear in four of the lists (Nik Mat Kecik’s Maṭlaʿ al-badrayn as well as Daud’s Munyat al-Muṣallī and al-Durr al-thamīn). Thus, although the canon was surprisingly uniform, there was a considerable degree of variation regarding the individual teacher’s specific teaching preferences. This was particularly easy to achieve in fiqh, as many of the nine works from that discipline were quite similar in scope – namely their overwhelming focus on fiqh al-ʿibādāt. After Islamic law (nine works), ʿaqīda/uṣūl al-dīn (five works) is the sample’s second most represented discipline. Intriguingly, each book is primarily based on al-Sanūsī’s Umm al-barāhīn, which indicates how Jawization contributed to and resulted in the absolute dominance of al-Sanūsī’s late Ashʿarism, which lasted until the advent of vehemently anti-Ashʿari Salafism in Southeast Asia. It also shows that Hj. Ismāʿīl’s effort to produce a Malay interlinear translation of the text (or copying an existing one) in late 19th century Chau Doc was in tune with wider contemporary developments. Sufism is represented by four works421, three of which are primarily based on al-Ghazālī, whose Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, Minhāj al-ʿābidīn, Bidāyat al-hidāya and Ayyuhā al-walad are likewise featured among the Arabic works taught. This brings us to another salient aspect of Jawization in the region as a whole and in the Kelantan-Patani-Cambodia sub-region specifically, namely the triumph of Ghazālian Sufism, at times harmonized with local Ibn ʿArabī-inspired waḥdat al-wujūd/martabat tujuh teachings, at the expense of the latter. Such figures as Tok Kenali stand out as major propagators of “pure Ghazālism”. Moreover, as became evident in connection with the fatwas, works such as alPalimbānī’s Sayr al-sālikīn were also read and relied upon for their ­elaborations

420 kun, I, p. 189-193; van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 254. The Tafsīr nūr al-iḥsān is still relied upon by major scholars in Cambodia, such as Mufti Sos Kamry and his former deputy Zakariyya Adam. Bajunid, “Place of Jawi”, p. 138. 421 Another work of the genre certainly also studied in Malay translation are Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh al-Iskandarī’s Ḥikam, which exist in the form of a full translation (i.e. the Hikam Melayu attributed to the 18th century Terengganu scholar Tok Pulau Manis) and an abridged one. Indeed, the Ḥikam were evidently highly popular, appearing five times (and thus among the most frequently used titles) in our sample. Yet it is, perhaps misleadingly, always implicitly or explicitly treated as an Arabic book.

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on Islamic ritual’s ẓāhir (exoteric) component and thus regarded as far more than merely works of mysticism422. Strikingly, Muḥammad Nafīs al-Banjārī’s al-Durr al-nafīs, the only work of the group to focus on the martabat tujuh rather than Ghazālian Sufism, and therefore comparably exceptional in character, was used elsewhere in a fashion detrimental to the homogenizing drive of Jawization. Thus, it has served as the scriptural basis for various strongly localized Islamic sects, commonly subsumed under the labels kebatinan (from ar. bāṭin/ml. batin – “hidden, inner”) or kepercayaan (lit. “belief”, as opposed to agama [“religion”]) in South Kalimantan423. In fact, the kis, in contrast to all kebatinan/kepercayaan movements and Indonesia’s wetu telu tradition424, achieved state recognition as a distinctive religious group. And so even certain texts that reflect Jawization’s victory have, in the form of Cham akhar thrah versions, become symbols for arguing a separate localized identity and thereby tools of anti-Jawization. Our sample’s two remaining books are the Qurʾānic commentaries Tarjumān al-mustafīd and Tafsīr nūr al-Iḥsān. Cabaton encountered the first one as a textbook used in Cambodia in the 1900s. This is yet another clear indication that the canon’s books were brought or sent to Cambodia without much delay, which half a century later was even more so the case. Although not part of our sample, the Malay Tafsīr al-Raḥmān by the Kelantanese scholars Hj. Muḥammad Nūr b. Hj. Ibrāhīm and ʿAbdullah b. Muḥammad al-Bāsmih was also quickly introduced into Cambodia and is (tellingly in its original jawi version) still locally used by products of the Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali

422

Similarly, the discussion in Muḥammad Nafīs al-Banjārī’s al-Durr al-nafīs is not strictly confined to Sufism. In this case it is, however, rather issues from the realm of ʿaqīda/uṣūl al-dīn which are reflected in the work, and particularly so in its first chapters dealing with proofs for the unity of acts and the unity of attributes. Thus, the harmony of Sufi concepts with Ashʿarism is, inter alia, elucidated by the inclusion of an anecdote about questions regarding certain statements of al-Ashʿarī posed to al-Shaʿrānī. The divine attributes are, however, intriguingly discussed along classical Ashʿari lines rather than following alSanūsī’s more elaborate scheme. al-Banjārī, al-Durr al-nafīs, p. 7, 10. 423 van Bruinessen, “Origins and Development of the Sufi Orders”, p. 18. 424 Harnish, Bridges to the Ancestors, p. 32-35. Kebatinan groups had vainly sought state recognition as religious communities between 1957 and 1973. One strategic measure in this struggle had been the deliberate shift from the label kebatinan to kepercayaan. Despite their failure to achieve their goals and decades of decline, many such groups still persist. Ricklefs, Islamisation and Its Opponents, p. 132-138, 383-392; Asfa Widiyanto, Ritual and Leadership in the Subud Brotherhood and the Tariqa Qadiriyya wa Naqshbandiyya (Berlin: EB-Verlag, 2012), p. 60f.

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network and their ­students425, as is the case with an important work from another of Tok Kenali’s most illustrious students, Muḥammad Idrīs al-Marbawī (1896-1989). Born in Mecca to parents from Perak and educated at Pondok Kenali and al-Azhar, he completed his famous Arabic-(jawi) Malay dictionary Qāmūs al-Marbawī in 1937426. Since then it has seen 24 print runs427 and is still regularly consulted by religious scholars and teachers in Cambodia428. Moreover al-Marbawī, who spent approximately sixty years in Cairo, also worked as a writer, translator and editor of jawi publications at the Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī publishing house429, with which also Ahmad Patani had a working relationship. In fact, his al-Maṭbaʿat al-Marbawī (est. 1927) was the city’s most successful Malay publisher before the Second World War430. 3.2 The Arabic Works of the Canon The sample’s Arabic works will mostly be discussed only in brief. In the category of Arabic grammar (ṣarf, naḥw), specifically championed by Tok Kenali and Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang, we encounter familiar texts with a long history of common usage throughout the Muslim world, primarily different commentaries to the Alfiyya of (Abū ʿAbd Allāh) Ibn Malik (d. 1274), such as the one by Ibn ʿAqīl, and the Ajurrūmiyya of (Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣanhājī) Ibn Ajurrūm (d. 1323), such as the so-called Asymawi of ʿAbd Allāh al-Ashmāwī431. The same goes for the sphere of fiqh. It appears that studies of Arabic furūʿ works have seen no substantial temporal changes or noteworthy regional variation from van den Berg’s 1886 survey in Java and Madura432 either to our 425

426 427 428 429 430 431 432

Additionally, one of two recent Cham (jawi) translations of the Qurʾān, which represents a joint effort of nine Cham scholars from Kampong Cham, Chrang Chamres, and Terengganu, relies on the Tafsīr al-Raḥmān as one of its six acknowledged sources (apart from four Arabic tafsīrs, also the rumi Malay Tafsir Qurʾan Per Kata by Ahmad Hatta was consulted). ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ismāʿīl (gen. ed.), Nūr al-ḍuḥā. Al-Qurʾān al-karīm wa tarjama maʿānīhi ilā l-lughat al-tshāmiyya (Kampong Cham: Samakhum Kulliyya Ḍuḥā Islām Kambūjīyā, 2012), p. [ivf.]. Hairul Nizam, Biodata Ringkas Syeikh Idris al-Marbawi (n.p.: n.p., n.d.); al-Qari, Kelantan Serambi Makkah, p. 28-30. Muhd. Najib Abdul Kadir et al., “Methodology of al-Marbawi in the Interpretation of Al Quran: A Study on Tafsir al-Marbawi Juzuk Alif Lam Mim”, anas, V (2011), p. 446. Personal obsvervation in a private home in Chrang Chamres, April 28th 2012; and in a surau in Phum Trea (Kampung Cham), May 15th 2012. Hairul Nizam, Biodata Ringkas, p. 4, 7-9. Mohammad Redzuan Othman, “Call of the Azhar: The Malay Students’ Sojourn in Cairo Before World War II”, Sejarah, III (1994-5), p. 109. Cf. van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 241f. van den Berg, Mohammedaansche godsdienstonderwijs. For further reports on the same books used in the Dutch Indies 1880s-1900s see Laffan, Makings of Indonesian Islam,

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­ elantan-Patani-Cambodia sample of the 1900s-1960s or to van Bruinessen’s K study of pesantren literature in Java and Sumatra of 1990433. Three clusters of commentaries (sharḥ), abridgements (mukhtaṣar) and glosses (ḥāshiya) built around three original works434, namely al-Rāfiʿī’s (d. 1226) Muḥarrar435, Abū Shujāʿ al-Iṣfahānī’s (d. 1197) Taqrīb436 and Zayn al-Dīn al-Malībārī’s (d. 1567) Qurrat al-ʿAyn437, were of prime importance. This selection hardly differs from that of the “stereotyped” law lectures observed by Snouck Hurgronje in Mecca during our network’s formative generation438. Apart from al-Anṣārī’s Taḥrīr tanqīh al-lubāb, which is not based upon one of these clusters’ foundational works439, we must mention the important place held in our network, and in Islamic education in the jawi ecumene in general, by the Safīnat al-najā of Sālim al-Ḥuḍrī, a highly esteemed Ḥaḍrami migrant. In contrast to all of the major furūʿ works enumerated so far, the Safīna is a short primer on the basics of Islamic ritual law. Thus, it was, despite being an Arabic text, comparably easy to approach (and memorize). Moreover, its rapid success on the local level440 was certainly enhanced by his actual residence in the lands of the ecumene. It was printed in Singapore in 1873 in p. 143, 202. 433 van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 244-250. 434 Cf. van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 245-248. Works of an additional fourth cluster studied in van den Berg’s time are virtually absent from van Bruinessen’s sample and entirely so from ours. van den Berg, Mohammedaansche godsdienstonderwijs, p. 9-16. 435 gal, I, p. 393. An example in our sample is Zakarīyā al-Anṣārī’s (d. 1520) Fatḥ al-Wahhāb (gal, I, p. 396 & si, p. 682), which was taught by Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang and Tok Guru Dala. Brown lists al-Anṣārī, together with his fellow Shāfiʿis Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 1449) and Ibn Ḥajar al-Haythamī (d. 1597), as the three “major formulators of the late Sunni tradition”. Brown, Canonization of al-Bukhārī, p. 254. 436 gal, I, p. 492 & si, p. 676f. Cases in point in our sample are Ibn Qāsim al-Ghazzī’s (d. 1512) Fatḥ al-Qarīb and Khaṭīb al-Sharbīnī’s Iqnāʾ, both of which were taught by Tok Kenali, Tok Seridik and Tok Guru Dala. 437 From this cluster, the author’s own revised version of the work, Fatḥ al-muʿīn, was prominently represented, being taught by Tok Seridik, Hj. Muhammad Saleh Kedah and Tok Guru Dala. Of course, also Sayyid Bakrī’s Iʿānat al-ṭālibīn, appearing in the sample only in connection with Hj. Muhammad Saleh Kedah, but evidently in wider use in the network, belongs to this cluster. Ahmad Patani not only referred to it in some of his fatwas, but he was also heavily involved in its first 1300/1883 printing in Cairo, which was intriguingly effected by Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī’s Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya. Its fourth volume has been noted to include verses in praise of the author by Ahmad Patani. Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka in the Latter Part, p. 204f., 306. 438 Ibid., p. 203-205. 439 It was taught by Tok Kenali, Tok Seridik and Tok Dala, and also features in van Bruinessen’s survey (“Kitab Kuning”, p. 250). 440 Laffan, Makings of Indonesian Islam, p. 47f.

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Arabic only and again in 1878 with a Malay interlinear translation441. By the 1880s it was firmly established in local religious education in Java and Madura (and assumingly also in the rest of the ecumene)442. Although in our sample only Tok Kenali taught this work, there are clear indications that it was widely used in the Patani-Kelantan network. Apart from the fact that the latter was evidently our sample’s most influential scholar, we also know that the Safīna was taught in the early 20th century at places of learning that concentrated on teaching introductory fiqh texts, such as Pondok Kampung Teluk Lur in Yala443. More significantly, during the 1930s Cambodia’s highest Islamic authority, the changvang, invoked it as a reference work in disputes over religious practice (see below). In the field of ʿaqīda/uṣūl al-dīn, the dominant place of Umm al-barāhīn and texts derived from it, already seen among the jawi books in this sphere, is mirrored among the Arabic works. Indeed, all texts of this category are part of the large sharḥ/ḥāshiya cluster that formed around al-Sanūsī’s original matn444, which was studied in its own right. These are the commentaries (or rather glosses on earlier self-commentaries of al-Sanūsī) of Muḥammad al-Dasūqī (d. 1815) and Ibrāhīm al-Bājurī (d. 1861), as well as the Kifāyat al-ʿawwām by the latter’s teacher Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Faḍḍālī (d. 1821), which van Bruinessen describes as at least “partially based on the Sanusi” (i.e. Umm albarāhīn)445. Ibrāhīm al-Laqānī’s (d. 1631) well-known versified creed, Jawharat al-tawḥīd, at times studied with a commentary446, is also strongly indebted to Umm al-barāhīn. Finally, a brief look into the sample’s Arabic tafsīr books is in order. As with the state of affairs in other parts of the jawi ecumene, the Jalālayn was often the only work of that genre used for teaching. Five of our sample’s teachers taught it. Apart from that, Tok Kenali taught Saʿīd b. ʿUmar al-Azharī al-Jamal’s (d. 1790) ḥāshiya to it, entitled al-Futūḥāt al-ilāhiyya and first printed at Bulāq in 1275/1858447 (listed as Tafsir Jamal). The Jalālayn’s dominant role can be seen as even stronger if one considers that the Tarjumān al-mustafīd was 441 gal, siI, p. 812. 442 van den Berg, Mohammedaansche godsdienstonderwijs, p. 9f. A hundred years later, van Bruinessen (“Kitab Kuning”, p. 248 n. 41) encountered one Madurese and two Javanese interlinear translations of the text. It was also the most widely used book of fiqh in his sample after Fatḥ al-Muʿīn and Fatḥ al-Qarīb. Ibid., p. 264. 443 Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 388. 444 gal, II, p. 250f. & siI, p. 353-355; Bruckmayr, “The šarḥ/ḥāshiya Phenomenon”, p. 29f. 445 van Bruinessen “Kitab Kuning”, p. 252. The same works are all also featuring prominently in his survey. Cf. ibid., p. 251f. 446 Taught by Tok Kenali and Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang respectively. 447 gal, II, p. 145.

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o­ verwhelmingly based on this text and that over two thirds of those materials in al-Qadaḥī’s Tafsīr nūr al-Iḥsān, which can be traced back to Arabic tafsīrs, are derived from either the original work or al-Jamal’s gloss448. But despite its predominant position, the Jalālayn and its glosses are not the only Arabic Qurʾānic commentaries in our sample. In fact, given its well-established place in the history of Southeast Asian Islam and the above-mentioned translation project for the text in Kelantan, Tok Kenali also used the Tafsīr alKhāzin. We also find a “Tafsir Annasafi”, i.e. Abū l-Barakāt al-Nasafī’s (d. 1310) Madārik al-tanzīl, among the books taught by Hj. Ali Pulau Pisang at the Madrasah al-Muhammadiah. Tellingly, a 1328/1910 edition of al-Khāzin’s tafsīr, complete with al-Nasafī’s Madārik al-tanzīl printed in the margins, was financed by Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī and his sons449, the proprietors of the Cairene printing press by the same name that both employed Tok Kenali’s illustrious student al-Marbawī and produced on a major scale for, as well as distributed extensively among, the jawi ecumene. Once again it appears that the availability and distribution of printed texts in the region was crucial to determining which texts would be taught and studied. Further support for this assumption comes from the field of hadith. Completely absent from van den Berg’s survey and not well represented in our sample either, the study and teaching of this literature has evidently remained of secondary importance to the agents of Jawization in Cambodia. In our sample, only Hj. Muhammad Saleh Kedah and the group of kaum tua scholars in Kampong Cham of the late 1950s-1960s taught hadith collections. Both reportedly relied upon Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Jawāhir al-Bukhārī, and on al-Nawāwī’s Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn, respectively. Whereas the same cannot be said of the Ṣaḥīḥ, compelling evidence again points to the role played by the Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī and Sons Press in terms of influencing teaching preferences in the jawi ecumene. The Jawāhir al-Bukhārī, a selection of 700 traditions from the latter’s collection by Muṣṭafā Muḥammad ʿUmāra, was first published by this outlet in 1922, whereas ʿĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī provided for the 1956 publication of Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn450.

448 Mohd Sholeh Sheh Yusuff & Mohd Nizam Sahad, “Tafsir Nur Al-Ihsan by Syeikh Muhammad Sa⁠ʾid: An Intertextual Reading”, IJhsS, III, 10 (2013), p. 168f. 449 ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Baghdādī al-Khāzin, Tafsīr al-Khāzin al-musammā lubāb al-ta⁠ʾwīl fī maʿānī al-tanzīl wa bi hāmishihi tafsīr al-nasafī al-musammā madārik al-tanzīl wa ḥaqāʾiq al-ta⁠ʾwīl (Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyat al-Kubrā, 1328/1910), IV, p. 1. 450 Muṣṭafā Muḥammad ʿUmāra, Jawāhir al-Bukhārī (Maṭbaʻat Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī waAwlāduhu, 1922); Muḥyī al-Dīn Yaḥyā al-Nawāwī, Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn min kalām sayyid almursalīn (Cairo: ʻĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, [1956]).

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At this point, some observations are in order to re-connect the findings of our sample to religious change on the ground and the process of Jawization in Cambodia. Firstly, there is good reason to assume that Cambodian scholars faithfully reproduced in their home country the curricula relied upon in Patani and Kelantan, as well as by exponents of the network teaching in Mecca and Kedah, perhaps with an even greater focus on the canon’s jawi materials. This is confirmed by the works taught by our sample’s Cambodian exponents from Battambang and Kampong Cham, which are in full accord with the selections made by their Malay counterparts. It must further be noted in this respect that Norea (Battambang) and Amphil (Kampong Cham) are quite distant from each other and that the ethnic make-up of the two sample communities is also significantly different, i.e. predominantly Chvea in Norea and predominantly Cham in Amphil. This again seems to indicate the lack of any notable differences in the course of Jawization among those local communities more strongly exposed and positively responding to it, whether Cham, Chvea or mixed. Apart from our sample’s Cambodian section, there are other indicators for the reception and direct influence of the canon’s works on scholarly discourse and religious practice among the local Muslims. In this regard, reference has been made to the early local scholarly engagement with al-Sanūsī’s Umm albarāhīn as well as to explicit invocations of Sayr al-sālikīn, Sabīl al-muhtadīn and Bughyat al-mustarshidīn in Cambodian fatwa requests. Likewise, the discussion of the divine attributes and their proper renderings into Malay and Cham in al-Fatāwā al-Faṭāniyya was certainly a direct consequence of the study and teaching of texts such as Tuan Minal’s ʿAqīdat al-nājīn or Ahmad Patani’s Farīdat al-farāʾid. Intriguingly, in this case friction was probably caused by the fact that sifat dua puluh texts were part of local Islam’s pre-Jawization heritage and scholarly culture as well. A thorough engagement with the canon’s books supervised by the network’s major figures is also testified to in an anecdote about Ahmad Patani’s and Tok Kenali’s Cambodian student Hj. Abdul Malik. Reportedly the latter figure, who by then was teaching at a Phnom Penh mosque, and his son had gone to Kota Bharu in 1927 to ask Tok Kenali to teach them two specific works: Ahmad Patani’s Farīdat al-farāʾid and Daud Patani’s Munyat al-muṣallī451. Religious practice was certainly affected by the teachings contained in the canon’s books, which were presumably also often embodied by the individuals teaching them. All of the direct and indirect references to individual books in the fatwa requests were connected to particular ways of acting in the religious sphere, inter alia regarding the qibla, making the Prophet present in prayer, the 451

al-Ahmadi, Tokoh dan Pokok, p. 66.

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proper rendering of specific Arabic terms and even the question of language choice in religious instruction and ritual. With the prominent place accorded to works specifying the details of fiqh al-ʿibādāt, it should come as no surprise that potentially disruptive questions of religious ritual, such as the correct qibla, rose to the forefront of scholarly discussions and then intra-religious strife. As a result, more kitab jawi, such as Mat Sales’ Pedoman Bahagia and Abu Talep’s Mawʿiẓat al-mujtahidīn, were produced locally to address and clarify these matters according to the author’s viewpoint, for wider audiences452. In this respect, Daud Patani’s small but very specific handbooks on particular aspects of Islamic ritual, such as Īḍāḥ al-bāb and Munyat al-muṣallī, were of considerable relevance in heightening the sensibilities for supposedly proper ritual performance throughout the jawi ecumene, from Patani to the Batak highlands and from Cape Town to Cambodia. Thus Bradley has suggested, with reference to Daud’s manuals such as Īḍāḥ al-bāb, that “[t]he texts no doubt were a continued part of Islamic reform in the region”453. But this impetus was not always appreciated and at times even generated intra-community strife over correct practice. In Cambodia, for example, the wide dissemination of Īḍāḥ al-bāb (and similar texts) most probably contributed prominently, and indeed eponymously, to the emergence of trimeu/kobuol factionalism. Along the same lines, this particular case of intra-community dispute only arose due to the unprecedented spread of jawi education and the concomitant introduction of a jawi canon of Islamic literature, both necessarily preceded and subsequently boosted by the growing conviction among ever-increasing parts of the community that contemporary jawi ways were (at least somewhat) worthy of emulation. 4

Conclusion

The agents, vehicles and avenues of Jawization in Cambodia and the Delta were manifold and variegated during the critical period between the late 19th century and the 1960s. Numerous Malay Islamic scholars and preachers, 452

453

Elsewhere in the ecumene not only the determination of the qibla but also the second major topic tackled by Mat Sales in his work, i.e. the calculation of the prayer times, has been of equally contentious nature, therefore similarly lending itself as a signifier for factional belonging. Thus, Minangkabau’s Naqshbandiyya-Khālidiyya partisans were not only locally known as kaum muda and kaum hajji, but also as kaum masa dulu (“people of the earlier time”), due to their pronounced habit of performing the ṣubḥ prayer earlier than the local Shaṭṭari establishment. Kraus, Zwischen Reform und Rebellion, p. 84f. Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 326.

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primarily from Kelantan and Patani, came to Cambodia to teach, either temporarily or permanently, in or near urban centers as well as in the villages of Kampong Cham, Kendal, Kampot and Chau Doc. More Cambodian Muslims were seeking religious knowledge abroad by joining Mecca’s jawi teaching circles or the al-Azhar’s riwāq al-jāwa (i.e. the residential unit assigned to the ecumene’s students)454 and, in far greater numbers, attending the pondoks, suraus, madrasas and mosques of Kelantan, Patani and other places on the Malay Peninsula. Upon their return, they were instrumental in spreading contemporary jawi styles of religious education and ways of religious practice among communities already exposed to Jawizaton and to new frontiers, such as inner Thbaung Khmum. Although this process had begun to manifest itself before the rise of figures such as Ahmad Patani, Hj. Awang and Tok Kenali, the main Malay anchors in a veritable network of Jawization that strongly influenced Cambodian Islam during and far beyond their own lifetimes, their contributions, when combined with the efforts of their most active local followers and counterparts as teachers, were decisive. Main agents of Jawization among the locals were, as far as can be judged from the meagre sources available, Hj. Osman, Hj. Haroun and his son Mat Sales (all from Phum Trea), perhaps the most important figure for Jawization’s spread in Kampong Cham, Abu Talep of Chroy Metrey, Mat Sales of Phnom Penh and Mat Zayn of Norea (Battambang). As the presented fatwas show, Cambodian Muslims remained in direct contact with major Malay scholars, who may or may not have been their former teachers, to solicit legal opinions and clarifications on doctrine, ritual and social practice. In this regard, jawi and, to a lesser degree, Arabic literature employed in the network and its outgrowths played a major role. Indeed, our notion of Jawization rests to a considerable degree on the use of a specific language and script, both referred to as jawi. This (jawi) literature, characterized by a high degree of standardization despite the rather large number of works, formed a canon of books for common religious instruction that exhibited no noticeable major internal differences between Patani, Kelantan, Kedah or Cambodia. Clearly dominated by Patani authors of the 19th and 20th century, it also featured the works of foundational influences of trans-Southeast Asian Jawization, such as al-Banjārī and al-Palimbānī. The Ahmad Patani-Hj. Awang-Tok Kenali network of institutions and enterprises – most prominently Pondok/Surau Hj. Awang in Kota Bharu, the mui of Kelantan with its Madrasah al-Muhammadiah as the main educational institution, Pengasuh as its press outlet and the Meshuarat Ulama as fatwa-issuing 454 Dodge, Al-Azhar, p. 202, 209.

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body, and Mecca’s al-Maṭbaʿat al-Mīriyyat al-Kāʾina/Maṭbaʿat al-Tarraqī alMājidiyyat al-ʿUthmāniyya under the direction of Ahmad Patani and his associates – were inextricably linked to the process of Jawization in Cambodia. This last point brings us to a major technological factor behind Jawization in Southeast Asia as a whole and in Cambodia specifically: Printed books, besides steamships and railways (the latter clearly of lesser importance in Cambodia), played a major part, particularly in the unprecedented penetration of jawi books into ever new urban and rural constituencies. As a result, the canon of religious instruction and scholarly references in Kelantan, Patani and Cambodia rapidly replaced manuscripts with printed books, even though the Patani scholars’ early works had initially still reached Southeast Asia as hand-written copies. Nevertheless, written notes and, as far as the modest numbers of Cham jawi books were concerned, hand-written books remained important to students and teachers alike. Although Ahmad Patani’s role in the canon’s emergence has been emphasized, also other publishers were very active in producing and distributing works found in our sample. Apart from the various publishers in Singapore, which printed the region’s earliest editions of works of Daud Patani, Muḥammad Arshad al-Banjārī and al-Palimbānī, Penang’s Maṭbaʿa Dār al-Maʿārif must be mentioned. Founded by a Patani resident of Ḥaḍrami origin in 1954 not long after the closing of Singapore’s Sulaiman Marʿi (also Mariʾe) Press, which had been publishing books by 19th century Patani authors for many years455, it became a prime regional outlet for editions of Daud Patani’s works456. In terms of our research, the longest-running publisher is the Patani Press, which, since its founding in 1938, has specialized in publishing the works of later Patani writers457. Nowadays, virtually this entire jawi canon, including the works of the Banjārīs and perhaps also of al-Palimbānī, is on sale in Thailand and Malaysia as editions of the Patani-based Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī. Its owner Khālid Shaykh Sālim al-Halābī is of Ḥaḍrami descent458, yet another testimony to Arab migrants’ contribution to Jawization, both in terms of writing Arabic and jawi religious literature as well as publishing the works of major jawi authors. Cairo was also instrumental in supplying books for teachers and students in Patani, Kelantan and Cambodia, as well as original editions for the local printing presses of Penang and Patani. Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī and his son ʿĪsā, who printed editions of many of our sample’s Arabic works, also enlisted the 455 456 457 458

Madmarn, Pondok and Madrasah, p. 53. Matheson & Hooker, “Jawi Literature”, p. 54. Ibid., p. 53; Madmarn, Pondok and Madrasah, p. 54. Ibid.

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services of highly respected jawi scholars who had a major influence on Cambodia’s Muslim community, such as Ahmad Patani and al-Marbawī. Strikingly, the editions of Patani (and other) books of the canon by Maṭbaʿa Dār al-Maʿārif in Penang were mainly based on earlier Middle Eastern printings of the same texts published by the Ḥalabīs rather than by Ahmad Patani’s al-Maṭbaʿat alMīriyyat al-Kāʾina. Indeed, Matheson and Hooker have noted that most of al-Maʿārif’s publications in the field were direct reprints of works put out by Cairo’s Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya. As more recent reprints of these early Cairene editions are now freely available through Patani’s Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, it has become clear that Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya was also an organ of the Ḥalabīs459. Even though Bradley doubts that this latter press made significant contributions to jawi printing before the First World War460, let alone during Ahmad Patani’s lifetime, its 1300/1883 edition of Sayyid Bakrī’s Iʿānat al-ṭālibīn (with an Arabic poem by the former inserted into the text461), shows that both parties did have a working relationship, one which would naturally result in jawi publications. Accordingly, the Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī’s reproduction of what was certainly the 1900 edition of Ṣabīl al-muhtadīn by Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya, credited to ʿĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, contains a Malay colophon and Arabic verses by Ahmad Patani462. Later jawi publications of the printing press were probably (but not necessarily) based on the al-Maṭbaʿat al-Mīriyyat al-Kāʾina editions. 459 Cf. (inter alia) Arshad al-Banjārī, Sabīl al-muhtadīn, II, p. 269; Dāʼūd b. ʿAbd Allāh alFaṭānī, Furūʿ al-Masāʾil (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n. d.), II, p. 389; Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn al-Faṭānī, ʿAqīdat al-nājīn, p. 140 (all with reference to ʿĪsā in connection with the Dār Iḥyāʾ, whereas in other titles mention is only made of ʿĪsā as the original publisher without a press name). Yet, Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī also reprints original editions prepared by Maṭbaʻat Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-Awlāduhu. Cf. (inter alia) [ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd alMubīn al-Faṭānī], Tanbīh al-ghāfilīn (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n.d.), p. 35. 460 Bradley, Social Dynamics, p. 489f. 461 Sayyid Bakrī b. Muḥammad Shaṭṭāʾ al-Dimyāṭī, Iʿānat al-Ṭālibīn ʿalā Ḥall Alfāẓ Fatḥ alMuʿīn (Cairo: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya, 1300/1883), IV, p. 188f. 462 Arshad al-Banjārī, Sabīl al-muhtadīn, II, p. 268.

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The French Role in Jawization and Factionalism in Cambodian Islam This chapter will elucidate the French colonial administration’s role in spreading Jawization, and the accompanying factionalism, in Cambodia. We will argue that these were propelled within Cambodian Islam by (1) the stronger degree of hierarchization and standardization of the religious administration and religious education (and therefore partly also of religious authority as such), introduced by the French for the Muslim community and for Khmer Buddhism along similar lines, and (2) the different local as well as extra-local mechanisms and conditions discussed above. This growing hierarchization could only unfold its potential for Jawization inter alia via administrative policies that were often informed by specific French assumptions regarding Islam as a religion and its practices. In terms of the first point, the examinations designed to officially accredit and recognize Islamic religious teachers and their schools excluded virtually all representatives of the not-so-Jawified component of Cambodian Islam, let alone any anti-jawi kobuol advocate. Contrarily, the path to Muslim dignitary positions, traditionally bound to considerations of valorizing and acquiring the political loyalty of particular segments of the Muslim community distributed in specific localities, was initially not automatically blocked for members of these two latter goups. Yet, despite the fact that certain kobuol dignitaries and even Au Russey’s oknha khnour were still office-holders in the 1930s, the decline of the former had by then obviously started and would prove irreversible. Whereas the oknha khnours, as heads of a comparably insulated community, would apparently remain largely undisturbed by local competition to their authority, this was not the case with kobuol mosque leaders in divided or diversified communities. By the 1900s the official leadership in Phnom Penh was seemingly already thoroughly trimeu. Not least due to its subservience to French and royal political demands, it, however, prioritized the maintenance of order over factional loyalties. Thus, cases of internal conflict were not necessarily decided in the trimeu’s favor. Nevertheless, a certain bias towards the latter can be taken for granted. The same can be said of the French authorities, despite their oft-expressed conviction that it would be preferable not to intervene in exclusively religious disputes. Moreover, against the background of the

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_009

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accelerating process of Jawization, the power and authority of its discontents faced a gradual decline. French ethnographic studies of Cambodian Muslims, as well as the interference in traditional Islamic religious education partly informed by them, only furthered this process. 1

The French Privileging of the jawi Element in Islamic Education

One striking feature of the French administration’s policies, its obvious privileging of the jawi element in Islamic education, can be seen in the above-mentioned process introduced to accredit and register officially recognized religious teachers. This scheme clearly views proficiency in Malay language and jawi script as a necessary precondition for exercising this function. Although the underlying reasons for this conviction are not so clear, the opinions of colonial administrator-scholars appear to have been important. Administrator-scholars (e.g. Moura and Aymonier) and professional scholars (e.g. Cabaton and Ner), who shared a keen interest in Cambodian Muslims, consistently opined that only Malay and Arabic were relevant for Islamic education, as soon as it came down to the usage of written materials. We can reasonably assume that their opinions also influenced the decision-making process as regards the functioning of “foreign” private schools. Such assumptions are evident in discussions of the overall legal status of Cambodian Muslims, Chams as well as “Malays” (i.e. Chvea)1. A royal ordinance of 1897 had, perhaps in misled anticipatory obedience to the French and supported by the head of the colonial judiciary service, suddenly ruled that local Chams and Malays were to be treated as foreigners and thus subject only to French (and not Cambodian) jurisdiction2. This ruling was revoked in 1904 upon the intervention of the Inspector of the Civil Services, Dr. Hahn, acting on the judiciary’s behalf, when “the Muslims, Chams or Malays, were [legally] reintegrated into the Cambodian community after a period of indecision during which their status was ill-defined”3. Interestingly, the­ 1 On this issue see specifically Nicolas Weber, “Les Cam et les Malais du Cambodge et de Cochinchine vus par les archives coloniales (1859-1954)”, Archipel, LXXXV (2013), p. 125-129. 2 Still in 1894 Leclère had noted that Chams and Malays were generally regarded, or in any case treated, as indigenous peoples and were therefore subject to the head tax. Adhémard Leclère, Recherches sur le droit public des Cambodgiens (Paris: A. Challamel, 1894), p. 269. 3 Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 195. Within the Indochinese dominions of the French (including Cambodia), the status of the Chams (and other minority groups) continued to be subject to debate and changing legal practice until the 1920s. M.B. Hooker, A Concise Legal History of South-East Asia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), p. 180f.

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specific background to this ruling shows how colonial scholarly knowledge production was deployed in adjudication and policy making. This restoration was apparently the result of a lawsuit filed by three Muslim residents of Chroy Changvar, described alternately as malais or malais chams and including a religious functionary (Katep [khaṭīb] Mat), against the local balat (mayor). The opinion of Dr. Hahn was eventually solicited, which necessarily raised the question of the litigants’ proper legal status. More importantly for our present concern, the court also consulted various academic works, among them contributions to befeo, the exploration reports of Doudart de Lagrée and Francis Garnier, Aymonier’s Le Cambodge, Cabaton’s “[Nouvelles r] echerches sur les Chams” and a report by Louis Finot, the founding director of the École Française de l’Extrême-Orient (established in 1901 in Saigon), addressed to the Governor General in 1900 that clarifies the regions of origin and settlement of Malays and Chams4. The final judgement again referred to Dr. Hahn, stating that these Malays had the same rights and obligations as other Cambodians, from whom they differed only in religious orientation. It also emphasized that, apart from a small fraction of them considered “foreign Asiatics”, none had been born outside of the country. Following a report by the résident supérieur Henri de Lamothe (d. 1926) to the Governor General of Indochina (dated May 23rd 1904), a notification was issued that Chams were assimilated foreign Asiatics with equal status before the law and that this was to be turned into an official decree5. And yet, at least with respect to French policies regarding Islamic education, “Malay” remained the most widely used label for Cambodian Muslims. Only in 1937, and most probably after scholarly input, did a circular of the French Resident Léon Thibaudeau (in office 1936-1941) stipulate that “the inhabitants of Cambodia designated with the name ʿMalays’ are in reality Chams, who have come to establish themselves in Cambodia after the conquest of their land”, and were therefore to be designated as such in official documents6. The problem of the Chams, Chvea and Malays’ legal status had, prior to the 1904 decree, surfaced in another case involving five “Malays” from Kampong 4 Even though efeo had not yet been founded at the time of this report, Finot’s position as its director was duly acknowledged at court. Highly reflective of the often politically combative nature of colonial knowledge production, Finot had highlighted the dangers of neglect of scholarship in French Indochina by reference to advances in the field by rival colonial empires in his inaugural address. Strikingly, the two examples he provided were the first translation of a Khmer inscription as completed by a Dutchman and the first study of Cham grammar as produced by a German scholar. Edwards, Cambodge, p. 36. 5 anc-rsc 12722. 6 “Circulaire du rsc Thibaudeau à Résident Maires de Phnom Penh et Battambang, Résidents, Chefs de Provinces, Chefs services locaux”, May 25th 1937, anc-rsc 35468.

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Tralach district charged with murder7. Alerting us once more to the French authorities’ careless application of “Malay” and “Cham”, four persons, one of whom was the mesrok (district chief) of Chhouk Sar, identified themselves as Cham. The last one, however, claimed upon investigation that he was a 33-year old “naturalized Malay”. Intriguingly, he not only bore the name Set Mat, a ­reminder of Moura’s assertion during the 1880s that the (self-proclaimed) descendants of Malay sultans held the hereditary set title in Cambodia, but was also noted to be “professor in a Malay school”. Although it is unclear whether he actually was a Malay scholar who had settled down as religious teacher or was merely emphasizing his family’s proclaimed Malay descent (i.e. his Chvea-ness), the French documentation nevertheless points out a crucial aspect of colonial convention regarding our present subject of enquiry: Protectorate authorities primarily and routinely regarded Islamic schools in Cambodia as “Malay” ones, thus implicitly giving official recognition to, and inadvertently aiding, Jawization. This attitude contributed to this process’ increased momentum, as regulations for private schools were drafted in accord with a succession of decrees on the matter, issued from 1924 (or even 19118) onwards and culminating in the guidelines for examining and certifying Islamic teachers under the rubric of “Chinese, Malay or Burmese personnel of primary or elementary Chinese, Malay or Burmese private schools of Cambodia” in 19339. As per this decree, “two exams of capability reserved for Chinese, Malay and Burmese with the intention to exercise the functions of direction or teaching in respective private schools” were to be held annually in Phnom Penh, with the option for a second round of examinations if necessary. The examinations commission, whose members were to be nominated by the French Resident, had to feature, somewhat unrealistically, “at least two French professors or French or indigenous notables characterized by knowledge of each of the Chinese dialects and Malay as well as Burmese languages”. In their absence, individual notables recognized for their knowledge of these languages could also be appointed10. The examinations were to consist of standardized written and oral exams. The crucial point as regards Jawization was that the candidates had to produce 7 8 9 10

anc-rsc 12722. One relevant document contains a reference to a related decree of October 20th 1911. anc-rsc 8592. anc-rsc 8787 (original decree); 8465 (printed and edited version used for distribution to concerned government bodies). In the following references will be to the pagination of the latter. anc-rsc 8465, “Arrête”, p. 1f.

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a text in Chinese, Malay or Burmese characters (composition d’ecriture d’après un modèle en caractères chinois, malaise ou birmans)11. Clearly, “Malay characters” meant the jawi script. Similarly, the mandatory reading and explanation of a passage, which formed part of the oral exam12, must have concerned a jawi text. In addition, Muslim candidates had to submit inter alia a recommendation and guarantee of moral conduct (cautionnement moral et garantie) by the “Chef malais” (i.e. the changvang as leader of the Muslim community) to the local directorates of education before sitting for the exam13. Other regulations were related to issues of sanitation and the minimum age of private school teachers and directors. Existing schools that had shown a basic willingness to comply with an earlier decree issued in 1930 were given six months to conform14. Although it is neither sufficiently clear from the arrête of 1933 that Cham schools, and therefore Islamic schools in general, are subsumed under “Malay private schools”, nor that references to “Malay characters” necessarily denote the jawi script, circumstantial evidence from other French documents strongly support both hypotheses. A selection of suggestive references encountered in archival sources shall suffice to elucidate this point. Firstly, the sources depict Jawization’s local agents as routinely conflating Malay and Islamic schools, which is easily understandable, given their full espousal of jawi Malay as religious supra-language and language of religious instruction. Thus, a letter (dated October 17th 1935) by the Chroy Changvar-born Islamic scholar Katoeu-Ya (Yahya b. Abd al-Qadir), an early holder of the now required certificate of capability, laments the revocation of his license to establish a school in Kampong Treas (Kampong Cham) for political reasons. After stating that he and his colleagues regretted the ban on his “teaching of the Malay language”, he asserted that “his instruction is in no way concerned with questions of a political nature that could disturb public order, because it always follows the rules of the Muhammadan religion, the Qurʾān, a book which taught nothing but the virtues and morals of man”15.

11 12 13

14 15

Ibid., p. 3. Ibid. Ibid., p. 5. As can be gleaned from items of the documentation process, at least in Kampong Cham also the provincial “chief of the Malays” (i.e. the oknha borates changvang) was entitled to issue such certificates. anc-rsc 8772. Along the same lines candidates for Buddhist ordination needed to provide the same kind of document, as issued by their village chief. Forest, “Buddhism and Reform”, p. 27. anc-rsc 8465, “Arrête”, p. 6. anc-rsc 8772.

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Secondly, the Cham language was completely absent from French considerations regarding private schooling for local non-Khmers. Even the 1930 decree had made no provisions for it. In contrast, the Governor General’s July 1932 recommendation, which obviously influenced the 1933 regulations, stated that the candidate should be asked to produce “calligraphic writing after a Chinese, Burmese or Malay model” during the future exams16. Certainly, the jawi script was meant here. The French officials’ confusion is clear in their mistaken assumption that the local multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Muslim community was actually a single unified one, and in their inconsistent labelling of its members as either Chams or Malays. This is also evident in a letter from the civil service administrator of the Resident in Kampong Cham to the local director of education, which notes that the province’s two major “Malay” schools “at Kompong-Trea and at Krauchmar, are directed by Malay scholars, who are instructing the children to read and write Tamil, the national language of the Chams of Southern Indochina and Malaysia”17. Even though Tamil Muslims were active in Phnom Penh’s Muslim community, we can rest assured that only jawi Malay was being taught at the concerned schools. Although this particular mislabeling was most probably an isolated incident, references to the profession of “teacher of jawi script” (maître/professeur des characters malaises) – undoubtedly based upon prevailing usage within the community – consistently occur in the documentary sources after the 1933 regulations were passed18, even for those individuals explicitly noted as being of “Cham nationality”19. But perhaps the strongest indicator of the French administration’s understanding of jawi as the script of Cambodian Muslims is the fact that other documents from the first half of the 1930s refer to demonstrated proficiency in “Cham characters” in connection with the certificates issued to 16 17

18 19

“Circulaire de Gouverneur Général”, July 7th 1932, anc-rsc 27006. “Résidence de Kompong-Cham. LʾAdministrateur des Services civils Résident de France à Monsieur le Chef local du Service local du Service de l’Enseignement au Cambodge”, September 17th 1931, anc-rsc 27006. As this must refer to the two large schools of Hj. Osman and Hj. Haroun/Mat Sales in Phum Trea, the geographical information should assumingly be read as “Kampong Trea in Krauchhmar” instead. Emphases mine. A case in point is Moth Hj. Taos/Touos, a scholar educated educated in Patani and Mecca, whose outstanding language proficiency is emphasized by the administration. anc-rsc 2619 & 8592 (documents are dating to 1933-1937). When Talos Mat of Koh Sautin in Kampong Cham asked for an official permission to move his school from one village to another within the srok in 1937, he described himself as such. This did, however, not keep the French officials taking care of the matter from calling him a Malay. The local witnesses on his acte de notoriété as well as the applicant himself signed in jawi. anc-rsc 8771.

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successful candidates20. Similarly, French authorities described a fatwa written in jawi Malay and sent to the changvang by an Islamic scholar from Patani as “a letter in Cham script”21. However, not all Islamic schools fell under the guidelines for Malay primary and elementary schools. For example, smaller village Qurʾānic schools initially were labeled as familial schools and exempted from official monitoring. Thus, a report from Kampong Cham clarified that in 1931 the province had no Malay private school proper, for two types of “small Malay schools” were found to be prevalent. The first type, strictly religious in character and located near the local mosque, featured a “religious” who taught the “young Malays” their Arabic prayers. As they were not taught how to write, these establishments were regarded as “not schools in the proper sense of the word” and thus should be left alone. The second type was thought to consist of the above-mentioned “Tamil” schools, each attended by 30-40 “Malay” students who wanted to learn how to read and write “Tamil” (i.e. jawi). Strikingly, the French official drafting the report expected that any future intervention into the workings of these two schools would be unlikely to yield the desired results. Viewing the “Malay” teachers as strongly endowed with the “independent character of that race”, he predicted that they would rather refrain from teaching than comply with regulations of which they might disapprove. The report closes with an appeal to create “Tamil schools in order to instruct the Malay element [i.e. in a fashion deemed as adequate for the context of Protectorate Cambodia], which totally ignores written Cambodian [i.e. Khmer] and will continue to do so under the pretext of religion”22. This particular correspondence is of interest for several reasons. Firstly, it shows that also non-specialist French observers recognized that jawi Malay, instead of Khmer and Arabic, was the most important written language for 20 21 22

“Rapport” (on “Malay” schools in Chroy Changvar), October 4th 1934, anc-rsc 8465. anc-rsc 35825 (dated May 3rd 1932). “Résidence de Kompong-Cham”, September 17th 1931, anc-rsc 27006. Also regarding colonial medicine and hygiene the Muslims of Kampong Cham appeared to be particularly uncooperative. In the early 20th century French doctors reported the continued reliance on meanwhile forbidden traditional Cham-Malay methods of smallpox variolation, as offered by their own doctors, “to whom they are very attached”, at the expense of French vaccination programs. In regions with a much lower Cham/Chvea presence, such as Takeo, Khmer and Muslim populations both exhibited greater receptivity towards colonial medicine than the local Vietnamese and Chinese. Jan Ovesen & Ing-Britt Trankell, Cambodians and their Doctors. A Medical Anthropology of Colonial and Post-Colonial Cambodia (Copenhagen: nias Press, 2010), p. 32, 55-58, 76 (quotation from p. 32); Laurent Joseph Gaide & Henri Désiré Marie Bodet, La variole et les vaccinations jennériennes en Indochine (Hanoi: Imprimerie d’Extrême-Orient, 1930), p. 10f.

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Cambodian Muslims. On the other hand, the assertion that all of Kampong Cham’s Islamic village schools, except the two major institutions in Phum Trea, were solely devoted to memorizing the Qurʾān was an exaggeration, for jawi materials were by then widely used also in smaller establishments. Nevertheless, these remarks could indicate the significant amount of local progress made by Jawization in the few years between this report and Ner’s research. Intriguingly, this report appears to have had a considerable impact on subsequent discussions and decisions regarding Islamic schools. Thus, the minutes of a 1932 meeting of the Educational Council for Cambodia show the council contending that Qurʾānic schools in the provinces are not private schools but écoles familiales, whereas in the larger Malay schools “only the Qurʾān and other holy books are being taught”. The council therefore concluded that official schools for minority education should be established in the provincial capitals. Moreover, after referring to the presumed fact that “family” and “brothers” were defined differently in the “Far East”, it ruled that schools with up to 18 students were to be treated as unregulated familial schools23. Both decisions were implemented somewhat unevenly. The envisaged Malay schools in the provincial capitals were never set up. Instead, the existing Islamic schools were – with varying degrees of success – made to conform to the 1933 regulations. Similarly, particularly (or perhaps only) in Phnom Penh, even unregistered schools already functioning in 1933 that had fewer than 18 students (écoles familiales) were not safe from French interference. For example, many such Chroy Changvar schools were faced with almost immediate closure24. The latter state of affairs appears to be related to the last aspect of the repercussions of the cited report from Kampong Cham, which had hinted at the stubbornness of Phum Trea’s eminent Muslim teachers. Thus, an official in Phnom Penh noted that “some of these unauthorized schools are imparting education which is more or less tendentious, as is being done in Kampong Cham”25. But despite such rhetoric, the schools of Hj. Osman and Hj. Haroun/Mat Sales in Phum Trea apparently remained unmolested into and beyond Ner’s time. Even though certificates in accordance with the 1933 or earlier regulations 23 24

25

“Procès-verbal de la reunion du conseil local de l’enseignement au Cambodge”, October 2nd 1932, anc-rsc 27006. “Rapport”, October 4th 1934, anc-rsc 8465. This document enumerated nine schools in Chroy Changvar, complete with basic data about their directors and number of students. French authorities advocated measures to be taken against seven of these, although only one of them had more than 18 students. “Le Chef local du Service de l’Enseignement à Monsieur le Chef du Service de la Sûreté, à Phnom Penh”, September 22th 1934, anc-rsc 8465.

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were evidently issued (and sometimes revoked) to teachers in provinces such as Kampot, Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham during the late 1920s and 1930s26, it seems that colonial supervision of Islamic schools was only temporary and nowhere carried out as effectively as in Chroy Changvar. This was certainly related to the fact that the latter, in contrast to Muslim villages such as Chrang Chamres or Norea in Battambang, had early on legally become a town quarter and thus directly subject to the capital’s city administration. Moreover, teaching certificates obtained in Cambodia were declared valid in Cochinchina and other parts of French Indochina only in 193627. As expected, Resident Thibaudeau’s 1937 circular that stipulated “Chams” as the official label for the people hitherto designated “Malays” only had a limited bearing on the jargon of French officials concerned with Islamic schools, even though the changvang was now at times referred to as Chef des Cham28. Thus, whereas a 1938 decree on the mandatory language experts of the examination commissions listed five Chinese “dialects” and Malay, the director of the local educational service soon explained to the Resident that for the Chams, one or two scholars proficient in “Cham and Arabic characters” were necessary. Again, he must have meant jawi characters. When Man Ahmad (Aḥmad b. Sulaymān), a Chroy Changvar scholar, was appointed upon the suggestion of the Muslim “congregation” (i.e. was put forward by the changvang) the same year, he was noted as being responsible for Malay and Arabic29. In sum, nothing indicates that Cham was ever considered in this regard, even though the majority of ­candidates must have been Chams, even if immigrant Malays and Chvea were disproportionately represented in this sector. Thus, French attempts to regulate “Malay” (i.e. Islamic) schooling were no obstacle to Jawization; rather, they confirmed its saliency and even helped it spread further and more rapidly.

26 27 28 29

Cf. anc-rsc 31709 for schools in Kbal Romeas, Kampot (1934-1937); anc-rsc 27286 for Tuol Lovieng, Kampong Thom (1928); anc-rsc 31714 for Kampong Kendal, Kampot (19341937); anc-rsc 26929 for Svay Khleang, Kampong Cham (1933-1934). anc-rsc 31705. Official translation of a letter by changvang Amat Hj. Ismael (Hj. Ismāʿīl b. Aḥmad) to the Minister of the Interior and Cults (August 23rd 1939), anc-rsc 34000. In an accompanying document, again the expression Chef des Malais is used. anc-rsc 26922. Man Ahmad retained this position at least until 1940 as he presided over the exams of Muslim teachers also in 1939 and 1940. anc-rsc 26923 & 26924.

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265

The French as Referees in Intra-Muslim Disputes

As shown above, French colonialism contributed to Jawization, as did the ensuing infrastructural development that facilitated processes of de-localization (e.g. Jawization), inter alia by directing the hierarchization and bureaucratization of religious authority, and its policies for minority education. Whereas the latter harmed the interests of figures wary of or strongly opposed to Jawization, such as Au Russey’s oknha khnour or the kobuol’s religious specialists, this was less so with the more ambiguous French policies towards Muslim dignitaries. As can be inferred from the survival of the position of oknha khnour into present times, not to mention the unprecedented measure of authority this official has acquired over far-flung communities since the late 1990s, the French sanctioning and endorsement of pre-colonial practices of title distribution has, at least in this case, helped preserve a limited sphere of assertiveness for nonJawified Islamic discursive traditions. The French role in observing, surveilling and eventually adjudicating intrareligious disputes within the Muslim community was also rather ambiguous. Thus, despite their oft-voiced resolution to not get involved in internal conflicts considered entirely religious, at times they nevertheless felt compelled to do so in certain cases – particularly when they were close to home (i.e. near or in the capital and/or involving their delegate, the changvang) and were thought to likely get out of hand and disrupt social peace. At such times colonial assumptions about “true” Islam often entered the equation, along with security considerations and a desire to keep the religious leaders invested by the king and themselves in place. As we lack comparable extensive archival materials on disputes along the lines of the kobuol/trimeu factionalism observed by Ner, an intra-trimeu conflict will be scrutinized here. The single exemplary case that unfolded in 1931-1935 (with repercussions still being felt in 1939) involved the changvang Hj. Tuorman (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, d. 1935), Chroy Changvar’s prominent religious teacher Mat Sales, whom Ner identified a couple of years later as one of the community’s spiritual leaders, and the lesser known Chroy Changvar scholar Hj. Kateur (ʿAbd al-Qādir)30. Although unrelated to the main instances of kobuol/trimeu and kaum tua/kaum muda factionalism analyzed above, it is nevertheless highly instructive regarding the dynamics of Jawization and factionalism in Cambodia.

30

A less exhaustive treatment of the case is found in Weber, “Les Cam et les Malais du Cambodge”, p. 131-134.

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In fact, it brings together many of this study’s main threads: the role of royal and colonial authorities in valorizing religious and ethnic capital; the prominent place within Cambodia’s community of religious scholars, both Cambodians as well as visiting Malays, not invested with official positions and titles by the former; mosques as contested territory; recourse to legal opinions of scholars on/from the Malay Peninsula and in Mecca on contentious issues of ritual; jawi Malay’s decisive function as the language of communication between the Cambodian and non-Cambodian scholars involved in these exchanges; and, finally, the reliance upon specific fiqh al-ʿibādāt texts viewed as particularly authoritative. Thus, far from just throwing light on French agency in intra-Muslim conflicts, this specific dispute represents a microcosm of most of the dynamics identified as key features of Jawization. Moreover, despite playing out in Chroy Changvar, it had clear linkages to the Kampong Cham villages of Svay Khleang and Phum Trea, the country’s other major spiritual center of Muslim life. Ner briefly referred to an intra-trimeu “double discussion” in Chroy Changvar during the early 1930s that had been presented before the Ministry of Cults. According to his reading, a local “traditionalist” faction that advocated holding the Friday prayer in both local mosques was confronted by a faction of “moderns” who desired to hold it in each mosque on an alternating basis. He also reported that this faction “affirmed that only three prayers had to be recited”. The “moderns” had eventually been victorious on both counts31. He further claimed that a Patani scholar named Muḥammad Idrīs had resolved the conflict32. While generally faithful to the facts, this brief account raises more questions than it answers. Even though not all of the details and protagonists will be clarified below, the large amount of relevant French, Khmer and Malay documents at our disposal allows us to acquire a rather clear picture of this emblematic intra-trimeu dispute and the French involvement in it. The conflict most probably began in 1931, as the first relevant dated document was produced in the first days of 1932. Moreover, as Chroy Changvar’s disputes over the qibla in the late 1920s were serious enough to have been referred to the mui in Kelantan, one cannot exclude the possibility that this case represented a prolongation of these earlier divergences. Even though both the fatwa in Pengasuh and Ner’s report seem to suggest otherwise, the village boasted three mosques by then: the mosque of Ek (or Ek Raingsei), the seat of

31 32

Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 188. Ibid., p. 191.

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the changvang; that of Kaolalom, the domain of the oknha masphty (i.e. muftī); and that of Xom Biem/Muk Dach, headed by the oknha phakes (i.e. faqīh)33. The conflict’s three kinds of protagonists and two opposing camps can be clearly differentiated. The first group comprised several Cambodian Islamic scholars who were mainly divided over the question of the Friday prayer and the correct form of canonical prayer in general. The split separating Chroy Changvar’s scholars is most visible in the fierce opposition of a certain Hj. Kateur (ʿAbd al-Qādir) and his followers to the changvang Tuorman (ʿAbd alRaḥmān) and his protégé Mat Sales (Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ). This runs as a common thread through several years of French documentation of the case. It appears that their conflict had grown out of earlier disputes over the place of the Friday prayer and the frequency of its performance in each mosque between the then oknha phakes Lep ([Abū] Ṭālib) and the oknha masphty Math (Aḥmad, d. 1932). Accordingly, the earliest relevant documents are two Malay letters, one drafted by the latter and signed by 29 local supporters (in jawi), calling on the changvang to institute a single alternating Friday prayer for Chroy Changvar34, and the other by Math and his deputy Tes Hj. Tales (Hj. Abū Ṭālib)35. Thus Hj. Tales, who would soon become the provisional successor to Math, formed part of the faction henceforth represented by changvang Tuorman and Mat Sales. The same goes for the new oknha masphty Hj. Samʿūn, appointed sometime in 1933 or 1934. Similarly, the Chroy Changvar scholar Mau Senn, who ran his own local school near the Kaolalom mosque in the early 1930s, opposed Hj. Kateur36. All of these scholars were thoroughly jawi educated and major trimeu representatives, for they only wrote to each other in jawi Malay. Mat Sales in particular, as a former student of Ahmad Patani with eleven years 33

34

35 36

In 2014 Chroy Changvar had three mosques, until 2013 there had been even four. Although none of the original structures survive, all three mentioned mosques had until then continued to function. The Ek mosque at the Tonle Sap is nowadays known as Masjid Dār alSalām, the Muk Dach mosque as Masjid al-Raḥma (located right beside the Chroy Changvar Bridge). The Kaolalom mosque at the banks of the Mekong, already in the 1970s known as Masjid al-Azhar, has been demolished in 2013 to make room for a new road. Also situated on the banks of the Mekong is the Kien Khleang (Nūr al-Islām) mosque, which had not yet been established in the 1930s. anc-rsc 35825 (undated). The discussed qibla fatwa of late 1920s Chroy Changvar notes in passing that alternating Friday prayers were then already being practiced. This was, however, evidently not yet officially mandated by the changvang and might have been only a temporary intermezzo. anc-rsc 35825, dated Shaʿbān 26th 1351 (January 5th 1932). anc-rsc 8465; “S.A.R. le Ministre des Cultes à Monsieur le Délégué auprès du Gouvernement Cambodgien”, June 8th 1932, anc-rsc 35825; “Monsieur Richez, Gaston, Commissaire de Police Adjoint du 3ème Arrondissement à Monsieur le Commisssaire Central à Phnom Penh”, February 20th 1933, anc-rsc 35825.

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of experience in Mecca, was sought after as mosque teacher throughout the Phnom Penh area, even though his presence and teaching could at times yield unpleasant consequences for the community leaders who had invited him. But this appears to be only befitting his status as one of Cambodia’s main indigenous agents of Jawization. This Svay Khleang (Kampong Cham) native first taught in Chrang Chamres, where he evidently already caused some commotion. Besides his involvement in Ahmad Patani’s 1903-1904 “etymology” fatwa, he was among the driving forces in the discord surrounding the questioned accuracy of the qibla in the village’s two mosques in the 1920s, which likewise resulted in a fatwa request being sent to the mui in Kelantan and appears to have occurred against the background of trimeu/kobuol factionalism. Sometime between 1929 and 1931, Mat Sales must have moved to Chroy Changvar in response to oknha phakes Lep’s request to teach at his mosque. However, as Lep’s conflict with oknha masphty Math of the Kaolalom mosque over the Friday prayer placed them on opposing sides, Mat Sales affiliated himself first with the Kaolalom mosque and then with the changvang’s Ek mosque37. Strikingly, far less can be inferred from the archival sources concerning the changvang Tuorman. There can, however, be no doubt that he was likewise a major jawi scholar. For instance, he wrote exclusively in Malay to other local scholars and Muslim dignitaries. Both his letters of appointment issued to various religious functionaries in the provinces and his Malay declarations on this conflict testify to his consistently elegant jawi handwriting. In addition, he was proficient enough in Arabic to have direct recourse to at least the simpler concise Arabic legal manuals of the canon enumerated above. On the other side, oknha phakes Lep’s initial struggle was soon taken over by the remarkably stubborn and enduring Hj. Kateur. After changvang Tuorman’s death in 1935, he lobbied for the Kampong Cham scholar Kaloth Hj. Mathi as a counter-candidate to Tuorman’s brother-in-law Hj. Ismail, the contending faction’s preferred (and eventually victorious) choice. Although absent from earlier documents, we may assume that these two scholars had been connected during the earlier outbreak of factional strife in Chroy Changvar – especially so, as Hj. Kateur claimed in a petition to the king, that the Cham Hj. Mathi had taught “the characters and the principles of the Malay religion” for a long time in the village38. Another local scholar named Katip Samas (also known as Imam Bou Samar), who had run his own school in Chroy Changvar since 1922, 37 38

“Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. anc-rsc, 28319 (dated March 7th 1936).

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appears to have initially supported Hj. Kateur as well39. Hj. Kateur also recruited scholars and particularly local believers to sign petitions supporting his ­positions. Even though his methods of garnering these signatures were ap­ parently quite dubious, both sides could evidently rely upon a core of “foot soldiers” of intra-Muslim factionalism. Whereas Hj. Kateur most probably did not command as much respect as his opponents (i.e. some of the highest Muslim dignitaries or Mat Sales, one of the country’s most revered teachers), he was by no means an intellectual lightweight. Born in Chroy Changvar in 1879, he had studied for more than three years in Mecca and, before that, for perhaps an even longer period in Kelantan or Patani. According to his own account, he had served as secretary to the oknha borates Smanne (i.e. Phong Yismann/ʿUthmān) of Kampong Cham province, based in Svay Khleang40. The local police department vehemently denied this latter claim, perhaps relying on information supplied by his detractors, and noted that he had lived in Chroy Changvar since his birth and was a former seaman then known as one of the city’s foremost hoodlums41. Even though Hj. Kateur might have made up the story of his association with Phong Yismann, which he only brought to the French in 1936 (i.e. a couple of years after the official’s death), his scholarly credentials cannot be doubted. Firstly, several French reports described him as a “bonze of the Chroy Changvar mosque”42. Evidently influenced by the terminolog used for Buddhist monks, this clearly implies either fame as a teacher or an official position (e.g. imam or khaṭīb) at a mosque. The strongest indicator of his scholarly stature, however, comes from a source unrelated to French reconnaissance regarding the conflict. We learn from the 1934 survey on Chroy Changvar’s Islamic schools that his school had by far the largest number of students of the nine ones listed. He even had his own surau beside his house, where he taught 45 students, including 15 women43. Although at least his chief opponent Mat Sales, who was still in high 39

40 41 42 43

“Monsieur Richez, Gaston, Commissaire de Police Adjoint du 3ème Arrondissement à Monsieur le Commisssaire Central à Phnom Penh”, February 20th 1933, anc-rsc 35825; anc-rsc 8456. In 1936, however, he distanced himself from Hj. Kateur’s actions. “Le Commissaire de Police Adjoint du 3ème Arrondissement à Monsieur le Commisssaire Central à Phnom Penh”, March 18th 1936, p. 10, anc-rsc 28319. “Hayi Katoeu à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur”, August 5th 1936, anc-rsc 26016. “Le Commissaire Adjoint du 3ème Arrondissement à Monsieur le Commissaire Central de Police”, September 4th 1936, anc-rsc 26016. “Le Résident-Maire à Monsieur le Commissaire Central de Police” & “Le Commissaire Central de Police à Monsieur le Résident-Maire”, May 3rd and 6th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. anc-rsc 8465.

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d­ emand as a roving mosque teacher44 must have had even more students, such appeal in an environment where perhaps a dozen teachers vied for students strongly supports his claims of a Meccan education. As he had only opened his surau in 1917 (i.e. in his late 30s), reports about his earlier exploits as a seaman may well have been true. For example, his famous Kelantanese contemporary Nūr al-Dīn Sungai Keladi had returned to religious studies and gone to Mecca after several years as a cotton trader moving between Kelantan and Singapore45. Moreover, Hj. Kateur was also noted for his connections to Malay scholars from abroad46. The second group comprised Malay scholars either coming to Cambodia as visiting teachers or engaging with Cambodian Muslims in centers of Islamic learning elsewhere. In fact, two visiting Malay teachers and certain unspecified “great scholars” of Mecca played a role in this dispute. The first teacher was Hj. Wan Muḥammad Idrīs al-Faṭānī. Although we lack any more information on him, there is, in view of the fact that ibn/bin is often omitted in Malay usage, a possibility that he was a son of Pak Cu Yeh Tok Raja Hj. (Hj. Idrīs b. Hj. ʿAbd alKarīm, d. 1935), a well-known figure of the Ahmad Patani network. Tok Bermin, yet another Muḥammad (b.) Idrīs from Patani linked to the network and known for teaching Indochinese students, comes to mind as well. In any case, Wan Muhammad Idris was a highly respected scholar in Cambodia. At the time of the conflict between Lep and Math, he was teaching in Chrang Chamres. It was, therefore, presumably his scholarly prestige and not just his status as an outsider that led the oknha phakes Lep to invite him to settle the contested issue of the Friday prayer in early 1932. After an initial legal ruling, which he apparently soon came to regard (or otherwise present) as tentative, he returned to Patani to conduct further research and mailed his final fatwa to the changvang a few weeks later47. The second Malay scholar, whom the sources merely refer to as a certain malayou named “Mohadji-Dinn”, is more obscure. Initially teaching in Chrang Chamres, he had evidently been connected to Hj. Kateur, whom he both instructed on religious practice and dogma and supplied with books. After his time in Cambodia, he must have moved on to teach in Saigon. Strikingly, the French document of 1935 containing the data on this Malay scholar 44 45 46 47

By Ner’s time he had already established his own registered school in Chroy Changvar, whereas Hj. Kateur’s unauthorized one had assumingly been shut down. Awang, “Hajji ʿUmar Sungai Keladi”, p. 20f.; tusm, I, p. 278. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. Ibid.

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­ onchalantly notes his eventual arrest in Saigon and repatriation48. Although n the reasons remain unclear, the whole episode is reminiscent of the accounts on Hj. Sulong’s alleged similarly abortive stay in Indochina. During the second half of 1932, when the conflict had reached its first high point, Mat Sales and Tuorman went to Mecca to consult with some of its “great scholars”. Given the long tradition of requesting and receiving legal rulings via letters, this rather exceptional step was possibly intended to dissolve some of the local tension as much as it was to obtain superior scholarly judgements. We can only speculate as to the approached scholars’ identity. As they were, however, most probably drawn from the resident Malay scholars, whose numbers had shrunk since the Wahhābi takeover, a few Meccan scholars with Patani backgrounds, all of them certainly still teaching Indochinese students, may be put forward: Muḥammad Nūr b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī (d. 1944) and Pak Da ʿEl Patani (d. 1965). In addition, Hj. Muhammad Idris of Chau Giang studied in Mecca from 1936-1938 with a scholar named Shaykh Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī49. Finally, the third category comprised individuals from the French and Khmer administration, government bodies and police forces. Most prominently implicated were Richez, the adjunct commissioner of Phnom Penh’s third municipal district (arrondissement), and Boucly, his superior as commissioner of the Central Police. Even the highest levels of the colonial administration had to concern themselves with the case. Thus, Phnom Penh’s résident-maire (i.e. the colonial mayor or City Resident), as well as the successive résidents supérieurs Achille Louis Auguste Silvestre (1929 and 1932-1935) and Henri Louis Marie Richomme (1935-1936) had to deal directly with this intra-Muslim discord. Among the representatives of Khmer government bodies, Chea, the Minister of the Interior and Cults, was particularly concerned with intra-Muslim disputes. In 1935, the Council of Ministers finally became involved50. In addition, Hj. Kateur had directly petitioned King Monivong with a letter dated May 31st 1932 and signed by 22 supporters51. In 1936 he did so again, more controversially, to push for Hj. Mathi’s appointment as changvang52. As was already mentioned, the initial dispute was sparked off by debates over the congregational Friday prayer. Hereby, the main question was whether 48 49 50 51 52

Ibid. lpd, “Hj. Muhammad Idris”. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres”, March 11th & April 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. The letter is dated March 7th 1936. anc-rsc 28319.

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it was permissible in a village with multiple mosques to hold more than one Friday prayer. At the root of these discussions was a pronounced desire to comply with the prescriptions of Islamic law as well as with local custom. Individual mosque leaders’ pretensions over performing their “own” parallel or single Friday prayers also undoubtedly reflected their will to power. In the conflict’s early stages, only the oknha phakes Lep of the Muk Dach mosque and oknha masphty Math, his counterpart at the Kaolalom mosque, debated the matter intensely. The former advocated multiple parallel Friday prayers; the latter opposed this. Math’s standpoint also raised the question of where to hold this single jumʿa. The oknha masphty suggested performing them on an alternating basis53. Our knowledge of this conflict is derived from government records based on the testimonies of Hj. Mat Sales and Hj. Kateur54. However, two letters from Math, one calling for the institution of and one for the continuation of the practice, have likewise come done to us55. Both were addressed to the changvang Tuorman, the highest religious official, and written in Malay. An interesting element of the second letter is the inclusion of the Arabic formula ilāhī anta maqṣūdī wa riḍāka maṭlūbī (“O God, you are my purpose and your favour is what I am longing for”). This phrase, which clearly goes beyond the usual praises for God and his Prophet in such correspondence, is prominently employed as a ritual formula by the Naqshbandiyya. In Southeast Asia, it was most probably popularized through the main Sufi manual of the eminent Naqshbandiyya-Khālidiyya shaykh Aḥmad Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn al-Kumushkhānawī (Gümüşhanevi, d. 1894)56, which was widely used in the region from 1880s onwards57. Both Ahmad Patani, for whom this affiliation was seemingly of secondary importance, and Nūr al-Dīn Sungai Keladi, as well as certain leading Patani-Kelantan-Cambodia network figures, were Naqshbandis58. The major development between the first undated letter, certainly falling into the year 1931, and the second one dated January 5th 1932 was that Lep, 53 54 55 56

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58

anc-rsc 35825 (undated letter to changvang Tuorman, most probably of late 1931). “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. anc-rsc 35825. Thus, the text explains in the chapter on the conventions of dhikr: “After that it is said among the Naqshbandiyya – in the heart or by the tongue: ʿilāhī anta maqṣūdī wa riḍāka maṭlūbīʾ”. Aḥmad Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn al-Kumushkhānawī al-Naqshbandī al-Khālidī, Jāmiʿ al-uṣūl fī l-awliyāʾ (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2010), p. 35. Michael Laffan, “Sufism, Literary Production, and Nineteenth-Century Southeast Asia” in Rachida Chih, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen & Rüdiger Seesemann (eds.), Sufism, Literary Production, and Printing in the Nineteenth Century (Würzburg: Ergon, 2015), p. 346-349; Widiyanto, Ritual and Leadership, p. 156. Nevertheless, Aḥmadi influence appears to have been more marked in Cambodia.

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perhaps in response to Math’s petition to the changvang, called in Wan Muḥammad Idrīs al-Faṭānī, then teaching in Chrang Chamres, to adjudicate the matter in the changvang’s presence. Undoubtedly very much to the delight of Lep and his supporter Hj. Kateur, the Patani scholar ruled that parallel Friday prayers could be held simultaneously in the village’s different mosques. But this ruling only intensified the conflict. Whereas Lep immediately resumed weekly jumʿa prayers at his mosque, the changvang rejected it and was seconded by Mat Sales, who is reported to have perceived it as clearly wrong “according to local custom and the holy books of the Islamic religion”. He also invoked the example of Chrang Chamres, where the Friday prayer was held at a single mosque59. Math, who was likewise considerably dismayed, sent his second letter to the changvang, urging him and his entire mosque community to make the practice of alternating Friday prayers permanent (hamba minta pada hadirat kakanda dan sekalian jemaah kakanda janganlah berubah pada pekerjaan yang lain daripada bergiliran ini dan berkekalanlah bergiliran ini)60. His aforementioned appeal to (a perhaps shared) Sufi spirituality was probably intended to add further weight to his petition. Against this increased tension, Wan Muḥammad Idrīs al-Faṭānī decided to rethink his decision. He therefore went back to Patani, promising to send his definitive ruling to Tuorman after conducting more research. His fatwa, which arrived on April 23rd 193261 and was bound to stir up even more trouble, represents the direct prelude to French involvement. Indeed, the actual meaning of al-Faṭānī’s letter became the subject of intense debates. Strikingly, the French and Khmer authorities appear to have consciously ignored evidence that the changvang and his associates had deliberately misread the fatwa. On Dhū l-Ḥijja 23rd 1350/April 29th 1932, changvang Tuorman endeavored to “bring together all people of knowledge [i.e. scholars] [..] to analyse and carefully study the issue of what al-Faṭānī’s has transmitted” (menghimpunkan segala orang yang mempunyai ilmu [..] tolong periksaan dan mutalaahkan masalah naqal daripada Wan Hj. Muḥammad Idrīs Faṭānī). After the event, Tuorman and seven scholars, including both the oknha masphty Math’s deputy Hj. Tales as well as his future successor Hj. Samʿūn, added their signatures to a one-sentence summary of their understanding of al-Faṭānī’s ruling: al-Faṭānī 59 60 61

“Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. anc-rsc 35825. Ibid. The minutes of the council of ministers erroneously give April 23rd 1933 as date for the reception of the latter. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825.

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had declared that “the obligation was to hold a single Friday prayer together, and that it would be wrongful to continue its separate performance at this time” (wajib bersama satu jumat melainkan fasid maka pada masa itu menerus dikerjakan masing-masing)62. According to Tuorman’s testimony, Hj. Kateur was the only scholar present who refused to sign the document. Instead, he allegedly only read two or three of the fatwa’s lines before declaring that the believers were entitled to perform their Friday prayers separately63. Given that both the original Malay letter with its numerous formulaic Arabic insertions as well as its (somewhat abridged) French translation have come done to us, Hj. Kateur’s reading was clearly correct. Thus, the Patani mufti noted in his final ruling that the Friday prayer “should be conducted separately in each mosque as before in the past” (dikerjakan jumat masing seperti dahulukala dan sediakala). The underlying rationale for this was evidently his view that, under the present circumstances, the legal priority was to end the intracommunity conflict instead of complying with the letter of Shāfiʿi legal manuals. In an appended explanatory statement, he stated that he had ruled in favour of separate Friday prayers “because the prevention of harm is to take precedence over the achievement of benefit” (karena duri al-mafāsid muqaddam ʿalā jalbi l-manāfiʿ, artinya menolakkan mafasid itu didahulukandia atas menarikkan manfaat)64. The latter, a well-established Islamic legal principle, accords a prominent place to the concepts of benefit and harm65. Two elements of al-Faṭānī’s letter have to be stressed here. Firstly, the Malay scholar refers to Chroy Changvar not as a kampung but as a palei, the Cham word for village. This shows that he picked up at least some Cham words during his stay in Chrang Chamres and appears to have served as a nod to an overwhelmingly Cham audience, despite Malay’s status as the community’s scholarly language. Secondly and more pertinently, al-Faṭānī’s formulations show that holding parallel Friday prayers in various Chroy Changvar mosques had been the prevailing practice in the past. This is important because Math’s earlier petitions do not make this aspect sufficiently clear; French investigation into the matter later yielded the same information66. Thus, it appears that the proponents of the single Friday prayer were hoping to change ­traditional 62 63 64 65 66

anc-rsc 35825. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. anc-rsc 35825 (undated letter). Cf. Ahmad al-Raysuni, Imam al-Shatibi’s Theory of the Higher Objectives and Intents of Islamic Law (Herndon, VA.: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2005), p. 223-231, 261f. The same also goes for the discussed qibla fatwa in Pengasuh of 1929.

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custom, and, by implication, demonstrate their claims to authority. Notwithstanding this latter component, a major reason why they opposed parallel Friday prayers was undoubtedly their engagement with Shāfiʿi fiqh works. They were convinced that Friday prayers could be held only in one mosque of a given village, except when its parts were separated by woods with endemic wild beasts67. Two letters by Tuorman in defense of his position, drafted in 1933, make several interesting points in this regard68. Firstly, he claims that the idea of alternating Friday prayers had initially been Hj. Kateur’s. As this idea appears to have entered the discussion before the latter embarked on his “allout war” against Mat Sales and the changvang, we cannot determine its validity. More intriguing, however, are the reasons Tuorman gives for his decision to follow this suggestion: (1) the locals consented to the practice, (2) the holy book “Makoun Saphi Tonnar Chor” and others were consonant with it, (3) deliberations with numerous Cambodian and foreign scholars had confirmed that Chroy Changvar was a single village and thus the believers were to hold the Friday prayer in one mosque, either always at the same one or on an alternating basis, and (4) a royal ordinance had entrusted him with directing all Cambodian Muslims69. As a last point, he refers to the approved joint translation of al-Faṭānī’s letter, which he claims supported him. Only the second and the third points warrant further attention here. Concerning the latter, the changvang reportedly nominated Mat Sales as his advisor on such matters of Islamic ritual, as he considered him more knowledgable than himself. Testimony from Mat Sales on the issue is indeed more detailed. Thus, he reiterates that it is permissible to have more than one mosque in large villages separated by jungles inhabited by wild animals, as that could make passage dangerous. As this had been the case in Chroy Changvar, two other mosques had recently been constructed. But as the village’s population had increased considerably and communication among its parts had been greatly facilitated, he and the changvang contended that the legal basis for holding multiple Friday prayers had expired70.

67 68 69 70

“Rapport d’emissaire”, undated (most probably 1932), anc-rsc 35825. Dated to March 4th and April 5th 1933, their contents are summarized in “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. Hereby he is clearly referring to the royal ordinance of 1906, issued by Sisowath upon his nomination as changvang. Cf. “Commissaire Central Boucly à Résident Maire”, dated May 6th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825.

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The second point, which mentioned the obscure “Makoun Saphi Tonnar Chor”, is of particular interest, given our prior focus on the role of specific books in the process of Jawization. Notwithstanding the title’s severe phonetic deformation, this work must be Sālim al-Ḥuḍrī’s (Matn) Safīnat al-najā. In fact, firm evidence for this assumption is found in one of Tuorman’s letters to the authorities in 1933, for this Khmer-language document contains an Arabiclanguage passage on the conditions (shurūṭ) of a valid Friday prayer according to the Shāfiʿi school of law. The passage, which states that this prayer’s validity depends inter alia upon the absence of any preceding or simultaneous congregational prayer being held in the same village, is a flawless direct quotation from Safīnat al-najā71. Even though the Arabic Safīna was quoted, perhaps due to its very concise enumeration of the relevant conditions or for being an Arabic work (and therefore automatically considered superior in nature) or both, the same argument can be found in numerous jawi books commonly consulted by Cambodian Muslim scholars: Arshad al-Banjārī’s Sabīl al-muhtadīn, alPalimbānī’s Sayr al-sālikīn, Daud Patani’s Sullam al-Mubtadiʾ and al-Jawāhir al-Saniyya as well as Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Jāwī’s Bidāyat al-mubtadiʾ72. The increased acrimony and heightened severity of strife resulting from alFaṭānī’s futile attempt to resolve the issue eventually precipitated the French and Khmer authorities’ direct involvement. On May 3rd 1932 (i.e. only four days after the public reading of the mufti’s letter), the French were alarmed by Hj. Kateur’s complaint against the changvang and Mat Sales, which he had submitted to the police commissioner Boucly with an appeal to forward it to Ministry of Cults73. This move not only finally drew in the state agents, but also marked the beginning of Hj. Kateur’s “all-out war” against his two main opponents and the affair’s extension into disputed issues and charges far beyond the initial question of the Friday prayer. When Boucly sent his first report on the religious dissent in Chroy Changvar to the résident-maire three days later, after having personally questioned both sides in his office, the issue had already thematically expanded: Hj. Kateur had claimed in his complaint, and reiterated in personal conversation, that his two opponents “had introduced

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73

Letter dated March 4th 1933, anc-rsc 35825; Cf. Sālim b. Sumayr al-Ḥuḍrī, Matn Safīnat al-najā fī uṣūl al-dīn wa l-fiqh ʿalā madhhab al-Imām al-Shāfiʿī (Cairo: al-Maktaba wa l-Maṭbaʿat al-Maḥmūdiyya, n.d.), p. 15. Arshad al-Banjārī, Sabīl al-muhtadīn, II, p. 45; al-Palimbānī, Sayr al-sālikīn, I, p. 270; Dāʾūd b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Faṭānī, Sullam al-Mubtadiʾ fī maʿrifa ṭarīqat al-muhtadiʾ (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n. d.), p. 11f.; id., al-Jawāhir al-Saniyya, p. 75; [Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Jāwī], Bidāyat al-mubtadiʾ wa ʿumdat al-awlād (Patani: Maṭbaʿat Ibn Halābī, n. d.), p. 25f. anc-rsc 35825.

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new prayers contrary to the precepts of the Islamic religion”74. Intriguingly, this charge concerned the performance of the prescribed daily prayers in general. Reconstructing the details of the latter argument is complicated by the fact that both Ner and Boucly were unable to grasp the intricacies of the issue. Thinking that it was primarily about the number of daily prayers, the former noted that one faction advocated three, whereas their contenders insisted on five75. Although the possibility cannot be fully excluded that the – under certain circumstances legally valid – joining of prayers, which is standard Shiite practice76, had become customary in certain Muslim circles in Cambodia at some point77, the argument’s actual core obviously revolved around the prayer’s individual obligatory elements (arkān, ml. rukn). Thus, this first report claimed that, according to Hj. Kateur, Mat Sales and the changvang had imposed thirteen “prostrations” (fr. lays) during each prayer, even though previously only three prayers with three lays each had been performed. When questioned by Boucly, Hj. Kateur conceded that the thirteen “prostrations” were not contrary to religious precepts, but nevertheless were too demanding for the common believer78. Already from this description, it is evident that he meant the components of canonical prayer, as opposed to the individual prayers or prostrations. Accordingly, both Mat Sales and Hj. Ismail, Tuorman’s brother-in-law and future successor, declared to the Ministry of Cults that each prayer consisted of thirteen “formalities”, all of which had to be completed79. Again, one is led to suspect that the strong emphasis on thirteen formal aspects of canonical prayer, as mandated and vigorously supervised by the changvang and Mat Sales, can be traced to expositions found in specific Arabic or jawi prayer manuals and books on ritual law. Such works, however, exhibit different ways of categorizing and breaking down the prayer’s obligatory elements. For example, the Safīnat al-najā lists, just like Daud Patani’s Sullam al-Mubtadiʾ, seventeen arkān al-ṣalāt/rukn sembahyang80. Other texts widely used in the Patani-Kelantan-Cambodia scholarly networks, however, 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

“Commissaire Central Boucly à Résident Maire”, dated May 6th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 188. Katz, Prayer in Islamic Thought, p. 20. It will be remembered that local memory in Phum Trea attributes a switch in local religious practice from three to five daily prayers to the activities of the Kelantanese scholar Hj. Math (d. 1890). “Commissaire Central Boucly à Résident Maire”, dated May 6th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. al-Ḥuḍrī, Matn Safīnat al-najā, p. 7f.; Dāʾūd al-Faṭānī, Sullam al-Mubtadiʾ, p. 9f.

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e­ numerate thirteen pillars of prayer. Most importantly, this applies, among others, to Daud Patani’s Munyat al-muṣallī81, which both then and now represents the jawi prayer manual per se on the Malay Peninsula and beyond82. This also goes for Daud’s al-Jawāhir al-Saniyya, al-Palimbānī’s Sayr al-Sālikīn, and for al-Sayyid ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar al-Ḥaḍramī’s Safīnat al-ṣalāt, a short Arabic treatise that was sometimes printed together with the Safīnat al-najā83. There can thus be little doubt that the centrality of the prayer’s thirteen obligatory components was prompted by Mat Sales and Tuormanʾ determination to show their superior knowledge of specific ritual law texts and, to a lesser degree, to enforce their teachings on their congregations. Yet during the French and Khmer investigations, also Hj. Kateur’s position became associated with a specific Islamic legal work and the Malay scholar who gifted it to him. Thus, Tuorman alleged that Hj. Kateur’s views derived from the teachings of the obscure Mohaji Din, who had been “secretly teaching the prayers” in Chrang Chamres for some time, and that Hj. Kateur hosted Malay scholars to profit personally from their renown. This seems to indicate that he had his own scholarly network, from which he recruited visiting teachers to enhance his claims to authority among the locals vis-à-vis the official religious hierarchy. Strikingly, the changvang declared that his opponent’s “prayers are taken from the book entitled Pedayatolas Muchas Tahetas Vanis Haya Toulas Muchas Tasitas, which Hj. Kateur has kept from his teacher Mohaji Din”84. Despite the title’s phonetic distortion, we can safely identify it as Ibn Rushd’s Bidāyat almujtahid wa nihāyat al-muqtaṣid. Although concerned with overviewing the differing positions on the canonical prayers in the four Sunni schools of law, a neat enumeration of the ṣalāt’s obligatory elements according to Shāfiʿi practice does not appear in its chapter on the arkān85. Whereas our knowledge of Hj. Kateur and his teacher’s reliance upon Bidāyat al-mujtahid hardly enlightens us about the puzzling issue of the alleged “three main prayers”, Tuorman’s reference to the work does indicate an interesting aspect related to its usage here. It might have been noticed that Ibn Rushd’s opus on comparative fiqh has so far been conspicuously absent from our sample of our network’s teaching 81 82 83 84 85

Dāʾūd b. Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Faṭānī, Munyat al-muṣallī (Mecca: al-Maṭbaʿat al-Mīriyyat al-Kāʾina, 1310/1892), p. 8-11. Bradley, “Sheikh Da⁠ʾud al-Fatani’s Munyat al-Musalli”. Dāʾūd al-Faṭānī, al-Jawāhir al-Saniyya, p. 58-60; al-Palimbānī Sayr al-Sālikīn, p. 183-197; alSayyid ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar al-Ḥaḍramī, Matn Safīnat al-ṣalāt, in al-Ḥuḍrī, Matn Safīnat al-najā, p. 28. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. Ibn Rushd, Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, I, p. 133-155.

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literature and from the discussed fatāwā, just as it is from Ahmad Patani’s alFatāwā al-Faṭāniyya, which cites no less than 89 source books86. Thus, it appears that the changvang invoked it because it was seldom studied in his scholarly circles. Strikingly, van Bruinessen noted that Bidāyat almujtahid was at first the exclusive purview of the Minangkabau kaum muda and was still only rarely taught at Indonesian pesantren in 199087. In Malaya, the reformists were presumably likewise almost the only ones who studied it. Intriguingly, a serialized partial Malay translation was published from 19291930 in Penang88, then home to major kaum muda organs such as al-Ikhwān and Saudara89. Assuming that Mohaji Din had a decidedly reformist background, this casts further doubt on Ner’s categorization of Hj. Kateur’s faction as traditionalists. When Boucly confronted changvang Tuorman with Hj. Kateur’s complaint against his person in 1932, he reminded his French interlocutor that he was the supreme authority, as validated by both the Protectorate and Khmer powers. After admitting that he had told Mat Sales to prescribe the “thirteen prostrations per prayer for the believers”, he stressed his right to do so as both head of the Chroy Changvar mosques and of all Muslim officiants in the country. In this respect, he also had recourse to a typical pervasive metanarrative of religious change: “presently the Cham religion has strayed far from the precepts and rites that constitute the base of its creation”. He had therefore decided to bring it back into line, a task for which he claimed to have received authorization by Sisowath’s ordinance of 190690. Consequently, Boucly felt compelled to draw Hj. Kateur’s attention to this royal ordinance. The latter, however, bluntly responded that he and his partisans would not follow the changvang in anything related to the “new rites”91 and that Tuorman was responsible for all of 86 87 88 89

90

91

Rahimullah, Patani Fatāwā, I, p. 407-412. van Bruinessen, “Kitab Kuning”, p. 251. William R. Roff, Bibliography of Malay and Arabic Periodicals Published in the Straits Settlements and Peninsular Malay States 1876-1941 (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1972), p. 14, 43. Alijah Gordon, The Real Cry of Syed Shaykh al-Hadi (Kuala Lumpur: MSRI, 1999); Wan Suhana bt. Wan Sulong, Saudara (1928-1941): Its Contribution to the Debate on Issues in Malay Society and the Development of a Malay World-view (Hull: PhD. Dissertation, Univ. of Hull, 2003). In the Malay correspondence of the Cambodian Muslim scholars, this authorization was naturally framed differently, and the office holder was characterized as the one “who judges according to the Qurʾān and the sunna (changvang yang merintah hukum kitab allah dan sunnat al-rasul allah). anc-rsc 35825 (undated document in support of Tuorman with several signatories [1933]). In the Malay documents relative to the case both factions are castigating their opponents for the introduction of such “new rites”. Interestingly, the commonly used term was not

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the troubles this might provoke. Identifying Hj. Kateur as a troublemaker, Boucly placed him under discrete surveillance92. Despite the obvious French support for the changvang, Hj. Kateur’s accusation that this official had allegedly introduced new religious practices resonated with Protectorate authorities. A few days after Boucly’s report to the résident-maire, the latter brought this intra-Muslim conflict to the attention of the résident supérieur Silvestre. In his letter, the resident-maire stated that, although he was not intent on passing judgement in a purely religious affair, he nevertheless deemed it preferable to stick to established practice. He further advised, for the sake of public order, that the Ministry of Cults resolve the conflict as soon as possible by inviting the contending parties and making it clear that no further quarrels would be tolerated93. The following month, the ministry summoned Hj. Kateur, Tuorman, Mat Sales and two other scholars to the council of ministers94. Around the same time, French investigations yielded an interesting report that testifies to the conflict’s growing scope. It is also revealing in terms of the French officials’ role as inadvertent supporters of Jawization and colonial patronage for the changvang. Not only does the report foreground the latter’s position by referring to Sisowath’s 1906 royal ordinance, but it also states that the changvang possessed a note by the French Resident attesting to the fact that “he conformed to the rites of the Islamic religion in all points”. This official endorsement was perhaps as much a means to bolster the appointee’s position as it was an expression of colonial assumptions about “true Islam”. We also learn from the report that Hj. Kateur and his partisans had joined the alternating Friday prayers only once, namely between al-Faṭānī’s first ruling and his departure. Afterwards they categorically refused to do so, which perhaps marks the conflict’s actual transition into factionalism. Indeed, Tuorman and Mat Sales declared in response that Hj. Kateur and his supporters may do as they please, but warned them that in the future nobody from their camp would participate in the funerary rites for any deceased member of Hj. Kateur’s faction. Given the importance of funerary rites – both from the communal and the individual point of view – in Islamic practice of the day, this statement practically amounted to excommunication. Undeterred, Hj. Kateur

92 93 94

bidah but hukuman yang baharu (lit. “new judgements”). Cf. Hj. Samʿūn’s letter to Tuorman, dated Rajab 1st 1353/October 10th 1934, anc-rsc 20811. “Commissaire Central Boucly à Résident Maire”, dated May 6th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. “LʾAdministration des Services Civils Résident-Maire de la Ville de Phnom-Penh à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur au Cambodge”, dated May 10th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. “S.A.R. le Ministre des Cultes à Monsieur le Délégué auprès du Gouvernement Cambodgien”, dated June 8th 1932, anc-rsc 35825.

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and his partisans went on the offensive. For his second complaint against Tuorman and Mat Sales, addressed to the king, Hj. Kateur reportedly went from house to house coercing residents into either signing or putting their fingerprint on the document. Moreover, among the “approximately forty” signatories, many later claimed that they were unaware of being on the list and that their respective signitures or fingerprints were forgeries, as they had allegedly been absent on that day. Of course, the number of forty supporters was not coincidental, for Shāfiʿi fiqh requires a quorum of forty believers for a valid Friday prayer. Presumably due to the ineffectiveness of their complaints, Hj. Kateur and his faction then resorted to more confrontational measures and on one occasion even disrupted the Friday prayer. As far as the conflict’s thematic expansion is concerned, an anonymous complaint against the changvang, which certain local informants claimed to have originated with Hj. Kateur, must be mentioned. Evoking memories of an incident two decades earlier, this complaint abstrusely accused Tuorman of having collected money from his supporters to build a warship and facilitate the passage of Ottoman Turks to Cambodia to combat the French95. Undoubtedly a baseless charge, it perhaps echoes the case of a certain Muhammad Effendi who had been convicted of fraud in 1914 for soliciting money from local believers under the pretext of having been sent by the Ottoman Sultan, who allegedly intended to build a large steamship to take local Muslims on free pilgrimages96. As the conflict lingered, and perhaps as a consequence of Hj. Kateur’s earlier obstructions, Tuorman sought to bar the latter from joining the Friday prayers held at the Ek mosque. This prompted Hj. Kateur to submit yet another complaint to the council of ministers in August 1932, in which he stressed that the mosque was not the changvang’s private sanctuary because it had been built with the contributions of local Chams, Malays and Indians for the benefit of all Muslims. He now further accused Tuorman of having embezzled a substantial sum of these donations. According to Hj. Kateur, the construction was only completed thanks to new donations made by the Indians Asmat, Karim and Mascati97. As the original (and certainly wooden) Ek mosque had been constructed during Norodom’s reign98 and perhaps as early as the 1860s, the work in question must have been related to its refashioning as a brick building. The documentary sources give no date for this episode. However, local informants 95 96 97 98

“Rapport d’emissaire”, undated (most probably May or June 1932), anc-rsc 35825. Tully, Cambodia under the Tricolor, p. 165f. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. “Rapport d’emissaire”, undated (most probably May or June 1932), anc-rsc 35825.

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recently asserted that the mosque, now known as Masjid Dār al-Salām, had been built in 193099, just two years before the conflict erupted. The Indian named Karim (or, more correctly, Abdul Karim in later French reports100) can be safely identified with the influential Tamil merchant Janab S. Abdul Karim, who also provided financial support for mosques and suraus in his native Tamil Nadu, Saigon and Chrang Chamres. As tensions continued to mount, and the issue of the Friday prayer in particular remained far from settled, sometime during the second half of 1932 Tuorman and Mat Sales left for Mecca to consult its “great scholars”. Even Ner noted that Mat Sales had made a (second) trip to Mecca in the early 1930s101. The French sources are rather silent about this venture102, which could have hardly been undertaken without the consent of the Khmer (and French) authorities. In any case, the surveyed documentary evidence contains no items from or contemporary reports about Tuorman between June 1932 and February 1933, which strongly indicates that this trip took place during that time, as opposed to during the pilgrimage season103. As the French were evidently reluctant to take legal measures against the “troublemaker” Hj. Kateur to avoid social unrest, they may have welcomed the trip as a way to temporarily diffuse intra-community tensions. As far as the changvang was concerned, al-Faṭānī’s fatwa had, despite Tuorman and his supporters’ deliberate misreading of it, failed to settle the dispute in his favour. He might have thought that Meccan opinions would do so. Expectedly, upon his return Mat Sales informed the authorities that the Meccan luminaries had ruled in their favour. Interestingly, tempers apparently did cool off in Chroy Changvar for several months in late 1932. But this was only temporary, for in February 1933 a distressed commissioner Boucly reported to the résident-maire that the conflict had broken out again due to recently raised charges that oknha phakes Lep of the Muk Dach mosque had raped the mosque’s female guardian. Arrested at the beginning of the preceding month, he was soon released as the accusations were considered baseless. The affair rekindled the flames of factionalism, 99 100 101 102

103

Personal communication with several elderly villagers living near Masjid Dār al-Salām (Chroy Changvar, August 2nd 2005). “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. Ner, “Musulmans de l’Indochine”, p. 166. He, however, assumed it to have constituted a second pilgrimage and apparently misdated it to 1934. It is only mentioned once in relation to a petition of Mat Sales in his own defence submitted on March 16th 1933. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. Dhū l-Ḥijja 1350 began in April 1932, whereas it tallied with late March the following year.

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which had presumably also provided the background to the charges in question. The alarmed Boucly warned the résident-maire that it was vital to get in touch with both “clans” to prevent the resumption of past hostilities104. Evidently, also the dispute around the performance of the Friday prayer had regained momentum as a result of the Muk Dach rape affair. Accordingly, Tuorman and a few of his supporters personally told adjunct commissioner Richez that Hj. Kateur and his partisans had proclaimed their intention to perform parallel Friday prayers “at a mosque near the latter’s home [i.e. the Kaolalom mosque], thereby manifesting their intention to create a sect, of which he would be the leader, and which would be hostile to the one recognized by His Majesty the King of Cambodia”105. He called upon Richez to quash this plan. When Hj. Kateur was summoned, he promised Richez that he would remain calm. But his superior Boucly ruled that the police, being in no position to forbid people from praying, should only observe the mosque to prevent any incidents. Consequently, Richez felt compelled to inform Hj. Kateur that he was free to do as he pleased but made him promise not to provoke any incidents. In turn, the Khmer police brigadier Deng was entrusted with surveilling the “Malays” in Chroy Changvar. As per his report, around fifty worshippers performed the Friday prayer at “pagoda Ounalom” (i.e. the Kaolalom mosque) on the next Friday, whereas approximately the same number congregated at the Ek mosque. This was reportedly the first case of parallel Friday prayers in the village for almost a year. Afterwards, more than a dozen of the worshippers at Kaolalom went over to Hj. Kateur’s place. Even though Deng reported no further incidents, an Indian informant in constant interaction with the local “Malays” briefed Richez about the great tension within the community. Deng also related the particular dismay of Tes Hj. Tales, now the deceased Math’s interim successor as head of the Kaolalom mosque, and the majority of villagers inhabiting the part of the village along the Mekong’s banks, that the Friday prayer had been performed at their mosque without their knowledge and without Hj. Tales’ permission. Richez, however, assured his superior that he could rely on informants from both factions106. The document’s reference to “pagoda Ounalom” is a revealing “slip of the tongue”, especially since it is hardly a unique instance in the documentation on this village’s factionalism. Indeed, it is highly illustrative of the degree to which both Khmer and French officials frequently framed intra-Muslim discord along 104 105 106

“Le Commissaire Central de Police à Monsieur l’Administrateur des Services Civils, Résident-Maire”, February 17th 1933, anc-rsc 35825. “Monsieur Richez, Gaston, Commissaire de Police Adjoint du 3ème Arrondissement à Monsieur le Commisssaire Central à Phnom Penh”, February 20th 1933, anc-rsc 35825. Ibid.

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the lines of the contemporary Mahanikay-Thommakay split in Cambodian Buddhism. Whereas customary references to mosques as pagode in French or as wat in Khmer documents are hardly startling, this deformation of Kaolalom into Ounalom is intriguing. In fact, the Thommakay faction, whose foundational dynamics bear many similarities to aspects of both Jawization and the later kaum tua/kaum muda conflict, grew directly out of a reform wing within the Mahanikay known as the mahanikay thmey (“new Mahanikay”). The similarity of this designation to the Malay/Cham terms kaum muda/phong bhaw in Cambodian Muslim discourse is striking. Of greater relevance, however, is that both the headquarters of the Mahanikay as well as the nucleus and operational basis of the Thommakay was Phnom Penh’s Wat Ounalom, which became an arena of intra-Buddhist factionalism that engaged both the royal family and the French in the 1910s and 1920s107. Thus, there can be little doubt that this particular misnomer, as well as certain discursive frames, had been carried over from Khmer Buddhism into observations of Muslim intra-religious factionalism. In addition, the (Mahanikay) supreme patriarch (sanghareach) of Cambodian Buddhism had nominated Muslim dignitaries until the death of sanghareach Tieng in 1913. Drawing such comparisons was surely not the exclusive purview of the French and Khmer authorities. Both Tuorman and Hj. Kateur were certainly aware that Tieng’s nomination had gone hand-in-hand with the official recognition of a second Buddhist “order”, namely the Siam-influenced Thommayuth. Strikingly, intra-Muslim factional strife in Khleang Sbek (Kendal), most probably along kobuol-trimeu lines, had been described by the local contenders to the Ministry of Cults in Mahanikay-Thommayuth terms already in the late 1920s108. Moreover, Tuorman and Hj. Kateur were perhaps aware that the French-supported mahanikay thmey was right at the time expanding its influence within the Mahanikay and gradually eclipsing the Thommayuth. As Edwards has emphasized, the latter aspect was prominently seen in the increasing use of “Thommakay” for the mahanikay thmey109. By observing past and contemporary issues in the development of Cambodian Buddhism, the 107

108 109

Edwards, “Making a Religion”, p. 63-85; id., Cambodge, ch. 8. Huoth That, one of its chief proponents, also claimed that the group’s self-identification with thorm thmey (“new dhamma”)/ mahanikay thmey originated in Wat Ounalom. Anne Hansen, “Modernism and Morality in the Colonial Era” in Alexandra Kent & David Chandler (eds.), People of Virtue. Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today (Copenhagen: nias Press, 2008), p. 44. “Renseignements concernant diverses déclarations faites par des chams du khum de Khléang Sbêk (Kandal)”, July 6th 1929, anc-rsc 27641. Cf. Weber, “Les Cam et les Malais du Cambodge”, p. 130-131. Edwards, Cambodge, p. 206.

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contenders must have recognized the need for French support to either gain leadership within or to subvert the existing order. Secondly, they must have learned that one might actually be able to establish his own “sect”. This, of course, casts Tuorman’s remarks about Hj. Kateur’s designs in a different light. What is more, Cambodia’s Muslims would eventually indeed split into two officially recognized Islamic communities with the establishment of KIS. But this transpired as a legacy of the less fleeting struggle between Jawization and anti-Jawization, which at Tuorman’s time was playing out as the trimeu/kobuol conflict, whereas his confrontation with Hj. Kateur was a historically inconsequential, albeit instructive, intra-trimeu affair. Expectedly, the renewal of disputes in early 1933 was reported to the résident supérieur Silvestre110. As factional discord intensified in the wake of the accusations against oknha phakes Lep, the issue of the Friday prayer regained its virulence. Throughout March 1933 various Khmer and French administrative bodies received petitions, reports and personal testimonies from both sides on the alternating Friday prayers, the formalities of canonical prayer and the embezzlement charges against the changvang Tuorman. Although no serious incidents were reported, the conflict only ended with Tuorman’s death in 1935. In August 1934 Tuorman petitioned the French to take legal measures against Hj. Kateur for wrongly accusing him of embezzlement. Stressing the damage to his standing and authority, he threatened to resign if this situation persisted111. In October 1934 Hj. Samʿūn, Math’s successor at Kaolalom, along with over sixty signatories from the mosque communities of Kaolalom and Ek, sent a jawi letter to Tuorman, informing him that Hj. Kateur’s 1932 complaint (peraduan) to the state tribunal (mahkama [kh.] “sala mahatihay”) had denounced the changvang, Mat Sales and all of the local believers performing the Friday prayers in alternating fashion for having instituted new rites (hukuman yang baharu). They further bemoaned the split resulting from Hj. Kateur’s actions and pleaded with the changvang to forward their letter to the highest state authorities. They also promised that they would abide by their just decision. Among the signatories, all but two of whom signed in jawi, were Tes Hj. Tales, the former interim head of Kaolalom, as well as Tuorman’s brother-inlaw and future successor Hj. Ismail112. Evidently, the Kaolalom mosque in 110 111

112

“LʾAdministration des Services Civils Résident-Maire de la Ville de Phnom-Penh à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur au Cambodge”, dated February 21st 1933, anc-rsc 35825. “LʾOknha Réachéa Thippedey Changvang Haji Tuman à Monsieur le Délégué du Protectorate auprès du Gouvernement Cambodgien à Phnom Penh”, dated August 11th 1934, anc-rsc 20811. The original Khmer version of the document was co-signed by Hj. Samʿūn, head of the Kaolalom mosque. Hj. Samʿūn to Tuorman, dated Rajab 1st 1353/October 10th 1934, anc-rsc 20811.

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­ articular had become contested territory. Hj. Kateur had thus sought to thwart p Hj. Samʿūn’s appointment as its head in 1932. The latter had been proposed by Tuorman and 150 other Chroy Changvar Muslims, whereas Hj. Kateur had sent a letter to the Minister of Cults urging his own appointment before that year’s royal tang tok festival, which customarily involved inter alia the oknha masphty as one of the country’s highest-ranking officials113. In November 1934 Tuorman sent a new petition to the Ministry of Cults, one that also included Hj. Samʿūn’s letter. Primarily revolving around the issue of the Friday prayer, it demanded a decision on Hj. Kateur’s charges that he and Mat Sales were “practicing a new cult not recognized by the Qurʾān” and on the embezzlement charges lodged against him. Additionally, he reiterated his threat to resign unless measures were taken to restore his dignity114. Obviously bent on complying with the changvang’s demand for a definitive settlement of the issue, Minister Chea asked the French authorities to commission the concerned agencies to gather the following information: 1) the number of “reconciled” believers at the Ek and Kaolalom mosques; 2) the number of “dissident” believers; and 3) which faction was conforming more closely to the Qurʾān’s prescriptions115. Whereas the French would have been quick to answer such a question in the kobuol/trimeu conflict, in which the latter were invariably representing the good, true or, in any case, religiously educated Muslims, they faced a conundrum with this intra-trimeu strife. Having identified Hj. Kateur as a troublemaker and nemesis of the official appointed and recognized by themselves and the king, the faction represented by Tuorman and Mat Sales eventually received their blessing, as the French colonial officials and the Khmer government ruled in their favour. Thus, in March 1935 the Cambodian Council of Ministers decided, with the explicit approval of the new resident supérieure Henri Louis Marie Richomme, that 1) all investigations against Tuorman and Mat Sales were to be terminated; 2) that severe blame was to be placed upon Hj. Kateur, who was henceforth prohibited from causing any new incidents and from petitioning the administration; 3) that the changvang’s decisions regarding the alternating Friday prayers and “the number of prostrations for each prayer being fixed at thirteen” were to remain in place; and, finally, 4) that all relevant documents were to be transmitted to the concerned juridical bodies, so they could deliver a 113 114 115

“Requête adresseé au Conseil des Ministres”, October 25th 1932, anc-rsc 35825; “Requête adresseé à le Ministre de l’Interieure et des Cultes”, November 17th 1932, anc-rsc 35825. “Requête de l’Oknha Réachéa-Thippedey ʿHadji-Tuormanʾ à son excellence, le Ministre de l’Interieur et des Cultes”, dated November 7th 1934, anc-rsc 20811. “Le Ministre de l’Interieur et des Cultes à Monsieur le Délégué du Protectorate auprès du Gouvernement Cambodgien”, November ? 1934, anc-rsc 20811.

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judgement on the changvang’s supposed embezzlement116. These decisions were reached after a thorough review of all material relative to the case at the authorities’ disposal. Again, the deliberate misreading of al-Faṭānī’s fatwa on the Mat Sales-Tuorman faction’s part was either unnoticed or deliberately overlooked. Concerning the embezzlement charge, it was noted that the changvang’s bookkeeping clearly testified to his honesty. Of particular interest for our purpose is, however, a subsidiary decision regarding Hj. Kateur’s position in religious matters. Not only was it explicitly stated that he now had to submit to the changvang’s authority in all religious matters, but he was also “to refrain from any consultations with foreigners, and [..] taking them as professors and following their doctrines”117. This measure appears to have had precedents in French policies towards Cambodian Buddhism. Thus, against the background of Buddhist factionalism, which was at least partly associated with scholarly contacts to and Buddhist education in Bangkok, as well as with Siamese cultural and political influence, the French authorities virtually barred Cambodian monks from travelling there on the basis of a 1909 royal ordinance. From 1916 onwards, they could only do so after obtaining an official authorization, the issuance of which inter alia depended upon prior graduation from the French-founded Superior Pali School in Phnom Penh118. Neither official reprimands nor attempts to restrict his contacts with foreign jawi scholars ended Hj. Kateur’s agitation. In fact, changvang Tuorman’s victory was short-lived, for he died in December 1935, only eight months after the French/Khmer ruling in his favour. Unsurprisingly, the struggle over his successor provided a new opportunity to Hj. Kateur and his faction to further their agendas. Whereas Hj. Kateur had obviously disqualified himself as a candidate, Tuorman’s brother-in-law Hj. Ismail b. Ahmad, who had acted on Tuorman’s behalf on several occasions during the latter’s final years, could apparently rely on wide support among both local believers and wider Cambodian Muslim scholarly circles. Hj. Kateur and his supporters therefore proposed the Kampong Cham scholar Kaloth Hj. Mathi as counter-candidate. Hj, Kateur 116

117 118

“Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th & April 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825; “Résidence Supérieure du Cambodge, 5ème Bureau: Dissensions religieuses entre Chams dans Chrui-Changvar, 6ème quartier de la Ville de Phnôm-Penh”, April 2nd 1935, anc-rsc 26016. “Déliberátion de la Commission Permanente du Conseil des Ministres. Objet: Dissensions religieuses entre Cham de Chrui-Changvar”, March 11th 1935, anc-rsc 35825. Hansen, “Khmer Identity”, p. 53f.; Edwards, “Making a Religion”, p. 70; Forest, “Buddhism and Reform”, p. 27.

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furnished a petition on behalf of 149 believers of the Ek mosque community, all ostensibly demanding Hj. Mathi’s nomination, and sent it to the king in March 1936. Apart from the petition’s above-mentioned emphasis that the candidate had long taught “the characters and the principles of the Malay religion” to local students, it also stressed that he instructed his students to “respect the law of the land, love its majesty and guard the loyalty towards France”119. And yet Hj. Mathi was not appointed. As Tuorman had held the post for almost three decades, the administrators conducted a thorough review of the past and present mechanisms for appointing Muslim dignitaries, particularly the changvang. Eventually, 285 members of the Chroy Changvar Ek mosque community were recorded as having solicited Hj. Ismail’s nomination, almost twice the number of those who preferred Hj. Mathi. More importantly, all ten senior leaders of major mosques and Muslim oknhas with 7-9 huban of dignity supported Hj. Ismail’s prospective appointment after consulting with the Ministry of Cults120. Among them were the oknha khnour Him Kak of Au Russey, who cannot be suspected of any pro-Jawization tendency, as well as the kobuol leaders of the Khleang Sbek/Kampong Luong area and in Chrang Chamres, for whom selecting one or another trimeu candidate was perhaps of limited relevance. Moreover, Hj. Ismail had other advantages. He was known to the administrative services, proficient in spoken and written Khmer and also knew French121. Tellingly, the fact that his house was located close to the Ministry of Cults was explicitly regarded as felicitous, in view of his assumed abilities “to easily solve arising differences in religious outlook, as had been the case in the past”. Additionally, it was duly recognized that he had acted on Tuorman’s behalf on several occasions (presumably also during the latter’s absence in the second half of 1932), and that some of his ancestors had filled positions such as chauvay srok (district governor), palace mandarin and mosque leader122. This shows that his family relations with Tuorman were representative of a Cambodian Muslim elite that was among the spearheads of Jawization. Investigations into his counter-candidate yielded less edifying results. Thus, it was soon discovered that the mastermind behind his candidacy was Hj. Kateur. Moreover, the respective petition exhibited many of the irregularities 119 120 121 122

anc-rsc, 28319 (dated March 7th 1936). “Le Ministre de l’Interieure et des Cultes à Monsieur le Délégué du Protectorate auprès du Gouvernement Cambodien”, March 16th 1936; “Délibération de la Commission permanente du Conseil des Ministres”, April 8th 1936, anc-rsc 28319. He also invariably signed even Khmer and jawi documents in elegant Roman cursive (merely as Ismail). Ibid.

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seen in the latter’s earlier petitions: coercing villagers to sign, forging signatures and fingerprints, and ostensible signatories who were either deceased or entirely unknown to the locals123. Two other aspects must be mentioned. Firstly, this incident once more reveals the strong familial scholarly contacts between Chroy Changvar and the Mekong villages of Kampong Cham. Indeed, by then Hj. Mathi had moved from Chroy Changvar to O Tram near Stung Trang (i.e. the ferry-crossing opposite Phum Trea). Moreover, Mat Sales had been born in Svay Khleang, a village also connected to Hj. Kateur’s biography. Secondly, upon discovering that the petition contained female Muslim names, the investigating French police officer asked the villagers whether women were, according to Qurʾānic precepts, allowed to involve themselves in religious matters. The response was reportedly in the negative, “as they are even forbidden from entering the mosque”124. Again, French colonial officers and local Muslims jointly laid down orthodox Muslim practice. Strikingly, after all of this negative attention, in August 1936 Hj. Kateur still had the nerve to request the résident supérieure to confer a dignitary title upon his person. In his letter he also referred to his alleged earlier working relationship with the oknha borates Phong Yismann of Svay Khleang125. This final attempt to gain official recognition and a position of community leadership failed. The new changvang Hj. Ismail also had to deal with an, admittedly minor, case of intra-community strife in Chroy Changvar in 1939, which involved some actors already known to us, including Hj. Kateur’s erstwhile supporter oknha phakes Lep and his contender Hj. Samʿūn. It is thus reasonable to regard the affair as an aftershock of these earlier disputes. Even though the conflict’s details shall not detain us further, it must be noted that Hj. Ismail’s handling of it presents him as being more skillful in conflict resolution than his predecessor. Indeed, the archival evidence shows him defending the authority of oknha phakes Lep, who had in the recent past sided, although without particular vigour, with the contending faction126. Evidently, he sought to preserve harmoninous intra-Muslim relations, especially within the dominating trimeu camp. Yet Ner’s study clearly testifies to the persistence 123 124 125 126

“Le Commissaire de Police Adjoint du 3ème Arrondissement à Monsieur le Commisssaire Central à Phnom Penh”, March 18th 1936, anc-rsc 28319. Ibid. “Hayi Katoeu à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur”, August 5th 1936, anc-rsc 26016. “Rapport d’agents”, July 26th 1939; “LʾAdministration des Services Civils Résident-Maire de la Ville de Phnom-Penh à Monsieur le Résident Supérieur au Cambodge”, July 27th 1939; “Preas Réachéa Thippedey Amat Hadji Ismael à S.E. le Ministre de l’Intérieur et des Cultes”, August 23rd 1939, anc-rsc 34000.

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of trimeu/kobuol factionalism in Chrang Chamres, Kampong Luong and Battambang during his tenure. But this appears to have played out largely without the direct involvement of either the changvang or of the French and Khmer authorities. Nevertheless, as one of the foremost representatives of official Cambodian Islam and, more pertinently, of a fully Jawisated trimeu elite, there can be no doubt that Hj. Ismail had little regard or sympathy for the koboul. 3

Conclusion

French policies of standardizing Islamic education and their assumptions about ritual, scholarly and social practices that conformed to Qurʾānic precepts (i.e. “true Islam”), clearly pro-Jawization/trimeu in character, contributed to Jawization’s victory in Cambodia. Thus, French colonial knowledge was ironically weakening localized Islamic traditions, whereas it played the exact opposite role in Panduranga, where French scholarly interest in local Cham religion and efforts to preserve artifacts of cultural memory such as monuments and manuscripts helped fortify and reinforce Cham Bani and Brahmanist identities. But even though it must have seemed to Ner that a complete victory of the trimeu (and therefore Jawization) was imminent and inevitable in the early 1940s, what evolved in subsequent decades were, despite the process’ rapid continuation and expansion until the cataclysmic 1970s, highly complex legacies of Jawization and anti-Jawization.

Introduction

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The Legacies of Jawization and Anti-Jawization So far, this study has presented some of the preconditions, vehicles and paths of Jawization in Cambodia, which represented a vast expansion of the hegemonic jawi Malay logosphere in the religious scholarly and social world of the country’s Muslims. As this went hand-in-hand with a change in script, which caused a marked disjuncture between past and contemporary local Islamic literary traditions, the very limited literary activity in Cham jawi can be only regarded as a counter-development with considerable reservation. Only the transposal of individual Cham akhar thrah texts could be classified as such. But even in this case jawi versions did not solely differ from the akhar thrah originals in script, as the process was accompanied by a Jawization of vocabulary and, frequently, also of content1. This is only natural against the background that such transposal was conducted by jawi scholars, as it was Malay jawi and not Arabic script as such that stood patron for the adaptation of Arabic letters for Cham. Nevertheless, the hegemonic jawi Malay logosphere could not completely supplant the smaller Cham and Khmer logospheres as frameworks and vehicles for preserving and further developing distinctively local Islamic discursive traditions. Moreover, Cham survived the onslaught of Jawization as the language of religious instruction and discourse in both oral and written akhar thrah form in certain pockets of resistence that function as safe havens and launch pads for anti-Jawization. Although no longer used to produce new literature, the past reliance on akhar thrah, which colonial scholarship already regarded a century ago as marked for extinction in Cambodia, as well as the preservation of some of its physical manifestations (i.e. manuscripts), has served the forces of anti-Jawization as an instrumental and highly emblematic tool in maintaining and, to a significant degree, crafting a Muslim identity unconnected to Jawization’s legacy. Whereas the kobuol, the most pronounced anti-Jawization force in the first decades of the 20th century, had disappeared as a distinctive group by the end of the colonial era, the seemingly isolated community that had formed around Au Russey’s oknha khnour would 1 In this regard, we have already referred to a Cham jawi version of the Cham epic Sep Sah Sakai, in which the hero of the story is no longer a Brahmanist but a Muslim Cham, whom his peregrinations are not only taking through the Cham realms of Kauthara and Panduranga but incidentally also to Kelantan and Terengganu.

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e­ ventually epitomize and indeed institutionalize anti-Jawization from the 1990s onwards. But prior to these recent developments there were phases in the history of Islam in Cambodia during which both Jawization and factionalism were overshadowed and even entirely arrested by political developments. For example, the independence struggle helped dissipate the trimeu/kobuol conflict, just as Lon Nol’s 1970 coup and the ensuing civil war and dk rule helped end the kaum muda/kaum tua strife. dk extermination policies brought the Cambodian jawi scholarly culture to the brink of extinction. Although the latter survived the dk era and the ensuing decade of isolation from the Malay world only to reflourish from the early 1990s onwards, Jawization’s heyday was over by then. Henceforth, it was clearly no longer the sole conceivable option for the development of local Islam.Thus, the country witnessed a resurgence of anti-Jawization. At the same time, one could now (again) approach Arabic, the Islamic supra-language per se, without the intermediary of jawi Malay, due to changes in local religious education. Indeed, Arabic, another hegemonic logosphere, was making its unmediated appearance in the country in the guise of Salafism. Likewise, the remaining past (and new) carriers of Jawization began to exhibit an increasing degree of complexity in engaging with its legacy. Strikingly, these new alternatives have precipitated a new wave of factionalism that many observers have erroneously regarded as unprecedented. The present study, which has demonstrated the contrary, will now briefly touch upon this array of issues and developments in the following overview of the legacies of Jawization and anti-Jawization. 1

Expansion, Stagnation and near Obliteration after Independence

Jawization continued well into the era after Cambodia’s independence in 1953. Indeed, it witnessed its greatest expansion until 1970, due to the activities of its major local agents scattered throughout the country’s provinces. Among these figures were Mat Sales Haroun in Phum Trea, Abu Talep in Chroy Metrey, Li Musa in Svay Khleang, his kaum tua contenders in Amphil and Chumnik, the scholars of Speu, Hj. Srong Yousos in Chrang Chamres, Hj. Sulaiman Shukry of Chroy Changvar, Hj. Math Zayn of Norea and Hj. Ahmad in Kampot2. Most 2 Hj. Ahmad was identified in the 1960s as one of the country’s leading Muslim scholars, boasting ten years of education in Mecca. Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 21 n. 1. In all probability a product of the Kelantan-Patani network, he was presmubly the main anchor for jawi education in Kampot province of the day.

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of them remained influential teachers who drew students from far and wide until 1970. Especially concerning Mat Sales Haroun, we have seen how his network of students represented and facilitated Jawization’s spread into areas such as central Thbaung Khmum, which was far removed from the Mekong and its centers of jawi learning. Yet its expansion was temporarily checked by the independence struggle and then by the civil war between Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic (1970-1975) and the royalist and communist resistance, for politics and military engagement now took precedence. Contrary to the first phase of stagnation, which was followed by a period of reflowering, the second phase saw the dk regime’s near obliteration of jawi scholarly culture. 1.1 Islam Submerged in Politics: The Case of Mat Sales Haroun The nearly inescapable pull of the anti-French political struggle after the Japanese occupation (1941-1945) is most illustratively represented by the case of Phum Trea’s luminary Mat Sales Haroun, although two contending yet equally instructive versions of those years have been recorded in local memory. One account, recorded by Jaspan in the late 1960s and tallying with the version relayed to me by some of his surviving students, contends that the local fighters of the Khmer Issarak (“Khmer independence”) irredentist movement abducted Mat Sales Haroun. Regarding him as one of the area’s most influential Chams, they made him write letters and propaganda pamphlets to the Muslim community3. After his eventual escape, “it was agreed by the French authorities that he be permitted to go to Mecca, as it was difficult to ensure his safety if he remained in Phum Trea. He died in Mecca three months after his arrival there, of a broken heart, it is said”4. 3 “I. Haji Mohamed Saleh”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2; personal communication with Imam Yunus, b. 1930, former student of Mat Sales Haroun, at Phum Roka (Kampong Cham), July 19th 2005; Hj. Saleh, born in Phum Trea in 1932, former student of Mat Sales Haroun, at Phum Trea, May 15th 2012; Muhammad Nour, b. 1929 in Phum Trea, tuon and former student of Hj. Mat Sales Haroun, at Phum Trea, May 16th 2012. According to Jaspan’s informants, this took place shortly after the end of the Second World War and the departure of the Japanese. This would seem improbably early, as the Khmer Issarak, only became more firmly entrenched in Kampong Cham from late 1948 onwards. Cf. V.M. Reddi, A History of the Cambodian Independence Movement 1863-1955 (Tirupati: Sri Venkateswara University, 1970), p. 153; Ben Kiernan, “Origins of Khmer Communism”, seaa, VIII (1981), p. 165. Still in 1952 its “mobile unit” operating in Prey Veng and Kampong Cham provinces consisted of merely 300 troops. Ibid., p. 171. Imam Yunus, who studied under Mat Sales for seven years, dated the abduction to 1950-1. 4 “I. Haji Mohamed Saleh”, jp, dja (2)/1/2. Contrary to Jaspan’s information about an escape, one former student (Imam Yunus) asserted that he was set free by the Issarak, whereas another (Muhammad Nour) said that “the French brought him back”.

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An official Khmer Republic publication in the early 1970s edited by a Cham military officer and at least partly designed to serve as propaganda for the ­regime, presents Mat Sales as a former Indochinese Communist Party (icp) hostage who was eventually allowed to go to Mecca following a hunger strike5. The clear conflation with the icp, which of course closely cooperated with but cannot be equated with the Issarak, highlights the polarized political climate of the early 1970s. As a similar climate already prevailed during the time of Jaspan’s research, perhaps determining what could and could not be said about a figure such as Mat Sales Haroun, the contending second account about his ­relationship with the Issarak is not implausible. The latter stems from a biography of Mat Ly (d. 2004), the highest-ranking Cham cadre/politician during much of the dk (until his defection in 1978) and post-dk eras, compiled by the Cham researcher Ysa Osman. Mat Ly, who had been a student of Mat Sales Haroun, related that he had voluntarily joined the Issarak with Mat Sales and several of his favourite students in 1951. As the group based itself in the forests of Thbaung Khmum, Mat Ly was entrusted with taking care of his teacher’s family for some time6. Had this indeed been the case, Mat Sales Haroun probably became disaffected and might have retrospectively regretted joining it. However, Osman contrarily and misleadingly asserts that both teacher and student only returned from the maquis with independence. Of course, it is possible that the French sent him to Mecca to neutralize him as a political threat7. It must be noted here that many representatives of the Buddhist religious spectrum also joined the Issarak, which had its own Monks’ Association8. After the general temporary break in Jawization’s spread and intensification during the independence struggle, the process regained momentum, despite the demise of Mat Sales Haroun, under the leadership of, among others, some of his former students. Moreover, all of the Cambodian students sent on Egyptian, and to a lesser degree Cambodian, scholarships to al-Azhar in the 1960s were thoroughly jawi educated and used the prestige and knowledge they 5 Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 15f. 6 Ysa Osman, “Mat Ly and His Struggle for the Cham Community”, sft, First Quarter 2004, p. 35; Kane, Dictionnaire des Khmers rouges, p. 242. According to Corfield and Summers (Historical Dictionary, p. 255), Mat Ly joined the Issarak already in 1948. 7 Cham researcher Mohamad Zain Musa, who grew up in Svay Khleang in the same district and is convinced that Cham Muslims have contributed to the Issarak struggle for independence, argued that the group was not known for recruiting men by force in his surroundings. According to him, such was only reported about the “Khmer Vietminh”, which, however, were rarely mentioned by the locals at all. Personal communication (Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, July 11th 2012). 8 Kiernan, “Origins of Khmer Communism”, p. 173.

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acquired in Cairo to further its expansion9. Both King Sihanouk and the Lon Nol regime instrumentalized the country’s Muslim community in their quest for relations with Muslim countries, especially in their contest for international recognition after Lon Nol’s coup. And so, they supported Muslim religious interests to ensure the community’s loyalty, which naturally helped further delocalize Cambodian Islam, then still primarily in the form of Jawization. The two successive rival regimes thus inadvertently propelled Jawization through scholarships, travel grants to Qurʾān recitation contests in Malaysia, delegations to international Islamic conferences and irregular support for new mosques10. But the process would hinder other, arguably less benign, political designs directed at Vietnam. Thus, Jawization and its accompanying de-diasporization of Cambodia’s Chams substantially undermined Cambodian schemes to arouse diasporic fervor among local Chams and foster an alliance between them and Vietnam’s various minority groups, most prominently its Cham, Montagnard and Khmer populations. Les Kosem, Jawization and the Cham Loss of Diasporic Consciousness Tölölyan has defined a diaspora as “a social formation engendered by catastrophic violence or, at the very least, by coerced expulsion from the homeland, followed by settlement in other countries [..], and, crucially, capped by generations of survival as a distinct community that worked hard to maintain its old identity or to create new ones that sustained its difference from the host society”11. In this regard, maintaining an old identity refers to sustaining a “culture and collective identity that preserves elements of the homeland’s 1.2

9

10

11

“Ideals and barriers in education”, jp, dja (2)/1/2; Avimor, Histoire contemporaine du Cambodge, p. 303 n. 1. This formed part of president Jamāl ʿAbd al-Nāṣir’s (d. 1970) policy of playing the “Islamic card” in foreign policy, particularly so after the foundational conference of the non-aligned movement in Bandung (Indonesia) in 1955. Hasan Madmarn, “Egypt’s Influence on the Education of Thai Muslims from the Nasser Era to the Present” in Kamaruzzaman Bustamam-Ahmad & Patrick Jory (eds.), Islamic Studies and Islamic Education in Contemporary Southeast Asia (Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan Ilmuwan, 2011), p. 2935. Strikingly, the Cambodian delegation to Bandung included the Muslim diplomat Mau Say, a native of Kbal Romeas, one of the focal points of Jawization in Kampot. Corfield and Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 255. Such state-sponsored activities were for example publicly appreciated by the changvang Res Lah on the occasion of the third congress of Cambodian Muslim officials in 1967. Avimor, Histoire contemporaine du Cambodge, p. 303 n. 1. The Lon Nol regime, for instance, advertised its dispatch of Muslim delegates to the congress of the Afro-Asian Islamic Organisation in Bandung in 1970. Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 67-74. Khachig Tölölyan, “The Contemporary Discourse of Diaspora Studies”, cssaame, XXVII (2007), p. 648.

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language, or religious, social and cultural practice”. Further identification is achieved through ongoing organized efforts to keep in contact with scattered kin communities as well as with the homeland, often accompanied by a ritualized rhetoric of return, itself constituting a constant practice of “re-turn” independent from, and until comparably recently, rarely achieved physical repatriation12. Cambodia’s Chvea Muslims hardly fulfill these conditions, for by Ner’s time they had largely lost their ancestral language and any memory of their ancestral land (apart from the general view that at least their male ancestors had originated somewhere in the Malay world). By and large, it was exclusively the preservation of Islam that marked them as different from the Khmer populace. As such, certain Chvea communities are presently the only Cambodian Muslims fully prepared to refer to themselves as Khmer Islam13, a label invented under Sihanouk’s post-independence nationalist project, according to which all members of Cambodian society had to somehow fit into different categories of Khmerness. Thus, there were the “normal” Khmers, Khmer Loeu (“Uphill Khmers”, i.e. the various Mon-Khmer and Austronesian-speaking highland peoples), Khmer Krom (“Lowland Khmers”, i.e. those living in the Mekong Delta region that had formed part of Vietnam since the 18th century) and Khmer Islam, by way of which Chams and Chvea were lumped together14. In contrast, Cambodia’s far more numerous Cham Muslims had evidently retained many of the constitutive elements of a diaspora, such as a distinct 12 13

14

Ibid., p. 649. Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 75. In 2012 self-designations varied between the typical Chvea communities of Norea (Battambang) and Tuol Ngok (Kendal). In the former, villagers referred to themselves as Chvea, whereas in the latter, they at least initially (i.e. seemingly before they realized that their interlocutor was familiar with the term Chvea), and not even then unanimously, described themselves also as Khmer Islam. Personal communication with villagers at Tuol Ngok and Norea, May 1st 2012 and May 10th-11th 2012 respectively. As present Cambodian law likewise treats Chams as a religious but not an ethnic minority, the legally and politically correct usage of Khmer Islam was found to be endorsed by a majority of Chams when speaking in Khmer, and particularly so in official contexts. Bredenberg, “Educational Marginalization”, p. 5, 10f. This, however, does not apply anymore as soon as other languages such as Cham, English, Malay or Arabic are used. During my own fieldwork, the usage of Khmer Islam label among Chams was extremely rare. The Cham directors of the website explained their name choice as a public relations strategy vis-à-vis the Khmer majority population. Personal communication with Abdul Halim Ahmad and Maryam Karim of Mercy International Foundation of Cambodia (Muʾassasat al-Raḥmat al-‛Ālamiyya fī Kambūdiyā), April 28th 2012. Delvert, Paysan cambodgien, p. 22. These terminologies were translated into law in 1954. Mohamad Zain bin Musa & Nik Hassan Suhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, The Cham Community Through the Ages (Bangi: Ikatan Ahli-Ahli Arkeologi Malaysia, 2006), p. 75 n. 1.

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language and religion, a specific script and manuscript culture as well as a greater degree of remembering their ancestral homeland and its rulers, as indicated by the preservation of traditional titles such as po. Yet, most of these facets eventually fell victim to their exchanges with local Khmer and Chvea, and particularly to Jawization. This brings us to Jawization’s political aspects and why it has been a major obstacle to efforts to reconnect Cambodian Chams with their kin in Panduranga, as well as with the highland populations regarded as past cohabitants in the Champa kingdoms, for political expediency. As discussed above, apparently only under the French did the community’s leadership come to be defined almost exclusively in religious terms, which certainly aided Jawization. Contrarily, the time immediately preceding and following the Protectorate’s establishment was still characterized by the activities and leading roles of Muslim warlords who were not necessarily detached from religious authority. In the first half of the 20th century, the changvang, as highest Muslim dignitary, assumed leadership of the country’s Muslim population. But in the independent Cambodia of the 1960s and early 1970s, the changvang Res Lah was relegated to a subordinate position vis-à-vis Muslim politicians and military men, for the most important Muslim leader during that period was the army Colonel (and later General) Les Kosem (d. 1976) of Koh Roka (Kampong Cham). His story and changing fates are highly reflective of how much Jawization alienated the Chams of Cambodia and the Delta from their co-religionists in Panduranga. Les Kosem’s grandfather had been born in Panduranga and arrived in Cambodia only in the 1880s, where he eventually became a village hakem and bore, until his death in the 1960s, the Cham po title. His gradson’s rise to prominence, however, appears to have been conceivable only against the background of Cambodia’s anti-Vietnamese policies, and thus lasted, despite the coup against Sihanouk and the accompanying regime change, into the era of the Khmer Republic. Towards the end of 1960, King Sihanouk, who would four years later rationalize his ostensibly involuntary turn towards China by saying “We do not want to suffer the fate of the Champa kingdom”15, supported the establishment of two irredentist movements in Phnom Penh to weaken Vietnam: The Front for the Liberation of Lower Cambodia (Kampuchea Krom) (flkk) and the Front for the Liberation of Champa (flc). As the flc’s founder and leader, Les Kosem began to climb the ranks. In 1961 he was appointed military governor of Phnom Penh and commander of the military intelligence service. In 1963 he became a key figure in the establishment of the Front Unifié de Lutte des Races 15

Quoted in Nazaruddin Nasution, Indonesia-Cambodia: Forging Ties through Thick and Thin (Phnom Penh: Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, 2002), p. 36.

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Opprimées (fulro), which consisted inter alia of the flkk and the flc and enjoyed considerable support from Sihanouk and Prime Minister Lon Nol16. A few years later, he also functioned, according to a us military intelligence report, as “a key official [..] in the Cambodian supply apparatus to the Vietnamese communists” and was regarded as “apparently a manipulator of the first magnitude”17. To further broaden fulro’s base, in 1964 the flc fused with Bajaraka, the already well entrenched and now co-opted Vietnamese Montagnard liberation movement and was renamed the Front for the Liberation of the High Plateaus of Champa (flhpc). This union, as well as the flhpc’s very name, had a specific ideological background – they both rested on the (still contested but then particularly expedient) assumption that historical Champa had always consisted of coastal Cham as well as uphill Montagnard populations and their respective territories. The projected liberation of Champa was thus not confined to the coastal plains. It must be noted that this view of multi-ethnic Cham kingdoms has been advocated in academic circles especially by the contemporary so-called “revisionist” French school of Cham studies, including most notably the Cham scholar and former fulro member Po Dharma18. Although their research has contributed greatly to our historical knowledge of ChamMontagnard relations, others contend that this idea of a culturally inclusive Cham “national” discourse was due to growing Vietnamese intrusiveness and thus of a comparably recent origin19. The most comprehensive review of the evolution of Cham Studies to date frankly notes – on the basis of historical sources that point to highly complex and at times quite violent Cham-Montagnard relations – that to assume “that the Cham[s] and the highlanders were always ʿone big happy familyʾ would be only somewhat less ludicrous” than post-1975 Vietnamese historiography with its downplaying of the ­consequences

16 17 18 19

Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro, p. 37-46. “nssm-152 Cambodia Military Assessment (Prepared by Ad Hoc Inter-Agency Group, Chaired by the Department of Defense for Use by the VSSG Working Group)”, April 20th 1972, p. 7f. na, 270/80/24/6 (Box 24). Bernard Gay, “Vue nouvelle sur la composition ethnique du Campa”in Actes du Séminaire sur le Campa organisé à l’Université de Copenhague, le 23 mai 1987 (Paris: Centre d’histoire et civilisations de la péninsule indochinoise1988), p. 49-58. E. Crystal, “Champa and the Study of Southeast Asia”, in Actes de la Conférence Internationale sur le Campā et le Monde Malais organisée à l’Université de Californie, Berkeley 30-31 août 1990 (Paris: Publications du Centre d’histoire et civilisations de la péninsule indochinoise, 1991), p. 65-68. A valuable recent contribution on historical Cham-Montagnards relations is William Noseworthy, “The Cham’s First Highland Souvereign: Po Romé (r. 1627-1651)” in ahp, XXVIII (2013), p. 155-203.

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of Vietnamese expansion into Cham lands20. This view of a shared history was, however, crucial to the goals of Les Kosem and fulro. fulro established its central command in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province21. Other minor bases and, importantly, some of its material and financial support networks were likewise located on Cambodian soil22. After a reshuffle of its high committee in November 1965, Les Kosem became the organization’s vice-president. His use of the Cham goddess Po (Ina) Nagar’s name as his alias emphasized both his ethno-nationalist sentiments and (hereditary) claim to leadership as po of the nagar (i.e. ruler of the state)23. While claiming royal descent was of course expedient, especially so in dealing with Chams in Panduranga and fulro’s highlander constituencies, the po label had already lost most of its relevance among those Chams more strongly exposed to or adopting Jawization. The latter were thus also less likely to fully subscribe to the idea of Cham-Montagnard unity. In 1965 a controversial History of the Cham People was released. Its authors, Dorohiem (ʿAbd al-Raḥīm) and Dohamide (ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd), originated from Chau Doc and were therefore representatives of Jawization, as was the entire Association of Cham Muslims of Vietnam (directed by Dohamide), which published the book and drew its ranks exclusively from the Cham and Chvea (jawa kur) Muslims of Saigon and Chau Doc24. The association’s sole connection to Panduranga’s Chams was its proselytizing ventures among the local Bani, which led to the Jawization of a minority of its members and the emergence of

20

21 22 23 24

Bruce M. Lockhart, “Colonial and Post-Colonial Constructions of ʿChampa⁠ʾ” in Tran Ky Phuong & Bruce M. Lockhart (eds.), The Cham of Vietnam. History, Society and Art (Singapore: nus Press, 2011), p. 37. According to fulro, the “Austrian people” (sic!, peuples austriens), a peculiar term coined to englobe both speakers of Mon-Khmer as well as Austronesian languages, was even bigger. An official document of the organization explains that “our peoples of Lower Cambodia, Champa and Kambuja-North [..] have since 1223 allied themselves in the form of a racial conferderation of the time”. Notwithstanding different languages and dialects all the peoples in question “are brothers and friends in one single system”. Le Haute Comite du fulro, “Historique”, September 20th 1964, p. 3f. Central Intelligence Agency, “The Highlanders of South Vietnam. A Review of Political Developments and Forces”, June 1966, na, cia-RDP80T01719R000300010003-8, p. 70; Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro, p. 64, 73. Charles Meyer, Derrière le sourire khmer (Paris: Librairies Plon, 1971), p. 270. I am indebted to William Noseworthy for bringing these aspects to my attention. Dorohiem & Dohamide, Dan-toc Cham luoc-su (Saigon: Tac-gia xuat-ban, 1965); “Contemporary political organization of the Cham in Vietnam”, hand-written undated sheet, jp, dja (2)/1/3; Nguyễn Minh Quang, Religious Problems in Vietnam (Hanoi: Thể Giới Publishers, 2001), p. 68-70.

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Phan Rang’s cam baruw/cam jawa community25. Even though the authors note the historically close ties between Chams and Montagnards, “they do not appear eager to include the other peoples within the [Cham] kingdom’s domain”. Moreover, they considered Champa’s culture as irretrievably lost, describing the present role of its past kings as that of “ghosts” in Cham Bani and Brahmanist religious life26 – something of which they obviously disapproved. Les Kosem and his followers declared the book a piece of South Vietnamese propaganda, and it also aroused negative reactions among fulro members in Panduranga27. Although both authors held official positions in Saigon28, Dohamide reportedly had inclinations towards Cham autonomy, albeit not along the lines envisioned by Kosem and his Cambodian supporters29. Moreover, parts of the supposed Vietnamese propaganda tract reportedly had to be deleted because the authorities took offence at its negative depictions of Minh Mang’s assimilation policies directed at the Chams30. In any case, this controversy illustrates a main dilemma faced by Les Kosem. He still took pride in presenting himself as a descendent of the last Cham king31, even though Jawization had done so much to weaken traditional Cham practices connected to the homeland’s religious and cultural spheres for more than half a century. Relevant examples are replacing akhar thrah with jawi, which largely disconnected diasporic Chams from their distinctive religious and historical literature, as well as the gradual disappearance of the po and ong (for Muslim 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

Contrarily, the Vietnamese Chams in fulro were represented by a Brahmanist Cham from Phan Rang, named Jaya Marang. Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro, p. 125. Using the medium of traditional Cham folksongs with new nationalist lyrics to rally people to fulro’s cause, he wrote lines such as: “Whenever I raise my eyes and see our temple towers, Iʾm bewildered, [..] may all Cham of our generation become conscious of the fight to defeat the Yuen [i.e. a derogatory term for Vietnamese], [..] all of us want to unite – Cham, Roglai, Jarai, Ede, Churu – as children of one womb”. “Modern Songs and Marches of Champa”, undated typescript (after 1972), jp, dja (2)/1/1. Lockhart, “Colonial and Post-Colonial Constructions”, p. 14f. Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro, p. 90f. Dorohiem was director of one of the bureaus of the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities. “Autobiography of Nara Vija”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/3. “Contemporary political organization of the Cham in Vietnam”, jp, dja (2)/1/3. Personal communication with Abdul Halim b. Ahmad, nephew of a Bani imam and son of one of the first Cham Jawa of Phan Rang (Phnom Penh, April 28th 2012). According to his family genealogy, as related to M.A. Jaspan in the late 1960s, the greatgrandfather of his own grandfather Li Les, who arrived in Cambodia as a child, had been the last king of Champa. Untitled & undated hand-written sheet, jp, dja (2)/1/3. The last recorded ruler of Panduranga was Po Phauk Tha. Po Dharma, Le Pānduranga, I, p. 105-118. According to Les Kosem’s brother, the family instead descends from the deified 16th century Cham king Po Rome. Personal communication with Les Sary, brother of Les Kosem, Phnom Penh, April 29th 2012.

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religious functionaries) titles and the muk kei ancestor cult and the rija dance rituals. Against this background, we must consider certain assertions regarding Cham religious practice in Cambodia made by Po Dharma, who lived there as a fulro member in the period 1968-1972. Contrary to the evidence presented in this study, he claimed that the majority of Cambodian Chams were still preserving manuscripts in akhar thrah, using Cham as a written language and practicing the rija dance ritual at that time32. Although Jawization had at that date, especially in areas distant from its centers, such as inland Thbaung Khmum, which borders Vietnam and where Po Dharma probably spent most of his time, certainly not yet obliterated all ritual practices such as rija, they were presumably far less commonly performed than he suggested. Tuon Him, born 1942 in Kor (Thbaung Khmum) and a prominent religious scholar who talked freely about traditional Cham practices, commented that in his childhood some elderly people could still read akhar thrah and that he had heard about, but never seen, an actual rija performance33. Such was perhaps part of the transition to Jawization in many of Thbaung Khmum’s villages. As regards the crucial change of script associated with Jawization, fulro began publishing manuals for the study of Cham script in Panduranga34. That Cambodian Chams were not equally targeted is revealing. Moreover, Po Dharma had to concede that even Bani newcomers from Vietnam (perhaps arriving with fulro) regarded local “Malays” as exemplary Muslims and were therefore “prone to listen to their instruction – which is delivered in Malay [..] – and to submit to their rules”35. Thus, fulro may have ironically exposed some Cham Bani barely touched by Jawization to the very process that was hindering the (mental) re-turn of many Cambodian Chams towards their kin in 32 33

34 35

Po Dharma, “Notes sur les Caṃ”, p. 107-111. Personal communication (Chrang Chamres, May 8th 2012). As rija is conventionally linked by scholarship to the traditional mak yong dance theater of Kelantan and Patani, also the latter’s fate in the era of Jawization is of interest. Hallmarks in this respect are the efforts at bringing mak yong performers into line with jawi scholarly culture of Tengku Temenggong Long Abdul Gaffar (1879-1935, a son of Sultan Muhammad II, under whom Kelantan’s pondok system began to flourish), who is said to have required people involved in mak yong to attend religious classes at the Masjid Muhammadi on certain occasions, and the ban on its performance by the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) shortly after its electoral victory in Kelantan in 1990. Rahimidin & Sutung, Makyung, p. 7; Michael G. Peletz, Islamic Modern. Religious Courts and Cultural Politics in Malaysia (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2002), p. 229. M.A. Jaspan, “Recent Developments among the Cham of Indo-China: The Revival of Champa”, aaf, I (1970), p. 174. Po Dharma, “Notes sur les Caṃ”, p. 105.

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Panduranga. But in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, the revival of akhar thrah since the 1970s apparently resulted from the awakening of Cham national and cultural consciousness via fulro and the threat posed to local Bani and Brahmanist religion and culture by the emergence of the cam baruw/cam jawa group through the Jawization of a minority of Bani. Jaspan’s fieldwork in Kampong Cham during 1967 brings the prolonged existence of divergent parallel Islamic discursive traditions, characterized by their degree of exposure to and receptiveness of Jawization, well into focus. Just when Les Kosem was carrying out his endeavours, the kaum muda leader Li Musa presented him with a (Malay) jawi manuscript that contained a brief history of Champa. As had been the case with Dohamide and Dorohiem’s contribution to the study of Cham history, the content of this jawi manuscript would hardly have pleased the fulro leader. Perhaps based on a modern (most probably Thai) work on the history of Siam and surrounding countries, the account ends with Vijaya’s fall to the Vietnamese in 1471 (2014, according to the Siamese Buddhist calendar) and thus excludes any engagement with Bani-Brahmanist traditions or with later Cham history (including Cham-Montagnard cooperation) in Panduranga. In fact, the text states that Champa has been part of the Vietnamese state since 1471 and that the Chams are a Malay people (bangsa campa yang asal bangsa melayu)36. It is presumably no coincidence that the only contemporary jawi text known to us presents a picture of Cham history, which differs significantly from that of Cham akhar thrah manuscripts preserved in Cambodia, which are commonly replete with Bani and Brahmanist views of (particularly Pandurangan) Cham history. But this does not mean that Les Kosem failed to enlist Chams of Cambodia and the Delta, including individual Muslim religious scholars, for his endeavours. A case in point is Ton (i.e. tuon) Ai Lieng, a Cham from Chau Doc and influential fulro member who served as vice-president of the Provisional Government of the High Plateau of Champa (formed in October 1964) under a pseudonym featuring the po title. In 1967 and 1971 he was elected senator but represented only the Chams of Saigon and the Delta37. In general, it appears that Les Kosem commanded respect primarily as a political leader of the local Chams, particularly in Cambodia. Moreover, his important position in Cambodian political life and his prestige as representative of the modern-oriented

36 37

“Cham history: Ms. shewn [sic] to me by Tjegu Ly Musa”, typescript dated January 2nd 1967, jp, dja (2)/1/2. Jaspan, “Recent Developments “, p. 173; Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro, p. 112, 128, 140; “Autobiography of Nara Vija”, jp, dja (2)/1/3.

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(Francophone) Muslim elite38 turned him into a natural community leader, partly at the expense of its religious leaders. Two pieces of anecdotal evidence may suffice to illustrate this point. Les Sary, Les Kosem’s brother and companion, relates that the latter was on good terms with the religious leaders, and yet they were the ones who had to court him39. This seems to be supported by the fact that the cia listed Les Kosem as “Referent for fulro and Muslim Affairs” in Cambodia in 196740. By the early 1970s he was officially listed as counselor to the changvang Res Lah41. In 1966, however, Mat Sales Haroun’s al-Azhar-educated son-in-law, who had already visited the Chams of the Delta but not those still living in the former homeland in Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan, described Les Kosem to Jaspan in Phum Trea “as a father” (of the Chams), but would say nothing about Champa’s liberation42. The overall Cambodian political climate of that time would have, perhaps in contrast to the local surroundings, generally favoured openly welcoming such prospects. Against this, Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik, a former fulro fighter and associate of Les Kosem from Phum Trea, has argued that the religious leaders, including those of Phum Trea, were all favourably disposed towards Cham liberation (in Vietnam) and that fulro had broad support within the Muslim community43. Anything other than an in principle positive disposition towards the political prospect of alleviating their kin’s situation in the ancestral homeland would be surprising. Yet the Cambodian Chams’ interest in reconnecting with these “compatriots” has always been minimal, whereas

38

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41 42 43

Jaspan noted that the most prominent persons described to him as part of “Les Elites Chams” in 1966-7 were “Skeikh Abdullah” (i.e. changvang Res Lah), the Chrang Chamres Azhari Hj. Srong Yousos, Hj. Karim of Siam Reap and his brothers in Prek Pra and Phnom Penh (all of them hajjis) and Les Kosem. “Ideals and barriers in education”, undated typescript, jp, dja (2)/1/2. Personal communication (Phnom Penh, April 29th 2012). Central Intelligence Agency, “Intelligence Information Cable: Decision of Tribal Autonomy Movement (fulro) to reject validity of results of 25-26 June 1967 Pleiku Conference of Montagnard Representatives”, August 11th 1967, p. 9. (accessed January 16th 2012). Emphasis mine. Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 36. “Phum Trea: Inf. Suleiman bin Youssouf”, typescript dated December 12th 1966, jp, dja (2)/1/3. Personal communication with Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik and Les Sary (Phnom Penh, April 29th 2012).

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interaction within the orbit of Jawization encompassing Cambodia, the Delta, Tay Ninh and Saigon is more common, but not always free of friction44. Although Cambodian efforts to direct fulro’s activities in Vietnam continued well into the early 1970s, Les Kosem’s priorities shifted almost immediately after its patron Lon Nol ousted King Sihanouk on April 18th 1970. After Lon Nol declared a general mobilization to fight the communist insurgency, Kosem’s loyal men were integrated into the regular Cambodian army as the 5th Special Brigade (5bis[-fulro]) of the armed forces, coinciding with Kosem’s promotion to the rank of (Brigadier- and then in 1972 full) General45. Locally also known as the “Cham brigade” or the “Muslim brigade”, only one of its four battalions consisted of Montagnards and Khmer Krom; the remainder were made up of Cambodian Chams. Whether all of them had already been involved with fulro is questionable. In any case, 5bis differed from fulro in its religious connotation and Islam’s role as a unifying factor. Religion had played a marginal role within fulro, as only its Cham members (but not all) were Muslim46, whereas 5bis was defined by its predominantly Muslim character47. Ustaz Hassan, one of Cambodia’s al-Azhar graduates, featured among its commanders48. The battle-related deaths of his colleagues in leadership positions were mourned with large public funerary processions, such as the one held for Lieutenant Colonel Ros Sman (ʿUthmān b. ʿAbd al- Ra⁠ʾūf) in 1971. In addition, the (unfinished) construction of the Great Mosque of Phnom Penh was begun at that time in the city’s center near the army barracks, far from the Muslim 44

45 46 47

48

Cambodian and Vietnamese Chams from the Delta and Tay Ninh living in the usa have been described as generally “not getting along that well”. In Washington State, Vietnamese and Cambodian Chams have established separate villages near Seattle and Olympia respectively. Personal communication with Jay Willoughby (Reston, VA., April 15th & October 6th 2013). The limited number of Vietnamese Chams in Phnom Penh appears to have full acceptance only from parts of the local Muslim community. Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro, p. 136f. Personal communication with Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik (Phnom Penh, April 30th 2012). Official Khmer Republic publications speak of “the 5th Brigade [..] which consisted largely of Khmer Islam troops” and of la 5° Brigade d’Infanterie Musulmane, a former Indonesian ambassador to Cambodia of the “Islamic Brigade” and a us war photographer of the “Cham Brigade”. The Struggle Continues. An Illustrated Magazine on Cambodia, I, no. 8 (February 1975), p. 32 (anc Box 601); Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 56; Nasution, Indonesia-Cambodia, p. 52; Doreen Chen, “Fall of Phnom Penh Comes to Life in Photographer’s Eyewitness Testimony”, ctm, January 28th 2013, (last accessed March 4th 2014). Dato Ahmad Nordin, “Fate of Muslims in Kampuchea”, ih, III, nos. 6&7 (October/November 1977 – Shawal/Zulkaedah 1397), p. 11.

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suburbs of Chrang Chamres, Chroy Changvar and Prek Pra49. Les Kosem also personally donated a minbar to the mosque of his native village, Koh Roka50. Along with commanding 5bis, which soon made a name for itself as a particularly vigorous counter-insurgency force51, Les Kosem’s Muslim profile was reinforced by his other main task: to establish diplomatic relations with Muslim (majority) countries, both personally as well as via delegations of Cambodian Muslims52. As many Muslim (and specifically Arab) states had reacted negatively to the coup53, the Khmer Republic’s “Muslim diplomacy” sought to garner support by creating awareness of the local situation, particularly the communist threat and its corollary: the repression of Islam and local Muslims. Delegations were sent to other states and to the first congress of the Afro-Asian Islamic Organisation in Bandung in 1970, which eventually adopted a resolution “concerning the restoration of the religious liberities of the Cambodian Muslims” in the face of communist aggression54. One of Les Kosem’s closest associates, 5bis battalion commander Chek Brahim (d. 1975), was enlisted as a researcher on Cambodian Islam in 197355; however, the us military advisors had very different duties in mind for him, having put him on a list of officers “particularly proficient in tactics and the command of men” earlier that year56. The brochure Le Martyre des musulmans khmers, which inter alia comprehensively listed and graphically depicted communist killings of religious leaders and the destruction of mosques57, was a major fruit of his endeavors58.

49 50 51 52 53

54 55 56 57 58

Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 57f.; personal communication with former 5bis member Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik (Phnom Penh, May 12th 2012). Personal communication with Les Sary (Phnom Penh, April 29th 2012); “Koh Rokaa Village, in Srok Kompong Siem”, typescript dated December 19th 1966, jp, dja (2)/1/3. Michael Vickery, Cambodia 1975-1982 (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1999), p. 12. Note that the brigade was not split up as the author asserts. Avimor, Histoire contemporaine du Cambodge, p. 18; Po Dharma, Du flm au fulro, p. 141. Norodom Sihanouk, War and Hope. The Case for Cambodia (New York: Panthea, 1980), p. 59. A complete contemporary list of states recognizing Sihanouk’s political alliance with the future dk regime in 1974 is to be found in “grunk Representative Interviewed” (Marburg, Antiimperialistisches Informationsbulletin, May 1974, p. 22-25), JprS-TseA, no. 494 (August 15th 1974), p. 5f. Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 67-74. Osman, Oukoubah, p. 23. “Chief, medtc to MG Sosthene Fernandez, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces Khmer Republic”, January 4th 1973, na, 270/80/24/6 (Box 12). Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 7-28. “The Confession of Chek Brahim”, dc-cam, D02687; personal communication with Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik, former 5bis member and distant relative of Chek Brahim (Phnom Penh, May 12th and 14th 2012).

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In addition, two Chams from Siam Reap, Abdul Gaffar Peang Meth (b. 1944) and his brother Abdul Gaffour Peang Meth, served the Khmer Republic as ambassador to the us and as Les Kosem’s official translator, respectively. The Foreign Ministry’s staff also included three Muslims59. Abdul Gaffar’s activities resulted inter alia in a contribution that focused on the plight of the local Muslims for the un, which encapsulates the basic argument of Cambodian “Muslim diplomacy” in the following words: “Those who know the fate of the Khmer Moslems cannot but wonder what certain Arab delegations were doing at the United Nations when they voted in support of the seating of the so-called Sihanouk government controlled by the Communists”60. In the end, Lon Nol’s “Muslim diplomacy” would prove, very much to Sihanouk’s dismay, particularly successful with Malaysia and Indonesia61. Yet despite the forging of diplomatic ties with other states of the jawi ecumene, the war-stricken years of the Khmer Republic (1970-75) saw no expansion of Jawization in Cambodia, for the Khmer Rouge was already specifically targeting Islamic scholars, teachers and hakems in certain areas as a prelude to its subsequent extermination policies from late 1975 onwards. Nevertheless, even publications such as Chek Brahim’s Le Martyre des musulmans khmers testify to Jawization’s resilience. Thus, two photographs of “Qurʾānic schools” in Prek Pra and Chroy Changvar show blackboards with jawi Malay (not Arabic) writing on them62. In addition, the shift of political focus from Cham diasporicity to the religious component of Cambodian Muslim identity was arguably more in tune with the realities of Cham life there after decades of Jawization than attempts to arouse diasporic fervor for foreign affairs. It should therefore come as no surprise that fulro, the remnants of which remained active in Cambodian jungles way into 1992, developed in a different direction after its Cambodian Cham element was split off. Thus, Rhade (an Austronesian Highlander language) became the guerilla group’s lingua franca, and, despite the continued reliance on fulro’s 59 60 61

62

Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 54, 71; Corfield & Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 1f. Peang-Meth, “Islam – Another Casualty”, p. 255. “Sihanouk discusses his plans for Cambodia” (interview in Revolution Africaine, Algiers, June 8th-14th 1973, p. 20-22), jprs-tsea, no. 421 (August 1st 1973), p. 7f.; personal communication with Les Sary (Phnom Penh, April 29th 2012). Les Sary also claimed that his brother entertained good relations with the Saudi king Fayṣal (assassinated in 1975), the future king Fahd (d. 2005) and the Egyptian president Anwār al-Sādāt (assassinated 1981). Cooperation with Indonesia and the us resulted in special tactics trainings for Cambodian troops, including two dozen of Muslim soldiers of 5bis, at Batu Jajar in Indonesia. Kenneth Conboy & Kenneth Bowra, The War in Cambodia 1970-1975 (London: Osprey, 1989), p. 17, 46; personal communication with Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik, former trainee in Batu Jajar (Phnom Penh, May 12th 2012). Martyre des musulmans khmers, p. 44, 47.

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star-and-crescent flag, the Highlanders’ adherence to (predominantly evangelical) Christianity came to function as the common denominator in religious terms63. 1.3 The Extermination of the Religious Leadership under the dk Regime Shortly before Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge on April 17th 1975, Les Kosem fled the city, only to die – officially of natural causes – in Malaysia in 197664, leaving many of his close Cham associates, including Chek Brahim, who was killed at the infamous interrogation and torture center S-21, prey to the deadly revenge of the new state of Democratic Kampuchea (dk)65. Initially, Cambodian Muslims living in those districts where they were numerically strongest (e.g. Krauchhmar in Kampong Cham, Kampong Tralach in Kampong Chhnang), which also coincided with some of the most heavily usbombed areas (by itself a major incentive for joining the revolution)66, at least partly flocked to the Khmer Rouge during the fight against the Khmer Republic67, and most probably in more substantial numbers than they did to Lon Nol’s army68. Yet only in the Eastern Zone, which comprised the major Cham agglomerations along the Mekong in Kampong Cham and Kratie provinces, was a revolutionary Islamic movement set up and allowed to function for some time. Intriguingly, its leader Sos Man had both a long history of close cooperation with Vietnamese communists since his days in the Khmer Issarak69 as well as 63 64 65 66 67

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Nate Thayer, “The Forgotten Army”, feer, September 10th 1992, p. 16-22. Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 69. Les Sary described the causes of his brother’s death as obscure. Personal communication (Phnom Penh, May 14th 2012). Osman, Oukoubah, p. 20, 23-30. Kane, Dictionnaire des Khmers rouges, p. 55-57. Whereas this is well established for Krauchhmar and other Eastern Zone districts, there is comparably little evidence for Kampong Tralach. However, the singular report of a whole district of revolutionary Chams in Kampong Chhnang province, could hardly point to any other srok than Kampong Tralach. Vickery, Cambodia 1975-1982, p. 195. Chhouk Sar commune, with its strong Muslim communities around Au Russey, was already taken over by Khmer Rouge forces in 1970. Until the 1973 ban on religion in the Southwest Zone, local Muslims were willingly lending them support. Kiernan, Pol Pot Regime, p. 259. Apart from 5bis, which evidently featured a large proportion of men from Kampong Cham, only the 15th brigade, commanded by the president’s brother Lon Non, seems to have encompassed a significant number of Chams, many of which were, apparently, outstanding soldiers. “Chief, medtc to MG Sosthene Fernandez, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces Khmer Republic”, January 4th 1973, na, 270/80/24/6 (Box 12). It shall be noted, that this brigade was based at the capital and presumably drew many of its members from the wider Phnom Penh area. Conboy & Bowra, War in Cambodia, p. 36. Corfield and Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 400; Kiernan, “Orphans of Genocide”, p. 8-10.

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religious credentials. “[W]idely recognized as an elder with a distinguished background in Islam”70, he reportedly continued to practice his faith but “began to preach openly about Communism” in 1973, whilst bemoaning that Muslims “devoted too much time to religious matters”71. His son Mat Ly (d. 2004), who would become the highest-ranking Cham in dk as well as – after his desertion and triumphant return to Cambodia with the Vietnamese invasion of 1979 – in the succeeding People’s Republic of Kampuchea (prk)72, had been a student and close associate of Mat Sales Haroun. The Eastern Zone’s revolutionary Islamic movement was disbanded in 1974, when the policy of abolishing religious practice was starting to take shape there. Sos Man was purged and confined to a village73. Given their close identification with Islam, the dk ban on religion, negation of Cham ethnicity74, enforced communal eating with no respect for dietary taboos (i.e. abstention from pork; in fact, cases of coerced consumption as decisive test of trustworthiness are widely reported) and measures to Khmerize the entire society provoked resistance among the Chams. After a minor rebellious outbreak in Phum Trea in 1974, two major Cham rebellions occurred during Ramadan (September) 1975 in two other villages of Krauchhmar: Koh Phal and Svay Khleang75. As anti-dk popular uprisings were extremely rare (i.e. only two other cases of a comparable scale are known for the whole period [1975-1979])76, these were certainly troubling incidents for the zone as well as the central leadership. Thus, they may have strongly contributed to dk’s subsequent targeting of Cambodian Muslims, and specifically Chams, as a whole. As we have seen, Phum Trea and Svay Khleang were major centers of religious education and important nodes of Jawization (and, in Svay Khleang’s case, also of Islamic reformism). With Ahmad Syarhi, Koh Phal also housed a major figure of Mat Sales Haroun’s scholarly network. We may thus assume 70 71 72 73 74

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Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 12. Peang-Meth, “Islam – Another Casualty”, p. 254. Corfield and Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 255; Kane, Dictionnaire des Khmers rouges, p. 242f.; Raoul Jennar, Le clés du Cambodge (Faits et chiffres, Repères historiques, Profils cambodgiens, Cartes) (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1995), p. 136f., 226. Kiernan, “Orphans of Genocide”, p. 10. Despite frequent appeals by local cadres to Cham Muslims to take up the fight against the “imperialist-puppet regime” of Lon Nol, lest they would end up as the Champa kingdom did, the official party line, heavily enforced as the dk regime progressed, is well captured in an official document of 1978: “The Cham race was exterminated by the Vietnamese”. Accordingly, there could be no such thing as Chams in dk Cambodia. Quote from ibid., p. 9. Osman, Cham Rebellion. Kane, Dictionnaire des Khmers rouges, p. 322f.

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that, notwithstanding some of the villagers’ revolutionary predilections, including certain major Islamic scholars, religious sentiment and its associated practices were particularly strong in these villages. As their prominence rested upon their reputation as centres of Islamic learning, it should come as no surprise that such resistance should have arisen there. The dk’s repression was devastating. Both villages were depopulated, and Koh Phal was even burned down. Only 183 former residents of the latter, making up a mere ten per cent of the original population, survived the dk period. The survival rate in Svay Khleang is likewise estimated at around the same figure77. Moreover, these massacres constituted only the first highpoints of dk persecution of the country’s Muslims. Between the Khmer Rouge takeover of April 17th 1975 and the Vietnamese invasion of December 1978–January 1979, dk rule caused, according to different estimates, the deaths of from one third to one half of Cambodia’s Muslim population, and of 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians on the whole. Whereas the dk prohibition of religious practice affected all religious groups, Khmers were neither subjected to an explicit (or in some regions at least implicit) ban on their language, nor faced cases of organized dispersal of villages to the same degree, nor found themselves – in a time of chronic food shortage – forced to eat meat they considered forbidden78. But this is not the right place to contribute to the already abundant discussion of if and why Chams or Muslims were singled out collectively for persecution79. These questions have been investigated since 77 78

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Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 59, 81. Kiernan, “Orphans of Genocide”, p. 30-33; Osman, Oukoubah, p. 1-7; Howard. J. De Nike, John Quigley & Kenneth J. Robinson (eds.), Genocide in Cambodia. Documents from the Trial of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), p. 316319, 366-370, 530. Intriguingly, it was Mat Ly, who served as prosecutor in this showtrial, which tried the accused fugitives in absentia and was set up by the prk regime in 1979. Whereas Vickery has argued that Chams were neither on a general basis specifically targeted nor have suffered disproportionately under dk, most other observers hold contrary views. Kiernan and Osman are both attesting collective persecution on ethnic and religious grounds, yet differ significantly concerning the death toll among Chams (one third vis-à-vis more than half of the Cham/Muslim population). Michael Vickery, “Comments on Cham Population Figures”, bcas, XXII, no. 1 (1989), p. 31-33; id., Cambodia 1975-1982, p. 194f.; Kiernan, “Orphans of Genocide”, p. 30-33; id., “The Genocide in Cambodia, 19751979”, bcas, XXIII, no. 1 (1990), p. 35-40; Osman, Oukoubah, p. 1-7. Persecution on ethnic grounds is ruled out by Thion and, emphatically, by Heder. The latter rather points to dk’s class thinking, in which “ethnic stereotyping was fitted into a paradigm of class”. Serge Thion, “Genocide as a Political Commodity” in Ben Kiernan (ed.), Genocide and Democracy in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge, the United Nations and the International Community (New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, 1993), p. 173; Steve Heder, “Racism, Marxism, Labelling, and Genocide in Ben Kiernan’s The Pol Pot Regime”, sear, V, no. 2 (1997), p. 111-117 (quotation from p. 115). Sher, however, has aptly noted that the employed

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2014 at the un-funded Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (eccc), where the surviving top dk leaders are facing charges of genocide in its case 002/280. Suffice it to say that the apparent disproportionately high death toll among Chams and Chvea was not plainly caused by ethnic hatred, but rather arose from a combination of factors. Among those, their apparently unique reaction against the ban on religion, which made them liable to being collectively labelled as counterrevolutionary, was certainly instrumental. Likewise, their geographical distribution had adverse effects. Starting in May 1978 and known as the greatest single atrocity of the dk era (ca. 100.000 dead within six months)81, the purges in the Eastern Zone, where the cadres and population came to be largely regarded as party enemies, unfolded in the very region with the greatest Cham population. Undoubtedly, however, the regime did specifically target those members of the Muslim community who had been (or were suspected of having been) involved with the Lon Nol regime and with fulro and 5bis, as well as religious teachers and (perceived) community leaders (hakem and hajjis). The extermination policy against the latter is shockingly evident in statistics. Muslim officials of the prk estimated that only twenty out of 113 hakems, 25 out of 226 deputy hakems and 38 out of approximately 300 Muslim religious teachers survived. All but twenty of the 113 pre-dk mosques were destroyed82. Numerous copies of the Qurʾān as well as other Arabic and jawi books were collected and burned by Khmer Rouge cadres or buried by the community83. Even though

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label “petty bourgeois” was not used to refer to a distinctive class, but was rather denoting opportunistic tendencies leaning towards bourgeois views and lifestyles. Interestingly, Heder himself notes that the decisive change in dk general line (in his view towards “accelerated socialist revolution”) occurred in September 1975. Generally excluding the religious aspect from his considerations, he, however, fails to acknowledge that also the infamous Cham rebellions – most obvious signs of Cham refusal to comply with dk policies – had taken place that same month. Sacha Sher, Le Kampuchéa des “Khmers Rouges”: essai de compréhension d’un tentative de révolution (Paris: LʾHarmattan, 2004), p. 110; Heder, “Racism, Marxism, Labelling”, p. 113 n. 23. At the time of writing (mid-2017), the verdict yet remains to be issued. Cf. Philipp Bruckmayr, “Cambodian Muslims, Transnational ngos, and International Justice”, pr, XXVII (2015), p. 337-345. Ben Kiernan, “Wild Chickens, Farm Chickens, and Cormorants: The Eastern Zone under Pol Pot” in David Porter Chandler & Ben Kiernan (eds.), Revolution and its Aftermath in Kampuchea (New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asia Council, 1983), p. 138. Front d’Union pour l’Edification et la Défense de la Patrie Kampuchéenne, La communaute islamique au Kampuchea (Phnom Penh: n.p., 1983), p. 15. In Svay Khleang an impressive number of religious books was confiscated, even though some, including a copy of Tafsīr al-Jalayn, complete with hand-written notes in jawi, were buried and only retrieved in 1979. Osman, Cham Rebellion, p. 17, 91.

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the numbers of deaths might well be slightly inflated, as scholars who fled the country – many of whom only returned (if ever) in the early 1990s – were certainly not recorded, almost entire generations of jawi scholars perished. No such systematic killings were directed against Buddhist monks under dk84. The changvang Res Lah and his famed deputy Hj. Sulaiman Shukry were killed85. His second deputy, Hj. Math Sleh Slaiman, and three of his advisors were either killed or died from other causes. The greater part of the period’s major scholars did not survive. These included, among many others, such major transmitters and sustainers of Jawization as Muhammad Kachi in Chumnik, Mat Sales Haroun’s son-in-law Sulaiman b. Yusuf and others in Phum Trea, Ismail Flahi in Speu, Hj. Yusuf Awny in Kampong Thom (all former students of Mat Sakes Haroun), the kaum muda leaders Li Musa and Son Ahmad in Svay Khleang, Math Zayn in Norea, Srong Yousos in Chrang Chamres, and Abu Talep and his group in Chroy Metrey86. Muslim religious education and infrastructure had to be rebuilt from scratch after the civil war and dk rule ended. The new prk regime and its direct successor the State of Cambodia (soc), however, were widely regarded as Vietnamese puppets due to the Cold War and the Chinese-Soviet split. It was thus subjected to international isolation throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, as Western and non-socialist Arab states, and even Indonesia and Malaysia (although the latter was arguably the first country in the region to seek a dialogue with Vietnam), voted consistently for – or in any case not against – seating the ousted dk as Cambodia’s legitimate representative at the un87. After voting for the dk (and then for the alliance between the Khmer Rouge, Sihanouk and the non-communist Khmer People’s National Liberation Front [i.e. the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, established in 1982]) between 1979 and 1982, Cambodia’s seating credentials were no longer part of the un

84 85 86

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Ian Harris, Buddhism under Pol Pot (Phnom Penh: dc-cam, 2007). Hj. Sulaiman Shukry was not only an important religious official but also a renowned teacher. Thus, Les Kosem’s brother went to study with him in Chroy Changvar. Personal communication with Les Sary (Phnom Penh, May 14th 2012). Osman, Oukoubah, p. 122-124; personal communication with Tuon Him, former student of Ismail Flahi, in Chrang Chamres, May 13th 2012; with Man Seu (Hj. Musa b. Sulaiman, Deputy Province Imam of Battambang), a student of Abu Talep and his circle of scholars before his deportation to Battambang together with them, in Damspey (Battambang), May 11th 2012. Michael Haas, Genocide by Proxy: Cambodian Pawn on a Superpower Chessboard (New York: Praeger, 1991); Eva Mysliwiec, Punishing the Poor. The International Isolation of Kampuchea (Oxford: Oxfam, 1988).

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a­ ssembly’s agenda88. This only prolonged the politics of isolation towards the prk by the West and its allies. Largely cut off from vital exchange with the Malay and Muslim worlds, the community’s efforts to rebuild its religious life made only limited headway. A crucial difference, however, was that the prk regime generally allowed religious practice and even showcased the country’s Muslims to both demonstrate its tolerance of ethnic and religious minorities and denounce the dk as an illegitimate genocidal regime89. The high-ranking official Mat Ly facilitated early support for reconstructing Cambodian Islam through the Islamic Devel­ opment Bank (idb) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (oic), both headquartered in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)90. Part of their aid was allocated for purchasing books in Arabic and Malay91. Religious books, primarily Qurʾān copies but also jawi works, were initially imported from Vietnam’s Muslim community92. Only the un-monitored transitional period of 1992-1993 and the subsequent normalization and slow pacification (remnants of the Khmer Rouge only gave up in 1998) of the country93 made intensive contacts with the Muslim and Malay worlds possible. In the meantime, both had seen a significant Islamic resurgence accompanied by a diversification of transnational Islamic trends and their local expressions. Thus, Jawization quickly regained its momentum from the early 1990s onwards. Yet the activities of international Islamic organizations and movements from the Persian Gulf, South Asia and 88 89 90 91 92

93

For a complete list of credentials votings see ibid., p. 158-160. Caroline Hughes, untac in Cambodia: The Impact on Human Rights (Singapore: iseas, 1996), p. 22, 27. Seddik Taouti, “The Forgotten Muslims of Kampuchea and Viet Nam”, jimma, IV, nos. 1 & 2 (1982), p. 3-13. Ibid., p. 13 n. 10. Vu Can, “An Aspect of Reborn Kampuchea: The Community of Surviving Muslims”, vc, VIII, no. 4 (1982), p. 29; Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 85; personal communication with Imam Saly (Ali b. Musa, b. 1937 in Takeo), former Imam of Masjid Nūr al-Iḥsān in Chrang Chamres (Chrang Chamres, July 14th 2005). Hughes, untac in Cambodia; Trevor Findlay, Cambodia: The Legacy and Lessons of untac (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). The un mission temporarily brought significant numbers of soldiers and policemen from Muslim majority countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt, into the country. Their exchanges with local Muslims at times resulted in financial and technical aid for mosque building/ repair. Thus, Bangladeshi soldiers donated to maintain and expand the mosque of Stung Thmey (Siam Reap) and their Indonesian collegues raised money for the construction of a new mosque in Prek Tapeou in Takhmau (Kendal). Personal communication with Musa Soleh, province imam of Siam Reap (Stung Thmey, July 15th and 16th 2005); with toun Muhammad bin Abdulwani (Prek Tapeou, August 2nd 2005).

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Turkey ensured that Jawization was no longer the sole and self-evident path for the development of Cambodian Islam and its makers. 1.4 The Revival and Progress of Jawization in the Post-dk Era Jawization’s revival and continuation in the post-dk era generally followed three different, although closely interrelated, patterns. Firstly, Cambodian Muslims resurrected their scholarly and educational ties to Patani and Malaysia, particularly Kelantan. Likewise, Malaysian state agencies, educational institutions, Islamic ngos and socio-religious movements of various persuasions began to provide serious amounts of aid to Cambodia and Muslim affairs in the country. Building mosques and Islamic schools, as well as teaching and distributing religious literature and sacrificial animals, were major fields of activity. Secondly, the Muslim religious leadership and administration, as represented by the Muslim members of the new Department of Ethnic and Religious Minorities and especially the Mufti of Cambodia and his Province Imams throughout the country, were primarily staffed with surviving jawi scholars. Thirdly, the streams of Muslim refugees to Malaysia in the late 1970s and 1980s, who were subjected to state-directed Islamization programs such as mandatory religious education, propelled Jawization. Moreover, the great majority of these refugees chose to settle down or were settled in Kelantan and Terengganu, the last Malaysian states in which jawi continued to play a role in the public sphere also outside of religious studies. Thus, jawi once again became an obligatory subject in public schooling in both states. Moreover, members of this particular diaspora community, which has maintained strong relations with Cambodia since 1992, have exerted an important influence on their native (or ancestral) communities. We will now turn to this latter aspect. The flow of Muslim refugees from Cambodia to Malaysia began on a limited scale in the early phases of the civil war under the Khmer Republic. Gaining momentum from the Vietnamese invasion of 1979 onwards, it persisted into the late 1980s as Cambodia continued to be plagued by the conflict between the prk regime, remnants of the Khmer Rouge and the non-communist opposition. Between 1975 and 1988, almost 11.000 of them were placed in camps in the Pengkalan Chepa area of Kota Bharu. These camps were administered by the Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam Malaysia (perkim, Muslim Welfare Organization Malaysia), an ngo combining welfare and dakwah (i.e. propagation of the faith) founded in 1960 by the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman (d. 1990)94. Under its aegis, they received an education in Islam and Malay 94

. Despite its ostensible focus on Muslims on one hand and Malaysia on the other, the organization is domestically also explicitly targeting

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language, culture and custom before being allowed to work and trade outside of the camps95. In addition, camp authorities had to be satisfied with their language proficiency and Islamic knowledge (or, indeed, rather practice). In the country’s south, in the Pekan area of Pahang and Tanjung Minyak of Melaka, perkim was also heavily involved in the settlement and religious education of Cambodian Muslims96. perkim’s program of Malayization and Jawization was, particularly in Kelantan, further enhanced by the introduction of a guardianship/sponsorship scheme, whereby individual guardians/sponsors would sponsor and take care of a Cambodian migrant or family97. In Kota Bharu, the old connection between Cambodian Muslims and the local mui also appears to have played a role. The village of Bunga Emas, one of the earliest settlements of Cambodian Muslim refugees in the country, was built on land rented out by the mui98. Elsewhere local authorities supported the establishment of jawi madrasas with Malay and Cambodia-born teachers. Examples that highlight the migrant character of much of their constituencies are the Maahad Terbiah Lil Muhajirin in Bachok (Kelantan) and the Madrasah Al-Muhajirin in Bukit Datuk (Melaka). Similar schools were founded in Bukit Payong (Terengganu) and Sekukuh and Pulau Keladi in Pahang99. Even as the Malaysia-wide role of jawi

95

96

97 98

99

non-Muslims and likewise carries out activities among Muslim communities abroad, whereby Cambodia has turned into a preferred field of activity. Abdul Hamid, “Understanding the Cham Identity”, p. 236f.; Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 99-101. Part of these refugees were only hosted by perkim until they had found other states (such as the usA) granting them refugee status. Costs were covered by the unhcr. perkim, “19th perkim Annual General Meeting. perkim Grows from Strenght to Strength” & “perkim News”, ih, IV, nos. 5&6 (1979), p. 5 & p. 24. Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 105; personal communication with villagers of Sekukuh and Pulau Keladi (both Pekan, Pahang), the largest “Cambodian” villages of the state (Pulau Keladi, July 15th 2012); with Kul Ahmad and Radiah, former residents of Sekukuh (Kampot, May 6th 2012). Whereas the original population of Sekukuh predominantly hails from Kampot province, that of Pulau Keladi stems mostly from Norea (Battambang). Ibid., p. 100. Ibid., p. 102. The great majority of the approximately 130 families in Bunga Emas have roots in Battambang province (particularly Norea). Around 30 families came from Khleang Sbek (Kendal) and lesser numbers from Kampong Chhnang province (especially from Sala Lek Pram and other villages of Kampong Tralach). Personal communication with Muhammad Ali, born in Khleang Sbek (Kendal), at Bunga Emas (Kampung Penambang, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, July 20th 2012); with Asyari and Nasir, born at Norea Kraom and Norea Loeu respectively (Bunga Emas, July 26th 2012). Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 103, pl. 8&13; personal communication with villagers of Sekukuh and Pulau Keladi (both Pekan, Pahang) (Pulau Keladi, July 15th 2012).

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in religious education has weakened over the past decades, these refugees’ exposure to jawi materials appears to have been disproportionally strong due to their heavy concentration in Kelantan and Terengganu and overall close association with religious agencies and organizations. Moreover, as in earlier periods of intense Jawization marked by Kelantanese-Cambodian exchanges, Cambodian Muslims are both students and, at times, renowned local teachers. Thus, a Cambodian Cham now serves as director of the Nilam Puri (Kelantan) branch of the University of Malaya’s Akademi Pengajian Islam (Academy of Islamic Studies)100. On the other hand, two Cambodian Muslims made negative headlines as leaders of a violent deviant sect (ajaran sesat) that was crushed after their 1980 attack on a police station in Batu Pahat (Johor) injured fifteen policemen. The leaders of the group of attackers, which consisted of five Cambodians and fifteen Malays (eight of whom, including the leaders, were killed), were Mohammad Nasir Ismail and Lamin, who called themselves “Imam Mahadi” (i.e. mahdī) and “Nabi Isa” (prophet Isa/Jesus), respectively. Both had arrived in 1975 as refugees. Although the main leader was reported to speak good Malay, their alleged teachings are in certain respects reminiscent of Cambodian Cham traditions of the pre-Jawization phase. Sometime before the incident, this community had established a secluded camp to meditate and perform wird/rātib. The group contended that facing the qibla while praying was not important and that Friday prayer was not obligatory, because the true believer is in a state of constant prayer and therefore continually facing the divine regardless of the direction. Thus, its adherents stopped attending the Friday prayers. The leaders also taught that the fātiḥa did not have to be recited ­during the dawn prayer, for the qunūt was sufficient. Dressed in white (like today’s devoted kis adherents) and regarding themselves as the only true Muslims, they denounced others as munafik (hypocrites)101. Legal as well as illegal Muslim labour migration from Cambodia to Malaysia (and particularly to Kelantan), often on a temporary basis, continues unabated102. Cambodian Muslims and their descendants are now found in 100 101 102

Guérin, “Les Cam et leur ʿvéranda sur La Mecqueʾ”, p. 45. um, October 17th, 18th & 20th 1980. Guérin, “Les Cam et leur ʿvéranda sur La Mecqueʾ”, p. 37f.; personal communication with Shukry, former contract worker in Malaysia (Phum Trea, May 15th 2012); with Math Abdul Rahman, former owner of a firm hiring contract workers to Malaysia (Phnom Penh, May 12th 2012). The latter claimed to have sent over 10.000 industrial and plantation workers and housemaids (Buddhist as well as Muslim) to Malaysia. The fact that he is now running Cambodia’s first ḥalāl bakery is indicative of another aspect of Malay influence on Cambodia, namely the almost complete Halalization of Muslim consumption as

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all peninusular states and estimated to number around 60.000 people103. For some of them, being engaged in Muslim community life in Cambodia, particularly in terms of mosque building and establishing or supporting religious schools, has become an important part of relating to their native land104. Thus, besides the Cambodian Muslim community in the us, its counterpart in Malaysia apparently plays the major role in such intra-community funding from abroad105. Certain Cambodian Muslim refugees in Bunga Emas (Kota Bharu), who had been less exposed or resistant to Jawization in their native communities in Kampong Tralach, returned to their old ways after leaving the camps, as highlighted by their revival of the defining practice of praying only once a week106. In general, however, flight and labour migration have contributed to the eventual Jawization of similar communities in Cambodia. Thus, the latter has been put forward as a reason for the recent shift towards accepting the obligatory nature of the five daily prayers in certain Muslim villages located near the provincial capital of Kampot, such as Thvi107. Malaysian activity among Muslims in Cambodia since the early 1990s has been far too extensive to be discussed here thoroughly, as impressive numbers of federal as well as state government agencies, ngos and socio-religious movements have been involved. Usually combining humanitarian aid and dakwah, these have greatly contributed to Jawization’s revitalization in the country108. We will thus only discuss a few important cases. Besides the at best semi-autonomous perkim, the officially state-run Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (yadim, est. 1974)109 has been active in Cambodia. Often working

103 104

105 106 107 108

109

­pioneered in Malaysia. Johan Fischer, Proper Islamic Consumption. Shopping among the Malays in Modern Malaysia (Copenhagen: nias Press, 2008). Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 98. A similar investment boom from abroad for religious building projects has also been documented for the Khmer Buddhist spectrum. John Marston, “Clay into Stone: A ModernDay Tāpas’” in id. & Elizabeth Guthrie (eds.), History, Buddhism, and New Religious Move­ments in Cambodia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2004), p. 187-189. Personal observations during fieldwork in Cambodia in 2005, 2009 and 2012. Personal communication with Asyari and Nasir, born at Norea Kraom and Norea Loeu respectively (Bunga Emas, July 26th 2012). Personal communication with villagers and religious scholars in Thvi and Kbal Romeas (Kampot), May 6th 2012. The spectrum of Malaysian donors active in the field also includes ngos not primarily religious in nature. Thus, for example, the mosque of Boeung Ta Prom (Preah Sihanouk) was – as can be inferred from its name (Masjid Yayasan Belia Malaysia) built with funds from Yayasan Belia Malaysia (Malaysian Youth Foundation), established in 1980 by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Personal communication with Imam Ahmad Ali b. Ansri (Boeung Ta Prom, July 27th 2005). John Funston, “Malaysia” in Greg Fealy and Virginia Hooker (eds.), Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia. A Contemporary Sourcebook (Singapore: iseas, 2006), p. 55.

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with other Malaysian institutions or organizations, it focuses inter alia on building wells in destitute rural areas in combination with delivering religious lectures110. Another important player, connected to both perkim and the Saudi Arabia-based Muslim World League, is the Regional Islamic Daʿwah Council of Southeast Asia and the Pacific (riseap). Founded at a joint conference of the two former organizations in Kuala Lumpur in 1980, it characterizes its work as being “in the service of Muslim minorities” and considers Cambodia a member state111. Since 1991, riseap has dispatched Malaysia-based Cambodian Muslim graduates from Egyptian, Saudi and Malaysian institutions of religious learning to organize classes in Cambodia. Some of them eventually settled there permanently (again)112, such as al-Ustādh Yūsuf ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, a graduate of Imām Muḥammad Āl Saʿūd University’s (Riyadh) Faculty of Sharia, who recently formed part of the scholarly committee for the first Khmer translation of the Qurʾān113, and Sulaiman Ibrahim of Phum Trea, who, as leader of the Tablīghī Jamāʿat’s (tj) Cambodian branch, would become one of the most influential figures in Cambodian Islam. Unsurprisingly, organizations from Kelantan are also active. Here specific mention must be made of Yayasan Islam Kelantan (yik, Islamic Foundation of Kelantan), an organ of the state government founded in 1974. yik is particularly representative of contemporary cooperation between Malaysian and Cambodian organizations in the realm of religious education. The most ambitious project in this regard is the network of Madrasah al-Nikmah (or smu alNiʿmat al-Islāmiyyat al-Thanāwiyya) secondary schools run by the Cambodian Muslim Development Foundation (cmdf, est. 1997) since 1999. Sos Kamry, the Mufti of Cambodia, has acted as the cmdf’s prime patron and advisor since its inception. Moreover, this organization unites the great majority of Cambodian Muslim politicians and major army officers in its committees114. The Madrasah al-Nikmah schools are modelled on those operated by yik in Kelantan and ­employ the same religious curriculum, which is based on that of al-Azhar’s 110

111 112 113 114

Cf. for example the report of a “humanitarian mission” (misi kemanusiaan) to Roka Po Pram (Kampong Cham), whose participants I met in Phnom Penh. (last accessed March 12th 2014). . Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 87. Aḥmad Yaḥyā (gen. ed.), al-Qurʾān al-karīm wa tarjama maʿānīhi ilā l-lughat al-kambūdiyya (Phnom Penh: Jamʿiyyat al-Taṭwīr al-Mujtamaʿ al-Islāmī bi-Kambūdiyā, 2011). Cambodian Muslim Development Foundation (cmdf), Cambodian Muslim Development Foundation Serves the Muslim’s Community (Phnom Penh: cmdf, 2004); .

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s­ econdary school for foreign students (Maʿhad al-buʿūth al-islāmiyya)115. The best-qualified students are eligible to continue their education in Malaysia, where they can also qualify for further studies at al-Azhar. In 2004 the network boasted fourteen schools, making it the largest of its kind in the country116. Despite its heavy emphasis on Arabic, the Madrasah al-Nikmah system sprang from, and continues to nourish, intense contacts with Malay Islam117. According to Blengsli, 22 per cent of its teachers were educated in Malaysia, South Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia118. The educational background of those born before the dk era and educated solely in Cambodia often reflects the resilience of the Jawization networks discussed above. Thus, a teacher from Kampong Cham working at the network’s Nūr al-Islām school in Chroy Metrey (Kendal) has studied under Peang Ponyamin, a son of Mat Sales Haroun’s student Ahmad Syarhi of Koh Phal. Himself a student of his father and Muhammad Kachi, in the 1980s Ponyamin had drawn students from Kampong Cham, Kampot, Preah Sihanouk (Sihanoukville) and other provices, as well as from the Vietnamese jawi circuit (Chau Doc, Tay Ninh and even Phan Rang), before embarking upon a political career119. He is presently a member of the cmdf council committee, in which products of jawi education (though not necessarily religious leaders) are strongly represented. Below the level of major secondary schools, it is primarily the ordinary religious village schools that continue to teach classical jawi works, often starting with Malay versions of the Muqaddam, and to attach great value to learning Malay. Senior teachers in such schools, which usually have received some kind of support from Malaysia (books or monetary donations), are often surviving students of the above-mentioned major Cambodian scholars or linked to the pre-dk jawi scholarly networks in some other way. Besides Ponyamin, central 115

116

117 118 119

On this institution see Madmarn, “Egypt’s Influence”, p. 31f. Its model has exerted a major influence on religious education in Malaysia from 1994 onwards. Hiroko Kushimoto, “‘Azharisation’ of ʿUlama Training in Malaysia” in Masooda Bano & Keiko Sakurai (eds.), Shaping Global Islamic Discourses. The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2015), p. 198f., 210. Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 189f., 194.; Bruckmayr, “Cham Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 11. In 2012 the network had 12 schools with an apparently substantial number of changes in locations since 2004. cmdf, cmdf Serves, p. 10; “Pendidikan di SMU al-Niʾmah al-Islamiyah”, pgmk, January 22nd 2012, (last accessed March 15th 2014). Moreover, also in Malaysia many al-Azhar graduates have finally found employment in government schools through programs focused inter alia on instruction in jawi. Kushimoto, “‘Azharisation’ of ʿUlama Training”, p. 211. Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 194. Personal communication with Asyari b. Adam, b. 1973 in Stung (Kaong Kang, Ponhea Kraek, Kampong Cham), teacher at Nūr al-Islām school (Chroy Metrey, May 17th 2012).

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figures in the post-dk revival of jawi education are Man Seu in Battambang as well as Zakariyya Adam and Mufti Sos Kamry in Kampong Cham. A similarly important role was played by the Kampong Cham-born al-Azhar graduates Muhammad Hasan and Tuon Him, both of whom had studied under students of Mat Sales Haroun. Each of them has taught hundreds of students since the end of the DK era. The first three are especially representative of classical jawi curricula, whereas the two latter have acquired more of a Salafi outlook in certain respects120. Moreover, Jawization’s continued resilience in Cambodia can easily be shown by referring to their formative religious education before the dk era and their post-dk careers. Man Seu (Musa b. Sulaiman), born 1953 in Chroy Metrey (Kendal), had studied in his native village with Tok Kenali’s student Abu Talep and his local circle of scholars. After surviving the dk regime as a deportee in Battambang, he chose to remain there and taught hundreds of students in Damspey. A close friend of Mufti Sos Kamry, he now serves as Battambang’s Deputy Province Imam121. Zakariyya Adam, born 1950 in Kbop (Svay Khleang, Kampong Cham), had studied under Li Musa and, as a child, witnessed his initial confrontations with the kaum tua122. In the 1980s he taught at the religious and public schools of Kbop and Prek Kout in Svay Khleang, where his religious lessons drew students from all over Krauchhmar and even from other districts. From 1984-1987, he also acted as roving teacher-preacher and served the prk regime as Secretary of Education in Krauchhmar district. Later on, he held the post of Deputy Mufti until being appointed Secretary of State in the Ministry of Religion and Cults123. At present, he is a member of parliament, vice chairperson of the initiative “Malay and Islamic World to Cambodia”, member of the Malaysian Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (i.e. the state-run institute for Malay language and culture, est. 1956) and secretary general of the Cambodian Islamic Center (cic, located in Chroy Metrey, Kendal), the country’s largest Islamic school124. Sos Kamry (Kamaruddin bin Yusuf), a son of the village imam Yusuf b. Abu Bakr, was born in Speu (Kampong Cham) in 1950. Besides attending the local elementary and secondary public schools, he also studied with the whole circle 120 121 122 123 124

This became evident in numerous discussions with the two scholars in Phnom Penh and Chrang Chamres respectively during April and May 2012. Personal communication with Man Seu, Dam Spey (Battambang), May 11th 2012. William Collins, “The Muslims of Cambodia” in Hean Sokhom (ed.), Ethnic Groups in Cambodia (Phnom Penh: Center for Advanced Study, 2009), p. 93f. Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 83-88; Mohamad Zain, “History of Education”, p. 95-98. (last accessed March 15th 2014).

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of eminent scholars in his native village. These included, most prominently, Mat Sales Haroun’s illustrious student Ismail Flahi and the second-generation Patani-Cambodian scholar Hj. Li Patani. Moreover, clearly testifying to Speu’s role as a center of jawi education in Kampong Cham, Sos Kamry studied with no fewer than four other teachers there. Aged twenty-two, he began teaching at the local public school and giving private lessons on Islam. Sufficiently educated in Khmer language and manners to pass as Khmer, he survived dk rule as a teacher of Cambodia’s national language. Between 1979 and 1996 he resumed his dual role as public school and religious teacher at Pothi En in Kampong Cham. Due to the initial chronic shortage of Islamic books, he copied a number of them by hand. Tellingly, these not only included the Qurʾān, but also al-Marbawī’s Arabic-(jawi) Malay dictionary125. In 1996 he was appointed Mufti of Cambodia. Before he had even completed his first five-year term, Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Shihamoni made it a life appointment126. Highly skilled in Malay, but not fluent in spoken Arabic127, he has produced several books in Cham jawi distributed in photo-copied form. His Mai Weʾ Drai Sembahyang of 2009 represented the first such book to be properly printed in Cambodia. In addition, he founded the Madrasah al-Nikmah network. Both Speu and Pothi En, villages closely connected to his biography, nowadays host schools of the network. When the government shut down the large Islamic school of Chroy Metrey run by the transnational Saudi ngo Umm al-Qurā following a hint from the cia in relation to terrorism charges against foreign elements from its international staff in 2003, Sos Kamry assumed control of the institution and, as general director, reopened it as the Cambodian Islamic Center in 2004 with an all-Cambodian faculty128. In 2006, he estimated the number of his students that have become imams, religious teachers or functionaries or teachers in public schools at somewhere between 150 and 300 people129. In his capacity as Mufti, he also prepares and distributes (not necessarily relied upon) Friday sermons in Cham jawi130. Imam Muhammad Hasan was born in Koh Phal (Kampong Cham) in 1940 and received his formative Islamic education with tuons there as well as in three other Kampong Cham locations, most notably with the kaum tua leader 125 126 127 128 129 130

“Catatan Perjalanan Ibnu Hasyim”, November 14th 2011, (last accessed March 16th 2014). ; personal com­munication with Tuon Him (Chrang Chamres, April 28th and May 8th 2012). Personal communication (Phnom Penh, July 20th 2005). Bruckmayr, “Cham Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 17f. Jay Willoughby, “Muslim Cambodia”, ihor (March/April 2007), p. 54. Bajunid, “Place of Jawi”, p. 138.

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Muhammad Kachi in Chumnik. From 1963 to 1968 he studied at al-Azhar. Upon his return, he taught for two years in Kratie province until the outbreak of civil war made that impossible. After the dk era, he resumed teaching and was appointed to the prestigious position of imam of Phnom Penh’s so-called International Dubai Mosque that was built in 1994 – far from the city’s Muslim suburbs – on the exact spot of the Lon Nol era’s abortive Great Mosque of Phnom Penh. Since then he has been teaching girls and boys both at the mosque and the adjacent Islamic school. He often delivers his Friday sermon in Malay and stresses the ease with which Cambodian Muslims can study Islam in Malay due to its proximity to Cham131. In early 2012 he began teaching the Qurʾān at the mosque between maghrib and ishāʾ on the basis of the first Cham jawi translation of the text132. Tuon Him (Ibrahim b. Tukang Basih), who went to al-Azhar with Muhammad Hasan, was born in Kor (Kampong Cham) in 1942 and studied in Kor, Speu and Phum Trea with scholars such as Ismail Flahi and Muhammad Kachi. Upon his return from Cairo, he taught Islam until his deportation under the dk regime. In 1979 he went to Phnom Penh and became the sole Cham member appointed to the newly established prk Department for (Ethnic and Religious) Minorities (choeunchiat pieh tech). He then served at the Ministry of Religion and Cults (est. 1992133) until 1997. Along with Sos Kamry, he was appointed (semi-official) Deputy Mufti in 1993 but withdrew four years later in protest when it became clear that the new Mufti – now invested with full governmental and royal recognition – would not be elected but appointed by decree. Tuon Him continues to act as roving teacher, particularly in rural Kampong Chhnang, for the Organization for the Protection of Muslims in Cambodia (Hayʾa Ri‛āyat al-Muslimīn fī Kambūdiyā), directed by Les Sary (i.e. Les Kosem’s brother) and the Chau Doc Cham Harul Saleh, who studied at the Islamic University of Medina from 1973-1980. In addition, he teaches female secondary school and university students at his home in the evenings. Exhibiting a locally otherwise rarely encountered vivid interest in past Cambodian Muslim scholarship, he is conducting independent research on Mat Sales Haroun and his students134.

131 132 133 134

“Catatan Perjalanan Ibnu Hasyim”, November 14th 2011, (last accessed March 16th 2014). Personal communication with Imam Muhammad Hasan (Phnom Penh, April 30th & May 14th 2012). Ian Harris, “Buddhism in Cambodia since 1993” in Pou Sothirak, Geoff Wade & Mark Hong (eds.), Cambodia: Progress and Challenges since 1991 (Singapore: iseas, 2012), p. 323. Personal communication with Tuon Him (Chrang Chamres, April 28th, May 8th and 13th 2012); with Harul Saleh (Chrang Chamres, April 28th 2012).

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Reviewing the exemplary careers in the official religious hierarchy and the ongoing teaching activities of these major surviving products of Jawization’s pre-dk networks, it should come as no surprise that much of its dynamics persisted despite the cataclysmic dk period. Moreover, the practice of pursuing religious education Kelantan, Terengganu and Patani has been revived on a significant scale. In 2003, 169 Cambodian students were registered in Kelantan’s schools and universities. At the same time, the number of their compatriots studying in pondoks in South Thailand was estimated at one hundred, whereas seven others were then attending Yala Islamic College135. Thus, also a number of Jawization’s canonical works reviewed above are still being used in Cambodia, such as Daud Patani’s Munyat al-muṣallī and Iḍāḥ al-bāb, and the Malay tafsīrs Nūr al-iḥṣān and Tafsīr al-raḥmān. Collins’ mid-1990s observation is quite revealing in this regard: “[t]he most frequently expressed reason for an interest in Patani among the Cambodian Muslims is that the most widely available and respected Qurʾanic commentaries used by both Chvea and Cham communities are by a learned ulama named Sheikh Daud”136. We are aware of who this Daud was and that – as in earlier French scholarship – “Qurʾānic commentary” must not be understood in a literal sense but rather as a generic reference to Islamic literature. Still today many Cambodian Chams, let alone Chvea, who commonly feel an even stronger attachment to things Malay, regard (jawi) Malay as a superior religious language. And thus, Malay religious linguicism persists. As one observer recently noted, there is a widespread conviction among them that “the ʿnoble languages’ of Malay and Arabic deserve to be written, whereas Cham should be reserved for oral communication”137. Despite Arabic’s ever-growing currency among the young, it is no wonder that jawi Malay works continue to figure prominently among hakems, imams and religious scholars as guides for the proper performance of rituals. Indeed, having traced Jawization’s progress in Cambodia throughout the 20th century, reports such as the one by Collins, which describes how a Cham imam brings a Malay manual for marriage ceremonies in response to enquiries about Cham family customs138, hardly reflect the rupture and loss of culture resulting from the community’s sudden arrival in the age of globalization from the early 1990s onwards. In fact, this is an example of continunity. 135 136 137 138

Guérin, “Les Cam et leur ʿvéranda sur La Mecqueʾ”, p. 46. Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 68. Jean-Michel Filippi, Recherches préliminaires sur les langues des minorités du Cambodge (Phnom Penh: unesco, 2008), p. 72. Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 66.

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Ceremonial conclusion of a marriage contract involving a Malay book (Siam Reap, 2005) Photo by author

By the same token, the present writer witnessed a Malay text on the subject fulfill the same function during a (inter-religious) wedding ceremony in Siam Reap. On that occasion, the pull and prestige of the Malay logosphere was even more conspicuous. Indeed, there was no indication that the presiding imam, a former student of Sos Kamry and graduate of the Sekolah Menengah Islam AlAmin (al-Amin Islamic Secondary School) in Gombak (Kuala Lumpur)139, needed such a manual. In fact, its presence seemed to be primarily symbolic in nature, fulfilling a more instrumental function for the assembled family members and witnesses than for the officiant. Its role as paraphernalia was made explicit when the blank sheet behind the backcover was used to write down and sign the marriage contract. Similarly, the handshakes concluding the marriage contract were exchanged above the book, which had been placed on the floor (see fig. 7)140. At Prey Thnorng Cheung in Kampot, a village until now barely touched by Jawization and therefore inter alia still associated with praying only once a 139 140

Personal communication with Musa Soleh, province imam of Siam Reap (Stung Thmey, July 15th and 16th 2005). He is of course teaching Malay, besides the Qurʾān, in his school, which was established via a donation of the ruling cpp party. Personal observation in Stung Thmey (Siam Reap), July 16th 2005. As this took place in the earliest stages of my research, which then still had a different focus, I failed to note down the title of the book.

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week141, I observed another ritual usage of a Malay text. An elderly villager read aloud – with some difficulty – from a jawi biography of the Prophet using a portable flashlight on the serambi of the mosque between maghrib and ishāʾ142. The impression that doing so served ritual or ostentatious, rather than educational, purposes was supported by the fact that nobody was paying attention. The village’s (or rather village section’s) new seemingly oversized mosque had been built only in 2006, thanks to the initiative and funds from a former villager who had migrated to the us during the Cambodian wars. Around the same time, according to observers from nearby villages, subtle and slow changes in religious practice had become perceptible there, reportedly most evident in a growing disposition towards performing the daily prayers. But so far it has had very little impact on the community’s distinctive pre-Jawization rituals. Indeed, the surrounding historical centers of Jawization such as Kbal Romeas commonly regard the lavish wedding ceremonies, which include processions with the groom mounted on a horse, as well as the related songs and dances, as peculiar143. The assumption that Jawization caused such formerly widespread marriage rituals to vanish is strongly supported by the fact that an aged informant described the long-gone wedding celebrations of the 1930s in Chumnik (Kampong Cham), which featured bearers of the now mostly extinct po, kai and set titles, in the same terms to Collins in the mid-1990s144. Another report also makes it clear that both the destruction and killings of the dk era and the dynamics of Jawization before and after the cataclysmic 1970s conspired to weaken pre-Jawization Islamic discursive traditions and practices. The elderly Kampong Cham villager who related his version of the story of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya (discussed in chapter five) explained that the village’s sole preserved akhar thrah manuscript of the legend (owned by his grandfather) had been lost during the bombings of the Lon Nol era. Moreover, scholars from Phum Trea had repeatedly arrived in the village around 1980 and 141 142 143

144

Less than ten persons, including two elderly hajjis and one young student at a tj school in Sonkhla (Southern Thailand) on a return visit, appeared for the maghrib and ishāʾ prayers on a normal weekday. Personal observation in Prey Thnorng Cheung (Kampot), May 5th 2012. Personal communication with villagers in Kbal Romeas & Prey Thnorng Cheung, May 5th 2012. Processions of the bridegroom to the bride’s house were in the past also widespread among peninsular Malays. Umaiyah, Assimilation of Bangkok-Melayu, p. 107f.; Amran Kasimin, Istiadat Berkahwinan Melayu. Satu Kajian Perbandingan (Kualam Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kementerian Pendidikan Malayisa, 1989), p. 19-22. Collins, Cham of Cambodia, p. 65. As Collins duly notes in this connection, traditional “Cham” music is nowadays only preserved among the kis of Au Russey (and in similar circumstances evidently in Prey Thnorng Cheung and other Kampot villages hitherto largely outside the domain of Jawization).

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“given sermons in the mosque condemming and rejecting all these teachings” associated with the story, such as staying in a state of constant prayer (instead of praying at set times) and therefore disregarding the importance of facing the qibla145. Apart from the extensive efforts of Malaysian state agencies and ngos and surviving jawi scholars such Sos Kamry and others in the official leadership, a transnational Islamic movement has also played a major role in sustaining and even expanding linkages to Malaysia and Southern Thailand. Notwithstanding its South Asian Ḥanafi origins146, the tj (the world’s largest transnational daʿwa movement) reached Cambodia with a decidedly jawi/Malay Shāfiʿi face147. This aspect undoubtedly facilitated its rapid evolution into a mass movement within Cambodian Islam and into the by far single most important one of its kind, within less than two decades148. It arrived with Imam Sulaiman Ibrahim, a Phum Trea native who also figured in riseap’s religious education programs in Cambodia. He returned to Cambodia in 1989, after almost two decades of exile in Vietnam, Thailand and the us149. Having received his formative education in his native village, he reportedly also studied in Vietnam in the 1970s and in Egypt in the 1980s. During the second half of the decade, he settled down in Kota Bharu, married a local woman, began to teach and became involved with the tj, which had established its first center in Kelantan in 1974150. After returning to Cambodia, where he has led the local tj ever since, he first preached in Chumnik (Kampong Cham) but soon moved his activities to Phum Trea151, where he built the vast Madrasa Ḥāfiẓ al-Qurʾān in 1992 with the help of local Muslims who had studied in Malaysia and/or migrated to the 145 146 147

148 149 150 151

Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 65. Muhammad Khalid Masud (ed.), Travellers in Faith. Studies of the Tablīghī Jamāʿat as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal (Leiden: Brill, 2000); Thomas Gugler, Mission Medina. Daʿwat-e Islāmī und Tablīġī Ǧamāʿat (Würzburg: Ergon, 2011). Henceforth the dual label “jawi/Malay” will be used, as the relevance of jawi works within what was earlier known as the jawi ecumene has naturally declined in comparison to the first half of the 20th century through Romanization in Indonesia and Malaysia. Even though this decline was less steep in Cambodia and its traditional prime points of reference in the Malay world (Patani, Kelantan and Terengganu), Malay religious literature either used in Cambodia or by Cambodian Muslims abroad, can nowadays no longer be reduced to jawi. Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 184-187. Personal communication with Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik, who knew him from childhood and met him in Chau Doc after his own escape from Cambodia in 1975 (Phnom Penh, May 14th 2012). Farish A. Noor, “Pathans to the East! The Development of the Tablighi Jama⁠ʾat Movement in Northern Malaysia and Southern Thailand”, cssaame, XXVII (2007), p. 15f. Collins, “The Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 94f.

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us152. This madrasa is commonly regarded as the country’s first new major post-dk Islamic school153. Sulaiman Ibrahim was likewise instrumental in constructing Cambodia’s largest mosque in the village, which began in 2000154. It is thus no exaggeration to say that the tj has taken over Phum Trea, one of the undisputed major centers (if not the major center) of Cambodia’s Muslim spiritual and educational geography since at least the early 20th century155. This monopolization of Islamic discourse and practice, however, has been locally contested. Indeed, smaller mosques have been established – allegedly against the tj leader’s will – in different village sections, such as Phum Trea Buon. Locals nevertheless tend to claim that “nowadays everybody here is affiliated in some way to the tj, even if not actively participating”156. From Phum Trea, the tj spread nationwide by first establishing major centers (markaz) in Prek Pra (Phnom Penh), Kbal Romeas (Kampot) and Au Chrov (Preah Sihanouk); then in Prey Pis (Kampong Chhnang); and, most recently, in Tuol Moung Thmey near Norea (Battambang). Besides Sulaiman Ibrahim, its main leaders are Ustaz Mat Nou (Muhammad Nur), director of the Phum Trea school; Dr. Tin Abdul Koyum and his brother Hj. Faisal in Prek Pra; Muhammad Ali, founder and director of the Nūr al-Hidāya school in Kbal Romeas; his younger brother Zainal (Zayn al-Abidin), founder and director of the Maʿhad al-Muhājirīn in Au Chrov; and General La Lay, the police chief of Takeo province. The network of tj schools and centers under the direction of these leaders is characterized by intensive internal networking and close connections to major tj centers in Yala (Southern Thailand) and Kuala Lumpur. In addition, it reflects the salience of Jawization within the tj on two levels. Clear patterns can be discerned in terms of domestic and transnational networking. Domestically, the school at Phum Trea is at the top of the hierarchy, whereas transnationally graduates of Phum Trea and other markaz schools proceed either to the Tablighi Dār al-‛Ulūm in Sri Petaling (Kuala Lumpur), the option favored by Muhammad Ali and his brother Zainal, or to the markaz in Yala. Individual students have pursued further studies at the movement’s main center, Delhi’s Markaz Niẓām al-Dīn, or at its Pakistani counterpart in Raiwind. In this respect, the importance of the Yala center for the tj’s transnational mission can hardly be overestimated as it is, after the national centers of India, Pakistan 152 153 154 155 156

Ibid. Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 73, 89. Bruckmayr, “Cham Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 13f. Id., “Cambodia’s Phum Trea as Mirror Image of Religious Change”, isimr, XX (2007), p. 4849. Personal communication with Shukry (Phum Trea, May 16th 2012). Other villagers between roughly 20 and 80 years of age have expressed similar opinions.

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and Bangladesh, the fourth largest in the world157. In addition, Thai chapter is considered responsible for the movement’s activities in Cambodia158. Thus, apart from its South Asian connection, this tj network is a typically jawi/Malay one. Dr. Abdul Koyum (b. 1943)159, Hj. Faisal and Gen. La Lay are of an older generation and therefore, like Sulaiman Ibrahim, pursued classical jawi education in their youth. As far as the younger generations of teachers and students are concerned, a few concrete examples may suffice to show how the network connects. Ustaz Mat Nou of Phum Trea spent seven years studying in Yala. Likewise, many other teachers at the centers in Phum Trea, Prek Pra, Prey Pis and Tuol Mong Thmey studied there as well. Those at Au Chrov and Kbal Romeas were, in turn, mostly educated first at Phum Trea and then at Sri Petaling’s Dār al-‛Ulūm. Zaynal of the Maʿhad al-Muhājirīn has studied at both Phum Trea and al-Azhar, whereas his brother currently splits his time between Kbal Romeas and Bunga Emas (Kota Bharu), where he owns a house160. At least in Phum Trea, many Arabic books are reportedly part of the curriculum. 157

158 159

160

Farish A. Noor, “The Tablighi Jama⁠ʾat as a Vehicle of (Re)Discovery: Conversion Narratives and the Appropriation of India in the Southeast Asian Tablighi Movement” in R. Michael Feener & Terenjit Sevea (eds.), Islamic Connections. Muslim Societies in South and Southeast Asia (Singapore: iseas, 2009), p. 199; Liow, “Muslim Identity, Local Networks, and Transnational Islam”, p. 1404. Alexander Horstmann, “The Tablighi Jama⁠ʾat, Transnational Islam, and the Transformation of the Self between Southern Thailand and South Asia”, cssaame, XXVII (2007), p. 39. Abdul Koyum worked as a doctor in Phnom Penh from 1965-1975, survived evacuation from the city under dk posing as Khmer, and subsequently joined the People’s Revolutionary Party of Cambodia (i.e. the direct forerunner of the ruling party cpp), where he was initially the most prominent Muslim member after Mat Ly. He supported the prk regime as a main witness to dk atrocities committed against Cambodia’s Muslims at the Revolutionary Tribunal of 1979 as well as in later official publications on the plight of the community. Personal communication with Dr. Abdul Koyum (Prek Pra, April 29th 2012); De Nike, Quigley & Robinson, Genocide in Cambodia, p. 139f., 317-320; Front d’Union, Communaute islamique, p. 45-47; Le Conseil National du Front d’Union du Kampuchéa pour l’Edification et la Défense de la Patrie, LʾIslam au Kampuchéa (Phnom Penh: n. p., 1987), p. 61; Corfield & Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 2. Personal communication with Ustaz Mat Nou (Phum Trea, July 31st 2005 & May 15th 2012); Hj. Faisal (Prek Pra, July 21st 2005); Abdul Koyum (Prek Pra, April 29th 2012); Zaynal (Au Chrov, July 27th 2005 & May 4th 2012); Muhammad Ali (Bunga Emas, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, July 20th 2012); Mat Ali, teacher at Nūr al-Hidāya school (Kbal Romeas, May 6th 2012; Kampong Cham, May 15th 2012); Ahmad, graduate of the school in Prey Pis (Phum Chongka, Kampong Chhnang, May 9th 2012); Ilyas, graduate of the school in Yala (Norea Loeu, Battambang, May 10th 2012); students of the markaz at Tuol Mong Thmey (Battambang, May 11th 2012); Zakariyya, tj group leader from Takhmau (Kendal) and attendee of markaz in Niẓām al-Dīn, Raiwind and Bangladesh in the course of khurūj (i.e. preaching missions) (Chroy Changvar, May 16th 2012).

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And yet the strong focus on exchanges with Malaysia and Southern Thailand, as well as the tj schools’ overt emphasis on Qurʾānic memorization, guarantees that – following the classical pattern of Jawization – the students are acquiring proficiency primarily in Malay, not Arabic161. This was substantiated by several encounters with former students at Cambodian tj schools and/or the markaz in Yala, who spoke very good Malay but virtually no Arabic. It has even been suggested that a school such as Maʿhad al-Muhājirīn would provide us with a “glimpse on what we believe were the curricula introduced to Cambodia in the 1940s”162. This continued emphasis on Malay/jawi in tj schools represents one aspect of the movement’s role as a sustainer of the dynamics of Jawization. Its other main characteristic is its remarkable ability to draw senior scholars and elderly Muslims into its fold. Having received a classical jawi education before the 1970s, they have joined in impressive numbers, despite the youth of most of its supporters and parts of its leadership. Senior scholars, particularly those educated under kaum tua leaders in the 1950s and 1960s, have tended to support the tj’s activities in general and actively participate in its obligatory preaching missions (khurūj), regardless of their advanced age and the fact that tj represents a departure from established Islamic practice in Cambodia in several respects. Cases in point are the khurūj missions with their strict discipline and structure, propagation of the niqāb for women and flowing robes and turban (instead of the traditional sarong and kopiah) for men and its standardized evening addresses (bayān) and readings (taʿlīm)163. Thus, a scholar such as the 80-year-old Tuon Ismail of Kampong Kendal (Kampot), who had studied with the kaum tua scholars of Phum Soai and Amphil in Kampong Cham from 195762, took it upon himself to go on khurūj164. Tuon Rosad of Phum Trea, almost the same age, even went on preaching missions to Pakse and Luang Prabang in Laos165. A few reasons can explain this phenomenon, which stands in stark contrast to the prevailing (and generally easy to substantiate) view that religious revival 161 162 163 164 165

In the Au Chrov markaz also English was taught by a senior student. Personal communication with Ramzy (Au Chrov, July 27th 2005). Since then English education seems to have been expanded. Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 192. Ibid. Muhammad Khalid Masud, “The Growth and Development of the Tablīghī Jamāʿat in India” in id. (ed.), Travellers in Faith. Studies of the Tablīghī Jamāʿat as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal (Leiden: Brill, 2000), p. 25-28. Personal communication during one of his preaching missions (Kampong Treach, Kampot, May 5th 2012). Personal communication (Phum Trea, May 15th 2012).

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movements are largely generational in nature166. Strikingly, most of these are related to Jawization and local history, as well as the present reality of intraMuslim factionalism in Cambodia. Firstly, their espousal of and entry into the Cambodian tj is evidently factilitated by their own background in jawi education. Secondly, and closely related to the first point, their memory and personal experience of the kaum tua/kaum muda conflict appear to have predisposed them to view the movement as a viable force to confront the Salafi challenge, to which representatives of the local jawi tradition have been constantly exposed to since the early 1990s. Indeed, the new intra-Muslim factionalism of the 1990s and 2000s has been essentially, though not exclusively, a tj versus Salafi affair167 and, accordingly, is perceived as an echo of the past kaum tua/kaum muda struggle by many of those who lived through it. Thus, the tj as guardian of jawi/Malay’s role in religious education, adherence to the Shāfiʿi legal school and many of the practices it (ostensibly) mandates, as well as of cherished traditional religious practices and festivities, particularly mawlid ceremonies, represents a compelling alternative and far less of a departure from old ways168. In addition, the disruptions of community life and lasting legacies of the killings under the Khmer Rouge have predisposed many villagers towards new forms of socio-religious association. Taking part in the movement’s activities, such as the weekly meetings at its centers that last from Thursday evening until at least the Friday prayer, and khurūj, gives elderly community members an enhanced sense of belonging and social relevance. Although Blengsli has noted that “the leaders of the Dakwah Tabligh [i.e. tj] in Cambodia tend to downplay their influence, while the movement’s grassroots activists tend to overestimate it”169, it is now the country’s largest Muslim movement. Even if one excludes kis and new Muslim groups such as the local Ahmadis and Shiites, many Cambodian Muslims, including the official Muslim leadership, remain outside Salafi-Tablighi factional identities. Yet many villagers, particularly those disaffected by Salafi intrusion into their religious lives, do perceive just such a dividing line; however, the situation has recently calmed 166 167 168

169

Roy, Holy Ignorance, p. 215. Agnes De Féo, “Le royaume bouddhique face au renouveau islamique”, co, LXXVIII (2005), p. 112f.; Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 188f.; Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 90f. A particularly instructive example for such dynamics is Hj. Aḥmad al-Fusānī (1902-1996) of Patani, where the situation is quite similar to Cambodia. From the 1960s onwards a strong partisan of the kaum tua, he came to espouse the tj late in his life. After having joined a forty-day khurūj, he wrote Khulāṣat al-daʿwa wa wuḍūḥ al-adilla as his final work in 1404/1984. ubp, p. 232-241. On Salafi-tj activities, contest and conflict in Southern Thailand see Liow, “Muslim Identity, Local Networks, and Transnational Islam”, p. 1396-1414. Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 185.

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down after a phase of intense strife between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s. Thus, senior tj supporters in Tuol Ngok (Kendal), where a tj-receptive mosque directly faces a Kuwait-financed Salafi mosque, broke the present intra-Muslim factionalism down into a neat factional categorization of us (i.e. “normal” Muslims, including the tj) vs. them (i.e. Salafism) by saying that “out of 400 mosques in Cambodia, the mawlid is not performed in only 50 of them [just like at the one across the street]”. Hence “they would never go to the Kuwait [i.e. Salafi] mosque”170. Indeed, this dispute now fulfills the emblematic function earlier fulfilled by the use of specific marriage formulas in kobuol/trimeu strife, the holding of alternating or parallel Friday prayers in the intra-trimeu case of 1930s Chroy Changvar, and the vocalization of the niyya and performing the talqīn over the dead in the kaum tua/kaum muda conflict. Thus, the tj is nowadays the most vocal advocate of mawlid celebrations. The movement’s relevance is also mirrored by the support it draws from a number of important cpp-affiliated Muslims171. Moreover, Imam Sulaiman Ibrahim nowadays features, besides Mufti Sos Kamry and a Malaysia-based Cham businessman and major donor, in the cmdf’s three-person High Honorable Presidency with its comprehensive linkages to Muslim politicians and high-ranking police and army officers172. As in Southern Thailand, tj chapter leaders in the villages are often developing into parallel authorities to the Mufti’s appointed hakems and imams173. The tj now carries and sustains many of Jawization’s defining aspects, even though it departs from it in one important respect. Just as the Cambodian Chams’ replacement of the akhar thrah script with Cham jawi was a significant component of this process, the movement, despite its heavy focus on Malay/jawi in education and networking with other regional tj chapters, has seemingly made no effort to guard the Cham language as an element of local Muslim culture or to distribute translations of its canonical literature in that language. As the prime goal of tj preaching and teaching is to reach all Cambodian Muslims, they have selected Khmer because not all local believers speak Cham and knowledge of it is declining among Chams living in urban settings. The importance and implications of this decision must be emphasized, as reading passages of canonical texts (taʿlīm) and delivering educational 170 171 172

173

Personal communication (Tuol Ngok, Nūr al-Salām mosque, May 1st 2012). Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 203 n. 37. (last accessed: March 19th 2014). In 2004, Sos Kamry had still functioned as sole patron and advisor of the organization above the presidency. cmdf, cmdf Serves, p. 2. Cf. Horstmann, “The Tablighi Jama⁠ʾat, Transnational Islam, and Transformation”, p. 33.

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addresses (bayān), following the maghrib, ʿishāʾ or other canonical prayers, should be regarded as another defining practice. Thanks to local activists and the impressive number of domestic and foreign tj groups traversing the country on khurūj174, taʿlīm and/or bayān are now held every evening at the majority of Cambodian mosques, except for those clearly affiliated with Salafism and/or Arab ngos175. The taʿlīm is invariably based on the Khmer (language and script) translation of Mawlānā Zakarīyā Kāndhlawī’s (d. 1982) massive Faḍāʾil-e Aʿmāl176, which has completely supplanted the Malay translations used out of necessity earlier. This Khmer translation was produced by Dr. Abdul Koyum, who began working on it upon his retirement in 2000. Basing his translation on four different translations of the Urdu original, namely jawi Malay, rumi Malay, French and English, he completed this endeavor in 2005. Consisting of seven separate works, which correspond to those of the “official” 1987 Karachi edition177, each volume was printed successively and distributed178. Once the whole set was complete, its respective parts were at times fragilely bound together in one bulky volume, sometimes using left-over book covers of Malay versions. As khurūj groups are advised to carry the book(s) with them, the individual copies one encounters are usually already worn out. The next canonical work to be translated into Khmer was Muntakhab alaḥādīth, a hadith collection compiled by Mawlānā Muhammad Yūsuf b. Ilyās Kāndhlawī (d. 1965), the tj’s second amīr (leader)179. Also consisting of several thematic parts, several hundred copies of the translated first chapter (bāb) were already circulating in 2012. Whereas Imam Sulaiman Ibrahim had requested a group of young tj activists from Takhmau (Kendal) to produce the 174 175 176

177

178 179

Such groups from abroad are mostly from Southeast or to a lesser degree from South Asia. Yet, I once encountered a group from Palestine at Chrang Chamres’ km8 mosque. Personal observation (July 8th 2009). Personal observation in mosques in the capital as well as in the provinces of Kendal, Kampot, Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampong Chhnang, Battambang and Kampong Cham, 2005, 2009 and 2012. On the compilation, structure and content of this seminal work of 20th century Islam see Muhammad Khalid Masud, “Ideology and Legitimacy” in id. (ed.), Travellers in Faith. Studies of the Tablīghī Jamāʿat as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal (Leiden: Brill, 2000), p. 81-85; Gugler, Mission Medina, 139-144. Masud, “Ideology and Legitimacy”, p. 83-85. This tallies with Malay and Indonesian versions. Farish A. Noor, “Women as the Constitutive Other? The Place and Meaning of ʿWomanʾ in the Worldview of the Tablighi Jamaʿat” in Susanne Schröter (ed.), Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia. Women’s Rights Movements, Religious Resurgence and Local Traditions (Leiden: Brill, 2013), p. 272-275. Personal communication with Dr. Abdul Koyum (Prek Pra, April 29th 2012). Masud, “Growth and Development”, p. 13-17.

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first chapter, Dr. Abdul Koyum was entrusted with translating the remaining parts180. The Cambodian tj’s full espousal of Khmer for its purposes in spoken and written form, despite some of its members’ frequently expressed fears of pollution by the Khmer majority, fits well with Roy’s observation regarding such movements: “Islamic neo-fundamentalism had no difficulty in adapting to foreign languages; it uses Arabic as a sort of religious marker that serves to give emphasis to a speech in English or French by peppering it with incantations or non-translated expressions”181. Arguably, such a mostly symbolic, ritual use of Arabic corresponds with much of “traditional” Islam in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim world. And yet the tj’s decision, which would have been unthinkable a few decades ago, shows that just as the religious and cultural changes subsumed under Jawization locally had a particular main vehicle (Malay and jawi), the local manifestation of this brand of globalized Islam also has its own. Although still closely connected to the Malay/jawi models that have increasingly dominated Cambodian Islam since the late 19th century, this clearly represents a departure. Whereas the Tablighis are contributing to the spread of a certain standard of Urdu in India and Pakistan through their routines of reading from the movement’s canonical texts182 and fulfill the same role in Southern Thailand with Malay, their Cambodian ­counterparts are doing so primarily through the “non-Islamic” language of Khmer. In contrast, Malaysia and later on Kuwait have contributed to the production and publication of Cham jawi books and translations. In 1990 the Kampong Cham scholar Ḥusayn (b.) Yaʿqūb published the first Cham jawi work: al-Fiqh al-Islāmī bi l-Lughat al-Tshāmiyya / Fiqh Tuei Bahasa Cam. A product of the outgrowths of the Mat Sales Haroun network in Thbaung Khmum and then a refugee in Malaysia, the Office of Muslim Minority Affairs of the Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (abim, the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement, est. 1971), was responsible for publishing his work. In 1999 a Vietnamese Cham named Yusuf b. Muhammad compiled and distributed a mimeographed (jawi) Qamus Melayu-Cam in Kuala Terengganu183. In 2009 the Cambodian Highest Council of Islamic Affairs (i.e. the Muftiate) under Sos Kamry released its aforementioned Cham jawi prayer manual Mai Weʾ Drai Sembahyang. Printed in Malaysia, it represents the Muftiate’s collaboration with the Yayasan Taqwa 180 181 182 183

Personal communication with Dr. Abdul Koyum (Prek Pra, April 29th 2012) and two members of the Takhmau group (Chroy Changvar, May 15th 2012). Roy, Holy Ignorance, p. 105. Gugler, Mission Medina, p. 103. Bajunid, “Place of Jawi”, p. 124, 144.

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(Devoutness Foundation) of the Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (i.e. the government-run religious council of the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, est. 1974). In 2011 the first commented Cham jawi and Khmer (language and script) full translations of the Qurʾān were published under the general editorship of the Kampong Thom-born Cham politician Ahmad Yahya and by his Cambodian Muslim Community Development Organization (Jamʿiyyat al-Taṭwīr al-Muj­ tamaʿ al-Islāmī bi-Kambūdiyā)184, in collaboration with Kuwait’s Al-Hay᾽at al-Khayriyyat al-Islāmiyyat al-ʿĀlamiyya (International Islamic Charitable Or­ ganization)185. The translation committee for the Cham jawi version consisted of twenty-two members and Ahmad Yahya. Among these, ten had graduated from various Middle Eastern universities, primarily the Islamic University of Medina (ium, est. 1961) and the Kulliyat al-Daʿwa al-Islāmiyya (College of Islamic Daʿwa in Tripoli, Libya, est. 1974). They are all young scholars who have profited from scholarship programs of international Arab and – to a lesser degree – local ngos. The remainder are presumably primarily jawi educated religious teachers in Kampong Cham (Chumnik, Svay Khleang, Phum Soai), except for two tuons from Kampong Chhnang and Kendal186. In 2012 the Samakhum Kulliyya Ḍuḥā Islām Kambūjīyā (Association of the Cambodian Dawn of Islam Insitute) in Kampong Cham, the mother organization of which has branches and schools in Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam and appears to be related to Kelantan’s ruling Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PanMalaysian Islamic Party)187, published yet another commented Cham jawi full translation of the Qurʾān. This committee consisted of nine scholars. Whereas the publication provides no data on its leader (kh. protean), ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. 184

185

186 187

A returnee from exile in the us and with the royalist funcinpec party from the very outset, he later joined the Sam Rainsy Party, whose eponymous founder had left funcinpec to engage in “real oppositional politics”. Corfield & Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 6f.; Benny Widyono, Dancing in the Shadows. Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge, and the United Nations in Cambodia (Lanham, MD.: Rownan and Littlefield, 2008), p. 178-181. Before the 2007 elections, however, he finally defected to the cpp, stating that his declared goal of working for the benefit of the Cham community could only be put into practice by affiliation to the ruling party. His ngo can be regarded as a counter-organization to cmdf, to which most other Muslim cpp politicians are affiliated. Personal communication with Ahmad Yahya (Phnom Penh, July 9th 2009). The establishment of this organization was directly inspired by the eminent Qaṭar-based Egyptian scholar Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī (b. 1926), who still serves on its board. Jonathan Benthall and Jérôme Bellion-Jourdan, The Charitable Crescent. Politics of Aid in the Muslim World (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003), p. 41. Yaḥyā, al-Qurʾān al-Karīm Lang Tuei Bahasa Cam, p. vf. Cf.  & .

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Ismāʿīl, all the others are ustādhs from/in various villages of Kampong Cham, except for one Cambodian scholar based in Terengganu188. The list of four Arabic and two Malay tafsīrs used as references includes the Tafsīr (Pimpinan) alRaḥmān189, which has been circulating in Cambodian jawi circles ever since its publication in the late 1960s. In Malaysia, the press of Bangi’s Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (ukm) published a Qamus Melayu-Cam in jawi in 2012, which will undoubtedly serve as the definitive dictionary for Cham Muslims in the orbit of Jawization for years to come. Thus, it will also reinforce the connection of Cham jawi users in Cambodia and Vietnam with Malaysia. Contrastingly, users of akhar thrah in Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan still primarily consult Aymonier and Cabaton’s 1906 Cham-French dictionary as well as Moussay’s 1971 Cham-Vietnamese-French dictionary190. The ukm Qamus was compiled by two Cambodian Chams and two Vietnamese Chams, all of whom have a firm grounding in jawi education. The former group consists of the Cham historian Mohamad Zain (b.) Musa, a grandson of the eminent oknha borates Phong Yismann of Svay Khleang, and Ahmad Hafiz Osman, an ium graduate who also has a doctorate from the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur). The latter group comprises Arifin Musa, who has a B.A. in Sharia from the International University of Africa in Khartoum, and Yusuf b. Muhammad, the compiler of the aforementioned earlier mimeographed Malay-Cham dictionary. Due to Yusuf’s leading role, it is explicitly stated that the Vietnamese style of Cham jawi, which is described as differing slightly from its Cambodian counterpart, was used191. In sum, the process of Jawization is flourishing once again with an increasing degree of complexity, although it no longer represents the only major ­avenue for religious change among Cambodian Muslims. We will now turn to other locally encountered paths, which have been particularly appealing to young Cambodian Muslims since the early 1990s. 188 189 190 191

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Nūr al-ḍuḥā, p. [iii]. Ibid., p. [iv]. Lidauer, Cham in Vietnam, p. 96f.; Gérard Moussay, Dictionnaire cam-vietnamien-français (Phan Rang: Centre Culturel Cham, 1971). Muḥammad Zayn, Yūsuf, Aḥmad & ʿĀrifīn, Qāmūs Melāyū-Čam, p. [vi]. Even though there are certainly regional variations between Cambodian and Vietnamese Cham jawi, it must be noted that even in Cambodia no entirely consistent system, particularly in the field of vowels where Cham has much more than Malay, has surfaced so far. Thus, the Muftiate’s Mai Weʾ Drai Sembahyang generally makes less orthographic distinction between Cham vowels than Ahmad Yahya’s Qurʾān translation. The vowel and diacritics register of the latter is also not matched by the ukm dictionary. Likewise, the Qurʾān translation orthographically differentiates more vowels and even consonants than the Qamus. Cf. the tables in ibid., p. [xiv-xvii]; Yaḥyā, al-Qurʾān al-Karīm Lang Tuei Bahasa Cam, p. if.

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Contending Paths and the Emergence of a New Factionalism

2.1 The Path of Salafi Arabization, Its Networks and Canons The most important non-Jawization path within contemporary Cambodian Islam is Salafism, a global Islamic trend that arrived on the heels of the unmonitored elections of 1993. It was introduced by, and is still primarily associated in Cambodia with, several transnational Islamic ngos, most of which are headquartered in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait and many of which are related to the Saudi Muslim World League (Rābiṭat al-ʿĀlam al-Islāmī, est. 1962). All of these organizations have invested heavily in mosque and school building, scholarships for Islamic studies at Middle Eastern universities and hajj bursaries. Other important Persian Gulf players from the early 1990s onwards were (and still are) the Dubai businessman ʿĪsā b. Nāṣir b. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Sirkāl and one of his associates. As their activities appear to be more narrowly focused on mosque building (twenty were built throughout the country in the 1990s) and hajj bursaries, they are far less associated with the spread of Salafism. During the 1990s, these players dotted Cambodia with “Kuwait” and “Dubai” schools and mosques192. Their international faculties, which had caused some controversy and – in one case – engendered a counter-terrorist crackdown in 2004, have been replaced by local graduates of Middle Eastern universities (above all from the ium). From the viewpoint of this study, Salafism’s crucial point of departure from Jawization lies not in its condemnation of many commonly accepted religious practices, many of which the earlier kaum muda faction had fervently criticised as well, but rather in the educational sphere. Throughout most of the 20th century, (jawi) Malay had increasingly become the prime language of religious instruction and scholarship for the majority of Cambodian Muslims. After the kobuol faction vanished, the only noteworthy exceptions to this trend with a certain measure of longevity were those villages that would eventually form the kis community, as a late institutionalization of anti-Jawization, plus a few others. Yet, in contrast to the post-dk revival of jawi and Malay in average village schools as well as in institutions of Muslim learning linked to the Muftiate, tj and various Malay ngos, the Arab-funded Salafi networks have bypassed Malay by teaching only Khmer and Arabic (and sometimes now also Cham) at these schools. Arabic is thoroughly studied, whereas Malay is usually held to be relevant only for graduates who might find it useful for conducting business. 192

De Féo, “Royaume bouddhique”, p. 107-110; Bruckmayr, “Cham Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 12f.; Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 187-189.

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These schools and their Cambodian carriers, therefore, represent an antithesis to Jawization, but not a negative reaction to it, as was/is the case with the kobuol and kis. Thus, for the first time in many decades and even outside of Cambodian anti-Jawization circles, students can now pursue sophisticated Islamic studies in the country without mastering Malay. Moreover, their link to Jawization’s canonical literature has been severed, just as the earlier adoption and discursive elevation of jawi script and Malay language and custom had severed most Cambodian Chams’ links to their distinctive Islamic discursive tradition as preserved in akhar thrah texts and oral traditions. Whereas Arabic’s role has arguably increased via schools such as the cic or the Madrasah al-Nikmah network as well, Arabization is far more decisive and exclusive in the Salafi institutions and networks. The two most important organizations behind the spread of Salafism and the Arabization of religious scholarship are from Kuwait. The Jamʿiyyat Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-Islāmiyya (Revival of Islamic Heritage Society – rihs, est. 1981) has been active in Cambodia since 1996193. In 1999 it was already educating 1300 pupils194. By 2005 it was operating eight major Islamic schools with an integrated Islamic and national secular curriculum along with a teacher training center, which is prominently located on the grounds of the Chrang Chamres km7 (Nūr al-Iḥsān) mosque and had an annual budget of over half a million dollars195. Its headquarters, as well as the country’s largest boarding school, are located at Chum Chao near Phnom Penh. The latter’s name, Maʿhad al-Shaykh al-Albānī, testifies to the strong presence of the “neo-Ahl al-Ḥadīth” strand, inspired by the eminent Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī (d. 1999), within regime-loyal Kuwaiti Salafism196. 193

194 195 196

The organization stems from the political Salafi milieu. It has, however, received state patronage and has accordingly been supportive of the Kuwaiti regime in times of political crisis. The eminent activist Salafi scholar ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd al-Khāliq (b. 1939) is regarded as its spiritual leader. Its first chairman Khālid al-Sulṭān took over the leadership of the recently founded al-Tajammuʿ al-Islāmī al-Salāfī (Salafi Islamic Gathering) party in 2000. Falah Abdullah al-Mdaires, Islamic Extremism in Kuwait. From the Muslim Brotherhood to al-Qaeda and Other Islamist Political Groups (New York: Routledge, 2010), p. 34f., 49f., 121-123. Guérin, “Les Cam et leur ʿvéranda sur La Mecqueʾ”, p. 54. Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 187f., 195. Stéphane Lacroix, “Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism” in Roel Meijer (ed.), Global Salafism. Islam’s New Religious Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), p. 77f. Interestingly, the organization’s spiritual leader ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd al-Khāliq has, however, drawn fierce criticism from some of al-Albānī’s major followers for his politicized Salafi approach. Quintan Wiktorowicz, “Anatomy of the Salafi Movement”, sct, XXIX (2006), p. 221, 224.

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The second important organization, which has reportedly begun to take the lead from rihs in local activies in recent years197, is the Jamʿiyyat al-Iṣlāḥ al-Ijtimāʿī (Social Reform Society – srs, est. 1963). Although linked from the outset to the Kuwaiti branch of the Muslim Brotherhood198, it has moved close to Salafi positions, something mirrored in the literature it distributes. In any case, it is perceived as a Salafi (as opposed to traditional Shāfiʿi) organization by local detractors and supporters199. It began operating there in 2007 by cooperating with a local partner, namely the Jamʿiyyat al-Barakat al-Khayriyya bi-Kambūdiyā (Cambodian Al-Barakah Charitable Association). By 2013 it had built 56 schools and 178 mosques nationwide200. In order to provide a brief glimpse into the Salafi networks’ workings and characteristics, as well as their departures from Cambodian jawi Islam, we will now take a closer look at two exemplary rihs network figures. In 2005, almost a quarter of the Cambodian teachers at rihs schools had studied abroad (primarily in Saudi Arabia), whereas almost a fifth of them had graduated from local rihs or other Arab-funded schools201. These percentages have doubtlessly increased since then, as its institutions are primarily staffed with internal graduates. In addition, some of them work with the Embassy of Kuwait and have set up their own organizations, which spread Salafism and Arabization at the expense of older jawi traditions. Sales Salas (Ṣalāḥ Ṣāliḥ) of Kbop (Svay Khleang, Kampong Cham), for example, studied at the rihs teacher training center in Chrang Chamres and then at the ium’s Faculty of Sharia. He is the founder and director of the Cambodian Islamic Youth Education and Training Organization (Hayʾa Tarbiyya wa Tadrīb al-Shabāb al-Islāmī fī Kambūdiyā), which runs a student dormitory with compulsory instruction in Arabic and Islam in Phnom Penh. Its teachers are mostly ium graduates, teachers at the al-Albānī Islamic Highschool in Chum Chao as well as employees of the Embassy of Kuwait202. Sales Salas and Sa 197

Personal communication with ustaz Muhammad Hasan (b. 1979), graduate of and teacher at the RIhs school at Chum Chao (Kbal Romeas, Kampot, May 5th 2012). This appears to be in accordance with its global performance. It was listed as the “highest spending” Middle Eastern charity in 2012. (last accessed March 25th 2014). 198 al-Mdaires, Islamic Extremism in Kuwait, p. 19. 199 Personal communication with both kinds of people in O Trav (Preah Sihanouk), where the organization is currently building a school (May 4th 2012); with tj supporters and Salafi detractors in Tuol Ngok (Kendal, May 1st 2012). 200 (last accessed March 25th 2014). 201 Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 195. 202 Personal communication with a group of students living at the dormitory (Phnom Penh, April 27th 2012).

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S­ alim, one of the other teachers, also formed part of the translation committee for Ahmad Yahya’s Kuwait-funded Khmer translation of the Qurʾān203. In 2012 the library of his student dormitory contained no Malay titles. Even though books particularly cherished in Salafi and Wahhābi circles such as Ibn Kathīr’s (d. 774/1373) Qurʾānic commentary al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya (held in Arabic and English) or Aysar al-Tafāsīr by Abū Bakr al-Jazāʾirī (b. 1921)204 are balanced with material such as al-Bayān fī madhhab al-Imām Shāfi‛ī of Abū Ḥusayn al-Imrānī al-Yamānī (d. 555/1160) or Wahba al-Zuḥaylī’s (b. 1932) alFiqh al-islāmī wa adillatuhū205, the library’s holdings, which are certainly representative of the network’s other institutions, were made up exclusively of Arabic books, except for one English and two Khmer titles206. Muhammad Hasan of Kampot province was born in Kbal Romeas in 1979, which, together with its sister village of Kampong Keh, had functioned as the main center of Jawization in the province in Ner’s day and still does so to a certain degree today. He was initially instructed in jawi, when he studied the Malay Muqaddam and basic fiqh texts in the village. In 1999 he enrolled in Chum Chao’s rihs school and then spent twelve years in Medina attending school and then the ium. Nowadays he is one of the teachers catering to the more than 800 students at Chum Chao207. His impressive private collection of Islamic books is entirely in Arabic and of similar make-up to the one just discussed, with the exception that it naturally features more advanced legal texts and fatwa collections. Presumably just as representative for the reading and referencing tastes of other teachers in the network, it contains the fatāwā of

203 Yaḥyā, al-Qurʾān al-karīm wa tarjama maʿānīhi ilā l-lughat al-kambūdiyya, p. vii. 204 This work was commissioned by the president of the ium as a Salafi counterpart to the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn. Johanna Pink, “Tradition and Ideology in Contemporary Sunnite Qurʾānic Exegesis: Qurʾānic commentaries from the Arab World, Turkey and Indonesia and their Interpretation of Q 5:51”, wi, L (2010), p. 18f. 205 The author is an eminent Syrian mufassir and legal scholar. The mentioned work is inter alia also used among Indonesian traditionalist scholars. Ibid., p. 17f.; Greg Fealy and Virginia Hooker (eds.), Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia. A Contemporary Sourcebook (Singapore: iseas, 2006), p. 307-310. 206 Personal observation (Phnom Penh, April 27th 2012). The Khmer titles were a brief history of the rāshidūn, published by the srs and the widely distributed Salafi ʿaqīda of Bin Bāz (d. 1999), published by a local partner of the srs through a donation from the emir of Qaṭar. Mukhtaṣar Sīrat al-Khulafāʾ al-Rāshidūn (Phnom Penh: Jamʿiyyat al-Iṣlāḥ al-Ijtimāʿī – al-Kuwayt, 2011); [ʿAbd al-Azīz b. ʿAbdallah Bin Bāz], al-ʿAqīdat al-ṣaḥīḥa wa mā yuḍāduhā (Phnom Penh: Jamʿiyyat al-Barakat al-Khayriyya bi-Kambūdiyā, 2011). 207 Personal communication with ustaz Muhammad Hasan (b. 1979), graduate of and teacher at the RIhs school at Chum Chao (Kbal Romeas, Kampot, May 5th 2012).

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Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328)208 and of the former Saudi Arabian Grand Mufti (ʿAbd al-Azīz b. ʿAbdallāh) Bin Bāz (d. 1999), a major quietist Salafi figure and patron of al-Albānī209. He also keeps and highly regards a standard text of the ium’s Faculty of Sharia that was – as seen above – used (even if only rarely) in Cambodia already in the 1930s, Ibn Rushd’s Bidāyat al-mujtahid. One can say that the teachers in the Cambodian Salafi educational networks210, and even more so their present students, were/are at best peripherally exposed to Malay/jawi in their religious studies. Moreover, their canon of Islamic literature has only very limited points of convergence with the local canon of the Jawization era, even in the sphere of Arabic books. This has some bearing on religious practice, for traditions such as studying and memorizing the sifat dua puluh are denounced as un-Islamic or at least as not prophetically validated, let alone mandated. Mawlid celebrations (a most emblematic and fierce point of controversy), various practices associated with Sufi spirituality and blind adherence to a given school of law (i.e. Shāfiʿism) are discouraged or even explicitly attacked as bidʿa211.

208 The compilation entitled Magmūʿ fatāwā Shaykh al-Islām Aḥmad Ibn Taymiyya is not a real fatwa collection as it also contains many different treatises and not just legal opinions. 209 Lacroix, “Between Revolution and Apoliticism”, p. 65-67. 210 Apart from these formal ngo-linked networks there are also more informal ones. A case in point is the one of the nowadays Phnom Penh-based pioneering Vietnamese ium gradutes Abdul Halim Ahmad and Harul Saleh, whose studies in Medina took place already from 1973 to 1980. Abdul Halim, who functioned as co-translator of the first Vietnamese Qurʾān translation, had been personally sent by Bin Bāz to the us in the 1980s to work among Indochinese Muslim refugees. He is now working for the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Islamic Affairs on yearly contracts to teach tawḥīd (a euphemism for explaining what is perceived as un-Islamic practice or doctrine and what is not) through weekly daʿwa qāfila (daʿwa caravans), primarily to rural Kampong Chhnang. In these endeavors, which are also invariably having an aid component (such as the construction of wells), he is often joined by Tuon Him. In addition, Abdul Halim selects candidates for hajj bursaries and international Qurʾān recitation competitions. In 2012 Harul Saleh was specifically engaged in teaching correct funerary rituals – as we have seen always a critical issue in religious change – in Chrang Chamres. Personal communication with Harul Saleh (Chrang Chamres, April 28th 2012); with Abdul Halim Ahmad Nguyen (Chrang Chamres/ Phnom Penh, April 28th and May 17th 2012); Ḥasan b. ‛Abd al-Karīm & ‛Abd al-Ḥalīm Njūyan (trans.), Thiên Kinh Qurʾan (Medina: Majma‛ al-Malik Fahd li-Ṭabā‛at al-Muṣḥaf al-Sharīf, 1423/2002). 211 Cf. Liow’s enumeration of contentious issues in Southern Thailand, which expectedly largely coincides with Cambodian discussions. Liow, “Muslim Identity, Local Networks, and Transnational Islam”, p. 1405.

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But like al-Albānī, the majority of Cambodian Salafis do not consider it obligatory for Muslim women to wear a face veil (niqāb)212. Yet, this stance perhaps owes more to the realities of Cambodian Muslims as a minority and the local contest with the tj than to al-Albānī. Indeed, the tj strongly encourages it and even made the niqāb compulsory in its schools. In certain areas, the confrontation between the Salafis and the heirs of Jawization, particularly the tj, has taken the form of outright factionalism. Until the Muftiate’s forceful intervention in 2006, this new factionalism often divided families and villages. Places such as Chumnik in Kampong Cham, Tuol Ngok and Khleang Sbek in Kendal, O Trav in Preah Sihanouk and Phum Buon in Koh Kong saw the establishment of contending mosques in close proximity to each other213. Elsewhere it led to the physical separation of contending congregations within the same village mosque, as epitomized by the erection of provisional walls inside the mosques of Phum Soai and Peus Pi in Kampong Cham and alternating mosque occupation for prayers in Mak in Stung Trang. In the worst cases, the conflicts led to violence, including the stabbing of an imam suspected of Salafi leanings in Phum Poeuh in Krauchhmar district (Kampong Cham)214. Notwithstanding the severity of this new factionalism, we have seen that such intra-community strife is, contrary to the views of many observers, hardly unprecedented. And thus, it cannot be blamed solely on external forces (i.e. ngos from the Gulf and the tj) and globalization. The Mufti’s government-supported pacification measures included inter alia introducing mandatory membership of hakems and imams in the 212 213

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Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Shaybānī, Ḥayāt al-Albānī wa āthāruhu wa thanāʾ al-ʿulamāʾ ʿalayhi, 2 vols. (Kuwait: Markaz al-Makhṭūṭāt wa l-Turāth wa l-Wathāʾiq, 2004), II, p. 706714. Similarly, Chrang Chamres is somewhat divided, as opponents of Salafi influence on the km7 mosque congregation have turned away from it to perform Friday prayers only at the tj-associated km8 and km9 mosques. Personal communication with Imam Saly (Ali b. Musa, b. 1937 in Takeo), former Imam of Masjid Nūr al-Iḥsān in Chrang Chamres km7 (Chrang Chamres, July 14th 2005); with Abdul Halim Ahmad (Chrang Chamres, April 28th 2012); Stephen Oʾconnell and Bou Saroeun, “Arabian zealots pour dollars into ʿpurifyingʾ Cham”, ppp, July 7th 2000. (last accessed March 26th 2014). De Féo, “Royaume bouddhique”, p. 112-114; Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 187-189; Mohamad Zain & Nik Hassan, Cham Community, p. 90; Kok-Thay, From the Khmer Rouge, p. 50; personal observation in Tuol Ngok, O Trav and Phum Buon in 2009 and 2012. Just as reseachers reported to have at times found it hard to move between the divided abangan and santri communities in rural East Java in the 1950s for being suspected by each side of sympathizing with the other, similar situations arose during my research. In Phum Buon, where the contending mosques are located right besides each other, I was asked to justify my choice of starting enquiries at one of them and not the other (July 7th 2009).

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ruling cpp215. Although tj-Salafi factionalism still persists, the situation has calmed down not least because, as one observer has commented, “the country’s mosques have by now mostly been allocated [among the contending factions]”216. The emergence or in any case greater visibility of other contending paths within Cambodian Islam has also contributed to a rapprochement between the Salafis and Mufti Sos Kamry, who had earlier distanced himself by referring to himself as a khalafī217. We will now turn our attention to these other contending paths. 2.2 Ahmadi, Sufi and Shiite Paths The first one to arrive was the Indian Ahmadiyya movement. Founded by Mirzā Ghulām Aḥmad (d. 1908) in 1888, it split into a Qadian and a Lahore faction in 1914218. The Qadiani Ahmadiyya began operating in Cambodia in 1995 with official permission from the Ministry of Cults and Religion219. Initially directed from Thailand by a Swiss Ahmadi, the mission in Cambodia was soon entrusted to movement adherents from Indonesia220, which once constituted one of the group’s most successful areas of proselytization221. Apparently specifically targeting rural Muslim villages hardly exposed to Jawization, the Ahmadiyya had managed to “convert almost 22 villages” by 2005, primarily in Kampong Chhnang, Kampot and, to a lesser degree, in comparably secluded communities of Kampong Cham, Kratie, Stung Trang and Ratanakiri. Since then, however, competition from others has caused its numbers to dwindle. It now only has six mosques (three in Kampong Chhnang and one each in

215

216 217 218 219 220

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Blengsli, “Muslim Metamorphosis”, p. 188f. The Buddhist clergy is likewise an instructive example of cpp co-optation and control. Markus Karbaum, Kambodscha unter Hun Sen. Informelle Institutionen, Politische Kultur und Herrschaftslegitimität (Münster: lit, 2008), p. 150f. Personal communication with Alberto Pérez-Perreiro, researcher of the Cambodian Center for Cham Studies (Phnom Penh, May 2nd 2012). Personal communication with Abdul Halim Ahmad (Phnom Penh, May 17th 2012). Simon Ross Valentine, Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jama⁠ʾat. History, Belief, Practice (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008). Oʾconnell & Bou Saroeun, “Arabian zealots”. Personal communication with Rafiq A. Tschannen, former amīr of the Ahmadiyya in Thailand (1989-99), e-mail, April 19th 2012; with Hasan Basri, amīr of the Ahmadiyya in Cambodia until 2005, e-mail, April 23rd 2012; with Fajar Ahmad, amīr of the Ahmadiyya in Cambodia (Chroy Changvar, May 8th 2012); Maulana Ehsan Salim Sobari, “Second Jalsa Salana Jama⁠ʾat Ahmadiyya, Cambodia”, agc, XXXIII, no. 8 (2005), p. 7f., 11. Iqbal Singh Sevea, “The Ahmadiyya Print Jihad in South and Southeast Asia” in R. Michael Feener & Terenjit Sevea (eds.), Islamic Connections. Muslim Societies in South and Southeast Asia (Singapore: iseas, 2009), p. 138.

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­ ampot, Kampong Cham and Stung Trang)222. Others, such as the one of Svay K Pakao, which is even included in a photo book on Ahmadi mosques throughout the world223, are nowadays no longer associated with the movement. Even though the movement’s present amīr has denied that villages less exposed to Jawization have constituted either the prime target or the prime field of success, my fieldwork indicates otherwise. The first indicator is the geographic distribution of present and former Ahmadi villages, with strongpoints in areas that also exhibit major kis concentrations such as Kampong Tralach district in Kampong Chhnang and Kampot province. Note that one of the most emblematic survivals of pre-Jawization Islamic discursive traditions in Cambodia is either performing prayer only once a week or leaving its performance to religious specialists (i.e. imams and others). In the movement’s main center of Khnai Koko in Kampong Tralach, the village still comprises people who adhere to this practice, whereas the local Ahmadis now accept the five daily prayers as obligatory224. In the religiously and intra-religiously highly diversified setting of Kampot, many non-Ahmadi villagers concede that the Ahmadis are praying loeʾa (“good”, i.e. not just once a week) and that their activities have helped rectify local prayer rituals. They further related that the Indonesian Ahmadi missionary in Kampot had joined a group of pilgrims to Imam San’s shrine in Oudong to conduct daʿwa at the kis community’s ritual center225. The country’s Ahmadiyya leadership has mostly been Indonesian missionaries who are prone to marrying local Muslim women and quick to learn the local languages. Hasan Basri, the community’s former amīr, has authored several Indonesian language books (naturally in rumi script) and translated some of them into Cham and Khmer. Despite these intimate links to Indonesian Ahmadis, however, the movement’s activities cannot be regarded as a prolongation or modulation of Jawization, for they rest on markedly different networks, canons and doctrines. Moreover, the movement was clearly most successful and resilient in largely non-Jawified villages that had preserved ways and 222 223 224 225

Personal communication with Hasan Basri, amīr of the Ahmadiyya in Cambodia until 2005, e-mail, April 23rd 2012; with Fajar Ahmad, amīr of the Ahmadiyya in Cambodia (Chroy Changvar, May 8th 2012). The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosques Around the World. A Pic­torial Presentation (n. p.: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community usa, 2008), p. 121-123. Personal communication with Fajar Ahmad, amīr of the Ahmadiyya in Cambodia (Chroy Changvar, May 8th 2012). Personal communication with Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman) and his wife (Prey Thnorng, Kampot, May 5th 2012); with ustaz Muhammad Hasan (b. 1979), graduate of and teacher at the RIhs school at Chum Chao (Kbal Romeas, Kampot, May 5th 2012); with Kul Ahmad (Kampot, May 6th 2012). Four out of five former Ahmadi villages in Kampot were reported to have meanwhile opted out of it.

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­ ractices associated with the kobuol or present-day kis. The local Ahmadiyya p is thus rather representative of the complex legacy and afterlife of anti-Jawization. Organized Sufism has also made a comeback in Cambodia, but along markedly different lines than in the pre-dk era, when Malay Aḥmadiyya-Idrīsiyya and, to a lesser degree, Naqsbandiyya lineages had played a major role in Jawization. Both have apparently not survived the civil wars and the dk. Indeed, memory of the Aḥmadiyya has been obliterated, both by the passage of time and the extermination of its exponents, as well as so eclipsed by the Ahma­ diyya movement’s activities that local Muslims are now familiar only with the latter226. Thus, presently the Naqshbandiyya is the only ṭarīqa known to be active. However, its renewed presence is not related to the pre-dk jawi networks. Strikingly, it was a proselytizing Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya lineage from Bangladesh that managed to establish itself in Andoung Chrey in Rolea Bier district of Kampong Chhnang province in 2003. Its shaykh Muhammad Mamunur Rashid is linked to the Hakimabad Khanka-e Mozaddedia in Bhuigar (Narayangonj, Bangladesh) and operates his global mission between Cambodia and Bangladesh227. In Andoung Chrey, he and his followers have built a roadside store, housing for the shaykh and several Bangladeshi families, and their own mosque. Albeit keeping contact with the local Muslims in neighboring O Saondan as well as in other places such as Chrang Chamres, they prefer to induct Khmer converts into a complete package of Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi and Ḥanafi Islam via bayʿa (pledge of allegiance) to the shaykh and adoption of the Ḥanafi school of law. Instruction for the disciples, two hundred of which have allegedly already been made around Andoung Chrey and in Phnom Penh, is delivered in Khmer228. This new manifestation of organized Sufism obviously has no relation whatsoever to the Sufi lineages active during the era of Jawization. Finally, Shiism has made inroads partly owing to the local activities of transnational Shiite organizations such as the Iranian Majmaʿ Jahāni Ahl al-Bayt (Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly) and the center of the Imam al-Khoei 226 During my fieldwork in Cambodia in 2012 virtually every respondent assumed that I was talking about the South Asian movement when I invoked the ṭarīqa. In Kelantan, however, where it is still active, the situation was different. 227 . Even the Berkeley Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Sufi Center in California belongs to his lineage. . 228 Personal cummunication with Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Jahirul Ashraf, Bangladeshi disciples of shaykh Mamunur Rashid (Andoung Chrey, May 9th 2012). On the afternoon of my visit eight Khmer children were taught the Qurʾān and Arabic script on the basis of Muqaddam-style books.

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Foundation (Muʾassasat al-Imām al-Khūʾī al-Khayriyya) in Bangkok229. The first Shiite mosque was established in Vihear Sambour, near Roka Popram in Kampong Cham in 2010230. From there it spread to Ratanakiri province. Individual Shiites who were sent on scholarships to study in Qum reportedly reside in Chrang Chamres231. Incidentally, and highly representative of the present daʿwa contest in Cambodia, the figure who introduced Shiism, a native of Vihear Sambour, had earlier been selected for a rihs scholarship program to study in Medina, where he stayed for seven years. But for unknown reasons he left before completing his studies at the ium’s Faculty of Arabic Language and Literature (Kulliyat al-Lughat al-ʿArabīyah) and reportedly studied in Qum under another scholarship program232. In all likelihood, he there attended the Al-Mustafa International University (est. 2008), the Iranian counterpart to the ium233. The most startling aspect of this community’s emergence is its relationship to local pre-Jawization Muslim traditions. The geographic location of Cambodia’s cradle of Shiism, namely the area around Roka Po Pram, is intriguing in this respect. As stated above, the Pandurangan Cham prince Po Cei Brei spent his 1795-1812 exile there. It was also the site of the mid-19th century set-led rebellion against King Ang Duong, after which large numbers of Chams were deported to the region northwest of Phnom Penh. Parts of this community, at least since the early 20th century centered around Au Russey’s oknha khnour, would resist the overall process of Jawization and eventually form the nucleus and leadership of the kis community. However, traditions and practices nowadays regarded as characteristic of kis have survived in certain parts of Kampong Cham, particularly Roka Po Pram and its surroundings. This is the last known village in the province to preserve an akhar thrah manuscript, which the villagers now regard as an inaccessible historical curiosity234. What is more, Roka Po Pram also houses the grave of a former Cham king (Po Brahim), which 229 230 231 232 233

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(last accessed December 5th 2013); personal communication with Elvire Corboz (Rutgers) and Mirjam Künkler (Princeton), Princeton, October 4th 2013. Kok-Thay, From the Khmer Rouge, p. 48. Personal communication with Fajar Ahmad, amīr of the Ahmadiyya in Cambodia (Chroy Changvar, May 8th 2012). Personal communication with ustaz Muhammad Hasan (b. 1979), a former co-student of the person in question (name withheld) in Medina (Kbal Romeas, Kampot, May 5th 2012). Keiko Sakurai, “Making Qom a Centre of Shiʿi Scholarship: Al-Mustafa International University” in Masooda Bano and Keiko Sakurai (eds.), Shaping Global Islamic Discourses. The Role of Al-Azhar, Al-Madinah and Al-Mustafa (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), p. 41-72. de Féo, Les Chams, p. 71.

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the locals still regard as spiritually responsive, despite the heavy pressure of religious scholars (jawi educated and others) to abandon the practice235. We may therefore speculate that, as among kis, also other traces of preJawization local Islamic discursive traditions have been retained to some degree in the area, including those that ascribe a prominent role to ʿAlī. Intriguingly, Vihear Sambour’s Shiite leader bolsters his claims to religious authority by referring to his proclaimed set (sayyid) status236. Just like the po title, the set title has lost most of its appeal and therefore currency among the great majority of Cambodian Muslims, except in those regions less or only recently fully exposed to Jawization. It thus seems that Shiism arose in the country at just the right location, thereby exhibiting a combination of two specific factors: a comparably high degree of preserved pre-Jawization traditions and the absence of a strong institution to validate and protect them, a function that kis fulfills in the areas west of the Tonle Sap (Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang) and in Kampot. Therefore, Cambodian Shiism cannot be regarded as being firmly built on the foundations of Jawization, but rather as resting on the revival of local traditions not fully absorbed by it as well as on new transnational impetuses. Malay/jawi appears to have played no role in its emergence and transmission. In fact, these were facilitated and influenced by oral Cham traditions, Arabic and Persian religious instruction for its foreign-educated leadership and Khmerbased efforts to spread Shiism from its local base to Ratanakiri and urban areas. Moreover, its target groups are not necessarily Cham-speakers. Thus, the community’s first publication – perhaps intended as a counterpart to the tj’s Faḍāʾil-e Aʿmāl – is a bulky 360-page Khmer tome entitled Vithiaya Imamah (“The Authority of the Imamate”)237 that, notably, makes full use of Khmer’s different speech levels (or socio-linguistic registers). For example, the actions of the Shiite Imams are related in “royal language”, i.e. the speech level reserved for talking about/to such venerated figures as kings or Buddhist monks, which necessitates the use of specific verbs, pronouns and even names of body parts otherwise not used in either formal, informal or intimate settings238. This “royal language” also plays an important role in Cambodian medium possession 235 236 237 238

Collins, Chams of Cambodia, p. 65f. Personal communication with Alberto Pérez-Perreiro, researcher of the Cambodian Center for Cham Studies (Phnom Penh, May 2nd 2012). Vithiaya Imamah (n.p.: n.p., n.d.). I am indebted to Alberto Pérez-Pereiro (Phnom Penh) for making a copy available to me. For an overview of the existence and workings of distinct speech levels in many East and Southeast Asian languages see Cliff Goddard, Languages of East and Southeast Asia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 215-220.

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practices, which are closely associated with local Theravada Buddhism – its usage marks the medium’s transformation into a member of the spirit world (gru boramey – “teacher of perfection”)239. Due to these practices’ widespread and at times inter-religious nature, it can be assumed that the author was well aware of the specific functions of this socio-linguistic register. And so, he wrote this Khmer-language work in a way designed to transmit Shiism’s doctrines and make its message more readily accessible and comprehensible also to local non-Muslims. Incidentally, the constitution and official recognition of kis in the 1990s was likewise related to an unprecedented revival of traditional Cham ancestor (muk kei) possession cults. Today, as far as we know, these are the exclusive domain of kis (and recent breakaway villages), to which we will now turn. 3

The Institutionalization of Anti-Jawization: the Kan Imam San

Since 1998, the State of Cambodia has recognized two Islamic congregations240. We may refer to one as the Muslim mainstream and – despite the pervasiveness of new impetuses just discussed – as heirs to Jawization. It has been placed under the authority of the Highest Council for Islamic Religious Affairs and its head, the Mufti of Cambodia. The other one, the Kan Imam San (Community of Imam San, kis), is led by the ong gʾnur (“venerable master”241, kh. oknha khnour), at Au Russey in Kampong Tralach (Kampong Chhnang). Given this arrangement and what has been presented above, one cannot help but suspect that Ner’s three factions of the 1930s (i.e. trimeu [Jawization], kobuol [anti-Jawization] and Au Russey Cham “hyper-traditionalists”) eventually canalized into these two entities. Despite having been mentioned rather frequently above, it is still worthwhile to present a comprehensive overview of kis’s particularities and the dynamics of its institutionalization as a distinct officially recognized Muslim community, for doing so sheds light on the resilience, adaptiveness and prolonged inherent entitivity of local Islamic discursive traditions of the pre- and early Jawization eras. In fact, kis is unique because only it, in all of Southeast Asia, represents a pre-Jawization Islamic discursive tradition that has received official recognition and, therefore, state protection. Such 239 Bertrand, “Medium Possession Practice”, p. 151f. 240 Parts of this section have been published in Philipp Bruckmayr, “The Birth of the Kan Imam San: On the Recent Establishment of a New Islamic Congregation in Cambodia”, jgss, XXXIV (2017), p. 197-224. 241 This is obviously a Western (i.e. Cambodian) Cham rendering of Eastern ong ganour. Cf. Aymonier & Cabaton, Dictionnaire, p. 99.

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was clearly not the case with the wetu telu on Lombok or Javanese kebatinan/ kepercayaan movements and other manifestations of abangan Islam on Java. Undoubtedly, a combination of many factors led to this result, the apparently most decisive ones of which will now be briefly discussed. kis currently consists of approximately 38.000 members in around 40 villages with 50 affiliated mosques and suraus in five provinces. The strongest concentration is found in the Kampong Tralach district of Kampong Chhnang. When broken down to the provincial level, the following picture of the distribution of kis places of worship emerges: twelve in Kampong Chhnang, ten in Pursat, fifteen in Battambang, one in Kendal and twelve in Kampot, the only mentioned area not lying on an axis stretching west of the Tonle Sap from Kampong Tralach to Southern Battambang province242. Although the Kampot villages joined at a later date and represent a specific case in a couple of respects, it can be said that the majority of affiliated villages exhibit a more or less coherent religious identity with specific constitutive practices and omissions, shared temporalities and a common imaginary regarding Muslim (and specifically Cham) culture in Cambodia that are clearly at variance with the historically evolved culture of Jawization and its present-day outgrowths and contending paths243. Many of these defining practices and omissions (from the point of view of most other Islamic groups in Cambodia) have apparently been prevalent elsewhere in Cambodia (and Panduranga, for that matter) as well, but were obliterated by Jawization. Others appear to have only acquired a standardized form and relevance as points of distinction during the ongoing struggle between Jawization and anti-Jawization. The most emblematic and controversial of these is the kis practice of praying only the Friday prayer, something strongly reminiscent of the Bani in Panduranga and the wetu telu on Lombok. Thus, other Cambodian Muslims call them kaum jumat (“Friday Group”, notably a Malay expression). In the spiritual center of Au Russey, in place of a sermon (ar. khuṭba), the imam reads a lecture from one of three Arabic-language manuscript scrolls (katepa) kept just for that purpose244. Their pilgrimage is not to Mecca, but to the annual mawlid 242

Ser, So & Eng (Cambodia: Cham Identities, p. 23) spoke of forty villages and 53 mosques/ suraw in 2011, based on an interview with the oknha khnour Kai Tam in 2010. He himself gave the number of 38 villages in 2009 and the above provincial breakdown of fifty kis establishments in 2012. Personal communication (Sre Prey village, Au Russey commune, July 11th 2009 & May 13th 2012). 243 “The ʿimaginaryʾ of an individual, a social group, or a nation is the collection of images carried by that culture about itself or another culture”. Mohammed Arkoun, Rethinking Islam. Common Questions, Uncommon Answers (Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1994), p. 6. 244 A fourth specimen has been destroyed at some point. Personal communication with oknha khnour Kai Tam (Sre Prey, Au Russey, May 13th 2012).

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Figure 8

KIS congregation at the spiritual center of Au Russey. (Kampong Chhnang, 2009) Photo by author

celebrations at Imam San’s (d. late 19th century) shrine, which is located on a hill near the old Khmer capital of Oudong. Indeed, Imam San’s mawlid is undoubtedly the far-flung community’s most important religious festival. In line with its self-proclaimed status as cam sot (“Pure Chams”) and the last preservers of old Islamic manuscripts written in Cham script, anything associated with jawi script, the Malay language, its literature and religious practices is totally rejected. Indeed, their manuscripts have become the group’s most highly valued cultural artifacts as well as prime tools of communal identity formation245. We will return to this pronounced anti-Jawization trait shortly. At this point, it must be noted that kis maintains a strong link to the Cham past in Panduranga through the on-going correspondence with the ancestor spirits (muk kei) via mediums particularly relied upon for healing rituals. This practice has received a strong impetus from the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979) and during the following civil war (1979-1997), and the omni­ presence of lingering physical and mental suffering. In fact, there has been an 245

Agnes De Féo, “Les Chams sot, dissidence de l’islam cambodgien”, co, LXXVIII (2005), p. 226-235.

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­ nprecedented revival of these possession cults246. In addition, the muk kei are u instrumental in the rija dance ritual247. Brought from Panduranga, it now appears to be the exclusive domain of kis (and recent breakaway) villages248. Another ritual particularity is – befittingly, given its place in trimeu/kobuol factionalism – the wedding ceremony. Yet, notwithstanding these and other similarities to Bani practices, kis cannot be equated with Bani Islam because its history and make-up is obviously more complex. Moreover, Cambodia has no complementary Cham Brahmanist community (interaction with which is evidently an important aspect of Bani identity), and there is no Imam San among the Bani. Despite the importance of Imam San’s shrine, to which devoted aging members retreat for some time late in their lives249, the community’s undisputed center is Au Russey, and has been so for proto-kis circles since at least the late 19th or early 20th century at the latest. Thus, it has appeared in different capacities in this study, inter alia as the destination for the deportees of the mid-19th century Muslim rebellion, as the major repository of akhar thrah manuscripts both in the late 19th century and today, as the seat of one of the Muslim dignitaries accorded the oknha title by the court, and as a rather isolated place inhabited by what Ner has dubbed “hyper-traditionalists” to differentiate them from the (“traditionalist”) kobuol in the 1930s. In line with Stewart’s sugges­ tion that we focus on the crucial moments when people begin to claim purity as well as on the specific backgrounds and timeframes of such developments (i.e. their entitivity)250, a few observations are in order on how Au Russey

246 Ing-Britt Trankell, “Songs of Our Spirits: Possession and Historical Imagination among the Cham in Cambodia”, ae, IV (2003), p. 31-46; Ovesen & Trankell, Cambodians and their Doctors, p. 124f. 247 Thành Phần, “Kut (Cemeteries) of the Cham”, p. 338. 248 Personal communication with hakem Kai Tam (Svay Pakao, Ta Ches, Kampong Tralach, May 13th 2012). 249 In 2012 one male and three female believers, one of which has been living at the hill for roughly 30 years, were staying there. Personal communication with Ong An Ji Kay, the male member of the group (Oudong, May 1st 2012). In 1966, there had been five males and four females, including the sister of the then ong gʾnur. All of them came from Au Russey villages. One year later four of them had returned to their homes. Among the two new arrivals of the year, was a man residing in Pursat, but originating from Au Russey. Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 316f., 322. 250 Charles Stewart, “Creolization, Hybridity, Syncretism, Mixture”, paper presented at „Rituale als Ausdruck von Kulturkontakt. ‚Synkretismus’ zwischen Negation und Neudefinition“ Interdisziplinäre Tagung des Sonderforschungsbereichs 619 „Ritualdynamik“, Inter­nationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg, December 3rd-5th 2010; id., “Creolization, Ritual and Syncretism”, p. 10.

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b­ ecame the center of a newly established and quite far-flung formally organized religious community. Firstly, the geographical distribution of kis villages is relevant. Except for the late-joining villages in Kampot, the whole array of the northwestern axis from Oudong and Kampong Tralach to Battambang is located in areas where Ner noted the presence of kobuol/trimeu conflicts (or of “hyper-traditionalists”) in the 1930s. While the exact locations are not identical, the overall area is precisely the same. It may thus be reasonably assumed that, apart from Au Russey itself, Ner only visited those Muslim villages where exposure to Jawization first led to the kobuol/trimeu conflict and then finally to the former party’s eclipse. Other villages were not challenged to the same degree by, or were markedly less responsive to, Jawization. Thus Au Russey, by becoming a spiritual centre, drew villages traditionally skeptical of Jawization into its orbit, despite the presence of nearby mainstream Muslim villages. But this only applies to this specific area west of the Tonle Sap lake and river, which is somewhat detached from the other centres of Muslim life and particularly from the major settlements and centres of religious learning in the Phnom Penh area and Kampong Cham. Accordingly, both latter locations, like most other provinces, contain no kis affiliates. In times of intra-community strife and crisis, Au Russey’s status as the last bastion of traditional Cham scholarship and religious culture, and of akhar thrah manuscripts, must have become a natural rallying point, especially for those who opposed the forms of Islam associated with the spread of jawi models and were thus already cultivating a discourse centred on allegedly pure contending traditions, namely the kobuol. The ong gʾnur/oknha khnour and the Au Russey community had also preserved a tangible connection to the Cham homeland via an elsewhere forfeited manuscript tradition. In addition, the latter initially had both a political and religious role, and is nowadays (again) effectively claimed as such. In fact, King Ang Duong is said to have bestowed the Khmer title oknha khnour (as equivalent to the Cham ong gʾnur) on the leader of the local Chams. At least by the 1920s this position represented an official authority over a specific group, defined by religious practice as opposed to geographical distribution, which seems to have been a special case among those Cambodian Muslim dignitaries bearing the oknha title. Thus, it was duly noted during Katep Kak’s 1926 nomination that he was to “administer the Chams belonging to the mosque of Au Russey East and those of the same religion, who are practicing the religious rites of their Cham master San”251. The reference to the “mosque of Au Russey East” means that even at this time this commune’s religious practice 251

anc-rsc 25336 (dated June 21st 1926).

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was not uniform. An earlier document tellingly cites the different prayer rites in Au Russey’s two “pagodas” as the reason for restricting the oknha khnour’s mandate to the Eastern mosque252. The latter was certainly a reference to praying only the Friday prayer. As it is doubtful whether oknha khnour was still an officially nominated position in independent Cambodia, we may consider it a dormant prestige/resource that could potentially be reactivated/reclaimed by the (now no longer state-sanctioned) incumbents and their followers. Kai Tam, the current kis leader, claims to be the eighth oknha khnour since the office’s institution253. In his oral genealogy of the ong gʾnurs, all of which have resided in Au Russey commune, the Katep Kak of French documents is listed as the title’s fifth holder. The tenure of his successor, Sam Saly, fell into independent Cambodia, as Baccot met him in the 1960s254. Kai Tam’s predecessor, the first officially recognized kis leader, was his uncle Ly Man. In terms of community formation during his tenure, the tragic history of the dk era appears to have played an important role, as scores of the region’s displaced Chams felt drawn to the traditional (and now revived) regional Cham centre after Vietnam’s 1979 invasion. Later on, those who had stayed there at that time acquired prestige within the nascent community255. Similarly, the expansion of the muk kei possession cults is related to these circumstances. In the 1960s Au Russey was – undoubtedly at least partially due to Jawization – allegedly the last commune with a coherent system of muk kei mediums (then often called neak kei in parallel to the Khmer ancestor spirits neak ta), although its remnants were still found in other Muslim communities across Cambodia256. It therefore comes as no surprise that this cult’s revival started there. Despite the striking fact that the ong gʾnur and the imams maintain a certain distance to these rituals, which explicitly take place outside the mosques, they appear to enjoy implicit approval. Their unifying potential, which ties in well with the group’s claim to preserving pure Cham traditions, was certainly not lost on the religious leadership. Indeed, along with Imam San’s mawlid, the muk kei rituals are one of the main features linking Au Russey to distant villages in Pursat and Battambang provinces257. Compared with a French ethnographic survey conducted in Au Russey during the 1960s, which reported the local imams’ explicit disbelief in and even hostility towards these 252 253 254 255 256 257

anc-rsc 25336 (dated May 27th 1926). Personal communication with oknha khnour Kai Tam (Sre Prey, Au Russey, July 11th 2009). She refers to him as Saly Sem. Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 72. Trankell, “Songs of Our Spirits”, p. 39. Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 112. Trankell, “Songs of Our Spirits”, p. 42f.

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rituals258, a new leniency and even (re-)appropriation of them, which is certainly, at least in part, due to considerations of group cohesion, seems to have developed259. Thirdly, there are the issues of akhar thrah, elsewhere the most illustrative casualty of Jawization, the preservation of manuscripts and the specific style of education associated with them. In the 1960s, apart from the ong gʾnur, then seemingly not much more than a village authority, very few people even in Au Russey could read the Cham script260. Starting most probably soon after Vietnam ousted the dk regime, and greatly boosted by the drive for state recognition, kis is currently in the midst of an unprecedented revival of interest and education in the script under the ong gʾnur’s direction. He is receiving significant help from extra-community actors such as the us embassy in Cambodia and the Documentation Center of Cambodia (dc-cam), both of which are involved in manuscript preservation programs, distributing digitized copies and, in the embassy’s case, plans for instruction in akhar thrah, including the production of textbooks. The makers of these textbooks are deliberately trying to avoid religious content because their programs, per definition, do not exclusively target the kis community. Yet they have to admit that this is very hard to achieve, given the culturally-cum-religiously-loaded nature of most extant akhar thrah texts261. In any case, these ventures have yielded important results for religious education among kis. The first step in this regard was the distribution of a self-produced scanned, photocopied and cheaply bound edition of an important akhar thrah manuscript to all kis villages that offer religious classes262. Such self-made books are also used during Imam San’s mawlid263. As for the character and content, it must be noted that the former, plainly known as Git, contains very large portions in Arabic, including, for instance, an enumeration of the Arabic letters, all of the Qurʾān’s short surahs (Q 1 and Q 78-114 and Q36 [Ya Sin]), basic devotional formulas for the canonical prayers and expressing one’s intention (niyya, uṣallī) and the like264. It is therefore clearly a muqaddamstyle book in akhar thrah and the peculiar kūfī-like Arabic known from other 258 Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 115, 120. 259 Personal communication with Alberto Pérez-Perreiro, researcher of the Cambodian Center for Cham Studies and director of the akhar thrah education project of the us embassy (Phnom Penh, May 2nd 2012). 260 Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 8. 261 Personal communication with Alberto Pérez-Perreiro (Phnom Penh, May 2nd 2012). 262 Personal communication with oknha khnour Kai Tam (Sre Prey, Au Russey, July 11th 2009). 263 Ser, So & Eng, Cambodia: Cham Identities, p. 24, 26. 264 Kai Tam (ed.), Git (Au Russey: Kan Imam San, 2009).

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(but not all) Cham manuscripts exhibiting this combination of scripts. The text used for the mawlid of Imam San at his shrine (as well as for that of the Prophet, which is celebrated in the villages on the appropriate date), is the famous Arabic mawlid panegyric Sharaf al-ānām (with its name transformed into peul nam)265. The latter is a widely distributed text in Muslim Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean World in general and was – usually in a compilation with other specimens of the genre – among the first Islamic texts printed in Southeast Asia266. More peculiar to kis, however, are the fifteen akhar thrah texts contained within the massive 2011 edition of digitized manuscripts published by kis with aid from the us embassy. All of these texts, many of which are stories revolving around ancestors or prophets, contain very few Arabic insertions or, more often, none at all (except the basmala). All but one of the original manuscripts came from collections in Kampong Tralach’s khums of Au Russey and Chhouk Sar (here particularly from Andong Tramoung), whereas the remaining one had been preserved in a village of Southern Battambang province267. This not only testifies to the important role of Kampong Tralach district, where texts are also still kept in the former kis village of Svay Pakao268, as the major repository of akhar thrah manuscripts, but likewise hints at the instrumental role of these manuscripts and their script in community formation. Now (again) serving as highly valued cultural artifacts of a distinct religious community, a number of manuscripts have resurfaced in other affiliated villages as well. A particular ritual usage of akhar thrah manuscripts can be seen in Au Russey’s annual mamun festivity, when the descendants of Pandurangan po families stage a possession ritual associated with reading the Cham royal chronicles and remembering the homeland and the migration to Cambodia269.

265 Personal communication with oknha khnour Kai Tam (Sre Prey, Au Russey, July 11th 2009); Abdul Halim Ahmad (Chrang Chamres, May 1st 2012). On the text see Marion Holmes Katz, The Birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Devotional Piety in Sunni Islam (New York: Routledge, 2007), p. 52f. 266 Nico Kaptein, “An Arab Printer in Surabaya in 1853”, bki, CXLIX (1993), p. 356f.; Proudfoot, Early Malay Printed Books, p. 340f. 267 Kitap Saong Takai Chanau, p. i. 268 Personal observation and communication with hakem Kai Tam at Svay Pakao and oknha khnour Kai Tam and Yousos Tum at Sre Brey (Au Russey), July 9th 2009 & May 13th 2012. 269 Additionally, the set, the second category of title-holders outside of kis mostly disinherited from their prestigious positions by Jawization, are playing a role in this ritual. Emiko Stock, “Parce que Champa et Cambodge ne faisaient quʾun…Lorsque les esprits s’em­ mêlent pour tisser la trame d’une histoire passée sur le métier d’une ʿintégrationʾ présente”, Udaya, VIII (2007), p. 243-277. 

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Finally, kis’ appropriation of the figure of Imam San and its role in claims to traditional authority are noteworthy. In the past, the mawlid at his shrine, attendance of which (besides praying only the Friday prayer) nowadays serves as main criteria for belonging to kis270, seems to have been a rare occasion that linked believers from disparate Muslim communities all over Cambodia. It was, therefore, clearly not the exclusive domain of the future kis. But judging from historical reports and oral traditions, Imam San nevertheless seems to have been a figure specifically associated with Muslim tradition in the crucial area to the west of the Tonle Sap. Yet, as indicated above, this also applies to Kampot. Moreover, we currently possess two quite different images of him. The presently pervasive kis narrative presents him as a Cham who came to Cambodia together with the first ong gʾnur Ban from Champa (i.e. Panduranga)271. Certain accounts claim that he stayed temporarily at Chumnik in Kampong Cham before moving to Central Cambodia272. The other – now almost forgotten – narrative portrays him as a Malay scholar and ascetic who first settled in Kampot and then moved to the Kampong Luong/Oudong area273. Both traditions ascribe royal favour to him, the factuality of which is also testified to by his shrine’s location near the graves and stupas of several Khmer kings. kis traditions are far more elaborate in their descriptions of the wonders he worked for the king274, whereas the earliest French report, which dates to the saint’s lifetime, clearly supports claims about his alleged Malay origins275. Most probably, the comparable detachment of both the areas of the kobuol/ future kis axis and Kampot from Muslim affairs in centres such as Phnom Penh or Kampong Cham enabled them to remain outside Jawization’s expanding orbit. We have already noted a number of ritual similarities in these two regions that are now commonly regarded as peculiarities by other Cambodian Muslims. Moreover, attending the mawlid near Oudong seems to have been of particular centrality to the ritual life of certain Muslim communities in Kampot, with their local zuhhād traditions, and particularly to their counterparts west of the Tonle Sap. Although smaller numbers of pilgrims from Chroy Changvar and even Kampong Cham still made the annual trip to Oudong in the 1960s, to outside observers it seemed to be a central practice only among

270 271 272 273 274 275

Personal communication with Oknha Khnour Kai Tam at Sre Brey (Au Russey), July 9th 2009 & May 13th 2012. Ibid. (May 13th 2012). Stock, “From Tuolngok to Ta Ngok”. Nakula, “Keturunan Melayu”, p. 28. Collins, “Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 63f. Moura, Royaume du Cambodge, I, p. 462f.

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the Au Russey group276. The disproportionate involvement of Au Russey and other villages with similar tendencies, the majority of which eventually joined kis, surely influenced how the rites were conducted, thus further alienating those Cambodian Muslims already exposed to the counter-current of Jawization. Even today, the mawlid of Imam San constitutes almost the sole occasion during which kis adherents engage in a religious framework with other Cambodian Muslims, some of whom still attend the festivity277. Thus, kis’s choice of Imam San – the Muslim saint recognized even beyond the community’s increasingly rigid boundaries – as official eponym and historical point of reference, seems to serve as a claim to a distinctively Islamic legitimacy, one not merely grounded in the cam sot narrative of faithful preservation of traditions connected to a Cham homeland in Panduranga, but also in a shared history of Islam in Cambodia278. One hagiographic account of Imam San’s life, given by Au Russey villagers in 1998 (i.e. the year of kis’ official constitution), is instructive in this regard. By emphasizing that – after the foundation of his mosque in Oudong – “[a]ll the Chams, particularly those who lived near Oudong, and at Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, and Battambang provinces have respected San ever since”, it both presents him as a saint accepted as such by all Cambodian Muslims and maps out kis’s geographical boundaries at that time279. The community’s claim that Imam San himself introduced its particular form of marriage ritual is quite striking in this regard. Suffice it to say that this is certainly an echo of the earlier kobuol/trimeu conflict. Even though kis employs neither the wording of the kabul hamba nor terima formulas that have come done to us, their way of performing the act, which is entirely in Cham, is far closer to the kobuol model and has preserved the intriguing use of ‛Alī and Fāṭima as ceremonial names for groom and bride, respectively. This has also been documented for Bani Islam280, but fell victim to Jawization and war-­ 276 277

Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 323-326. Personal communication with Kai Tam (Sre Brey, Au Russey, July 11th 2009); Tourman (ʿAbd al-Rahman) and his wife, pilgrims to the shrine (Prey Thnorng, Kampot, May 5th 2012); Sam Sou, at Thvi (Kampot), May 6th 2012; Kul Ahmad (Kampot, May 6th 2012). 278 As far as the quest for official state recognition was concerned, the figure of Imam San naturally lent itself to argue for a historical precedent for such recognition. Indeed, in connection with Imam San’s alleged relationship with Ang Duong and Norodom, kis is most vocal in pointing to the historical role of Cambodian Muslims as defenders of the Khmer kings. 279 Osman, Navigating the Rift, p. 24-26. 280 “Chams and their Religions”, p. 53f.; Cabaton, “Chams musulmans”, p. 158. The same applies to pre-Jawization Bugis texts of South Sulawesi. Saenong, “ʿAlid Piety”, p. 103, 105-110.

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induced obliteration in most Cambodian Muslim communities281. Thus, it seems that the historical memory of the marriage ritual-related controversies also helped draw a larger group of those opposed to Jawization into the fold of the nascent community centred on Au Russey, instead of taking the majority’s course of steadily, if slowly and/or unevenly, gravitating towards the sphere of strongly Malay-influenced Cambodian Islam. As regards the timeframe of kis’s formation, instances of a cautious (re)assertiveness of Au Russey as a religious centre and of various villages’ positive responses to these ventures were noted in the late 1960s in connection with the construction of Kendal’s village mosque in Au Russey commune. At that time, the ong gʾnur had shown himself to be very pleased that money for the endeavour not only came from the commune under his direct authority, but also from other more or less distant villages282. This episode seems to testify to the initial formations that would lead to the establishment of the later formalized community. Yet, many of the specific conditions described above were only generated by Cambodia’s tragic history from 1970 into the 1990s. In that respect, two further issues must be considered. With the significant influx of transnational Islamic charities and movements from the Arab Peninsula, Malaysia and South Asia, primarily investing their money in building mosques and religious schools and promoting their own Islamic agendas, the pressure on allegedly deviant groups greatly increased283. Against this background, those Cambodian Muslims who regarded their beliefs and practices as threatened by the transformations within the local Muslim milieu had more reason than ever to join forces. This, however, was only achieved after arduous lobbying for state recognition, which involved considerable resources. Tangible resources such as the preservation of a distinct script and the appropriation of a historical figure seen by the court as epitomizing the historically amicable Khmer-Cham relationship were certainly important assets in achieving this goal. Moreover, the Buddhist precedent undoubtedly played a role, as the monarchy’s return as a stakeholder in the affairs of the country’s religious administration was accompanied by the renewed official recognition of the two strands of Cambodian Buddhism. Thus, King Sihanouk appointed new Supreme 281

282 283

Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 232-234. In Svay Pakao, which recently broke away from kis, it was practiced until the advent of dk. In other villages, which had already abandoned it, it was revived after the establishment of kis. Personal communication with hakem Kai Tam (Svay Pakao, May 13th 2012). Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 89-90. De Féo, “Royaume bouddhique”; Bruckmayr, “Cham Muslims of Cambodia”.

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­ atriarchs for the Mahanikay and Thommayuth Buddhist orders in 1991284, just P as he later did regarding the Mufti and the oknha khnour in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Likewise, Kong Sam Oul (b. 1936), a member of the ruling cpp who was serving as a National Assembly Member for Kampong Chhnang, was instrumental in obtaining official recognition285. In close contact with the leadership in Au Russey and fully aware that the supporters of the future kis were not a negligible constituency, he lobbied for them in the government286. Moreover, in the years immediately following the major transformations that occurred after the un-mission and the country’s re-opening, “the state was not entirely clear about what its role should be in relation to [..] new nongovernmental bodies”, including religious ones287. This fact, combined with a new consideration for issues of rights, made the 1990s an ideal time to argue for a separate religious identity. As elsewhere, reification in formal organizations introduced greater rigidness and more clearly defined boundaries between both parties, and, within kis, a new formalized orthodoxy/-praxy and mechanisms to safeguard it. At present, the community is virtually endogamous as far as intermarriage with the Cambodian Muslim mainstream is concerned. Despite such measures, ever since its constitution entire villages have broken away, often due to the efforts of local and foreign Muslim ngos that sometimes explicitly tie financial aid to specific changes in ritual observance288. On the other hand, the community has also experienced an unexpected growth in affiliation – for example, the twelve villages in Kampot that joined a few years after its establishment. This is particularly striking, for Kampot’s primarily Chvea Muslims 284 Venerable Khy Sovanratana, “Buddhist Education Today: Progress and Challenges” in Alexandra Kent & David Chandler (eds.), People of Virtue. Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia Today (Copenhagen: nias Press, 2008), p. 258f. 285 Kong Sam Oul was one of the first prominent non-socialist members of the cpp. He was elected to the National Assembly for Kampong Chhnang in 1993 and then again in 1998. Michael Vickery, Kampuchea: Politics, Economics and Society (London: Pinter, 1986), p. 49; Corfield & Summers, Historical Dictionary, p. 231f. 286 Personal communication with Abdul Halim Ahmad (Phnom Penh, April 28th 2012). 287 Marston, “Clay into Stone”, p. 190. 288 Personal communication with oknha khnour Kai Tam (July 11th 2009). Such recent conversions of whole villages (at times excluding parts of the elderly) are known from Battambang and Kampong Chhnang provinces. Not far from Au Russey, the same happened in the village of Svay Pakao, where the inhabitants followed the decision of the hakem, who had earlier been invited on the hajj by an Arab ngo. Reminiscent of the cam jawa in Ninh Thuan, the hakem and a few other individuals that are still able to read the Cham script continue to study and even copy manuscripts, though these are now viewed from an altered perspective. Personal communication with Hakem Kai Tam & Mon Kriya (Svay Pakao, Kampong Chhnang province, July 11th 2009).

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would have hardly appeared as likely candidates for an alliance with a group claiming to be “pure Chams” (cam sot). Many, but not all of these villages, follow the practice of only performing the Friday prayer289. Undoubtedly, the many shared practices and common history of lesser exposure or even active resistance to Jawization have provided a suitable basis for this alliance. Additionally, the joint ritual practices at Oudong have certainly facilitated exchanges between those involved. Thus, this case could open a window onto similar mechanisms at work during the earlier formation of kis. In fact, it seems that it was mostly disaffection with the rapid post-1992 changes among the Cambodian Muslim mainstream, which went far beyond the earlier dynamics of Jawization, that engendered the turn towards the newly assertive ong gʾnur and his community. Such disaffection was presumably also an important factor in the earlier joining of the Au Russey and remnant kobuol factions. That kis is characterized by a strong degree of anti-Jawization in the literal sense can easily be illustrated by a few concrete examples, which again point us to the emblematic role played by and ascribed to language use and script. As a corollary to its self-understanding as representing pure (Cambodian) Cham Islamic tradition, the kis leadership has explicitly charged the Cambodian Muslim mainstream with abandoning Cham ways and adopting “the custom of the Jawi”. The adoption of jawi script and consequential loss of akhar thrah has been identified as “the most important indication of this rejection of Cham custom” and as undermining their identity290. This bemoaned loss of Cham script does have a factual basis. Although at least individual akhar thrah texts were still preserved also in Kampong Cham in the 1960s, no surviving manuscripts are presently known to exist – except for one battered specimen from Roka Po Pram that no villager can read – outside the domain of the kis northwestern axis. In the Mekong Delta and Tay Ninh, where a number of manuscripts of Cham jawi renderings of earlier akhar thrah texts are still preserved, and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education has allowed Cham jawi to be (optionally) taught in public schooling since the late 1990s, many Chams nowadays reportedly refuse to recognize akhar thrah and claim jawi as their original script291. Jawization also had linguistic consequences among Cambodian Cham-speakers. The adherents of kis are today regarded as a separate dialect group within Cambodian (or Western) Cham, not least because of their lesser

289 Personal communication with oknha khnour Kai Tam (Sre Brey, Au Russey, July 11th 2009). 290 Collins, “Muslims of Cambodia”, p. 63-68. 291 Phu, “Development of the Jawi-Cam script”, p. 2f.

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usage of Malay loanwords292. The kis narrative of cultural loss and departure from Cham Islam due to changes of script and logosphere in religious education and scholarship likewise informs the assertion that Cham akhar thrah translations of religious texts were exclusively made of Arabic and never of Malay originals293. This resonates with earlier kobuol claims that their religious education had always consisted entirely of Cham/Khmer and Arabic instruction. The latter view, which epitomizes anti-Jawization in its ideosyncratic attempt to extricate any element of Malay influence from the evolution of ­Islamic akhar thrah literature, arguably has a far less factual basis. Indeed, there is significant evidence to the contrary, even if one leaves aside the fact that many Cham texts, such as most of the akayet (ml. hikayat) genre, appear to have been derived from earlier Malay versions294. Only two examples with a particular relationship to this study shall be referred to here. As noted earlier, kis has also preserved Cham versions of texts of the sifat dua puluh type. As the latter appears to represent a distinctively jawi genre inspired by and built upon the Umm al-barāhīn295, it would seem highly improbable that the akhar thrah Cham Siphuat dua pluh should have been derived from the Arabic original. Additionally, the summary of the text given to me by one of its possessors suggests otherwise296. Things are even more obvious with respect to another comparably widely distributed akhar thrah text. One of the manuscripts Jaspan gathered in Phum Trea in the late 1960s is highly illustrative of the transition from akhar thrah to Malay jawi, as it is the only known Cambodian manuscript to contain both an akhar thrah main text and a Malay jawi appendix (by another hand). Even more intriguing, it also contains a marginal note in Cham jawi. Its main body, which is most likely from the mid-19th century and thus Jawization’s early phase, consists of an unidentified Sufi treatise297. It is significant that he acquired it in Phum Trea, a main centre of Jawization. After showing copies of it 292 Filippi, Recherches préliminaires, p. 51; Ueki, Prosody and Intonation, p. 31-33. 293 Personal communication with Hakem Kai Tam (Svay Pakao, Kampong Chhnang province, July 11th 2009). 294 Po Dharma, “Relations”; Henri Chambert-Loir, “Notes sur les relations historiques et litteraires entre campā et monde malais” in Actes du Séminaire sur le Campa organisé à l’Université de Copenhague, le 23 mai 1987 (Paris: Centre d’histoire et civilisations de la péninsule indochinoise1988), p. 95-106. 295 Bruckmayr, “The šarḥ/ḥāshiya Phenomenon”, p. 37-41. 296 Personal communication with Hakem Kai Tam (Svay Pakao, Kampong Chhnang province, July 11th 2009). 297 Ricklefs & Voorhoeve, Indonesian Manuscripts in Great Britain, p. 41; id., “Indonesian Manuscripts in Great Britain: Addenda et Corrigenda”, p. 306.

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to the oknha khnour and other akhar thrah-literate scholars in Kampong Tralach, it became clear that, as far as the main text is concerned, it was not unique but rather represented a still frequently relied upon treatise instantly identified by my respondents as the Bayan syarik298. The text contains numerous (jawi) Malay conjunctions and particles, such as (karena) katanya (“[because] it is said”), artinya (“which means”) or dan (“and”) and maka (intro­duces a new sentence), particularly following Arabic insertions or quotations299, thus providing us with firm evidence for a Malay and not an Arabic original. Whereas the somewhat peculiar title Bayan syarik does not really help us identify the Malay original, one intriguing text has a similar title and – as far as could be inferred from Shaghir Abdullah’s summary – content300. This is the Bayān shirk (ml. syirk) li-ilāh al-ḥaqq al-malik, composed in 1813 by ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb Siantan, a scholar of the Natuna Islands. Strikingly, we know that a certain Wan Muhammad Patani of Natuna lived in Cambodia during the mid-19th century301. As such, it is conceivable that this Malay text, which is still extant in manuscript form at the Malaysian National Library and described as “explaining the nature of shirk and tawḥīd according to the opinions of the people of truth in Sufism” (syirik dan tauhid menurut pandangan ahli hakikat dalam tasauf)302, could have directly reached the Cambodian Muslim community soon after its composition. It would therefore certainly not represent any Pandurangan heritage. The growing disjuncture in the sphere of literary heritage between the kis heartlands and the hotspots of Jawization in Kampong Cham is also reflected in the divergent use of other texts. Thus, Jaspan reported that the narration of the Cham Muk Sruh Palei by an aged roving Cham raconteur, who intriguingly claimed Pandurangan origins, was difficult to understand for, and appeared to be largely unknown among, the inhabitants of Svay Khleang in the 1960s303. Around the same time, Baccot noted that Muk sruh palei was “seemingly the 298 Personal observation and communication with hakem Kai Tam at Svay Pakao and Oknha Khnour/Ong Gʾnur Kai Tam and Yousos Tum at Sre Brey (Au Russey), May 13th 2012. 299 Hull History Centre, sea 39, fols. 3v-93r passim. See fig. 9. 300 Wan Mohd. Shaghir Abdullah, “Syeikh Abdullah Muhammad Siantan”, uo, September 17th 2007, (last accessed April 6th 2014). 301 id., “Manuskrip Melayu Pattani: Hubungan Pattani, Natuna, Kelantan, Terengganu dan Kemboja” in Kolokium Peradaban Melayu Kawasan Timur Tengah (Kota Bharu: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Wilayah Timur, 2001), p. 6f., 12. 302 id., “Syeikh Abdullah Muhammad Siantan”. 303 M.A. Jaspan, “The Kabuon: A Particular Genre of Cham Literature”, typescript (first draft of unpublished article), p. 3-5. jp, dja (2)/1/1.

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Figure 9

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akhar thrah text Bayan syarik with Arabic passages and Malay insertions (in violet ink). sea 39. ( jp, dja 2/2/3/1). Hull History Centre

best known [book] among the Chams of Au Russey”304. Upon closer inspection even one of the texts collected for the 2011 kis manuscript compilation, which were certainly selected due to their perceived specifically Pandurangan background, contains jawi Malay (its users perhaps thought it was Arabic), such as a Malay introduction to a quote from al-Ghazālī’s Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn305. Thus, kis’ anti-Jawization stance clearly necessitates the deliberate obliteration of perceived Malay pollutions of pure Cham Islam, just as Jawization precipitated the purging of many local particularities of Cambodian Islam in its drive for homogenization within the jawi ecumene. 304 Baccot, On Gʾnur et Cay, p. 102. The text invokes both the muk kei as well as the notion of (Cham) custom (adat) being confirmed by law (hukum). “Kabuon Muk Soh Pelai. The Discourse of Muk Soh Pelai”, undated typescript, p. 4f. jp, dja (2)/1/1. 305 “Kitap niang malah” in Kitap Saong Takai Chanau, p. 606.

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Conclusion

Conclusion This study has elucidated and analyzed the gravitation and contribution to a homogenizing trans-Southeast Asian Islamic discursive tradition, with its main vehicles of Malay language and the jawi (and pegon) script, by a continually increasing number of Cambodia’s Muslims between the late 19th century and the early 1970s. Through this process of Jawization, large parts of the country’s Muslim community came to form part of what Laffan has aptly defined as the jawi ecumene that gradually encompassed co-religionists in contemporary Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, (Southern) Thailand, the Philippines and, evidently, Cambodia and Vietnam. As detailed in chapters two to four, several significant developments occurred in Indochina and the Malay world on the eve of Jawization (i.e. from the 18th to the mid-19th century). These functioned as preconditions and catalysts for both Jawization in Cambodia, as well as for the local opposition to it. In the Cham kingdom of Panduranga, the ancestral land of the great majority of today’s Cambodian Muslims, the late 17th century inaugurated a long period of isolation from the wider Muslim and Malay worlds, which propelled the evolution of a distinctive vernacular Islamic discursive tradition, Bani Islam, and of a bi-religious Cham culture based on Cham Brahmanist and Bani interaction. Cham migratory waves of the late 18th and early 19th century, in turn, brought the exponents of a fully developed Bani Islam to the Khmer kingdom, with its already well implanted composite community of Cham-Chvea Muslims. The political vicissitudes of mid-19th century Cambodia, most prominently King Ang Duong’s forced relocation of a part of Thbaung Khmum’s Cham community imbued with strong Pandurangan credentials, would provide a major basis for lasting intra-Muslim differences in the country in the form of either accepting or rejecting Jawization. In contrast to isolated Panduranga, Cambodia and the Mekong Delta and their Muslim communities maintained strong relations with the Malay world, as seen in the Malay historiography of the period. At the same time, the Malay world itself was witnessing the emergence of new Islamic scholarly centers in Patani, Palembang and Banjarmasin, whose intellectual output would largely supplant earlier jawi scholarship. Starting from Patani, the northeastern peninsular Malay states of Kelantan and Terengganu also became new major hubs of Islamic scholarship and education that drew growing numbers of Cambodian Muslim students. As shown in chapter five, by the early 20th century the trend towards Jawization, as reflected in a new pervasiveness of contemporary jawi models of religious education and practice, had become dominant within

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Cambodian Islam. This reality led to the overall gradual disappearance of Cham script and distinctively Cham Islamic discursive traditions and to a pronounced factionalism that engaged its proponents (trimeu) and opponents (kobuol) in specific areas. For various reasons, intra-Muslim differences in other regions were far less contentious. It is important to note that the kobuol faction enjoyed both Cham and Chvea support, for both of them were united in their efforts to retain a local pre-Jawization Islamic tradition that had fused Cham, Malay and Khmer influences but accorded only a very limited space to Malay and jawi models in education and ritual. As elucidated in chapters six and seven, the process of Jawization in Cambodia and the Delta was strongly connected to regional developments and networks. Malay scholars taught in Indochina, and ever-increasing numbers of Indochinese Muslims studied under Malay teachers in Patani, Kelantan and Mecca. Moreover, Malay scholars served as muftis for Cambodian Muslims in cases of conflict and uncertainty and were decisive in transmitting the specific canon of printed jawi texts studied in religious education. On the other hand, individual ʿulamāʾ from Cambodia and the Delta became jawi scholars, authors and teachers in their own right and acquired renown on both sides of the Gulf of Thailand. French colonial policies also contributed to Jawization’s eventual victory. Under the Protectorate, Cham-Chvea ethnic capital became increasingly valorized in religious terms, which both strengthened the Islamic factor in community leadership and weakened claims to authority based on genealogical links to Pandurangan royalty (i.e. the pos) or military might (i.e. Cham-Chvea warlords). Moreover, the French clearly viewed the local agents and products of Jawization as the “true” local Muslims, thereby sometimes deliberately, and more often inadvertently, aiding their gradual ascendancy. By the end of the colonial period, the largely uncontested primacy of Jawization caused distinctive trimeu/kobuol identities to vanish. But despite this general trend, pockets of discontents persisted along a northwestern axis stretching from north of Phnom Penh to Battambang. Moreover, the Au Russey community of descendents of the deportees around the po of Kampong Pring, had, as the last preservers of akhar thrah and dependent upon distinctively Cham Islamic discursive and literary traditions, stayed on the sidelines of trimeu/kobuol conflict. In other words, they were largely able to escape the pull of Jawization. As was shown in the final chapter, the Jawization of Cambodian Islam arguably reached its apex in the late 1960s, when local scholarly networks became fully developed. This also had political implications, for Mat Sales Haroun of Phum Trea and other major Islamic scholars mobilized their followers for political purposes. On the other hand, Jawization and its accompanying increasing mental detachment of local Chams from their ancestral Pandurangan past

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hindered Les Kosem’s efforts to arouse diasporic fervor for Cambodian antiVietnamese designs. The Khmer Rouge, who took the role of Islamic scholars as community leaders and individual cases of spontaneous Muslim resistance against the ban of religion seriously, slaughtered the great majority of the country’s jawi scholars. Nevertheless, Jawization was revived from the 1980s onwards as surviving jawi scholars were appointed to prominent positions in the post-dk religious administration, contacts with Kelantan and Patani were renewed and thousands of Indochinese Muslim refugees settled in Malaysia. And yet its heyday was clearly over by the 1990s, for the influx of transnational Islamic organizations and movements following Cambodia’s reopening to the outside world enabled new avenues of intra-Islamic religious change to manifest themselves. The unprecedented Arabization of religious education brought about by a Salafism, primarily carried by ngos from the Arab Peninsula and the Persian Gulf, introduced a system of religious studies that completely disregarded the jawi legacy. The latter was, however, salvaged and espoused to a certain degree by another new player, the tj, with its extensive contacts to the Malay Peninsula. Most strikingly, the legacy of anti-Jawization persisted into the 21st century. Thus, the Au Russey community, which had cultivated its links to Imam San’s shrine in Oudong and its role as guardians of ancient Cham traditions and manuscripts, managed, despite the dk trauma and Cambodia’s subsequent exposure to globalized Islam, to draw some of the remaining anti-Jawization pockets of resistance into its orbit and constitute itself as kis. This period also saw the return of pronounced intra-Muslim factionalism to Cambodia, this time in the form of Salafi/tj conflict and in the community’s officially validated split into a Muslim mainstream represented by the Muftiate and the separate kis congregation under the oknha khnour. It was argued right at the outset that Jawization in Cambodia was but one regional variation of a larger process of religious standardization unfolding throughout Muslim Southeast Asia, which inter alia also included the largely contemporaneous phenomenon described as Santrization on Java. For Islam in Cambodia, however, the contact to and interaction with the scholarly and social worlds of Patani and Kelantan, as well as their extensions to Mecca and Cairo, were decisive. Indeed, despite the many particularities of the Cambodian case, most importantly the fact that most of its exponents were not native Malay speakers, this intense networking strongly suggests that the KelantanPatani-Cambodia triangle represents one more or less coherent sub-curcuit of circulation in the region’s larger process of Jawization. This is also supported by the largely coinciding time frames for major internal developments, such as the emergence of kaum tua/kaum muda strife, which had occurred much

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earlier in Sumatra, Java and the Malayan Straits Settlements. Moreover, students of Islam from the area appear to have rarely pursued their studies outside of its confines, but often traveled widely within it to acquire knowledge. Even in Mecca, the majority of their main jawi teachers were invariably drawn from Patani and Kelantanese families. Zooming out to a wider Muslim world perspective, it has been argued that Jawization and its accompanying hegemony of written forms of religious transmission in Malay (and to a lesser degree for some time also in Javanese) has parallels in very similar processes of regional homogenization carried by other Islamic supra-languages. The most illustrative comparative case is the so-called Ashrafization in South Asia, where the spread of Urdu as the language of religious instruction and written Islamic discourse – after depriving the Arabic and Persian-literate scholarly and political elite of its privileged position – represented a “democratization” of the local Islamic sphere. And yet it soon established its own hegemonic homogenizing expression of Islam at the expense of numerous other local Islamic discursive traditions1. This point directly leads us to a second focus of this study, namely the intra-religious strife generated by Jawization (and similar processes) and its frequent canalization into factionalism. In this respect, the dichotomies between Javanese Islam’s putihan/santri and abangan or waktu lima and wetu telu in Sasak Islam had clear counterparts in Cambodia in trimeu/kobuol factional identities. Rather strikingly, anti-Jawization tendencies there achieved both institutionalization and state recognition in the late 1990s in the form of kis. At the same time, Jawization has effectively lost its monopoly over the development of Cambodian Islam, not only because local anti-Jawization forces gained official recognition and an institutional base, but also because the field has again expanded and diversified. This is most visible in the local spread of a Salafi Islam that almost completely bypasses Malay by focusing fully on Arabic as the language of religious study. As such, the country’s new intra-Muslim factionalism is the result of a localized jawi tradition that feels threatened by an encroaching hegemonic Arabic logosphere and its expression in Salafi practice. But why have factional identities such as trimeu/kobuol, putihan/abangan or waktu lima/wetu telu not emerged elsewhere in the region, particularly in Kelantan and Patani? The notion of entitivity is crucial here. Many factors contribute to this quality’s presence or absence, including demographics as well as geographical location and distribution. Although the spread of Jawization was, despite its overall pervasiveness in the first decades of the 20th century, in 1 Rahman, From Hindi to Urdu, p. 98-163; Robinson, ʿUlama of Farangi Mahall, p. 31-38; Khan, Khan, Crossing the Threshold, p. 51-93, 100-103.

366

Conclusion

many parts of Cambodia not as undisputed as colonial scholarship would lead us to believe, a kobuol factional identity only emerged along a specific northwestern axis of Muslim villages stretching from north of Phnom Penh to Battambang. In addition, Cambodian political history, more precisely the deportations of large numbers of Kampong Cham Muslims to areas northwest of Phnom Penh in the mid-19th century, was crucial for the long-term development of indigenous anti-Jawization currents. It would likewise appear that localized Islamic discursive traditions with a predominantly oral basis had major disadvantages compared to those possessing a distinctive literary heritage in their own scripts, as was the case with Javanese, Sasak, Cham and Bengali Islam. Even though such scripts and their literatures were usually among the first victims of homogenizing processes inter alia characterized by the spread of adaptated Arabic scripts, they could nevertheless in the long run sometimes function as tools for community defense and formation. In addition, the dynamics of religious homogenization and opposition to it are most visible where both traditions as well as logospheres and scripts are in conflict with each other. Likewise, the existence of past or present figures with religious and/or political authority, or at least endowed with some form of symbolic capital (historic, religious and/or social), is surely important for the development of entitivity. Just as the Javanese priyayi aristocracy and its specific relationship with the abangan helped preserve distinctively Javanese Islamic discursive traditions, so was the figure of the oknha khnour in Au Russey. Arguably, the Agha Khan’s role for those parts of the South Asian Khoja community, also heirs to a distinctively local Islamic pre-Ashrafization/Urduization discursive tradition recorded in its own languages (particularly Gujarati) and the khojkī script, which eventually chose to side with him, was similar2. In the Malay sultanates of Kelantan and Patani, where the situation was different, the rulers became important agents of Jawization against the background of the colonial encounter, inter alia by actively supporting a considerable expansion of religious schooling and institutionalizing religious authority. Local Islamic traditions in these areas were, moreover, incidentally those of the Islamic supra-language Malay and therefore seemingly easy prey to Jawization’s drive for homogenization, which did not necessarily lead to their rapid complete disappearance but undoubtedly manifested itself in a lack of entitivity. The emergence of intraJawization and intra-Ashrafization factions, such as the Barelwis, the Deobandis (including the tj) and the Ahl-e Ḥadīth in South Asia, and the kaum tua/

2 Michel Boivin, Lʾâghâ khan et les khojah. Islam chiite et dynamiques sociales dans le sous-continent indien (1843-1954) (Paris: Karthala, 2013).

Conclusion

367

Figure 10 Leisure time at Islamic school. (Da Phuoc, Mekong Delta, Vietnam, 2005) Photo by Christina Bruckmayr

kaum muda (most pronounced in their Indonesian institutionalized manifestations as the Nahdlatul Ulama and the Muhammadiyah), are best, though certainly not exclusively, understood as echos of such submerged divergencies. Networking with the Patani-Kelantan Malay teachers in their home regions as well as in Mecca was decisive to Jawization’s spread in Cambodia and the concomitant establishment of the Malay logosphere’s hegemony over local religious education and, to a certain degree, even over Islamic ritual spheres (i.e. the marriage ritual). Its central nodes, however, were located as much in Patani, Kota Bharu, Mecca and Cairo as they were in Phum Trea, Chau Giang, Chroy Changvar and many smaller centers of Islamic learning in Indochina. Pondoks, fatwas, books and, in certain instances, specific ṭarīqas were instrumental in the process, whereas the large Ahmad Patani-Tok Kenali-Hj. Awang network and its major local outgrowth, Mat Sales Haroun’s network, were the single most important channels for Jawization’s expansion. In terms of books, the relevance of the contemporary full-scale adoption of print must be stressed because this greatly boosted both Jawization and Ashrafization/Urduization in their respective regions. Just as jawi printing was in full swing from the 1880s onwards, the beginnings of Urdu publishing’s great expansion and the emergence of a new corpus of Urdu literature date to the same decade3. 3 Barbara D. Metcalf, Islamic Revival in British India. Deoband 1860-1900 (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1982), p. 199-210; Rahman, From Hindi to Urdu, p. 317-347.

368

Conclusion

Finally, the colonial contribution to Jawization’s success must be stressed. French religious policies, based as much on administrative expediency as on assumptions about “true” Islam both preconceived as well as generated on the ground by colonial administrator-scholars, largely propelled Jawization. But this was hardly peculiar to the French. For example, a British ethnographic survey of 1884 intriguingly classified the degree of Islamization (i.e. Muslimness) of various Muslim groups of perceived “Hindu origin” according to specific variables, one of which was the purity of their Urdu speech4. In a similar way, the French Protectorate made proficiency in jawi Malay the main condition for obtaining the required certificate to work as an officially accredited Islamic religious teacher. It is hoped that this study, despite its narrow focus on the Muslim community of a country otherwise not associated with the history of Islam at all, has helped us understand the major far-reaching processes of religious standardization that have been underway in the Muslim world since the 19th century. 4 Richard M. Eaton, “Sufi Folk Poetry and the Expansion of Indian Islam”, hor, XIV (1974), p. 127 n. 34.

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398

Index of Names

Index Of Names

Index of Names ʽAbd al-Ghanī b. Aḥmad (Chroy Changvar) 233-234, 236 ʿAbd al-Nāṣir, Jamāl (Nasser) 295n ʽAbd al-Raḥīm, reachea kaley 232-233 ʽAbd al-Raḥmān, Hj. (Châu Giang) 91-93 ʽAbd al-Raḥmān, tokaley Hj. 234, 238 ʽAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd al-Khāliq 336n ʽAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ismāʽīl 333-334 ʿAbduh, Muḥammad 172, 205n Abdul Hamid (Chrang Chamres) 170, 221 Abdullah b. Tuan Tabal 183, 203, 210 Abdul Karim, Janab 136, 281-282 Abdul Malik (Phnom Penh) 170, 174-175, 251 Abdul Malik b. Hj. Shamsuddin (Chumnik) 107-108, 170, 175n Abdul Malik b. Ong Brom (Chumnik) 107-108, 170, 175n Abdul Nasir bin Abdul Malik 303, 305n, 306n, 325n Abdul Rahman b. Hj. Awang 185 Abu Bakr, Hj. (Châu Phong) 182-184 Abu Talep b. Hj. Ayyub 140-143, 158, 160, 165, 175, 189, 198, 200, 219n, 252-253, 292, 311, 319 Achar Sva 66-67 Ahmad, Hj. (Kampot) 292 Ahmad b. Idrīs 178-179 Ahmad b. Wan Ismail (Pasir Puteh) 162 Ahmad Hafiz Osman xv, 334 Ahmad Syah II (Sultan of Terengganu) 44 Ahmad Tawil (Kendal) 175 Ahmad Yahya 333-334, 338 al-ʽAlawī, Sayyid ʽUthmān b. ʽAbd Allāh b. ʽAqīl 223 al-Albānī, Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn 336-337, 339-340 ʽAlī b. Abī Ṭālib 82, 96-97 Amir Hamzah 82-83, 96 al-Anbābī, Shams al-Dīn 179, 206n Ang Chan (King of Cambodia) 57 Ang Duong (King of Cambodia) 59-67, 72, 101, 117, 127, 130, 144-145, 155, 344, 350, 355n, 362 al-Anṣārī, Zakarīyā 248 Arifin Musa xv, 334

Arkoun, Mohammed 4-6 Asad, Talal 5-6, 8, 28n al-Āshī, Muḥammad Zayn b. Faqīh Jalāl al-Dīn 244 al-Ashmāwī, ʽAbd Allāh 247 Awang, Hj. Muhammad Zayn 160-161, 171, 177-185, 192, 203, 253 Awny, Hj. Yusuf 154, 201, 311 Aymonier, Étienne 32, 65, 72, 81-82, 84-85, 87, 257-258, 334 Ayyub, Hj. (Chroy Mentrey) 140, 165, 175 Bā ʽAlawī, ʽAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muhammad 237 Bā Buṣayl, Muḥammad Saʿīd 204n al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, ʽĪsā 250, 254-255 al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, Muṣṭafā 169, 237, 247-248, 250, 254 Baccot, Juliette 225, 351, 360 al-Bājurī, Ibrāhīm 249 Ban (ong g’nur) 354 al-Banjārī, Muḥammad Arshad 35-36, 38, 69, 164-165, 235-236, 243, 244n, 253-254, 276 al-Banjari, Muhammad Arsyad 164n al-Banjārī, Muḥammad Nafīs 35-36, 38, 243, 246, 254 al-Banjārī, Muḥammad Ṭayyib b. Masʽūd 243 al-Banjari, Yusuf Saigon 164 Barthes, Roland 4 al-Bāsmih, ʽAbdullah b. Muḥammad 188, 215n, 246 Basri, Hasan 341-342 Bastian, Adolf 66, 72-73, 80-82, 90, 97, 134, 147 Baudesson, H. 32 Bendang Kebun, ʿAbdullāh b. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ 218 van den Berg, Herbert 247-248, 250 Bin Bāz, ʽAbd al-Azīz b. ʽAbdallāh 338-339 Boucly (police commissioner) 271, 276-283 Bourdieu, Pierre 5 Bradley, Francis 252, 255 van Bruinessen, Martin 237n, 248-249, 279

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_013

Index Of Names Bukit Bayas, ʿAbd al-Qādir b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm 44 Cabaton, Antoine 32, 66, 72, 84-90, 94, 102, 104n, 106n, 162n, 171, 223, 246, 257-258, 334 Chek Brahim 305-307 Chi Hasan b. Nordin 93 Collins, William 97, 118, 322, 324 Daeng Kamboja 48-49 Dahlan, Ahmad (Yogyakarta) 233-234 Daḥlān, Aḥmad Zaynī 166-167, 204, 222 al-Dandarāwī, Muḥammad 167, 178 al-Dasūqī, Muḥammad 249 Datuk Zahid 113, 116, 119 Daud b. Hj. Awang 185 Deobandī, Maḥmūd al-Ḥasan 208 al-Dimyāṭī, Sayyid Bakrī b. Muḥammad Shaṭṭā’ 167, 169, 171, 179, 193, 206, 248n, 255 Dohamide (ʽAbd al-Ḥamīd) 299-300, 302 Dorohiem (ʽAbd al-Raḥīm) 299-300, 302 Doudart de Langrée, Ernest 65-66, 105, 258 Durand, E.M. 32, 64n Edwards, Penny 155, 284 Encik Hussin bin Yunus 117 Eyman Yourat (Chrang Chamres) 238 al-Faḍḍālī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad 249 Faisal, Hj. (Prek Pra) 326-327 al-Faṭānī, ʽAbd al-Laṭīf (see also Patani) 166 al-Faṭānī, ʽAbd al-Qādir b. Muṣṭafā 39, 165-166, 218, 242n, 244 al-Faṭānī, Dā’ūd b. Muṣṭafā 168, 243 al-Faṭānī, Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad 271 al-Faṭānī, Muḥammad Nūr b. Muḥammad 193-194, 209-210, 271 al-Faṭānī, Wan Muḥammad Idrīs 266, 270, 273 Fāṭima 96-97, 355 Fikri, Ismail (Kang Meas) 201 Finot, Louis 258 Flahi, Ismail b. Adam 108n, 200-202, 311, 320-321 al-Funtiani, Hj. Muhammad Nur Putih 162, 164 Garnier, Francis 258 Geertz, Clifford 124

399 al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid 35, 36n, 39, 231, 243, 245, 361 Green, Nile 6 Guth, Stephan 5 al-Ḥaḍramī, al-Sayyid ʽAbd Allāh b. ʽUmar 278 Hahn, Dr. 257-258 Hakem Tayyeb 113, 213, 242 al-Halabī, Khālid Shaykh Sālim 254 HAMKA (Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah) 164n Him Kak (Katep Kak), oknha khnour 145, 288, 350-351 al-Ḥuḍrī, Sālim b. Sumayr 244, 248, 276 Hun Sen 320 Ḥusayn (b.) Yaʽqūb 202, 332 Ibn Ajurrūm al-Ṣanhājī, Abū ʽAbd Allāh 247 Ibn ʿArabī 36n, 39n, 245 Ibn Kathīr 338 Ibn Malik, Abū ʽAbd Allāh 247 Ibn Rushd 278, 339 Ibn Taymiyya 236n, 339 Ibrahim b. Hj. Yusuf (Mufti of Kelantan) 186-190, 195-196, 205, 209 Ibrahim b. Kosem (Ibrāhīm b. Qāsim) 215 Ibrahim b. Tukang Sulaiman (Phum Trea) 182-183 Idris, Hj. (Baren) 175 Imam San (Hj. Hasan b. Abdullah) 116-122, 145-146, 155, 157, 160-161, 342, 348-355, 364 Imam Yunus (Phum Roka) 293n al-Imrānī al-Yamānī, Abū Ḥusayn 388 Indonesia, Abdul Rahman (Norea) 152-153 al-Iṣfahānī, Abū Shujāʽ 248 al-Iskandarī, Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh 40, 245n Ismail (Sultan of Kelantan) 174, 204-205, 208-209 Ismāʿīl, Hj. (Chau Giang/Chau Doc) 88, 90, 94, 171, 175, 245 Ismail b. Ahmad, changvang Hj. 134, 264n, 268, 277, 285, 287-290 Ismail b. Muhammad Zayn (Ketereh, Kampong Luong) 162 (Hj. Wan) Ismail b. Wan Musa (Pasir Mas) 162 (Hj.) Ismail b. Yusuf (Kota Bharu, Chau Doc) 162

400 al-Jamal, Saʽīd b. ʽUmar al-Azharī 249-250 Jaspan, M.A. 79, 93-94, 97, 100-102, 109, 141n, 176, 182, 185, 192, 197, 213n, 215-216, 293-294, 300n, 302-303, 359-360 Ja Thak Wa 31 al-Jāwī, Ṣāliḥ 276 Jawi, Sulaiman (Norea) 149-152 al-Jazā’irī, Abū Bakr 338 Kachi, Muhammad 199-203, 213, 217n, 311, 318, 321 Kai Tam (hakem) 225n, 357n Kai Tam (oknha khnour) 119n, 347n, 351 al-Kalantānī, Idrīs b. Ḥusayn 168, 243 Kaloth Hj. Mathi 268, 271, 287-289 Kāndhlawī, Mawlānā Muhammad Yūsuf b. Ilyās 331 Kāndhlawī, Mawlānā Zakarīyā 331 Karim, Hj. (Siam Reap) 154, 303n Kaptein, Nico 238 Kateur (ʽAbd al-Qādir), Hj. 214n, 265-289 Katip Samas (Imam Bou Samar) 268 Katip Sumat 31-33 Katoeu-Ya (Yahya b. Abd al-Qadir) 175, 260 Kedah, Hj. Muhammad Saleh 192, 241, 248n, 250 Kemboja, Ahmad b. Hj. Awang 161, 171, 178, 180-181, 184-187, 203, 209 Kemboja, (Hj.) Ayyub b. Hj. Husayn (Châu Phong) 176, 182-184, 194, 209-212 Kemboja, Hassan b. Hj. Awang 184-185, 188, 241 Kemboja, (Hj.) Ismail (Koh Khoi) 94, 170-171, 182-183 Kemboja, Shams al-Dīn b. Ḥājj Aḥmad 230-231 Kemboja, Tok Idris (Hj. Idris b. Hj. Salleh) 184 Kemboja, Wan Muhammad Zayn b. Hj. Wan Ahmad 185 Kemboja, (Hj.) Yūnus (Chrang Chamres) 234, 238 Ketereh, Hj. Hasan 166 al-Khāzin, ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn 174, 193, 250 Kong Sam Oul 357 Kulsiriswasd, Direk 219 al-Kumushkhānawī, (Gümüşhanevi)Aḥmad Ḍiyā’ al-Dīn 272

Index Of Names al-Kūrānī, Ibrāhīm 38-39 Kutan, Wan Ali (Muḥammad ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Kalantānī) 166, 171, 179, 187, 193 Labussière, A. 63, 88 Laffan, Michael 14, 21, 38, 362 La Lay 326-327 Lamin (Nabi Isa) 315 de Lamothe, Henri 258 al-Laqānī, Ibrāhīm 249 Leclère, Adhémard 77-78, 113, 133, 257n Lep ([Abū] Ṭālib), oknha phakes 267-273, 282, 285, 289 Les Kosem 100, 297, 307, 311n, 321, 364 Les Sary 300n, 303, 306n, 307n, 311n, 321 Li Les 100, 300n Li Musa 187, 211-216, 218, 292, 302, 311, 319 al-Linqī (Linggi), Muḥammad Saʿīd 178-180, 185, 206 Lon Nol 176, 218, 292-295, 298, 304-310, 321, 324 Ly Man (oknha khnour) 351 Mac Cuu 50 Mac Thien Tu 50-51 Mahir, Ahmad 195-196, 205 al-Makkī, Muḥammad Ḥasab Allāh 166-167, 171, 179, 187, 193 al-Malībārī, Zayn al-Dīn 248 Mamunur Rashid, Muhammad 343 Man Ahmad (Aḥmad b. Sulaymān) 264 Manger, Leif 6 Man Seu (Musa b. Sulaiman, Dam Spey) 189, 200n, 219n, 319 Mansur (Sultan of Kelantan) 181n, 209 Mansur (Sultan of Terengganu) 40, 47, 50, 52-53 al-Marbawī, Muḥammad Idrīs 247, 250, 255, 320 Marsden, William 14, 54, 226n Math (Aḥmad), oknha masphty 267-274, 283, 285 Math Sleh Slaiman 311 Math Zayn (Norea) 152, 166, 242, 292, 311 Mat Ly 294, 308-309, 312, 327n Mat Nou (Muhammad Nur, Phum Trea) 326-327

Index Of Names Mat Sales (Chroy Changvar) 135, 165, 170-171, 174, 198, 221, 253, 265, 267-282, 285-289 Mat Sales Haroun (Phum Trea) 104, 108, 135, 154, 160, 177, 187, 192-205, 209, 214, 233-234, 238, 252-253, 261n, 263, 292-294, 303, 308, 311, 318-321, 332, 363, 367 Mau Senn (Chroy Changvar) 267 al-Minankabāwī, Aḥmad Khaṭīb 172, 179 Minh Mang 27, 31, 51, 300 Mohadji-Dinn (Mohaji Din) 270, 278-279 Mohamad Zain (b.) Musa xv, 62, 294n, 334 Mohammad Nasir Ismail (Imam Mahadi) 315 Mongkut (King of Siam) 131 Monivong (King of Cambodia) 105n, 107, 132, 271 Moth Doeur (Muhammad ʿAbd al-Qadir) 114 Moth Hj. Taos (Chroy Changvar) 135-136, 261n Mouhot, Henri 61 Moura, Jean 57-58, 62n, 63, 65, 67, 81, 86-87, 90, 117, 257, 259 Moussay, Gérard xv, 334 al-Muʾarī, Hj. Abū Bakr 207n Mufti Hj. Math (Phum Trea) 161, 163 181-182, 277n Muḥammad (prophet) 16, 58n, 87, 96, 121, 231, 251, 272, 324, 353 Muhammad I (Sultan of Kelantan) 43 Muhammad II (Sultan of Kelantan) 44, 301n Muhammad IV (Sultan of Kelantan) 179, 181, 204 Muhammad Ali (Kbal Romeas/Bunga Emas) 182n, 326 Muhammad Amin b. Hj. Osman (Phum Trea) 104, 175 Muḥammad b. (ʽAlī) al-Ḥanafiyya 88, 96-97, 324 Muhammad b. Idris (Jambu) 93 Muhammad Effendi 281 Muhammad Hasan (Kbal Romeas) 337-338 Muhammad Hasan (Koh Phal) 199n, 202-203, 217n, 319-321 Muhammad Idris (hakem of Chau Giang) 93, 176, 189, 210, 241, 271 Muhammad Nour (Phum Trea) 198-199, 293n

401 Muḥammad Nūr b. Hj. Ibrāhīm (Mufti of Kelantan) 188, 196-197, 211, 215n, 246 Muḥammad Ṭāhir b. Jalāl al-Dīn (Minangkabau) 196 Nara Vija 79 al-Nasafī, Abū l-Barakāt 250 al-Nawāwī, Muḥyī al-Dīn 36n, 242, 250 Nawawī Banten, Muḥammad 37, 168, 179 Ner, Marcel 77, 84-85, 90-95, 98-116, 119, 123-147, 150-158, 162, 165, 170, 192, 194, 197-198, 227, 230, 238, 257, 263-266, 270n, 277, 279, 282, 289-290, 296, 338, 346, 349-350 Nguyen, Abdul Halim b. Ahmad 30n, 211n, 255n, 296n, 300n, 339n Nguyen Anh 51 Nik Leh (Muhammad Saleh) b. Wan Musa 183, 205, 208-213 Norodom (King of Cambodia) 60-61, 64-67, 130-135, 232n, 281, 355n Nur Savan 102 Nūshīrvān (Khusraw II) 82-83 Omar Ali (Hj. Mahli, Chau Giang) 92-93, 213, 216-217 Osman, Hj. (Phum Trea) 93, 99-104, 108, 114, 135, 165, 170-171, 175, 192, 198, 253, 261n, 263 Østebø, Terje 8 Padumarājā II 56 Pak Cu Yeh Tok Raja Hj. (Hj. Idrīs b. Hj. ʽAbd al-Karīm) 242, 270 al-Palimbānī, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad 35-38, 69, 165, 192, 231, 235-239, 243-245, 253-254, 276, 278 Paramarājā VIII 56 Patani, Abbas 108, 213 Patani, Ahmad 37, 103, 104n, 135-136, 140, 159-160, 165-181, 186-193, 198, 203-204, 206, 220-230, 237-244, 247, 248n, 251, 254-255, 267-268, 272, 279 -Tok Kenali-Hj. Awang network 180-181, 185, 203-204, 209, 212, 218-221, 230, 233, 239, 241, 246, 253, 270, 367 Patani, Daud 37-38, 41, 116, 118, 142, 160, 165-169, 181, 192, 198, 206-210, 226, 229, 239, 242-245, 251-252, 254, 276-278, 322 Patani, Hj. Li (Hj. ʿAlī b. ʿAbbās al-Ṣabrī al-Faṭānī) 108, 200, 213

402 Patani, Nik Dir (ʽAbd al-Qādir b. ʽAbd al-Raḥmān al-Faṭānī) 166-167, 198 Patani, Nik Mat Kecik (Muḥammad b. Ismāʽīl Dā’ūd al-Faṭānī) 193, 233, 243, 245 Patani, Pak Da ʽEl (Wan Ismāʽīl b. ʽAbd al-Qādir al-Faṭānī) 166, 218, 271 Patani, Tuan Minal (Zayn al-ʽĀbidīn b. Muḥammad al-Faṭānī) 169, 179, 186, 223, 242n, 243, 251 Patani, Wan Ismail (Ismāʽīl b. ʽAbd al-Laṭīf al-Faṭānī) 166 Patani, Wan Ismail (Ismāʽīl b. Aḥmad al-Faṭānī) 191 Patani, Wan Muhammad (Natuna) 360 Patani, Wan Mustafa (Muṣṭafā b. Muḥammad Faqīh al-Faṭānī) 39, 165, 244 Pavie, Auguste 90, 119-121 Peang Meth, Abdul Gaffar 154, 306 Peang Meth, Abdul Gaffour 154, 306 Peang Ponyamin 318 Phong Yismann (ʽUthmān), oknha borates 106-107, 269, 289, 334 po of Kampung Pring 62, 64, 67, 71, 81, 84, 100n, 106, 109, 127, 145, 157, 363 Po Aulah 28, 82 Po Behim (Po Brahim) 97-98, 101-102, 120, 344 Po Cei Brei 27-30, 62n, 71, 81, 344 Po Dharma 72, 217, 298, 301 Po Kù 81 Po Nosiravan 64n, 82-83, 87, 89, 97, 102 Po Rasulak 87, 97 Po Rome 27-28 Po Ta Kay 58, 62-63 Pou Kombo 66-67, 74n Pulau Pisang, Ali (Hj. Muḥammad ʿAlī Salāḥ al-Dīn b. Awang) 173, 191-192, 211, 220, 241-242, 247-250 al-Qadaḥī, Muḥammad Sa‛īd b. ‛Umar Qāḍī 244, 250 al-Qushāshī, Aḥmad 38-39 al-Rāfiʽī 248 Raja Ali Haji 43, 47-49, 52, 54n Raja Ismail (Sultan of Siak) 48-53 Ramadhipathi I/Sultan Ibrahim 12, 46-47, 54n, 56, 59

Index Of Names al-Rānīrī, Nūr al-Dīn 36 al-Rashīd, Ibrāhīm 167, 177-179 Res Lah (changvang) 295n, 297, 303, 311 Ricci, Ronit 16 Richez (adjunct commissioner) 271, 283 Richomme, Henri Louis Marie 271, 286 Ricklefs, Merle C. 15, 89 Riḍā, Rashīd 172, 206-207, 220 Ros Sman (ʽUthmān b. ʽAbd al- Ra’ūf) 304 Roun (Hārūn), Hj. (Phum Trea) 104, 108, 161, 187, 192, 253, 261n, 263 Sa⁠ʾari b. Hussain (Kota Bharu) 185 (Hj.) Said b. Hj. Isa (Chrang Chamres) 188 Sales Salas (Ṣalāḥ Ṣāliḥ) 337-338 al-Samarqandī, Abū l-Layth 87-88 al-Samaṭrānī, Shams al-Dīn 14, 38 al-Sammānī, Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm 35, 38 Sam Saly (oknha khnour) 225, 351 Samʽūn, Hj. (Chroy Changvar) 267, 273, 280n, 285-286, 289 al-Sanūsī, Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad 87, 168, 170, 221-223, 243, 245-246, 249, 251 Sa Salim 337-338 Sayyid Ali (Sultan of Siak) 51 Sayyid Mustafa 97-98 al-Shāfiʿī, Muḥammad b. Idrīs 174 al-Sharqāwī, ʿAbdallāh 38 al-Shaʿrānī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb 39, 246n Shihamoni (king) 320 Shukry, Sulaiman 311 Siantan, ʽAbdallāh b. ʽAbd al-Wahhāb 360 Sihanouk (king) 214n, 295-298, 304-306, 311, 356 Silvestre, Achille Louis Auguste 271, 280, 285 al-Sinkīlī, ʽAbd al-Ra’ūf 14, 38-40, 87, 165, 169, 243 al-Sirkāl, ʽĪsā b. Nāṣir b. ʽAbd al-Laṭīf 203n, 335 Sisowath (King) 65, 130-133, 232, 275n, 279-280 Sivutha 65-66 Snêha Norês 81 Snouck Hurgronje, Christiaan 20, 169, 206n, 248 Son Ahmad (Mat India) 211-213, 216, 311

403

Index Of Names Sos Kamry (Kamaruddin bin Yusuf) 108n, 189, 200, 202, 214n, 245n, 317-325, 330, 332, 341 Sos Man 200, 307-308 Srong Yousos 217, 232n, 292, 303n, 311 Stewart, Charles 8, 349 Stewart, Tony 7 Sulaiman b. Yusuf 202, 311 Sulaiman Ibrahim 317, 325-327, 330-331 Sulong, Hj. Muhammad Sulum b. Hj. Abdul Kadir 186-187, 241-242, 271 al-Sumbāwī, Zayn al-Dīn 168, 179 Sungai Keladi, Hj. ʿUmar b. Ismāʿīl Nūr al-Dīn 177, 192-193, 195-196, 198, 270, 272 Syamsuddin b. Hj. Syeikh Ismail (oknha reachea Din) 144, 162 Syarhi, Ahmad (Koh Phal) 200-201, 308, 318 Tahir, Abdullah (Kelantan) 193-194, 198, 205, 218n, 220 Ta Ngok (Tok Ngok, Syeikh Ismail b. Syeikh Hussin) 116-120, 144, 157, 160 Taylor, Philip 77, 96 Tayyeb Kabir (Chroy Metrey) 140, 200 Tayyeb Kecil (Chroy Metrey) 140, 200 Tengku Ibrahim (Kelantan) 205 Tengku Sulaiman (Chrang Chamres) 170, 175, 221 Tes Hj. Tales (Hj. Abū Ṭālib) 267, 273, 283, 285 Tieng (sanghareach) 131, 284 Tin Abdul Koyum 326-327, 331-332 Thibaudeau, Léon 258, 264 Tok Bebulu (Hj. Wan Saleh b. Hj. Omar) 108n, 161 Tok Bermin (Hj. Wan Muḥammad b. Wan Idrīs al-Faṭānī) 189, 270 Tok Guru Ghani (Abdul Ghani Fikri) 218 Tok Guru Dala (Hj. Abdul Rahman b. Muhammad Arshad) 241, 248n Tok Kemboja Muda (Hj. Ahmad b. Hj. Abd al-Manaf) 190 Tok Kemboja Tua (Hj. Muhammad Saleh b. Penghulu Mamat) 108n, 189-190 Tok Kenali (Muḥammad b. Yūsuf b. Aḥmad) 140, 159-160, 165, 170-180, 183-195, 198, 203, 209, 211, 220, 230, 236-237, 241-242, 245-253, 319

Tok Malek (Abdul Malik b. Hassan) 160, 187, 190-191, 241 Tok Pulai Chondong (ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. Faqīh Hj. Abdullāh) 41, 160 Tok Pulau Manis (ʿAbd al-Malik b. ʿAbdallāh) 40, 245n Tok Selehong (Hj. Abdul Rahman b. Hj. Uthman) 190-191 Tok Senggora (ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad Qāsim al-Fiqhī al-Sanqūrī) 190, 193 Tok Seridik (Hj. Muhammad Saman b. Awang Senik) 191, 241, 248n Tok Syeikh Duyong (Hj. Wan ʿAbdallāh b. Hj. Wan Muḥammad Amīn) 44-45 Ton Ai Lieng 302 Tuan Tabal (ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ) 160, 167, 177-183, 203 Tuen Phaow 29-33, 57, 71-72, 98n Tunku Abdul Rahman (Prime Minister of Malaysia) 313 Tuon Him (Ibrahim b. Tukang Basih) 142n, 154n, 200-202, 217n, 301, 319, 321, 339n Tuon Him (Phum Trea) 201 Tuon Ismail (Kampong Kendal) 113n, 213n, 242n, 328 Tuon Kosem 96 Tuon Ku Umar 95-97 Tuon (Set) Li 60, 66-67, 72, 106, 130 Tuon Phâ 57 Tuon Rosad 328 Tuon Said (Amphil) 108n, 213, 242 Tuon Set Asmit 57-58, 60, 66, 72, 109 Tuon So (Phum Trea) 192 Tuon Yakoub (Phum Trea) 182 Tuorman (ʽAbd al-Raḥmān), changvang Hj. 132, 134, 149-150, 265-288 Umar (Sultan of Terengganu) 44 ʽUmāra, Muṣṭafā Muḥammad 250 Ustaz Hassan 304 Valentijn, François 14 Wahab, Ahmad (Bangkok) 219 Wan Abdul Hamid (Roka Po Pram) 97, 101 Wan Daud (Dā’ūd Khaṭīb b. Ismāʽīl al-Faṭānī) 241 Wan Ja⁠ʾafar (Kota Bharu) 185

404 Wan Moth (Kbal Romeas) 114 Wan Musa b. Tuan Tabal 181, 183-184, 203-212 Wan Musa b. Wan Abdullah (Chumni) 200 Yahya b. Hj. Osman (Phum Trea) 104 Yakoub Ahmad (Chumnik) 201 Yakoub b. Mahmud 176, 194 Yahya Ibrahim (Amphil) 213, 242 Yasya Asmath 175 Ysa Osman 106n, 200, 294, 309n Yūsuf ʽAbd al-Raḥmān 317

Index Of Names Yusuf b. Muhammad 332, 334 al-Zabīdī, Murtaḍā 231 Zainal (Zayn al-Abidin, school director in Au Chrov) 326 Zainal Abidin II 40 Zainal Abidin III 44, 194n Zakariyya Adam 189, 216, 245n, 319 al-Zawāwī, ʽAbd Allāh 171, 193, 207n, 221 al-Zuḥaylī, Wahba 338

of Places Index OfIndex Places

405

Index of Places Aceh 9-11, 35-37, 48n, 53, 196 Afghanistan 208 Aligarh 24, 212n Ambon 14, 196 Amphil 107-108, 113, 212-213, 242, 251, 292, 328 Andoung Chrey 343 Andong Tramoung 353 Angkor 10, 61 Angkor Ban 99 Anlong Sar 99 Arabia 12, 35, 97 Arab Peninsula 356, 364 Au Chrov 115, 326-328 Au Russey 81, 112, 119, 124, 127, 129, 140, 145-146, 153-158, 198n, 216, 225, 256, 265, 288, 291, 307n, 324n, 344, 346-361, 363-364, 366 Ayutthaya 11, 179 al-Azhar 38, 152, 179, 196, 201-202, 207, 210, 212, 217, 247, 253, 294, 303-304, 317-319, 321, 327 Bachok 314 Bangkok 75-76, 152, 159, 166, 168, 171, 182, 211, 218-220, 287, 344 Banjarmasin 11, 35, 76n, 169, 233, 239, 243, 362 Bandung 295n, 305 Bangladesh 312n, 327, 343 Ban Khrua 219 Banteay Meanchey 211 Banten 11, 47 Baren 75, 129, 175 Batavia 12n, 14n, 26n, 46, 223, 235n, 244 Battambang 74-77, 80n, 83, 86, 90, 124, 138, 142, 147-155, 164, 166, 189, 200n, 219n, 242, 251, 253, 264, 290, 296n, 311n, 314n, 319, 326, 345, 347, 350-357, 363, 366 Batu Pahat (Johor) 315 Bawean 76 Bendang Daya 39, 165-166, 169n, 171, 242, 244 Binh Thuan 2, 32, 65, 84, 302-303, 334 Boeng Pruol 101 Bombay 76, 159, 169, 206, 244

Borneo (Kalimantan) 11, 35, 38, 47, 162, 164, 222, 233, 246 Boeung Ta Prom 115, 316n Brunei 11, 312n, 362 Bukit Datuk (Melaka) 314 Bunut Payong 194, 218n Bunga Emas (Kota Bharu) 153n, 314, 316, 327 Burma (Myanmar) 51n, 102, 192 Burundi 19 Cairo 159, 168-169, 172, 173n, 206-207, 219, 237, 244, 247n, 254-255, 295, 321, 364, 367 Can Tho 32 Cape Town 208, 229, 252 Central Asia 17, 82 Chamkar Loeu 108, 200, 213 Champa 11-13, 15, 25, 27-28, 33, 44-45, 49n, 72, 96-98, 100n, 107, 145, 200, 297-303, 308n, 354 Châu Doc 32, 51, 58, 61-66, 72, 78n, 88, 92-97, 111-112, 116, 138, 141, 153-154, 162, 164, 171, 175, 182, 196, 210-213, 217, 223, 245, 253, 299, 302, 318, 321, 325n Châu Giang 30n, 77, 89, 91-95, 110-111, 116, 133, 138, 142, 158, 164, 176, 189, 210, 213, 241, 271, 367 Châu Phong 77, 183, 209-210 Chhlong 109, 214, 216 Chhouk Sar 58n, 62, 73, 81, 83, 90, 112, 127, 145, 147, 157, 259, 307n, 353 China 9n, 297 Chrang Chamres 106, 108, 128-129, 135-138, 142-143, 154-156, 170, 188, 197n, 217, 221, 229, 232, 234, 238, 247n, 264, 268, 270, 273-274, 278, 282, 288, 290, 292, 303n, 305, 311-312, 331n, 336-337, 339n, 340n, 343-344 Chroy Changvar 75, 78n, 80, 90, 92, 95, 101, 106, 108, 112-116, 128-139, 142, 150, 155, 158, 162, 165, 170-171, 175, 198, 214n, 232-234, 258, 260, 263-270, 274-276, 279, 282-283, 286-289, 292, 305-306, 311n, 330, 354, 367

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_014

406 Chroy Metrey 74, 140-143, 148, 155, 158, 165, 175, 184, 189, 198, 200, 253, 292, 311, 318-320 Chum Chao 336-338 Chumnik 75, 98-99, 103, 107-108, 117, 158, 161, 164, 170, 175n, 199-202, 213, 292, 311, 321, 324-325, 333, 340, 354 Co Ki 94 Congo 19 Da Phuoc 93, 212-213, 367 Dam Spey 153, 189, 219n, 319 Delhi 208, 326 Deoband 24, 123n, 208, 212 East Africa 12, 18 Egypt 39n, 87, 127n, 168, 178, 194, 202n, 245, 294, 306, 312, 317, 325, 333n Hadhramaut 237 Hanoi 63 Ḥaramayn 19-20, 23, 38, 72, 89, 159 Ha Tien (Banteay Meas) 48, 50-53, 59, 74, 78n India 9n, 12, 21, 24, 28n, 87, 136, 196n, 207-208, 210n, 216, 326, 332 Indochina 31, 47, 52-53, 63, 91, 99, 103, 119n, 159n, 168, 180, 185, 189, 203, 209-210, 232, 241, 258, 261, 264, 271, 362-363, 367 Indonesia 14, 22, 24, 127n, 147, 153, 197, 218, 233, 246, 279, 295n, 304n, 306, 311-312, 318, 325n, 338n, 341-342, 362, 367 Iran 82n, 343-344 Istanbul 87, 168-169, 243 Jambu 93, 189 Japan 46n Java 11, 15, 19-21, 28n, 44, 47, 48n, 69n, 70, 89, 124, 173, 190, 193, 220n, 226, 233, 237n, 247-249, 340n, 347, 364-365 Jeddah 44, 72, 312 Johor 11, 47, 52n, 205, 207n, 315 Johor-Riau 9, 11, 42, 49 Kalimantan (see Borneo) Kampong Cham xv, 58, 60, 62-64, 73-79, 83, 92, 95-113, 117-120, 123, 126, 128-137, 140,

Index Of Places 142, 153-157, 160-164, 171, 175-176, 182-189, 192, 196-201, 211-213, 216-218, 242, 247n, 250-253, 260-269, 287, 289, 293n, 297, 302, 307, 317-321, 324-325, 328, 332-334, 337, 340-344, 350, 354, 358, 360, 366 Kampong Chhnang 62, 103, 110, 124, 140, 142, 145-146, 148, 197n, 225, 307, 314n, 321, 326, 333, 339n, 341-348, 355, 357 Kampong Keh 113, 123, 338 Kampong Kendal 112-113, 264n, 328 Kampong Luong 61, 66-67, 72, 83, 90, 108, 116-117, 128-129, 133, 142, 144, 160, 162, 164, 190, 288, 290, 354 Kampong Pring 62, 64, 67, 71, 81, 84, 100, 106, 109, 127, 145, 157, 363 Kampong Siem 77, 98-100, 156n Kampong Soai (see Phum Soai) Kampong Som (see Sihanoukville) Kampong Thom 153, 201, 264, 311, 333 Kampong Tralach 62, 64, 66-67, 71, 77, 81, 84, 112, 124, 128-129, 145, 148, 153, 259, 307, 314n, 316, 342, 346-347, 350, 353, 360 Kampong Treas 175, 260 Kampong Yuol 110 Kampot 31n, 51, 59-60, 72-80, 83, 90, 107, 110-123, 126, 129, 140, 144-146, 157, 160, 225, 253, 264, 292, 295n, 314n, 316, 318, 323-324, 326, 328, 338, 341-342, 345, 347, 350, 354, 357 Kanchor 98 Kang Meas 99, 101, 103, 201 Kauthara 95, 291n Kbal Romeas 112-116, 120-123, 264n, 295n, 324, 326-327, 338 Kbop 215, 319, 337 Kedah 41n, 76, 174, 192, 241, 243-244, 251, 253 Kelantan 22-23, 25, 27-28, 34-35, 37, 40-45, 53-54, 59, 64, 70, 72n, 77, 89-96, 99, 104, 107-108, 114-120, 127n, 128, 135, 137, 140-142, 150, 156-198, 201-215, 218-219, 221, 230, 233, 235, 238-242, 245-246, 250-254, 266-270, 291n, 301n, 313-317, 322, 325, 333, 343n, 362-367 Kendal (province) 76, 80n, 103, 124, 129, 140, 142, 144, 152, 175, 190, 253, 284, 296n, 312n, 314n, 318-319, 327n, 330-331, 333, 340, 347

407

Index Of Places Kendal (village) 356 Kep 111, 114 Ketereh 162, 166 Khleang Sbek 72, 76, 108, 117, 129, 134, 142, 144-145, 148, 155, 162, 164, 284, 288, 314n, 340 Khnai Koko 342 Kien Khleang 101, 267n Koh Khoi 94, 96, 162, 171, 182 Koh Kong 110, 211n, 340 Koh Phal 200-201, 217n, 308-309, 318, 320 Koh Roka 100, 297, 305 Koh Sautin 99, 182n, 261n Kor 202, 301, 312 Kota Bharu 40, 93-94, 137, 140, 150, 153n, 160-162, 171-174, 177-178, 182-185, 188-189, 193-194, 204, 208-212, 251, 253, 313-316, 325, 327, 367 Kotambong 93 Kratie xv, 63, 98, 102-103, 109, 111, 140, 201n, 214, 307, 321, 341 Krauchhmar 75, 89, 98, 103, 108, 134, 175, 184, 189, 197, 201, 211-213, 216, 261n, 307-308, 319, 340 Kuala Lumpur 123, 214n, 317, 323, 326, 333-334 Kuala Terengganu 332 Kuwait 330-338 Laos 2, 47, 74, 328 Libya 333 Lombok 15, 21, 70, 124, 125n, 164, 218, 225-226, 347 Lovek 58, 73, 90, 144, 232n Luang Prabang 328 Madura 76, 247, 249 Mak Prang 114-115, 119, 124 Makah 13, 28-31, 40, 57, 72n Makassar 11, 48n Malaya 22, 41, 72n, 88, 94n, 127n, 150, 153, 160, 173, 178, 186, 197, 209, 279, 365 Malay Peninsula 1, 9, 11, 22, 25, 34, 38, 40-41, 47-48, 53, 69, 76, 104, 188, 191, 253, 266, 278, 324n, 362, 364 Malaysia 2, 9, 12n, 123, 191, 202, 215n, 217, 232n, 241n, 254, 261, 295, 306-307,

311-319, 325, 328, 330, 332-334, 356, 360, 362, 364 Malay world 2, 11, 13, 15, 22, 24-25, 28n, 33-35, 39, 46, 51n, 54, 69-70, 76, 87, 109, 112, 127, 147, 150, 158-159, 164, 169, 179, 195-196, 292, 296, 312, 325n, 362 Maluku 14, 20, 196 Manila 11n Mataram 11 Mecca 13, 19-20, 28, 36-41, 44, 72, 87, 91-95, 99, 103-104, 107-108, 116-117, 128, 135-144, 150-153, 156-174, 177-194, 196n, 198, 204, 206n, 207n, 208-210, 217n, 218-219, 223, 227, 229, 234, 239, 243, 244n, 247-248, 251-254, 261n, 266-271, 282, 292n, 293-294, 347, 363-367 Medina 19, 30n, 36, 44, 72, 152n, 196n, 321, 333, 338, 339n, 344 Mekong Delta 21, 25, 27, 30, 32, 45, 50-51, 54-65, 74, 77, 83-92, 98-103, 109, 112, 120, 140-141, 158-162, 170-171, 174-176, 179-184, 204, 209-212, 214n, 217-219, 223, 228, 241, 252, 296-297, 302-304, 358, 362-363 Melaka 9, 11-12, 34-35, 42, 43n, 48n, 76, 147, 314 Straits of 13, 22, 41-48, 52 Memot 99 Middle East 1, 24, 255, 333, 335, 337n Minangkabau 11, 39n, 47, 54, 75n, 76-78, 115, 127n, 147, 173n, 187, 207n, 213, 217n, 218, 225n, 252n Mondulkiri 299 Moung Russey 153 Muslim world 2-4, 6, 9-10, 15-17, 21-24, 33, 70, 82n, 84, 179-180, 221, 229, 247, 312, 332, 365, 368 Narathiwat 22 Natuna 53, 360 Negeri Sembilan 76, 178, 180n, 185 Nilam Puri (Kelantan) 315 Ninh Thuan 2, 32, 84, 302-303, 334, 357n Norea 77, 145n, 147-153, 155-158, 189, 242, 251, 253, 264, 292, 296n, 311, 314n, 326 Olympia 142n, 304n O Saondan 343 O Trav 122n, 337n, 340

408 Oudong 57, 59, 61, 66-67, 81, 112, 117-123, 129, 134, 144, 232n, 342, 348, 350, 354-355, 358, 364 Padang 173n, 217n Pahang 11, 205, 314 Pakistan 208, 312n, 326, 332 Pakse 328 Palembang 11, 35, 38, 51n, 53-54, 58, 169, 239, 362 Panduranga 2, 13, 15-16, 21, 25-27, 29-34, 54, 57-58, 64n, 67-72, 76, 79-84, 88, 95-96, 100, 105-107, 109, 115, 117, 119, 125, 141n, 158, 201, 290-291, 297-302, 344, 347-349, 353-355, 360-363 Pasir Mas 108n, 161-162, 176, 181 Pasir Puteh 161-162 pasisir 19, 89 Patani 11, 22-23, 25, 27, 34-47, 54, 64, 76-77, 87, 89, 92-95, 108, 115-119, 128, 135, 141, 147, 150, 152, 156-160, 165-172, 179-180, 183, 186-194, 211, 213, 218-219, 224n, 228, 239, 242-245, 248, 251-255, 261n, 262, 266, 269-274, 301n, 313, 320, 322, 325n, 329n, 362-367 (-Kelantan-Cambodia) network 34, 36, 38, 41, 69, 104, 142, 152, 159, 165, 171, 202n, 206, 223, 233, 249, 272, 277, 292n Pekan 314 Penang 150, 168, 215, 254-255, 279 Perak 41n, 54, 247 Persia 12, 82 Persian Gulf 3, 312, 335, 364 Peus 107, 340 Phan Rang 27-28, 30n, 32-33, 92-93, 201-202, 217, 300, 318 Phan Ri 27-28, 30n, 32 Philippines 74, 220n, 362 Phnom Chhnork (Kampot) 121-122 Phnom Penh 11, 60-61, 64, 72-76, 78n, 80, 83, 89-90, 92, 101-104, 106, 108, 111, 116, 124, 128-129, 134-138, 142, 148-149, 154-155, 164, 170, 174-176, 196, 202-203, 216-218, 232-234, 251, 253, 256, 259-263, 268, 271, 284, 287, 297, 304, 307, 317n, 319n, 321, 326, 327n, 336-337, 339n, 343, 350, 354, 363, 366

Index Of Places Phnom Sal Taon (Phnom Kbal Romeas) 120-122 Phum Buon (Koh Kong) 340 Phum Poeuh (Krauchhmar) 340 Phum Roka 102 Phum Soai (Cambodia) 107-108, 189, 328, 333, 340 Phum Soai (Vietnam) 93 Phum Thkoul (Pursat) 147-148 Phum Trea 74-75, 79, 89, 93, 98-104, 107-116, 128-129, 133, 135, 142, 153, 158, 161-165, 170-171, 175, 177, 181-182, 187, 192, 194, 197-201, 212, 215, 228, 233, 247n, 253, 261, 263, 266, 277n, 289, 292-293, 303, 308, 311, 317, 321, 324-328, 359, 363, 367 Poipet 211, 216 Ponhea Kraek 201-202 Ponhea Loeu 66, 144 Pontianak 76n, 162-164, 171 Pothi En (Kampong Cham) 320 Prek Pra 129, 136-138, 154, 303n, 305, 326-327 Prek Kout 319 Prek Tapeou 138, 312n Prey Nup 115, 122n Prey Pis 62, 326-327 Prey Thnorng 123, 355n Prey Thnorng Cheung 226n, 323-324 Prey Totoeng 101 Pulai Chondong 70, 187 Pulau Keladi (Pahang) 314 Pursat xv, 123-124, 142, 146, 148, 152, 156, 345, 347, 349n, 351, 355 Qum 344 Raiwind 326-327 Ratanakiri 341, 344-345 Riau 42-43, 48-49, 168 -Lingga 42, 59 Roka Khnor 184 Roka Po Pram 60, 71, 83, 96-97, 99, 101-102, 120, 201-202, 317n, 344, 358 Rwanda 19 Saigon 32, 76, 136-138, 164, 176, 179, 196, 213-214, 258, 270-271, 282, 299-304 Sambour 60, 71n Sambour Meas 129, 144, 162

409

Index Of Places Satun 22 Saudi Arabia 154n, 312, 317, 335, 337, 339 Seattle 142n, 304n Sekukuh (Pahang) 314 Selangor 49 Semarang 19 Siak 42n, 48-53, 58, 76 Siam 34, 45, 46n, 51, 56, 59-60, 75, 131, 149, 168, 174, 220n, 284, 302 Siam Reap 153-154, 303n, 306, 312n, 323 Siantan 48-49, 53 Sihanoukville (Preah Sihanouk) 77-78, 80, 110-111, 115, 122, 316, 318, 326, 337n, 340 Singapore 19, 22, 24, 39n, 45, 59, 172-173, 206, 218, 229, 248, 254, 270, 362 Songkhla 22, 34, 168, 190 South Africa 208 South Asia 17-18, 23, 82, 208, 312, 331n, 343n, 356, 365-366 Southeast Asia 1-3, 8-14, 17, 20-23, 36, 39, 47-48, 51, 54n, 56, 58, 79, 82-83, 87-89, 92n, 124, 142, 150, 167, 171, 173n, 194, 210n, 220n, 221, 223, 225, 229, 232-233, 236-237, 240, 244-245, 250, 253-254, 272, 332, 345n, 346, 353, 362, 364 Speu 108, 158, 200, 213, 292, 311, 319-321 Sri Lanka (Ceylon) 14n, 28n, 102 Sri Petaling 123, 326-327 Srivijaya 9n, 14 Straits Settlements 22, 172, 204, 365 Stung Trang (province) 74, 211n, 340-342 Stung Trang (village) 289 Sulawesi 11, 14, 43n, 97n, 188, 355n Sumatra 9, 11, 14-15, 35, 38, 40, 47, 53-54, 75-79, 113, 172, 174, 188-191, 226, 248, 365 Svay Chrum 129, 138-140, 148, 157 Svay Khleang 75, 98-99, 103, 105-107, 132, 135, 141n, 156n, 162, 164, 176, 189, 201, 211, 214-218, 264n, 266, 268-269, 289, 292, 294n, 308-311, 319, 333-334, 337, 360

Takeo 74-75, 110, 262n, 326 Takhmau 138, 312n, 327n, 331-332 Tamil Nadu 282 Tanjung Minyak (Melaka) 314 Tay Ninh 29-30, 58, 65-66, 71, 73, 90, 95-96, 141, 159, 201, 304, 318, 358 Terengganu 10, 22, 25, 40-41, 44-47, 50-53, 59, 64, 77, 93n, 95, 115, 174, 194n, 204-205, 209, 245n, 247n, 291n, 313-315, 322, 325n, 334, 362 Thailand 2, 12n, 102, 116, 124n, 135, 153, 177, 179, 186-187, 190-191, 216, 254, 318, 322, 324n, 325-326, 328-330, 332, 339n, 341, 362 Gulf of 161, 188, 232n, 363 Thbaung Khmum xv, 29, 58-63, 67, 71-77, 97-102, 105, 109, 120, 128, 182n, 201-202, 253, 293-294, 301, 332, 362 Trapeang Chhouk 154, 201 Trey Koh 79, 112-113 Tripoli 333 Tuol Amphil 110 Tuol Moung Thmey 326-327 Tuol Ngok 76, 83, 117, 129, 142, 144-145, 155, 157, 162, 296n, 330, 337n, 340 Turkey 313 Vietnam 1-2, 15-16, 24-25, 27n, 45, 51, 60, 63, 65, 76, 90, 94, 99, 115, 137, 140, 159, 164, 181, 183, 186, 206, 217, 295-297, 301, 303-304, 318, 325, 333-334, 362 Vihear Sambour 344-345 Vijaya 11, 15, 302 Vinh Truong 96 West Africa 23n, 221n Yala 22, 123n, 249, 322, 326-328 Yogyakarta 89, 233-234

410

Index of Groups

Index Of Groups

Index of Groups Ethnic and religious groups, organizations and institutions

abangan 15, 21, 124, 226n, 340n, 347, 365-366 Acehnese 14, 36, 38, 40 Afro-Asian Islamic Organisation 295n, 305 Ahl-e Ḥadīth 208n, 366 Ahmadiyya (movement) 146, 226, 329, 341-343 Aḥmadiyya (ṭarīqa) 160, 167, 177-185, 203, 206n, 272n, 343 Alevis 6n Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia 332 Annamese 32, 80 Arabs 16, 20, 70n, 72, 76, 96, 113n, 146, 166-167, 254, 305-306, 331, 331, 335, 337 Ashʽaris(m) 88, 167, 221, 245-246 Association of Cham Muslims of Vietnam 299 Bajaraka 298 Bani 2, 15-16, 25-34, 54, 64n, 69-71, 79, 83-85, 92, 97, 217, 225, 290, 299-302, 347, 349, 355, 362 Barelwis 366 Bataks 240, 252 Brahmanist Chams 2, 16, 26-33, 64n, 71, 79, 85, 95, 290-291, 300, 302, 349, 362 British 9, 18, 22, 41, 46, 49, 52, 59, 60n, 76, 78, 181, 197, 208, 368 Buddhists (Buddhism) 24, 59, 80, 102, 119-122, 126, 131, 133, 155, 230, 260n, 269, 284, 287, 294, 302, 311, 315n, 316n, 341n, 345, 356-357 Bugis 42-49, 52, 54, 97n, 335n Burmese 56, 259 cam baruw (New Chams) 30-33, 58, 71, 84, 92-93, 201-202, 300, 302 Cambodian Muslim Community Development Organization 333 Cambodian Muslim Development Foundation (cmdf) 317-319, 330, 333 Cambodian People’s Party (cpp) 323n, 327n, 330, 333n, 341, 357

cam jawa (Cham Jawa) 30-33, 71, 201-202, 300, 302, 357n cam sot (Pure Chams) 84, 115, 124, 348, 355, 358 cawa (Jawa) 10, 13, 16, 29-31 Chinese 30, 34, 44, 46n, 47-48, 50, 53, 56, 59, 75, 78, 80, 119, 122, 231, 259, 262n, 311 Christians (Christianity) 4, 14, 32, 65, 307 Chvea 1, 10, 13, 26, 30, 56, 69-73, 76-86, 89-91, 94-95, 106, 110-124, 128-134, 138, 144, 147-148, 152, 155-156, 162, 251, 257-259, 262, 264, 296-299, 310, 322, 357, 362-363 Deobandis 123n, 207-208, 212, 366 Dutch 12n, 14, 20, 26n, 41, 46-49, 53, 80, 217n, 258n East India Company (voc) 11, 46, 52n, 53 East Indies 75, 88, 127n, 150, 247n 5th Special Brigade (5bis[-fulro]) 304-307, 310 French 2, 12n, 23-27, 32-33, 45, 51, 55, 59, 61-67, 70, 73-76, 84, 88, 106, 111, 114, 117, 119, 124n, 128, 130, 133-136, 138, 156n, 159n, 186, 216, 227, 234, 256-290, 293-294, 297, 351, 354, 363, 368 Protectorate 25, 61, 65-66, 73-75, 130, 134, 226, 259, 262, 279-280, 297, 363, 368 Resident 32, 65, 105, 152, 156n, 258-259, 261, 264, 271, 280, 285-286, 289 Front for the Liberation of Champa (flc) 297-298 Front for the Liberation of Lower Cambodia (flkk) 297-298 Front for the Liberation of the High Plateaus of Champa (flhpc) 298 Front Unifié de Lutte des Races Opprimées (fulro) 100n, 217, 298-306, 310 Germans 18, 66, 258n

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004384514_015

411

Index Of Groups Ḥaḍramis 58, 113, 116, 204n, 223, 244, 248, 254 Ḥanafis(m) 87-88, 325, 343 Al-Hay᾽at al-Khayriyyat al-Islāmiyyat al-ʽĀlamiyya 333 Hindus (Hinduism) 17, 23, 28n, 368 “hyper-traditionalists” (see Kan Imam San) Iberians 12, 46 Imam al-Khoei Foundation 343-344 Indians (South Asians) 10n, 18, 56, 76, 80, 89, 129, 136, 207, 212n, 231, 281-283, 325, 327, 341 Indochinese Communist Party 294 Iranians (Persians) 82, 343-344 Ismailis 6n, 18n Jamiʿ Merbau al-Ismaili (Kota Bharu) 188, 191, 197, 211 Jamʽiyyat al-Barakat al-Khayriyya biKambūdiyā 337 Jamʽiyyat Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-Islāmiyya (rihs) 336-338, 344 Jamʽiyyat al-Iṣlāḥ al-Ijtimāʽī (srs) 337-338 Japanese 191, 293 Javanese 10-11, 15-16, 19-20, 23, 34, 44, 69, 78, 82, 89, 111, 172, 226n, 240, 347, 365-366 jawa kur 30, 51, 58, 91, 95, 110, 299 Kan Imam San 2-3, 8, 15, 62, 64, 81, 84, 86, 95, 97, 110, 113, 115, 117-129, 133, 145-146, 153, 156, 161, 183, 198n, 225-226, 246, 285, 315, 324n, 329, 335-336, 342-361, 364-365 kaum muda/phong bhaw 93, 157, 164n, 172-173, 184, 186-187, 197, 203-213, 216-218, 222, 236, 252n, 265, 279, 284, 292, 302, 311, 329-330, 335, 364, 367 kaum tua/phong klau’ 113, 157, 172, 187, 197n, 199, 202-204, 207, 211-218, 222, 242, 250, 265, 284, 292, 319-320, 328-330, 364, 366 kebatinan 246, 347 kejawen 21 kepercayaan 246, 347 Khalwatiyya 38 Khmers 27, 30, 32, 34, 46, 50-51, 54-63, 67, 72-75, 78, 80, 92n, 96, 100n, 103, 106, 115, 119-122, 126-130, 155-156, 213n, 230, 256,

262n, 271-273, 276-279, 282-287, 290, 295-297, 309, 316n, 320, 327n, 332, 343, 351, 354-356, 362-363 Khmer Islam 115n, 296, 304-306 Khmer Issarak 293, 307 Khmer Krom 296, 304 Khmer Loeu 296 Khmer People’s National Liberation Front 311 Khmer Republic (Lon Nol regime) 176, 293-294, 297, 304-307, 313 Khmer Rouge (Democratic Kampuchea regime) 100-101, 110, 121-122, 135n, 145, 176, 182, 190, 199-201, 218, 240n, 292-294, 305-313, 318-329, 335, 343, 348, 351-352, 356n, 364 kobuol 124-128, 132, 136-149, 152-157, 172, 188, 190, 209, 212-213, 224-228, 238, 252, 256, 265, 268, 284-292, 330, 335-336, 343, 346, 349-350, 354-355, 358-359, 363-366 Luzons 11n Madrasah al-Muhammadiah (Kota Bharu) 93, 137, 160, 173, 187-188, 241, 250, 253 Madurese 20, 249 Mahanikay 131, 155, 284, 357 Mahanikay Thmey 284 Majlis Ugama Islam (Kelantan) 93, 137, 159-160, 173-174, 177, 187-188, 191-197, 203-206, 211, 220, 230, 235, 253, 266, 268, 314 Majmaʽ Jahāni Ahl al-Bayt 343 Makassarese 48n, 49, 54 melayu 9, 11-15, 18, 26, 29, 42-51, 54, 58, 84, 164, 195-196, 228, 302 Masjid Muhammadi (Kota Bharu) 160, 173-174, 176, 178, 184-185, 188, 191, 193-194, 204, 208, 218n, 241, 301n Minangkabau 14-15, 34, 42n, 45, 47-54, 75-78, 80, 119, 150, 164n, 172, 178-179, 196, 207n, 219, 279 Montagnards (highlanders, hill tribes) 32, 74, 295-307 Muhammadiyyah 24, 164n, 173, 210, 233, 367 muk kei 26-30, 142n, 301, 346-351, 361n Muslim World League 317, 335

412 Naqshbandiyya 38, 164, 167, 193, 252n, 272, 343 Organization for the Protection of Muslims in Cambodia 321 Organization of the Islamic Conference (oic) 312 Ottomans 7n, 72-73, 186, 190, 194, 281 Parti Islam Se-Malaysia 301n, 333 Pashtuns 76, 208 Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam Malaysia (perkim) 313-314, 316-317 Pondok Hj. Awang (Pondok/Surau Kemboja) 177, 180, 182-185 Portuguese 11-14 priyayi 124, 366 putihan 19, 69n, 124, 226n, 365 Qādiriyya 38 Regional Islamic Daʽwah Council of Southeast Asia and the Pacific (riseap) 317, 325 Salafis(m) 191, 209-210, 222, 226, 245, 292, 319, 329-331, 335-341, 364-365 Sammāniyya 35, 38 santri 19-21, 89, 124, 226n, 340n, 364-365 Sasak 15, 21, 69, 82, 83n, 218, 240, 365-366 Shādhiliyya 38, 40, 167 Shāfiʽis(m) 36n, 88, 166, 171, 179, 193, 204, 221, 229, 237, 248n, 274-278, 281, 325, 329, 337-339 Shaṭṭariyya 36, 38-40, 44, 252n Shiite 1, 88, 277, 329, 343-345 Siamese 34, 40-41, 49n, 51, 57-58, 60, 65n, 130, 166, 179, 287, 302

Index Of Groups Sino-Cham 44 Sino-Javanese 34-35, 44 Sino-Khmer 56 South Asians (see Indians) Spanish 11 Sundanese 20 Sunni(s) 1, 30n, 146, 208, 248n, 278 Swahili(s) 17-19, 240 Tablīghī Jamāʽat (tj) 123, 146, 182n, 191, 226, 317, 324-332, 335, 340-341, 345, 364, 366 Tamils 56, 76, 136, 229-230, 261, 282 Tay Son 27-29, 45, 51, 57 Thais 11, 22, 34, 118, 187, 211, 218, 327 Thommakay 284 Thommayuth 131, 284, 357 trimeu 124-128, 132, 135-139, 142-147, 150-157, 170, 172, 188, 190, 212-213, 224, 227-228, 238, 252, 256, 265-268, 284-292, 330, 346, 349-350, 355, 363, 365 Turks 6, 76, 281 Vietnamese 2, 11, 25-33, 46, 50-51, 54, 56-63, 65n, 75, 86, 97, 100n, 103, 189, 232n, 262n, 297-302, 307-311, 313, 351-352, 358, 364 Chams (Muslims) 94, 96, 116, 166, 171n, 179, 185, 194, 213, 214n, 299-300, 304n, 312, 332, 334, 339 Wahhābiyya 190, 209-210, 271, 338 waktu lima 21, 70n, 124, 164, 218, 226n, 365 wetu telu 15, 21, 70n, 83n, 124, 218, 225-226, 246, 347, 365 Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (yadim) 316-317 Yayasan Islam Kelantan (yik) 317