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The Structure of Traditional Learning on Tasawuf: Hidāyaal-Sālikīn and Some Related Texts

KUSHIMOTO Hiroko
JSPS Fellow(Sophia University)

Abstruct
　How the observers of the Muslim society should interpret the meaning of distribution or usage of specific kitab in specific context? It is necessary to understand the contents of the kitab in relation with other texts while gathering the data of the background of its usage and distribution. This paper is aimed to start such “mapping” of the content of the tasawuf texts widely used in traditional learning, past and present, especially in Malaysia. This is a part of the effort to draw the general picture of traditional Islamic learning in Southeast Asia. I chose tasawuf as the area of focus among the wide Islamic knowledge and Hidāyaal-Sālikīn written by Abd al-Samad al-Palembanias the central text to start the mapping.
　There have been some effortsto list up the kitabs (eg. [Bruinessen 1990; Matheson and Hooker 1988]) that provides the information of the kitabs that should be put in the mapping. The provisional catalogue of Sophia University that compiled kitabs currently printed and sold gives important insight about the contemporary interest. However, the relation and structure of the listed texts have not been well studied while many have been written on the relationship between the authors of the kitabs and also on the development of ideas written in the kitabs (eg. [Azyumardi 1994; Wan Mohd. Saghir 2004a, 2004b]).
　This paper discusses the inter-text relation of the major tasawuf texts used in traditional learning by two ways, one is the comparison of the table of contents and another is the comparison of the way of explanation of specific topics. I focus Hidāya al-Sālikīn not only because it is one of the most popular texts for introductory tasawuf learning but because it provides basic structure of tasawuf learning.
　Hidāya al-Sālikīnwas written by Abd al-Samad al-Palembani (1704-1789?) in Mekka in 1778. Abd al-Samad al-Palembani is believed to be born in Palemban then learned and taught in Mekka. He is one of the most famous Jawi ulama of 18th century who contributed to spread the teachings of Abū Hamid al-Ghazālī (d.1111) to the part of the world. Hidāya al-Sālikīnis mentioned as a “translation” of al-Ghazālī’sBidāya al-Hidāya but as is widely known this text includes numbers of other references and topics that is not discussed in Bidāya. Hidāya al-Sālikīn is composed of Seven chapters(babs) with introductionand ending notes. These chapters are divided by the author into three parts;the first part on the outer and inner obedience, the second on the outer and inner sins, the last on the manners to interact with others. When compared to al-Ghazālī’s Bidāya al-Hidāya that is also organized according to the same three parts, the second part of Hidāya al-Sālikīn contains more topics related to the ways to improve the inner characters by knowing the good natures and practicing towards it especially by way of zikir. It also adds a lengthy discussion on the merits of knowledge and the necessity of learning tasawuf in the first part. Such topics are discussed in detail in al-Ghazālī’s Minhāj al-Ābidīn, Arba`īnfīusūl al-dīn and Ihya`Ulūm al-Din.
　Hidāya al-Sālikīn is a kitabmeant for beginners who just started to learn tasawuf. In the ending note the author quotes from Bidāya al-Hidāya to remind the readers that the content of the text is only a “beginning(bidāya)” and there is a “ending (nihāya)”and the “ending” or the advanced knowledge is written in Ihya`Ulūm al-Din. As for Ihya, Abd al-Samad wrote another famous kitab named Sayr al-Sālikīn. Sayr al-Sālikīnis a four volumes kitab that is about four times longer than Hidāya al-Sālikīn.It is mentioned by the auther as “translation” of Lubāb Ihya`Ulūm al-Dīn, a summary of Ihya believed to be written by the brother of al-Ghazālī, Ahmad al-Ghazāli. It is again well known that AbdSamad added quotes from many other texts and his own opinions to the “translation” but the structure of the topics basically follows that of Lubāb. The content of Hidāya al-Sālikīn is generally summary ofSayr al-Sālikīn but there are some differences in the order of the topics and ways of explanation.
　As for the general order of the topics, in contrast to Hidāya al-Sālikīn that discusses (1)theouter worship such as prayer and fasting (2)the inner problems and good natures (3)good manners in life and society, Sayr al-Sālikīn makes the topic (3) before topic (2). As for the way of explanation, I analyzed the topic on prayer from the topic (1) as example. Both texts explain the ways and manners of prayer as the second topic of the outer worships after the discussion of purification. In contrast to the Sayr that explains all of the prayer, fasting, zakat and haji, Hidāya deals only with the prayer followed by short notes on fasting.In the explanation, Sayr stresses the inner meanings of each movement and word in the prayer following the normal order of topics in fiqh texts. On the other hand, Hidāya arrange the prayers according to the time from the dawn to night with explanation of what should be done between prayers. The explanation about the hidden meanings of the prayer in Hidāyais shorter than in Sayrand the merits of each practice are stressed. This tendency is symbolized in the rules of translation of the two kitabs; Hidāya does not translate the words of doawhenSayr does while the quotation of al-Quran, Hadith and other kitabs are translated in both kitabs. Hidāya al-Sālikīn has feature as a daily manual for the beginners to practice the outer and inner worship in sufistic way.
　Many of the popular kitabs can be mapped in relation with Hidāya al-Sālikīn, For example, another widely used tasawuf kitab Minhāj al-`Ābidīn translated by Daudbin Abdullah al-Fathani covers the topics of inner worship especially the inner problems discussed in the second part of the Hidāyaand it is considered as more advanced than Hidāya. Penawar Bagi Hati written by Abdul Qadir al-Mandili covers almost the same topics with Minhāj al-`Ābidīnbut in much simpler way and it meant for the mass. In such way, Hidāyacan be used as the core of the mapping of the kitabs in the structure of tasawuf learning. Such mapping may help to interpret the meanings of usage and distribution of kitabs.