A Mandailing Narrative on Hajj: Peringatan Tarikh Perjalanan Raja Shahabuddin dan Rahmah ke Mekah.

DRAFT ONLY – Not for citation

1

A Mandailing Narrative on Hajj: Peringatan Tarikh Perjalanan Raja

Shahabuddin dan Rahmah ke Mekah1

by Abdur-Razzaq Lubis

Hajj Naratives

There are probably a dozen or so circa twentieth century narratives to the ‘holy lands’, by land

and by sea, departing from ‘British Malaya’/Peninsular West Malaysia and Singapore. All are in

the Malay language and in the Jawi script. I am confining myself to the published materials from

the twentieth century as the hajj narrative that I will be exploring shortly is also from that time

period.

Some of these are:

Wan Yahya Wan Mohd Taib, Tarikh Al-Siyahah Ila Makatul Mukaramah, 1914;

Muhammad bin Muhammad Ali, Kitab Pelayaran Haji, Singapura: Cap Haji Muhammad

Nur bin Haji Muhammad, 1346H (1927);

Jaafar bin Jusoh Al Haj sanah 1355H (1936-1937 Masihi), Perihal Pemergian ke Mekah

dan Madinah, Su Peng Hang Press, Johor Bharu;

Alwee bin Syeikh Abdul Hadi, Penerangan, Teguran dan Nasihat Atas Pelayaran Naik

Haji ke ‘tanah suci’, 431 Jelutong Press, Pulau Pinang, (Alwee left for the ‘holy lands’ on

1 Syawal 1374 Hijriah corresponding to 23 May 1955);

Harun Amin Ar Rashid, Catatan ke ‘tanah suci’, Pustaka Melayu Royal Press, Singapura,

first edition December 1961, and

Haji Ismail bin Haji Ishak, Ke Mekah Mengikut Jalan Darat, C. K. Kok Company, Kuala

Lumpur, 1975.

As you can see, some were published in Penang, Singapore, Johor Bharu and Kuala

Lumpur. It is not my intention to discuss or compare the varied narratives from 1914 to the

1970s. I chose the 1970s as the cut-off point as after that there seems to be a proliferation in hajj

narratives and because Penang ceased to be the embarkation port by 1977.

My purpose and objective in this essay is to draw attention to and introduce you to an

unknown work by a member of the Mandailing nobility from Perak state, then regarded as the

premier state in the Federation of Malaya under the aegis of pax-Britannica. As far as I am aware

this is the only hajj narrative by a Mandailing from ‘British Malaya’.

Raja Shahabuddin, The Author

On the eve of World War II in December 1939, Raja Shahabuddin and his wife Rahmah went on

the hajj departing from the port of Penang on the ship ‘Deucalion’ and returned on the same

ship.2 The couple was amongst the 439 pilgrims that undertook the hajj from Perak in that year.

3

Upon his return, he wrote an account of his voyage to the ‘holy city’ titled, Peringatan Tarikh

1 Paper presented at the Penang and The Hajj Conference, at the Eastern & Oriental (E&O) Hotel, George Town,

Penang, 17-18 August 2013 2 Raja Shahabuddin bin Raja Bilah, Peringatan Tarikh Perjalanan Raja Shahabuddin dan Rahmah ke Mekah,

privately published by The Mercantile Press, Printers & Stationers, No. 18, Market Street, Ipoh, F.M.S., 1941: 3, 63.

Raja Shahabuddin informs us that Japanese ships also carry pilgrims to Jeddah from Singapore. 3 William R. Roff, , ‘The Conduct of the Haj from Malaya, and the First Malay Pilgrimage Officer’, in Seri Terbitan

tak berkala: Occasional Papers, Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Malay Langiage and Literature, National University of

Malaya 1, 1975, Appendix I, ‘Malay Pilgrims by State, 1924-1940’.


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Raja Shahabuddin dan Rahmah ke Mekah (henceforth Peringatan) based on the journals he

maintained during the journey. The typewritten Jawi manuscript was privately published by ‘The

Mercantile Press, Printers & Stationers, No. 18, Market Street, IPOH, F.M.S.’4

Raja Shahabuddin wrote that his intentions in writing the Peringatan on 1 Rabī ‘al-

Awwal (the first spring), 1360 Hijri of the Islamic calendar corresponding to 1 March 1940 of

the Gregorian calendar was as a reminiscence of him and his wife in the hope that it would be a

pleasing recollection to future generations. The journal of his and his wife’s experiences of the

hajj travel began in earnest on 20 December 1939 and ended on 15 April 1940. This was

followed by an erratum, advice given to aspiring pilgrims and also on the adat (customs) of the

Arabs. We should note that Raja Shahabuddin’s account is unique in its gender sensitivities as it

is the only record that we know of from this part of the world that offers some insights on the

activities of women in particular his wife in the performances of the hajj rites to shopping and

visiting relatives, all of which they co-jointly performed.

The journal focused on the hajj rituals performed individually or jointly with his wife,

interspersed with some historical background and poems. Interspersed within the experiences

were entries which juxtaposed the mundane day-to-day aspects of the journey with interesting

observations. He wrote about the changing weather from raging seas to calm waters, strong

winds and doldrums, the night skies, etc. and the creatures he saw in the waters and above it. He

named the various ports of call such as Colombo,5 Kamaran island, Aden and Jeddah and the

Sheikh Hajis (pilgrim brokers). Anthropology stoked his interest too, for he wrote about the

ethnicities, various attires worn and languages spoken by those he encountered. Very little

missed his observing eye, even the medical and quarantine procedures. He witnessed the

ushering of the 1940 new year celebrations marked by the firing of cannon fire and entertainment

and the many modes of transport. The disagreeable aspects and the human dimension of the

voyage – the begging, the squalor, corruption, intimidation and continued destruction of tombs

by the fundamentalist Wahhabis – were not spared. Raja Shahabuddin’s poems are not mere

embellishment but are both informative and descriptive of the places, people, transportation, and

his mood at the time.

Raja Shahabuddin’s account from 1939-1940 filled the gap in the narrative of hajj travel

from the early and mid-twentieth century. The preceding account by Jaafar bin Jusof Al Haj of

Johor Bharu was about performing hajj in the 1930s whilst the succeeding one by Alwee bin

Syeikh Abdul Hadi of Penang was about undertaking the hajj in the 1950s.

Raja Shahabuddin’s elder brother, Raja Yacob had undertaken the hajj in the 1890s. His

parents, Raja Bilah (Haji Abdur Razzaq) and Enche Nai’mas (Hajjah Zubaidah); his auntie, Raja

Bugis (Hajjah Saadiah); his sister, Raja Sitiawan (Hajjah Rabeah); his brother-in-law

Muhammad Salleh (Haji Muhammad Salleh); his nephew Abdullah Halim (Haji Abdullah) and

kin Timal (Hajjah Fatimah) and Midal (Haji Abdullah) had gone on the hajj in 1905 as an

entourage but left no personal account of their experience. We know their hajj undertaking as

Raja Yacob reported it in his typewritten family chronicle Tarikh Raja Asal dan Keluarganya in

Jawi, which was privately published in 1934.

4 To the best of my knowledge, there is only one extent copy.

5 At Colombo harbour, Raja Shahabuddin saw the maneuvers of an amphibious plane or seaplane that circled the

hajj ship attracting the attention of many pilgrims who rush on deck to see the ‘show’, before the plane landed in the

water and return to the mother ship. Raja Shahabuddin counted three ‘English’ warships and three French troop’s

transporter. (Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 10).


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Raja Haji Shahabuddin like his elder brother Raja Yacob, his sister Hajjah Rabeah, his

brother-in-law H.M. Salleh and nephew Haji Abdullah were all locally born. Raja Haji

Shahabuddin was born in Papan, Kinta district in Perak state on 10 Safar 1302 H corresponding

to 29 November 1884.6 Raja Bilah, Raja Yacob, Raja Shahabuddin, Enche Nai’mas (Hajjah

Zubaidah), Raja Bugis (Hajjah Saadiah) and Raja Sitiawan (Hajjah Rabeah) were all Mandailing

nobility.

His father was Raja Bilah son of Raja Todung Barani or Raja Haji Abdur Razzaq, his

post-hajj name.7 His mother was Enci’ Naimas

8 daughter of Raja Maharaja Mandailing

9 or her

hajj name, Hajjah Zubaidah.10

Raja Shahabuddin and his father are of the Nasution clan whereas

his mother was from Rangkuti clan, the wife-giving clan to the wife-taking clan of the Nasution.

They were all Mandailing people.

Raja Shahabuddin enrolled into the Pusing Malay vernacular school in 1895 before

furthering his education at the Malay College Malacca in 1899.11

He started his career as a

‘Malay writer’ in the Perak civil service based in Taiping, then the state capital, in 1907. He was

transferred to Parit, central Perak in 1908, and to Grik, Upper Perak in 1910, before quiting his

post. In 1925, he was appointed ‘Assistant Penghulu’ in the Mukim (parish) of Blanja to the

largest tin mining district in the world in the early twentieth century. At the time his elder

brother, Raja Yacob was the penghulu. Upon the latter’s retirement in October 1932, Raja

Shahabuddin assumed the position.12

He was the second son of Raja Bilah appointed by the

British to office of penghulu, the lowest rank of British appointed administrator and the only

position perpetuated from the pre-colonial system of governance.

According to Raja Shahabuddin’s preface he ‘volutarily retired’ before going on the hajj.

He is said to have died in 1969 and was buried in the Muslim cemetery in Papan endowed by his

father.

Bid Adieu13

Ahead of Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah’s departure, Muhammad Dahalan (bin Harun),

Rahmah’s nephew and the author’s grandfather was sent to Penang with their luggage on the

night mail train. Muhammad Dahalan was familiar with Penang as he had studied at the famous

Madarasah Al-Mashoor.

Meanwhile relatives from Pusing14

and Batu Gajah15

called on the couple in Papan. Raja

Shahabuddin informs us that a large crowd of women folks gathered at the Rumah Besar Raja

6 Raja Yacob Haji Muhammad Ya’qub, Tarikh Raja Asal dan Keluarganya, privately published, 1934: 41.

7 Raja Yacob, 1934: 30.

8 According to Raja Syahbudin bin Raja Abdul Jalil, interviewed at Pasar Maga, Mandailing Julu in 1998.

9 Haji Abdullah bin Mohd. Salleh in an interview with The Sunday Star, 6 February, 1983, The House Specially

Built for a Sultan’s Visit. As the aristocratic title Maharaja is unheard of in Mandailing, most likely Mangaraja is

meant. 10

Ibid. 11

Raja Yacob, 1934: 41. Malay College Malacca (Maktab Melayu Melaka) is also known as Maktabol Jawiah

Melaka was established on the initiative of R.J. Wilkinson, Acting Inspector of Schools, Straits Settlements, opened

its doors on 1 March 1900 with an enrolment of 20 students. The college was set up to train Malay school teachers.

(Ramlah Adam, Maktab Melayu Melaka 1900-1922, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 1991: 19, 20-3.) 12

Raja Yacob, 1934: 40-1. 13

This chapter is based on Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 3-4, unless otherwise stated. 14

Pusing was originally Klian Tasek (literally like mine), was founded by men from Upper Mandailing in the 1870s.

A Mandailing by the name of Haji Zainal Abidin open a mine there in 1873. In the 1890s, the Mandailings moved

from this early settlement, thereafter called ‘Pusing Lama’, to a new location near the Papan-Batu Gajah road, called


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Bilah16

in the morning (7.30am) of 21 December 1939. He had to go to the Rumah Asal,17

behind the Rumah Besar to meet his nephews and nieces, and ‘youngsters’ (anak-anak), where

another large group of women had converged. He gave the impression that there were more

women than men and children put together.

His elder brother Raja Yacob bid him to ask forgiveness from the elders and offered him

all sorts of advice. Once done, he went over to the Rumah Besar to meet male relatives and

friends; asking for reciprocal forgiveness (berma’af-ma’afan).

At 9.30am, the couple, Raja Yacob boarded a chauffeured car en route to Penang,

stopped over at Chemor, a noted Mandailing settlement, the northernmost town to be established

in the Kinta Valley in the nineteenth century.18

There, they met with relatives, nephews and

nieces, and friends, again asking mutual forgiveness, and were joined by Abdul Mutalib on the

drive to Penang.

Thereafter they stopped at Talang in Kuala Kangsar, stopping in front of the vernacular

Malay school and met Encik Guru Abdul Wahab and the children of the late Umar, and others

unidentified, where they received fruits and sought each other’s forgiveness before proceeding.

The next stop was at a place called ‘Crane Station’, meeting a relative by the name of Nordin,

who also happened to be the station master there, before proceeding to Penang arriving at 2pm.

They then checked into the Penang Hotel on Chulia Street.19

The visitations was in keeping with the tradition of ‘olong dohot domu’ (love and

companionship) that binds the Mandailings in kinship ties within their social structure of Dalian

Na Tolu (the three focus) referring to the minimum number of clans required to live by the

Mandailing adat (customary law). Love and companionship was the key element in maintaining

unity and harmony in Mandailing society.20

The following day, Abdul Wahab Abdullah, his mother Noriah, his sister-in law and aunt

Anisah and Haji Hassan, Anisah and Noriah’s father and the son-in-law of Raja Bilah as he was

married to Raja Aminah, the latter’s oldest daughter. Mandailings who have settled in Perlis

visited the couple at the hotel, bringing with them cakes and food (lauk-lauk) which they

‘Pusing Baru. The place was named Pusing because of a lotus pond (konda teratai). Pusing means ‘to turn around’

referring to the water recycling method in mining. (Raja Yacob, 1934: 19; Tugby, 1977: 24; Lubis and Khoo, 2003:

85-6; Khoo and Lubis, 2005: 168) 15

A group of Mandailings led by Dato’ Stia Raja, better known as Tok Stia Raja, of the Rangkuti clan, settled in

Batu Gajah in the 1870s. They formed the Mandailing colony there. (Lubis and Khoo, 2003: 69) 16

The Rumah Besar is a translation of or the local equivalent of ‘Bagas Godang’, the residence of the Mandailing

nobility (raja or namora). The Rumah Besar was functionally more like a ‘Sopo Godang’ (council hall of the

Namora-Natoras, The Nobles and The Elders), than a ‘Bagas Godang’. Raja Bilah built the Rumah Besar in 1896 on

a hillock in Papan. The Rumah Besar, a mansion befitting his wealth and stature, played out its role as the platform

for the Mandailing community in particular and the Sumatrans in general. The Rumah Besar was a double-storey

house with a tiled roof, the lower floor of brick and the upper flow of timber. The construction coincided with the

formation of the Federated Malay States (F.M.S.) centralizing the administration of the states of Perak, Selangor,

Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, ushering a new era of development under British colonial rule. (Lubis and Khoo,

2003: 174-6). 17

The Rumah Asal was built by Raja Bilah in 1882, on the same hillock as the Rumah Besar. The Rumah Asal

resembled a raja’s house in Mandailing. (Lubis and Khoo, 2003: 38) Both the Rumah Besar and the Rumah Asal,

which were restored by the National Museum, still stands to this day. 18

Khoo Salma Nasution and Abdur-Razzaq Lubis, Kinta Valley: Pioneering Malaysia’s Modern Development, Ipoh:

Perak Academy, 2005: 127-8. 19

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 2. 20

Zainuddin Lubis, Na Mora Na Toras: Pimpinan Tradisional Mandailing, Medan: Universitas Sumatera Utara,

Fakultas Sastra, Jurusan Antropologi, 1987: 28, 72


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consumed together. They were joined for lunch by Sheikh Mohammad Noor Rawa, the pilgrim

sheikh in Penang. They all left in the evening except for Haji Hassan who stayed back.

The next day at 7am, the couple accompanied by Raja Yacob checked out of Penang

Hotel and took the tram to the port where they stopped at the jetty.21

There waiting for them was

Haji Hassan, Abdul Mutalib and Muhammad Dahalan, who informed them that Sheikh

Mohammad Noor Rawa had put their luggage in a tongkang. They chatted while waiting for the

launch to take them to the ‘kapal haji’ (pilgrim ship). Sheikh Mohammad Noor told them that

those who are not passengers will not be allowed on board.

Thereabouts Haji Abdullah b. Haji Mohammad Salleh, Raja Shahabuddin’s nephew, a

teacher at the Tronoh English School22

arrived with Haji Muhammad Nuh Pusing23

and Abdur-

Razzaq bin Harun Kelantan. They paid the couple a courtesy call. Haji Abdullah took the

meeting as a queue for a photo opportunity at the jetty.

At 10.30am as all the passengers boarded the launch, Raja Shahabuddin shook hands

with all those present. He saw how worried Raja Yacob and Abdul Mutalib; they both raise their

hands in prayer. When he boarded the launch (so too must have Rahmah), he noticed that both

Sheikh Muhammad Noor Rawa and Muhammad Dahalan were on it. Before they were allowed

to go on board the ship, the launch encircled the ‘pilgrim ship’ Deucalion. When they went on

deck, they again found Sheikh Muhammad Noor and Muhammad Dahalan already seated on a

white-washed cushion. This in spite the former’s earlier warning that non-passengers were not

allowed on board. The latter then spread Raja Shahabuddin’s mat (tikar) on the cushion.

Not long after, the tongkang arrived with the luggage, which was retrieved by both

Muhammad Dahalan and Haji Abdul Rahman except for the rice which was stored in a holding

(palka). After which, both return to shore. At 2pm, Mohammad Jamil, the headman (Ketua

Kampung) of Chemor24

and Jamaluddin (alias Jalun, probably his original Mandailing name)

came on board escorted by Haji Abdur Rahman and Sheikh Muhammad Noor, requesting Raja

Shahabuddin to pass some cash to Haji Abdur Rahman (alias Jambang, goatee) and Hajjah Long

Jeddah, after which they left. Sheik Muhammad Noor was the last to leave at 3pm.

U-Boats and The Threat to Hajj

Raja Shahabuddin and his wife Rahmah are qualified to undertake the hajj as they passed the

‘means test’, meaning both were Muslims, of sound mind,25

adults,26

, merdeka27

and musthati’

(having both the means and the capacity). Inclusive in the meaning of musthati’ are adequate

transporation, good health and a state of peace. Being a government servant and coming from a

well-to-do family, Raja Shahabuddin and his wife easily passed muster.

The financial and social standing of the family is reflected by the mode of transport both

took to Penang Island. Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah was chauffeured in a car from Papan, the

starting point of their undertaking to Penang where they waited for the ‘hajj ship’ (kapal haj), the

21

Rick Francis and Colin Ganley, Penang Trams, Trolleybuses & Railways, Municipal Transport History 1880s-

1963, Penang: Areca Books, 2006: 17, 24. 22

Haji Abdullah was one of the first native English teacher to an English school. 23

Pusing is not his surname, rather the place name where he was from. 24

Muhammad Jamil is the grandson of Raja Shahabuddin’s uncle and Jamaluddin is his son-in-law. 25

‘berakal waras’, in other words not mad. 26

‘dewasa’, having reach puberty and of age. 27

A free person, not a slave or bonded.


6

Blue Funnel ship ‘Deucalion’ at the Victoria pier.28

On deck, they were allotted eight square feet

of space on the deck for their accommodation and took their showers at the bow of the ship.29

Even as the Second World War raged around them, the ever present danger of lurking

German U-boats did not discourage or prevent the couple from leaving for the ‘holy lands’

although the possibility of a strike could have provided them with a valid excuse to annul their

hajj undertaking.

Raja Shahabuddin was well aware that the ship ahead of his, carrying pilgrims from

British Malaya to Jeddah, turned back at Colombo ostensibly on account of the danger posed to

allied shipping.30

To commemorate the break of hostilities in Europe, which coincided with their departure,

Raja Shahabuddin composed the poem below:

Selamat tinggal Tanah Melayu

Saya belayar berasa sayu

Umpama daun badanku layu

Takut berjumpa kapal “yu”

Selamat tinggal kaum kerabat

serta saudara anak sahabat

dipohonkan jauh segala musibat

kebajikan diharap datang mengambat

“Yu” kapal penyelam

dipunyai Jerman timbul tenggelam

mengambat musuhnya di lautan dalam

diwakut siang ataupun malam.31

Safety and Security Inspection Soon after Sheikh Muhammad Noor Rawa left at 3pm on 23 December 1939, a deckhand called

on all the passengers to come on deck to have their passport and tickets inspected.32

On his first night at sea, Raja Shahabuddin and ‘all the men’ were summoned on deck –

women and children were excluded – where the ship captain, two other officials and Encik

Ariffin, the Pilgrim Officer (Pegawai Haji) was waiting. The captain pointed to the boat(s) for

those who embarked from Penang and the boat(s) meant for those coming on board from

Singapore with the warning that if they should hear the whistle blown thrice – two short and one

long – it was a signal to abandon a sinking ship and all hands to get on board their respective

28

Directly opposite the Royale Bintang Hotel. 29

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 3, 11, 63. 30

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941, preface. Forty-five of those pilgrims from the earlier ship who persisted finally

arrived in Jeddah. (Roff, 1975: 109). Not all the ‘pilgrim ships’ go straight from the port of embarkation to Jeddah,

some stopped at Aden, where the pilgrims changed ship. Raja Shahabuddin met one Haji Mansur from Melaka who

with his parents boarded a Japanese ship from Singapore which unloaded its passengers at Aden, from where they

took another ship to Jeddah. (Raja Shahabuddin, 1941: 63) 31

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 5. Penang during World War Two was a German U-boat base, see Khoo Salma

Nasution, More Than Merchants: A History of the German-speaking Community in Penang, 1800s-1940s, Penang:

Areca Books, 2006, for further details. 32

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 4.


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boats, taking nothing with them. Having sounded the warning, the men dispersed, chilled by that

night and blustery winds, ever mindful of the captain’s dire warning.33

On reaching the waters of Sokotara, a treeless island in the Red Sea, all passengers had

their tickets apparently checked by the ship’s doctor while the captain retained the boarding pass

and handed over the disembarkation pass to the respective passengers.34

Medical Examination of Pilgrims

Concern that the hajj was a conduit for the spread of contagious diseases – plague, cholera,

yellow fever, smallpox and typhus – from endemic areas in Asia especially India, meant that

health procedures were taken seriously, to prevent a situation where ‘Hajjis from the Orient

mingled with those from the Levant and North Africa, [would result in] spread [of] diseases to

Europe and even to America.’

Efforts to halt the spread of contagious diseases during the hajj date back to the first half

of the nineteenth century. By 1892 health and quarantine procedures for the hajj was already

under international control whereby sanitary regulations for policing maritime hajj traffic from

the ports of embarkation and at sea were expanded. The 1894 Sanitary Convention required

pilgrims to undergo a medical examination at his or her ome port. This Convention required a

qualified physician to be onboard ships carrying over 100 hajis, and two physicians for ships

over 1,000 pilgrims.35

A quarantine station on Kamaran island, south of Jeddah in the Red Sea

was established in the 1880s requiring ships arriving at and departing from the Hejaz from the

south including the Malay-Indonesian archipelago to be subjected to medical examination.36

In compliance with the convention, Raja Shahabuddin and his wife Rahmah were given

smallpox vaccination on board the ship before leaving Penang, and again at the Jeddah

hospital.37

Throughout the journey, Raja Shahabuddin, his wife Rahmah and 437 other pilgrims

from British Malaya were attended to by a single doctor.

On approaching Kamaran quarantine station, the ship doctor’s assistant (penolong doctor,

probably a dresser) informed all the passengers that an examination would be conducted. The

doctor arrived with an Arab detective (mata2) and a Punjabi postman to collect mail. It was

through him that Raja Shahabuddin’s letter addressed to Raja Yacob was mailed, offering the

postman 30 shillings and telling him to keep the change.38

On the return leg before the ship left Jeddah, the British consul, his clerk Haji Jamil and

other officials inspected the pilgrims’ passports and tickets, and found a Siamese man (orang

Siam) infected with smallpox. The ship was immediately grounded. In turn a ‘mad man’

(seorang sasar) was brought on board. Encik Ariffin, the pilgrim officer hired two hajis to guard

the mental case all the way to Singapore.39

33



David Edwin Long, The Hajj Today: A Survey of the Contemporary Makkah Pilgrimage, New York &

Washington D.C.: State University of New York Press & The Middle East Institute, 1979: 73. 36

For those interested to read and know more about these developments, see Long, 1979: 69-87. 37

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 4 and 57. 38

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 13. Before the new regulations were introduced in 1930, Malayan pilgrims were

quarantined on the island for 24 hours whereas their ‘Indonesian’ counterparts were permitted to pass through

Kamaran without disembarking as they had been compulsorily vaccinated under Netherlands Indies rules. (Roff,

1975: 105) 39



8

En route to Penang from via Jeddah, an elderly Trengganu woman and a Banjar child

passed away on the ship and their remains were washed, shrouded – in the first case by women

and the second by men – before interring the bodies at sea. The ship stopped, weights were tied

to the left leg of the deceased woman, a yellow flag was raised half-mast at the stern of the ship

and her corpse laid on a plank and dropped into the ocean. Once the body was lost from sight,

the ship set sail again.40

On arrival at Penang harbour, the new hajis and hajjahs were ordered on deck, the men

were instructed to take off their shirts and skullcaps, and the women were told to uncover their

faces. A Chinese woman, presumably a doctor with another Indian doctor inspected the men. A

pilgrim’s smallpox vaccination wound was found to be infected. After repeated questioning, it

was learnt he contracted the disease while on board the ship. As a result, the authorities ordered

that the returnee pilgrims be quarantined at Pulau Jerejak. All the passengers were carted into

three tongkangs which was towed by a launch to Pulau Jerejek. On arrival they were lined up

under the watchful eye of a dresser. Then instructions came for one or two representatives from

each dormitory to retrieve their allocation of cooking supplies.

The pilgrims were then told to take their mattress and pillows, and congregate near the

Pulau Jerejak post office. Their crates were separated – the Penang from the Singapore ones –

and stored in a warehouse. After which they were given outfits stamped with SS (for Straits

Settlements).

They changed into clean cloths, mats and pillow and were told to shower with water

mixed with ‘smelly ice’, probably chlorine. The bath rooms were segregated according to male

and female. After the wash, they were given clothing which had been steamed and were told to

line-up before being divided into dormitories (bangsal) and given vaccination. Each dorm was

appointed a head.

Every morning the ‘patients’ were examined and given their rations, with a watchman

(jaga) on stand-by for any trouble.

Fearing for their well-being, the pilgrims at the suggestion of a man from Patani (South

Thailand) started reciting the Yassin, a chapter from the Qur’an, during the first week of

detention and again on the 12th day of their confinement. After 16 days of quarantine, the

pilgrims were released, much to their relief.41

In the Company of Rahmah

No doubt the most interesting aspects about Raja Shahabuddin’s jottings are those which

involved him and his wife Rahmah, as it offered insights and glimpses into the activities of a

woman whilst on the hajj with her husband. The significance, meaning and value of this journal

are underscored by the fact that there is hardly any equivalent account from this part of the

world. As mentioned earlier, Raja Shahabuddin accompanied and/or co-participated with his

wife in the fulfilment of the hajj rituals, as well as visitations and running of errands.

During their inaugural visit the first stop involved paying homage to the tomb of Siti

Hawa (Eve, the first woman of Abrahamic religions) at Jeddah; they then visited the Ma’lla

cemetery in Mecca and paid respects to the graves of Sheikh Abdul Hamid Mandailing, Sheikh

Abdul Qadir Mandili, the Prophet’s kinsmen (in that order) and Khadijah, the first wife of the

40




9

Prophet; performed the tawaf42

and sa’i43

at the Kaabah (once at 2 in the morning); prayed

together near Baitullah under the gold fountain at Hajar Ishmael,44

; regularly stood in prayer at

Masjidil Haram (once accompanied by Hajjah Sofiah); both went to Birkah Majid (Yamani’s

well) to visit Hajjah Rokiah, who could not leave her house as she was still in iddah;45

paid a

visit to Hajjah Sofiah (Haji Sa’id, her late husband was Raja Shahabuddin’s cousin); both

accompanied Hajjah Hawa, the mother of Sheikh Abdul Wahab to the dispensary to buy cough

mixture after which the trio prayed at the Khaif mosque; both were escorted by Abdur-Rahim

when they went purchasing turbans and other items; in the company of Sheikh Abdul Wahab,

both went to Tanaim on a horse carriage where they donned the ihram clothing46

and performed

the supplementary prayer; jointly with Hajjah Hawa, they called on Syed Abdul Wahab

Yamani/Allimni (the maternal side of Sheikh Abdul Wahab) at Shuib Amir; in Medina both

performed the sunrise prayer at al-Nabawi mosque and paid respect to the mausoleum of the

Prophet, his two companions and his daughter, Saidatina Fatimah, Saidina Hamzah, the mosques

of Saidina Ali and Fatimah, and a string of other activities.47

On returning to Jeddah from Medina, Hajjah Rahmah fell ill and Raja Shahabuddin

through the good office of Sheikh Mas’ud summoned an Egyptian doctor named Abdul Kadir to

examine her. Raja Shahbuddin remarked that the doctor’s bedside manner was very much like in

Malaya. The doctor then prescribed some medications to be purchase from a dispensary, adding

that medicines from the government hospital were bitter. There seem to be a clear demarcation

between the functions of a doctor and a pharmacist. The doctor’s visit cost five rials and the

medication, four rials. Rahmah was taken ill for four days and only began recovering on the fifth

day, which prevented her from taking part in her husband’s activities.48

Mecca’s Unifying Role and Malay Lingua Franca

Raja Shahabuddin was very sensitive to the cultural identities of the people whom he met on ship

and on land, for example, Arabs, Punjabis, Javanese, Mandailing, Banjar, Minangkabau Aceh,

Malays and others. In place of their ethnicities, he identify them by their places of origin such as

Teluk Anson, Batu Kurau, Simpang Tualang, Sungkai in Perak; Sungai Baru, Kampung Keling

in Melaka; Muar in Johor; Sayurmaincat in Mandailing, or from their country of origin, such as

Palembang, Indragiri, Kerinci, Batu Bara, Deli in Sumatra; Kedah, Kelantan, Pulau Pinang

(Penang), Melaka in the peninsular; Patani in South Thailand, Beirut in Lebanon; Lucknow

42

Circumambulate the Kaaba seven times, in a counterclockwise direction. Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah

performed the tawaf and sa’i a number of times before having his hair shaved. 43

Also sa’ee (ritual walking) to commemorate Hagar’s search for water and God’s mercy in answering her prayers. 44

Where Zamzam meaning ‘stop flowing’ water fountains and dispensing containers are provided for drinking . 45

Her husband Haji Abdul Rauf had recently passed away and she was observing the iddat (waiting) where a

woman must observe after the death of her spouse or after a divorce, a period of waiting, during which time she may

not marry another man. The period, four months and ten days after the death of a spouse, is calculated on the

number of menses that a woman has. Iddah was intended to ensure that the male parent of any offspring produced

after the cessation of a nikah would be known. At this visit, Rahmah was taken to the women’s quarter in the house

and Raja Shahabuddin had a conversation with the mother of Hajjah Rokiah who spoke from ‘within’ (dari dalam). 46

Also spelt Ahram includes men’s and women’s garments worn by pilgrims during the ihram (one of the rituals of

hajj) and or umrah (lesser hajj). The men’s garments often consist of two white un-hemmed sheets (usually toweling

material) and are universal in appearance. The top (the ridā) is draped over the torso and the bottom (the izār) is

secured by a belt. Women's clothing, however, varies considerably and reflects regional variation as well as

religious influences. Their faces uncovered (exposed). 47

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 19, 21-6, 31, 33, 47. 48



10

(Uttar Pradesh) in India; Egypt, Karachi in Pakistan, and countless others. In short, Raja

Shahabuddin rubbed shoulders with members of the Islamic fraternity from all corners of the

world.

Raja Shahabuddin himself was unambiguous about his identity, when asked by an official

in Jeddah, ‘Where are you from?’ (Orang mana?), he replied, ‘A Mandailing from Perak’ (Orang

Mandailing…dari Perak), reaffirming his ethnicity and his place of origin. Rahmah upon being

queried by the same official also gave the same answer.49

The languages spoken in Mecca were as varied as there were nationalities. Aside from

Arabic and Malay, there were the minority languages from the eastern part of Indonesia.

Generally, Malay served ‘the trades people and religious people, sometimes as means of

education.’ Elementary Malay is also spoken by the Meccans reflecting the ‘prominent position

of the Jâwah race in the pilgrim-market.’50

Whereas Meccans also spoke ‘Achèh, Lampong,

Sundanese, Javanese, Madurese, Makasarese, Buginese, almost as well as their mother-

tongue...’51

In the Arabian peninsula, Raja Shahabuddin, encountered many Mandailings, amongst

them Jamuda, Haji Muhammad Jamil Sayurmaincat, Sheikh Nawawi Mandailing, Sheikh Abdul

Wahab bin Sheikh Abdul Hamid Mandailing, Abdul Hamid bin Sheikh Abdul Qadir Mandili52

,

Sheikh Abdullah ‘Ali Mandili, to name but a few. Sheikh Abdul Qadir Mandili once was the

head Imam (prayer leader) and shaykh at the Masjidil Haram.

He also encountered several notable Perakian personalities, chief among them were Yang

Ghazali and Haji Alwi, the former Chief Qadi of Perak.53

Clearly the hajj occasioned an

opportunity for the Malay-Indonesian pilgrims to know each other better in a unifying function

and promoting mutual ties. Mecca was also a political centre for the inhabitants of the Malay-

Indonesian archipelago, but Raja Shahabuddin seems to steer clear of political activism.

He and his wife Rahmah also met Mandailing women in Mecca, many of whom were

related to him; two outstanding ones were Hajjah Sofiah Sungkai,54

his cousin-in-law at Shu’ib

‘Ali and Hajjah Long Jeddah.

Hajjah Sofiah met Raja Shahabuddin with her face unveiled, suggesting she was

probably in a hurry. She broke down in tears when she learnt who he was that he was the

younger brother of Raja Yacob. She probably knew Raja Yacob when the latter was studying in

Mecca. She then asked him about ‘all her relatives in Perak.’55

At ‘Birkah Majid’ (Yemen well) Raja Shahabuddin met Hajjah Long Jeddah who

reminisced about her times in Pusing Lama, Tambun dan Chemor,56

all of which were noted

Mandailing settlements in Perak, indicating that she was a Mandailing, originally from Perak but

now settled in Mecca. In Penang, Raja Shahabuddin was asked by Muhammad Jamil, the

Chemor headman (ketua kampung) to hand over monies to Haji Abdur-Rahman (nicknamed,

Jambang [goatee]) and Long Jeddah since they have yet to get approval from the post office.57

49


Snouck C. Hurgronje, Mekka in the latter part of the 19th century, Daily Life, Customs and Daily Life, Customs

and Learning, The Moslims of the East Indian Archipelago, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970: 229. 51

Hurgronje, 1970: 230. 52

Mandili is Mandailing in Arabic. 53


Sungkai is in Perak. 55





11

Raja Shahabuddin was also entrusted with passing some cash to Sheikhah Sofiah

Kelantan, who lived in Suqullail, on behalf of Al-Haji Ismail who was the Qadi (Muslim judge)

of Batu Gajah. The Sheikhah spoke no Malay, and on receipt of the envelope containing the

monies, opened it and counted them in front of her guests.58

‘Melagu’ Sessions

Performing the hajj did not prevent Raja Shahabuddin from enjoying some entertainment. On

returning to Mina, Hajjah Aishah, the mother of Sheikh Abdul Wahab informed her son and Raja

Shahabuddin that in their absence Sheikh Abdullah Mandili had invited them to attend a singing

(melagu) session at Sheikh Abdullah Mandili’s tent (khemah). Coincidentally Mina is also

known as the ‘Tent City’ as the plain of Mina is dotted with large tents. They left for the event

after isha prayer59

and found many people had gathered to listen to the singing, and were told

that the singer was a Madinan by the name of Mahmud Nikman. There are no records to indicate

if the singing was done a cappella.

The next item on the hajj itinerary was the stoning of Jamratul Aswat,60

located in the

middle of Mina. A severed hand hanged under a street lamp at the site, guarded by three soldiers,

reputedly belonged to a thief who had stolen from pilgrims. This was pointed out to Raja

Shahabuddin by Sheikh Abdul Wahab.

After successfully stoning the three jamrah,61

they returned via the rear entrance to Mina

town, where they heard many ‘melagu’ sessions at the respective encampments of the pilgrim

sheikhs. On arriving at Sheikh Abdul Wahab’s tent, Raja Shahabuddin was invited by the former

to the tent of Haji Abdur Rahim to listen to more songs, where he was ushered into the elders’

section. The singing ended at one in the morning.62

Raja Shahabuddin was also entertained with songs by one ‘Hassan Jawa’ and three Arabs

in Mecca accompanied by a guitar played by the uncle of Sheikh Haji Abdul Wahab. The former

was told that ‘Hassan Jawa’ was one of the singing Shaykhs (Sheikh lagu) there who was

regularly invited to grace events and paid about one Jinnah for his efforts.63

It would appear that

minstrels and musicians entertaining pilgrims were an occupational niche to inject light hearted

cheer to the sombreness of the hajj rituals. It also makes us wonder if students and pilgrims from

the Malay-Indonesian archipelago doubled as musician and singers in the ‘holy lands’? We can,

however, safely conclude that singing and the enjoyment of music was not an exclusive

Mandailing preoccupation, as others also partook in them.

The music and singing, according to Haji Abdul Majid, were ‘chiefly in Arabic and

Hindustani, echoing and re-echoing in the wide expanse of sands, it is enough to melt one’s heart

and make one to long for wings to fly back to one’s home there to listen to one’s native music;

for strange as it may appear, Malays unlike Indians do not sing their own songs here; and if they

feel at all exultant, burst out into Arabic not Malay tunes.’64

58

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 23. Many Indonesian pilgrims carried sums of money with them for the relatives in

Mecca. (Vredenbregt, 1962: 134) The same applies to pilgrims from the peninsula. 59

Night-time prayer, the fifth of the five daily prayers. 60

The stoning is carried on the third day of the hajj, cast seven small pebbles at a stone pillar known as Jamratul-

Aqabah as a sign of his rejection of the ways and influence of the devil. 61

Jambratul-Akabah, Jamratul-Awla and Jamratul-Wusta (Ula). 62

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 48-50. 63


Haji Abdul Majid, ‘A Malay’s Pilgrimage to Mecca’, JMBRAS, 1926: 278.


12

‘Christening’

On completion of the symbolic act of stoning the devil (described earlier as the Jamratul Aswat),

all the pilgrims from Sheikh Abdul Wahab’s group (jama’ah) were taken to the tent of Haji

Abdur Rahim for the conferment of ‘hajj names’ (nama2 haji). Raja Shahabuddin was asked his

preferred hajj name, to which he replied that it was ‘best to leave it as it is so as not to cause me

problems in Jawi.’65

Sheikh Abdul Wahab then asked for his turban (serban) which he fastened

into a bind, recited a prayer and named himself Al-Haj Shahabuddin, crowning the latter a haji.66

Al-Haj Shahabuddin did not report that he had to pay for this crowning.

Haji Abdul Majid, (not to be confused with the Mandailing Haji ‘Abdul Majid from the

nineteen century) of Minangkabau descent, locally born to migrant parents, wrote in the 1920s

about this renaming ritual and described the process as a ‘christening’. He reported that on 10

Dhū al-Ḥijja which coincided with Eid (Hari Raya Haji or Hari Raya Korban), ‘pilgrims donned

their best clothes and the Shaikhs are busy “christening” the pilgrims one by one by tying the

sèrban round their head and patting them on the shoulder whilst calling each of them “Haji So-

and-so.” This ceremony was necessary only in that it earned $1 to the Shaikh for each

“christening”, and the simple pilgrim is pleased at being given an Arabic-sounding name instead

of his old one which, more often than not, was merely the name of some vegetable or the like,

such as Kundor, Labu, Bulat, etc, etc.’67

This practice persisted up to the 1960s as testified by a Mandailing pilgrim from

Indonesia, while disclosing that women too were crowned as hajjahs on the plains of Mina.

Pada tanggal 13 Zulhidjdjah sore, sesudah selesai segala pekerdjaan hadji dikerdjakan di

Mina, oleh tuan Sjech diadakan djamauan [sic] ala kadarnja bertempat dalam kemah besar itu.

Djamuan itu chuzus [sic] diadakan sebagai membesarkan peresmian gelar hadji kepada semua

djamaah dan djuga sebagai pertemuan bersama untuk berdo’a kepada Tuhan, agar semua djamaah

dikurniai rachmat kebahagian dunia dan achirat serta semuanja mendapat hadji jang mabrur.

Masing2 djamaah dalam upatjara [sic] itu dipanggil oleh tuan Sjech Nawawi Mandili68

datang

untuk duduk dihadapannja diatas sehelai tikar permadani untuk diberikan gelar hadji. Semua

anggota djamaah telah berkumpul pada waktu itu, seolah2 untuk bersama2 merajakan hari

peresmian gelar hadji bagi tipa2 djamaah, serta mendo’akan keselamatan bagi tiap2 mereka jang

diserukan gelarannja serta diresmikan oleh tuan Sjech. Demikianlah djuga masing2 kaum Ibu

jang hadir, diberilah gelar hadjinja oleh tuan Sjech.

Patut djuga kita tjeritakan bahwa pada waktu akan memberi gelaran hadji kepadamasing2

djamaah, kepada masing2 diadjarkan tjara mengikat serban, malah diikatkan sendiri serban itu

kepada kepala masing2, jang mana kepada mereka lebih dahulu dari itu sudah pula dihadiahkan

serban sehelai seorang bersama dengan tasbih dan sehelai sadjadah.

Sesudah itulah djamaah dipanggil hadji dan kebanjakan sudah memakai tanda hadjinja

seperti kupiah dan serban.69

65

‘biarlah yang sedia itu supaya tidak menyusahkan apa2 hal sahaya di Jawi.’ Jawi is the geographical reference to

South Thailand, the peninsula, the Indonesian archipelago all the way to Papua New Guinea 66


Haji Abdul Majid, 1926: 285. Roff describes report as ‘the best descriptive pre-war account we have of what

performing the haj meant to someone from Malaya, and is correspondingly valuable.’ (Roff, 1975: 101). 68

This is the same Sheikh Nawawi Mandailing that Raja Shahabuddin mentioned in his Peringatan. (Raja Haji

Shahabuddin, 1941: 17) 69

H. Muhd Djamil al. Magaradja Ihutan, Perdjalanan Hadji Tahun 1966/1967 M. atau 1387/1388 H., Medan: P. T.

“Daun’, Tjetakan Pertama, p. 27.


13

Slave Market

On his return to Masjidil al-Haram from seeing the British Consulate in Mecca, Raja

Shahabuddin stopped at Badrabat, a slave market, where he saw about twenty women and girls

slaves (“hamba” or “sahaya”) dressed in what could be described as chador or burka

(berkelumbung kain hitam), which is the all-enveloping outer garment worn by Middle Eastern

and Indian sub-continent women (still worn by some Muslim women in that part of the globe)

were being auctioned. This is not to suggest that the slaves were from those regions. They were

seated on benches, separately and grouped according to age – middle-aged, youngsters (muda2)

and children. If a customer wanted to buy them, they would uncover their face for a sneak

preview. A customer who wanted to acquire a slave was quoted the price of 23 Jinnah (Saudi

currency at the time) by her broker or dealer (dalāl).

As to the identity of these ‘human wares’ as Hurgronje calls them, Raja Shahabuddin

wrote,

Konon khabarnya adalah sahaya2 itu bangsa hitam Afrika, peranakan di tanah Hajaz, bukannya

didatangkan dari Afrika kerana perkara berjual hamba sahaya itu telah lama di larangkan

kerajaan2 Eropah. Tidak dibenarkan melalui Laut Merah kerana hendak membawa hamba sahaya

ke Tanah Arab.70

With regards to the Red Sea, which came under British control by 1919 with the takeover

of the Jeddah quarantine station, Hurgronje related an anecdotal story which he heard from many

slaves.

When some years ago English warships were carrying on in the Red Sea an often very profitable

piracy in the name of anti-slavery the slavedealers naturally sought means to hide the slaves on

board while their ships were being examined, and that the boys and girls might not betray their

presence by singing and crying on these occasions, they were regularly told that these leprous

looking white pirates were cannibals! Certain it is that the activity of these cannibals has not

contributed in the slightest degree either in the welfare of the slaves liberated and to a great extent

shot down by them, or to the abolition of slavery.71

Hurgronje was critical of the anti-slavery policies of the West, which he calls a fraud and

hypocritical, and although he describes slavery practiced in Mecca sympathetically and the

Islamic ‘slave-law’ humane, nevertheless he regards slavery which he likens to human-robbery

as ‘a frightful evil.’72

Mandailing Mukim and Waqf in Mecca

In Mecca, peoples from the peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago established settlements

called mukims (the equivalent in English would be ‘sub-district’ or subdivision of a district)

whose memberships comprised small groups of inhabitants who constituted the ‘Djawah’

community in Mecca. These mukims were mainly made up of pilgrim-brokers and others

70


Hurgronje, 1970: 20. 72

Hurgronje, 1970: 10-20.


14

involved in the pilgrimage business, young and old scholars and the elderly who wished to spend

a few years there, hoping to die in the ‘holy city’.73

Dutch colonial records revealed that the Mandailings has been undertaking the hajj from

1873. This, however, did not preclude the possibility that they had been performing the hajj from

earlier times. Raja Yacob, the Mandailing historian reported that Mandailings from the

peninsular had undertook the hajj from the late 1870s and 1880s. He himself went on hajj in

1890 and this trend continued into the early twentieth century. By the time Raja Shahabuddin

arrived on the scene in 1940, the community was well established with their own network of

students, ulama (clergy scholars) and Sheikh Hajis as evident from the many visits made by the

former during his short stint there.

To sustain the upkeep and vitality of this community, it is not uncommon for notable

Mandailings including members of the ‘Djawah’ community from the Malay-Indonesian

archipelago, to grant land and or properties as religious endowments for the purposes of

providing accommodation and other facilities for their kith and kin, and compatriots who came

to Mecca. 74

Sutan Puasa, the founder of Kuala Lumpur, now the capital of Malaysia,75

endowed a

‘house waqf’ (rumah wakaf) which according to Raja Shahabuddin was lived in by Tuan Abdul

Hamid bin Sheikh Abdul Qadir Mandili. (Note that Raja Shahabuddin addressed him as a Tuan

and not a Haji.) Upon enquiry, Abdul Hamid informed Raja Shahabuddin that he had to become

a citizen of Saudi Arabia because of the waqf properties of others (sebab harta wakaf orang)

implying that he was the guardian or caretaker of these endowments.76

His father the late Sheikh

Abdul Qadir Mandili was the leading Mandailing clergy in Mecca.

Raja Shahabuddin himself endowed ‘water waqf’ (wakaf air) in Masjidil al-Haram by

paying 12 rial for its maintenance for a year.77

An undated letter found in the collection of Raja Bilah78

tells of the existence of the

‘district of Kampong Samiah, the congregation of Sheikh Saman Rawa’, a mukim probably built

on land endowed by, or associated with, a Rawa or a Mandailing woman. The letter was written

by one Haji Daud Saba Dolok, a Mandailing from Saba Dolok, Sumatra and addressed to one

Haji Sulaiman and family members of Sayurmatinggi in neighbouring Angkola. The two persons

were probably related by marriage.

Haji Daud informed the elder Haji Sulaiman that he and his wife have not intention yet to

return to the peninsula from Mecca and asked the latter to supplicate during each of the five daily

73

Hurgronje, 1970: 6, 254. According to the estimates of the Netherlands Vice-Consul in Mecca, there were about

5,000 ‘Indonesians’ living in the mukims, who comprised 8 per cent of the local population about 1930. (J.

Vredenbregt, ‘The Haddj. Some of its features and fuctions in Indonesia’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en

Volkenkunde 118 (1962): 134 footnote 132). 74

Students hailing from Aceh, Banten and Pontianak found lodging and basic daily needs in the waqf-endowed

houses specifically built for them in Mecca. Other communities such as Patani, Makassarese, Banjarese and Betawi

also had their own waqf. Students from minority groups were able to join the establised centre for higher learning in

Mecca.(Hurgronje 1931: 154-5) 75

Abdur-Razzaq Lubis, Sutan Puasa, The Founder of Kuala Lumpur, forthcoming. 76


Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 33. The practice of water waqf is old. Hurgronje observed in the early nineteenth

century that for a dollar a pilgrim can buy a jar of zamzam water in Mecca endowed in his name. (Hurgronje, 1970:

22). 78

The letter was probably sent through Raja Bilah, the doyen of the Mandailings and Rawas of Perak, and for his

safe keeping.


15

prayers that they would meet again in this transitory world, and if possible in Mecca. Together

with the letter, Haji Daud sent Haji Sulaiman a skullcap.79

We could extrapolate from this exchange that Mandailing and Rawa sojourners, travelers

and visitors would congregate when abroad replicating the same pattern as found in the peninsula

and in Penang especially in Acheen Street (Lebuh Acheh today).80

The two ethnic groups,

neighbours in Sumatra, are likened to ‘brothers’ such as where there were Mandailings, the

Rawas were not too far behind and vice versa. All these point to a network of Mandailings and

other Sumatrans that stretched from the peninsula and the Indonesia archipelago all the way to

the ‘holy lands’.

‘Holy Lands’ of Wahhabi al-Saud

Towards the end of the eighteen century, a man named Muhammad ibn Abdal-Wahhab, (1703-

1792) surfaced in the Arabian peninsula who purportedly suffered immense distress seeing the

moral laxity, corruption and polytheism (shirik) that afflicted his community, consequent to

religious practices that were said to be far more disreputable than that of the pagan Quraish

during the time of the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. On this score Muhammad ibn

Abdal-Wahhab, touted by the Saudi state as a reformer second only after the Prophet himself,

deputized himself to reform the evil that was the Arabian peninsula under Ottoman rule, from the

religious traditions, interpretations and practices allegedly outside the realm of true Islam.

As Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab was a clergy, he needed a fighter who could wage an

uncompromising jihad against all Muslims who were deemed blasphemous and eliminate so-

called religious innovations including the practice of tawassul, that is intermediary through the

agency of a wali (guardian, protector, helper) as well as the customs of flocking to the graves of

walis with prayers, supplications and the likes.81

Except for their own invention and creation,

Wahhabi teachings regarded many of the practices of the larger Islamic ecumene as bid’ah

(innovations).

In the person of Muhammad ibn Saud, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab found a willing

tribesman, who supported and protected the latter. The accord that binds the mullah and the

warlord ignited a violent jihad of Islamization not unlike the Padri War in Sumatra, dragooned

the Islamic ummah to tawḥīd (the doctrine of Oneness of God) of the Wahhabi persuasion, and

the return to the Quran, Sunnah, and the tradition of the pious ancestors. The Muwahidun

(monotheists/unitarians) empire that rose in its wake was established on bloodshed, aggression,

invasion, massacre, starvation and expansion of the creed of Wahhabism that raged for half a

century as the Islamic world resisted it. From the very beginning, Wahhabism was a double-

edged ideology – religious and political.

In 1924, the dynasty of Wahhabi al-Saud conquered Mecca and Medina, the holiest of the

Muslim cities.82

This not only gave them jurisdiction over the conduct of the hajj, but also

79

Abdur-Razzaq Lubis and Khoo Salma Nasution, Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak, 1875-1911, 2003: 188-

9. 80

Lubis and Khoo, 2003: 190; Abdur-Razzaq Lubis, ‘The Legacy of Sumatran Trade and Knowledge Networks in

Penang’, in Wazir Jahan Karim, Straits Muslim: Diaporas of the Northern Passage of the Straits of Malacca,

George Town: Straits G.T., 2009: 85. 81

Their uncompromising ultra-orthodox brand of Islam brands Sufism and saint veneration as blasphemous example

of polytheism deserving death. 82

Raja Haji Shahabuddin provided some basic information about the history of the Saudi state up to the point when

he was there. Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941, inserts between pages 31 and 41. The pagination for some pages is a bit

off.


16

presented them the opportunity to propagate their teachings to pilgrims from across the Muslim

world during the pilgrimage seasons. Wahhabism was but a veneer in the main body of the

Islamic community before the discovery of ‘black gold’ i.e. oil in the Arabian peninsular in

1938. It is the revenue generated by this commodity that accelerated the spread of Wahhabism.

ARAMCO, the American oil giant which discovered, drilled and exported Saudi oil for

several decades, signed a contract with Saudi Arabia in 1933.83

ARAMCO was not only involved

in the exploitation of the oil resource but also shaped the history of Saudi Arabia by drawing its

borders and backing the Saudi’s regime’s claims against the Gulf states from Kuwait to Muscat,

where the American company did not hold a franchise.84

The impact of the Muwahidun Wahhabi-al-Saud regime on the conduct of haji, religious

practices and daily lives of the inhabitants of the ‘holy lands’ can be seen in the jottings of Raja

Shahabuddin, two decades later.

Graves Desecration

The seeds of grave desecration were sown when Mecca and Medina were annexed by the

Wahhabi al-Saud. Not long after, they set out to destroy the Baqi’ cemetery and the relics of the

Prophet’s family and companions. They extracted fatwas (religious decrees) from 15 Medinan

and some Meccan ulama to legitimize their action. When the fatwas became widely circulated in

the Muslim world, it raised an uproar and restlessness amongst both the Sunni and Shia. On 21

April 1926, the Wahhabi-al-Saud tribal pact demolished all the remains of the Ahlul Bait and the

Prohpet’s companions, and confiscated all the valuables from the Baqi’ cemetery like ghoulies

that goes bump in the night, and in the process rendered it unsightly.

This sacrilege of the dead continued when Raja Shahabuddin was in the ‘holy lands’ right

up to the 1960s. He and Rahmah were witnessed to the destruction of graves by the puritanical

Wahhabi-al-Saud tribal pact.

When Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah wanted to pay their respects at the tomb of Siti

Hawa in Jeddah, Muhammad Salleh, the khadam (khadim, servant) of Sheikh Mas’ud, the wakil

(representative) of Sheikh Abdul Hamid Mandailing, had to bribe three soldiers standing guard

to allow the couple to enter the cemetery. Once inside they found the cupola of Eve’s tomb

demolished the rubble in a pile with bits used as a marker for the grave. Muhammad Salleh bid

them to squat, recite the ‘Al-Fatiha’ and other verses which they dedicated to Eve before

leaving.85

In Medina, Raja Shahabuddin and his wife found the cemetery believed to be that of

Saidina Abdullah, the son of the Prophet closed by the Saudi authorities (kerajaan Saudi),

placing stones at the entrance.86

In Mecca, Raja Shahabuddin and his wife visited the pre-Islamic Ma’alla cemetery, the

largest Muslim burial ground to the north of the ‘holy city’, and informed us that aside from the

Prophet, his near relations and his first wife Khadija, Sheikh Abdul Hamid, the father of Sheikh

Abdul Wahab (Mandailing) and the renown Mandailing scholar, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Mandili

83

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed with Hijaz dan Najd was merged on 22 September 1932. 84

In 1973, the Saudi government bought up all of ARAMCO’shares, and by 1980, the petroleum company was fully

controlled by the al-Saud royal family, changing its name to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). 85

In the words of Hugronje, ‘The gate-keeper generally acts also as reciter of the prayer formulae which the pilgrims

repeats after him sentence by sentence: in these formulae, besides the usual commonplaces and the first Surah of the

Qur’an (the Moslim Pater-noster), there is always a committal of the visitors profession of faith to the safekeeping of

the holy person of the place, for thus the visitor believes that in the day of resurrection he gets a new trustworthy

witness to his belief in Islam.’ (Hurgronje, 11970: 23) 86

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 19, 46.


17

were also interred there. On arrival they found sentries on guard at the entrance and all the

cupolas demolished including that of Khadija and replaced with a wooden fence. Sheikh Abdul

Wahab gave some money to the soldiers to allow the couple to peek through a hole at the

entrance.87

Two decades later, between 1966 to 1967, an Indonesian Mandailing pilgrim, H. Muhd.

Djamil al. Magaradja Ihutan, visited Khadijah’s grave and noted no change,

Kalau diperhatikan akan tempat dan keadaan maqam [sic] Saidatina Chadidjah [sic] itu, jang

sangat sederhana, sedikitnja kita merasa sedih, terkenang akan besar djasanja dalam membantu

Nabi mengembangkan agama Islam. Maqamnja itu dibina dari batu2 gunung itu sadja [after the

cupola was demolised] jang bertulisan Arab dengan namanja. Makam ini kita dapati ditunggui

oleh beberapa orang anak laki2 dan perempuan jang meminta sedekah kepada tiap2 pengundjung

makam itu. Makam itu penuh dengan bunga2 jang terasa wanginja, jang disebarkan oleh orang2

jang datang ziarah kesana.88

The same author explains that the Indonesian population residing in Mecca had created

‘district cemeteries’ for their respective peoples at the Ma’alla in order to derive blessings from

the sacred grounds.

Banjak orang2 Indonesia jang bermukim di Mekah, menjediakan tempat pekuburan

disebahagian tanah pekuburan besar itu [Ma’alla], dengan terpisah untuk daerahnja di Indonesia.

Umpamanja pekuburan orang2 jang berasal dari Mandailing dapat kita djumpai disana,

demikianlah djuga dengan beberapa kuburan orang2 dari daerah2 atau golongan2 lainnja. Hal

demikian diperbuat oleh mereka, dengan maksud memudahkan urusan penguburan jang utamanja

masih diurus oleh golongannja,… Disamping urusan penguburan, djuga untuk memudahkan

orang2 jang ingin datang menziarahinja, supaya lekas dapat mengetahui tempatnya.

Demikianlah sewaktu kita ziarahi kepekuburan [sic] itu, kita dapat berziarah kepekuburan

[sic] Almarhum Sjech Abdul Kadir al-mandili jang sewaktu hajatnja lama bermuqim [sic] di

Mekah dan pernah mendjadi Imam dan guru di Masdjidilharam. Ada lagi familie kita [orang-

orang Mandailing] jang dahulu berkubur disana, tetapi kuburannja tidak ada jang mengetahui

diantara rombongan kita itu, demikianpun pemimpin jang membawa kita kesana.89

As the Wahhabi-al-Saud regard the construction of cupola and domes as a novelty

(bid’ah), they destroyed them in the name of their austere brand of Islam.

The tombs of these personages were formerly crowned with small but handsome domes, but

these, without exception, have been demolished, together with most of the

tombstones. The guardian of each tomb, who formerly derived considerable income from

the Hajjis, now no longer dare spread their handkerchiefs on the ground to receive the

pilgrim’ alms. The cemetery is silent and deserted, save when a funeral party quickly bears in one

more departed Muslim to join the millions whose dust lies there.90

87

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 24. The visit to the Prophet’s tomb is not compulsory (wajib) to the hajj but many

Muslims do so nevertheless. 88


“Daun’, Tjetakan Pertama, p. 33. 89


“Daun’, Tjetakan Pertama, p. 34. 90

F. E. Peters, The Hajj, The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places, Princeton University Press,

Princeton, 1994: 359, quoting Rutter, 1930: 274.


18

Ubiquitous Begging

Practically everywhere Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah went in the ‘holy lands’ they were

swamped with beggars, indicating the state of the socio-economic development of the country

which in the former’s estimation was underdeveloped although there were cars but there were no

good roads or the roads were not up to standard. At Birkah Majid (Yamani’s well) Raja

Shahabuddin, Rahmah and Sheikh Abdul Wahab saw the houses of the inhabitants were made of

discarded crates and zinc walls.91

There was a standing army, several tanks and aeroplanes but

the production of the country’s gasoline was leased to the Standard Company of California.92

Their encounters of the soliciting kind – mainly from women and children – were near

Jeddah at the cemetery of Eve, outside and inside the al-Nabawi mosque in Medina, between

Mecca and Mina at all the lay-by (rest stops) and outside the Tanaim mosque. A woman beggar

who was breastfeeding her baby on a sheet laid out next to a milestone marking the distance to

Mecca attracted Raja Shahabduddin’s attention.

The situation remained basically the same when an Indonesian Mandailing pilgrim H.

Muhd. Djamil al. Mangaradja Ihutan was in the ‘holy lands’ in the late 1960s.

Kemana2 kita pergi ziarah, ditempat2 itu selamanja didjumpai beberapa banjak anak2 peminta2,

terkadang disertai djuga oleh kaum ibu jang sudah mempunjai anak, dan dengan anak2nja

menunggu ditempat berziarah itu untuk meminta sedekah dari orang jang datang berziarah.

Demikian djuga disegala mesdjid2 [sic] dan tempat2 berziarah lainnja senantiasa berdjumpa

dengan kaum peminta2 sama ada anak2 dan orang2 tua pria dan wanita. Di masdjidilharam

Mekah pun banjak orang minta2, jang kebanjakan orang2 buta dan tjatjat [sic]. Sebab itu hampir

setiap djamaah hadji jang datang kesana jang ingin memperbanjak amal ibadahnja, selalu

menjediakan uang petjahan [sic] dikantongnja untuk dibagi2 kepada peminta2 itu, apa lagi

mendengar suaranja mengadji ajat2 Al-Qur’an jang merdu dan menhibakan itu, terbukalah hati

kasihan kita memberikan sedekah sekedarnja.93

The begging got out of hand inside the al-Nabawi mosque. Raja Shahabuddin recounted

how he was vexed by a number of Arabs while sitting in line in the mosque waiting for the mid-

day prayer not far from the Imam. A young Arab wearing a fez, a blue coat and batik sarong

attempted to solicit money apparently in payment of water waqf for the mosque in Medina. On

being told payment was already made for water waqf in Masjidil Haram, the stranger suggested

he do the same in Medina. When it was apparent that no payment was forthcoming, the stranger

claimed that he was a detective named Syed Omar. Raja Shahabuddin asked Syed Omar to return

tomorrow, with the parting words that if good fortune permitted, he could satisfy Syed Omar’s

demand. With that, the young Arab left and returned with two other Arabs who seated

themselves in front of Raja Shahabuddin to intimidate him. One of them wore military fatigue;

91


Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: inserts between pages 31 and 41. Standard Oil of California or Socal, was formed

amid the antirust breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. It was one of the ‘Seven Sisters’ that dominated the world oil

industry during the early 20th century. In 1933, Saudi Arabia granted Socal a concession to find oil, which finally

occurred in 1938 when the largest oil field on earth was discovered. Socal’s subsidiary California-Arabian Standard

Oil Company evolved over the years, becoming Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) in 1944. Today Socal

is known as Chevron Corporation is one of the world’s largest global energy companies. Chevron is one of the

world’s sic ‘supermajor’ oil companies. 93


“Daun’, Tjetakan Pertama, p. 33-4.


19

the other was dressed in regular garb. Throughout the entire episode they had their backs facing

the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba to which Muslims turn at prayer.

Without warning, another Arab appeared from behind Raja Shahabuddin and asked for

sadaqah (voluntary charity) and exclaimed ‘Allah Karim’. He left when no money was

forthcoming. When it appeared that others were about to join the fray Raja Shahabuddin made it

clear to all that he had not come with any intention of giving voluntary charity as his sole

purpose was to visit the Prophet’s tomb. On hearing this, the two Arabs who had earlier

confronted him left and went towards others in the mosque, probably to create the same

nuisance.94

It was obvious the men were mobsters, perhaps members of a criminal gang or crime

syndicate, out to harass pilgrims to part with their cash. All this was taking place in the Prophet’s

mosque, to a ‘Guest of God’ (as pilgrims are called by Meccans) and in the ‘holy lands’! Raja

Shahabuddin was fortunate to escape unscathed.

In another unrelated incident, Raja Shahabuddin was almost arrested by soldiers at a

military check-point for leaving Mecca without a permit.95

Mandailing Pilgrim Brokers

Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah had two pilgrim sheikh attending to them, one at Penang (Sheikh

Muhammad Noor Rawa) and the other (Sheikh Abdul Hamid Mandailing) at the ‘holy lands’.

The one in Penang was a Rawa whilst the one in the ‘holy lands’ was a Mandailing. The Rawa

has been described as the closest to a brother to the Mandailing although relationship between

them was not always cordial.

The economics of the pilgrimage brokerage business were complicated but like any

business, competition didn’t seem out of place among hajj operators. On the ship to Jeddah, Raja

Shahabuddin was befriended by one Sheikh Hamzah, an Arab, the Sheikh Haji of the Javanese

pilgrims on board. As they neared Jeddah, he approached Raja Shahabuddin and asked the latter

to join his flock (masuk jema’ah sahaya), implying that Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah’s pilgrim

broker, Sheikh Abdul Hamid Mandailing, wasn’t licensed to conduct his business. He attributed

his claim to one Sheikh Mustafa Indragiri.

Raja Shahabdudin was non-committal, stating that he would check with the authorities on

arrival in Jeddah, adding that if Sheikh Abdul Hamid Mandailing’s wakil (representative) didn’t

show up, he would join Sheikh Hamzah’s congregation. This did not discourage the latter, who

promptly dispatched a young Palembang man to gather Raja Shahabuddin’s luggage to where the

pilgrims’ things were stored. On landing in Jeddah, Sheikh Mas’ud, the wakil of Sheikh Abdul

Hamid Mandailing was waiting for Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah.96

With that Sheikh

Hamzah’s scheming came to nought.

On being queried as to the identity of their pilgrim sheikh by an official at Jeddah, both

Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah, asserts that their sheikh was ‘Sheikh Abdul Hamid Mandailing’,

confirming his name and ethnicity.97

Home Coming

94



Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 7, 15-7. 97



20

While being confined at Pulau Jerajak, quarantine station, Raja Shahabuddin and Rahmah were

visited by Haji Hassan, Muhammad Dahalan, Haji Abdur Rahman and Sheikh Muhammad Noor

Rawa.

On their release, they were ferried on the tongkang to ‘Tanjong’ (local parlance for

George Town), where they reported to the Immigration Department. Waiting for them outside

were Muhammad Dahalan, Al-haj Muhammad Noh, youngsters and friends, their numbers

unspecified. They then got onto a car and went to Penang Hotel on Chulia Street, and spent the

night there. It’s unclear whether all members of the welcoming party stayed at the same hotel or

lodged elsewhere.

The next morning, they took the mail train to Ipoh, where a car was waiting for them,

which took them to Papan, where all their brothers and sisters (adek beradek), youngsters,

relations and friends were there to receive them. Raja Shahabuddin then thank God Almighty for

realizing his and his wife’s wish of performing the hajj and supplicated that their prayers be

answered.98

‘Pulau Penang’

1 July 2013

98

Raja Haji Shahabuddin, 1941: 69, 72.


21

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A Mandailing Narrative on Hajj: Peringatan Tarikh Perjalanan Raja Shahabuddin dan Rahmah ke Mekah.

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