Significance of Malay Qur’anic Commentary for the Malay Muslim Community in Malaysia

Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is considered the first Malay Qur’anic commentary authored by Muhammad Said ibn Umar. It is recognized as the second tafsir work has a complete 30 constituents or juz of the Qur’an in Malay language after the masterpiece of Abdul Rauf al-Singkili, Tarjuman al-Mustafid. However, some aspects of Muhammad Said’s background are still vague, due to limited data and information. His work did not remark by Western scholars in their studies on the history of Malay Islamic literature and thus, results in it being less well known. Therefore, this article aims to introduce Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan and to provide a descriptive analysis of its significance to the Malays in Malaysia, especially during the early 20th century. The study demonstrates that the contribution of Muhammad Said in the tafsir of Qur’an is significant in increasing the tafsir literacy level of the Malay Muslim community in the country. The tafsir was produced by referring to numbers of primary references therefore reflects the ability of Muhammad Said in filtering, synthesizing interpretations from various sources and presenting it in a style which is distinctive and significantly for Malay Muslim readers.


Introduction
Tafsir literature was one of the branches in Islamic studies that began to gain significant attention from scholars of Malaysia in the early 20th century. Tafsir writing started off quite late compared to the other branches of Islamic knowledge such as jurisprudence, faith (aqidah), sufism (tasawwuf) and hadith. The Muslim community at that time depended heavily on tafsir scriptures in Arabic, which were made a text reference for tafsir studies. Among the earliest Malaysian scholars to contribute to this field is Muhammad Said ibn Umar (D., 1932). His tafsir book, Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan was identified as the first Malay tafsir work in Malaysia. The writing of the book took almost three years, starting in 1346H/1925 and concluded in 1344H/1927. It was published for the first time in 1934. It turns out that the publication of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan has a significant role in filling the vacuum in tafsir literature as well as fulfilling the needs of the Muslim community, especially the Malays, for a Malay language manuscript to help them understand the meaning of the Qur'an and to appreciate it. Although the author used a classical style in his presentation, nonetheless it is found being relevant for the use of tafsir studies that are being conducted in mosques and traditional education institution namely pondok. This scripture is also used as a course reference and for research purposes in a number of higher education institutions. Some studies have highlighted the background and knowledge ability of Muhammad Said and his contribution in the writing of tafsir in Malay (Najihah, 1991). Other researchers analyzed his work from the perspective of tafsir knowledge and methodology, such as the method and his technique in interpreting, the influence of other tafsir scriptures, and authenticity of hadith and the content validity of this tafsir work (Ismi, 2003;Hamza, 2005;Mahamah, 2007;Azhan, 2012;Sholah & Nizam, 2013). Based on these studies, several arising issues were identified such as the ambiguity of the life of Muhammd Said ibn Umar, the authority of his tafsir in regards to the originality of the work, and the influence of Isra'iliyyat narratives and the status of hadith quoted in his work. school of thought and practiced the sufism of Naqsyabandi Ahmadi (Said, 1934, Vol. 4).
His birth year has yet to be verified but Wan Saghir (2004) cited 1270AH or 1854AD, while Zulkifli & Hamza (2005 claim it to be in 1275H. He was born in Kampung Kuar in Jerlun, Kedah and was raised in a religious family. His father, Umar was an eloquent sermon or khutbah preacher, and thus known as Umar Khatib. He traveled to several places with family along. He first moved to Changkat, in the Kerian district, and then to Kampung Kedah in Sungai Acheh, Perak before finally return to Kedah (Hamza & Zulkifli, 2005). The researchers had different opinions on the location of these villages, especially Changkat, whether it was in Kerian, Perak or in Seberang Perai, and whether Sungai Acheh and Kampung Kedah were two different villages or one same village. Geographical research shown that the Kampung Changkat and Kampung Sungai Acheh are both located on the south of Seberang Perai, Penang. And from Sungai Acheh, his family moved to Kampung Kedah in Parit Buntar, Perak. Said lived there until the year 1312H. The confusion arises due to the location of the three villages in the border areas of three states of Penang, Perak and Kedah. Not to mention that the distance between Kampung Sungai Acheh and Kampung Kedah was a mere 12 km. Said's migration to Kampung Kedah was associated by many scholars with the Siamese attack on Kedah. However this statement needs to be re-examined as the war occurred between the years 1821 and 1841, while Said was born in 1854. Thus it is likely that the war was related to the migration of his father, rather than the migration of Said himself.
As the eldest of two siblings, Said continue his family's legacy in religious education by studying in a traditional institution known as Pondok Bendang Daya in Pattani. He was said to have studied for a while under the tutelage of Sheikh Haji Wan Mustafa bin Wan Muhammad, or otherwise known as Tok Bendang Daya 1 (1160H/1747AD-1280H/1863AD), before learning for a longer period from Sheikh Wan Abdul Qadir bin Wan Mustafa al-Fatani, Tok Bendang Daya II (1234H/1817AD-1312H/1895AD) (Saghir, 2004;Mustaffa, 2009). It was also narrated that Said had further his education in Mecca and had reside there for a considerable length of time. He also built a guesthouse on the land near the Holy Mosque for pilgrims coming from Malaya. The place had also functioned as a school (Ismail, 1995;Zulkifli & Hamza, 2005). However the available information about his education, teachers or period of residence in Mecca was unaccounted in detail. Mohd Sholeh and Mohd Nizam (2013) proved this by referring to Said's statement in Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan where he recounted his experience seeking knowledge in Kedah, then to Patani and up until he came back from Mecca. In the book, Said had also recorded the distance traveled from Mecca to other places such as Asfan and Hunayn. Apart from Tok Bendang Daya, researchers also claimed Shaykh Wan Sulaiman bin Wan Siddiq (1291H/1874AD-1354H/1935AD) as Muhammad Sai'd's teacher. This is based on Said's notes in Tafsir  However the 20-years age difference between these two figures raises questions to Wan Saghir (2004), whether is it true that Sheikh Wan Sulaiman was Said's teacher or Said's birth year was actually much later than 1854? It could also be that Said was acknowledging Shaykh Wan Sulaiman as a spiritual guide and a religious teacher in general terms, as he was a spiritual teacher of the Naqsyabandiyyah sect. This title was also a tribute to the knowledge ability of Sheikh Wan Sulaiman and his position as the chairman of the Majma 'Ulama, a consultant committee for the Kedah government, and then as the Head Judge (Qadi) with the title "Shaykh al-Islam". No other source has been found to further clarify this issue, in fact discussions on Wan Sulaiman's biography as well as on other scholars of Sai'd's generation did not mention Said's name at all, whether as a teacher or a student. Among scholars of Kedah who were contemporaries of Said, as reported in his book Fatawa Qadah were Haji Ahmad Hakim bin Haji Muhammad Zain, Haji Idris Tuan Jamal and Haji Muhammad Amin bin Tuan Ismail. They had been requested by Said to edit his book (Saghir, 2004).
When he was at Changkat, Said establish a pondok and had become a teacher there, however the existence of this school cannot be confirmed by his next of kin. At this place, Said married to Fatimah and Rahmah, and took third wife, Hamidah after moving to Kampung Kedah. While in Kampung Kedah, he taught at the local pondok school besides working on the paddy fields. Said's contribution in reviving pondok education and imparting religious knowledge to the local community became evident with the naming of Kampung Kedah which was originally located in Parit Buntar, as this was done in appreciation of his services (Ismi, 2003;Zulkifli & Hamza, 2005;Ismat, 2009).
After living for some time in Perak, Said returned to Kedah in 1312H/1894 (Azhan, 2012) at the request of Tengku Mahmud and settled in Kanchut, Alor Setar. He was appointed as a teacher of the children of royalties. After that, he was appointed judge in Jitra until his death in 1932 (Ismi, 2003). At the same time, he was actively involved in preaching and teaching of Islam in mosques all over the state. Said's sufi life was mirrored in his lifestyle. He was described by his grandchildren as a moderate man, pious, ascetic, honorable and loving (Zulkifli & Hamza, 2005

Introduction to Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan
The needs of the local community for a tafsir or a Qur'anic commentary that could help them to understand better of the Qur'anic teaching and the reason as commit to Islam had prompted Muhammad Said to pen Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan. There was no other tafsir work in Malay Jawi at that time that they could study, except for Tarjuman al-Mustafid. In fact, Tarjuman al-Mustafid was a relatively old piece and had been reworked in 17th century Achehnese Malay, thus resulting in difficulties for the public to comprehend it. Furthermore, the Muslims at that time were highly dependent on tafsir lectures delivered by religious teachers which were based on tafsir books in Arabic. Thus, the emergence of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan was indeed very timely. Muhammad Said documented the writing of this commentary in his foreword ( Figure A1).
Moreover, the support and encouragement from the royal families, specifically, Tengku Ibrahim  In terms of the organization and presentation of the book, Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan begins with a foreword containing the reasons and purposes for its writing and the references it depended on, followed by a brief description of the meaning of Islam, the pillars of Islam and Iman, ablution and minor and major factors that invalidate it, and rules of solat (prayer). The tafsir begins with the status of the surat; Meccan or Medinan, the total number of verses and the reason for its naming. The tafsir of the surat is done in the order of the verses, using rasm imla'i, without mentioning the verse's number. A verse will be interpreted based on blocks of verses that are placed in brackets. The commentary is done in the form of translation of the meaning of the verses, accompanied by a brief description, and in certain parts of the surat, it is supported by the reason for revelation, excerpts from hadith and its meaning in Malay as well as other verses from the Qur'an that are related to the verse being interpreted. The Figure A2 shows an example from Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan and describes the approach applied by Muhammad Said in his book.
Based on the table above, it appears that Muhammad Said applied the tafsir ijmali approach in his book, which focused on explanation of words, phrases and terms that are not clear. This simple approach was to convey the meaning of the verses of the Qur'an directly to the reader, which was what the public needed at that time. This approach also revealed the influence of Tafsir al-Jalalayn and other tafsir scriptures which were used as sources of reference by the author (Mahamah, 2007). As per the custom of Malay Jawi books and scriptures then, this book was written without paragraphs and proper punctuation. But the author included sub-topics for some verses which were placed in brackets.

Originality of the Work
The primary sources of reference in the writing of Tafsir

Validity of Contents
Among the factors being criticized by researchers in regard to Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan are the status of the hadith, and the validity of the narratives used by Muhammad Said in his commentary. Fadlan and Mohd Fadhil (2009) highlighted some of the arising issues in this book such as the chain of narration, the text of hadith, sources and the ruling that can be derived from the hadith. Said had cited all the hadith in his tafsir book without including its chain of narration or its source, in fact most of the hadith and athar were presented without its original Arabic text, and were instead presented in the form of translation or the essence of its meaning. In regard to the sources, the hadith were taken from various sources, with most of it being cited from hadith books such as Sahih Bukhari Citing hadith from non-primary sources of hadith results in Azhan (2012) and Mohd Nazimi (2010) stumbling upon a number of hadith that are deemed da'if (weak) and mawḍū' (fabricated hadith) in Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan. It was also found that the author had cited Isra'iliyyat narratives without providing any comments of its authenticity, especially when interpreting verses of the Qur'an related to the story of past prophets and their people (Mazlan, 2001;Ismi, 2003). These narratives can be categorized into three categories: authentic, false and tawaqquf (unclear status). Clearly, the existence of these narratives, especially those that are deemed as false can lead the readers to believe in superstitions, while narratives with an unclear status (tawaqquf) can engross the reader from appreciating the message contained in a particular verse (Haziyah & Khairunnisa, 2007). The existence of these Isra'iliyyat narratives in Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan can be associate with the dependence on Tafsir al-Jamal, Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Tafsir al-Khazin and Tafsir al-Baydawi as sources of reference (Sholeh & Nizam, 2013). Tafsir al-Khazin for example, has been identified as a tafsir work that contains a lot of hadith da'if and Isra 'iliyyat narratives (al-Dhahabi, 1995, Vol. 1). Moreover, these scriptures and books have long been used in tafsir studies in the archipelago, thus even influencing Tarjuman al-Mustafid (Riddell, 2001;Mustaffa, 2009).
These flaws discovered by the researchers seemed to have been felt by Muhammad Said himself. He humbly mentioned his lack of knowledge at the end of the book ( Figure A3). Therefore, it is the responsibility of subsequent academics and scholars to improve on the validity of the information contained in this book, so that it may continuously serve and benefit the Muslim community.

Style and Language of Presentation
The writing style of a particular work serves as a reflection of the development of language and culture of that time. Muhammad Said wrote this commentary in early 1920s Malay language style, using Kedah dialect which was influenced by Patani dialect. Examples of the Kedah-Patani influence are words such as 'tikam paya' which means to gamble with big bets, or 'anak bapa penakan' referring to one's nephew, and the word 'terbil' which means to catapult (Said, 1391H, Vol. 1). Apart from the Malay Kedah and Patani dialects, Bahrum (2013) found number of words of Indonesian origin and Minangkabau dialect such as as 'mil' which means stone, or 'rendongnya' which means to get stuck and 'bertolak-tolak' which means "to push/cast the blame on others" (Said, 1391, Vol. 1). Some may say, due to this style of presentation resulting in difficulties of the current generation to understand this text. Some exception can be for those who had studied the language from the older generation or been passed the knowledge or book primarily from a sheikh or teacher.
The Arabic language is highly involved in this work as there was evidence of borrowing of certain words. The author retained many Arabic words and terms without translating it as these words were often used in the society, particularly in the writing of old Malay scriptures (Jauhari, 2002). For example, the word 'huquq' means obligations, 'mu'abbad' which means everlasting or forever, 'burhan' which means proof, 'asnam' which refers to idols and 'dalaluh' which is to stray from the right path (Said, 1391H, Vol. 1 & 4). The Arabic language not also influences the wording but the author style of writing. Evidence can be said as author began the sentence with a verb (jumlah fi'liyyah), followed by the perpetrator (fa'il) and objects (maf'ul bih), instead of using prefixed and amplifiers at the beginning of a sentence such as 'maka, hanya dan bahawasa' (then, only, with that) which are common in Malay sentences. The mixture of difference language and style resulting some of the researchers to say www.ccsenet.org/ass Asian Social Science Vol. 10, No. 16;2014 that Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is an adapted translation, rather than an original piece of work. From other perspectives, these unique features are the strength of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan, as it been maintained as an important text in the study of religion in some pondoks, mosques and religious institutions up till today. This tafsir reflects the tradition of religious studies, which is text-reading oriented and yet still requires explanatory lecture by the teacher.
Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan has long been in the service of the community since it was first published and made a textbook for tafsir studies at mosques and pondok all over the northern states of Kedah, Perak, Perlis and Penang, as well as in Kelantan (Ismail, 1995;Hafiz & Hasimah, 2006;Ismah, 2009;Azhan, 2012).

Conclusion
The existence of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan showed the sense of responsibility of a scholar in addressing the problems faced by the community in understanding the meaning of the Qur'an. It is also a manifestation of the author's knowledge in the field of Islamic sciences, particularly in tafsir and and Arabic language. As the first Malay 30 juz tafsir in Malaysia, Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan played an important role in helping the Malay community, particularly those in the northern states of Malaysia and Pattani province, Thailand, in understanding the contents of the Qur'an since early 1930s. Some vulnerabilities in this tafsir work such as the status of originality of the work, the validity of the hadith used and the existence of several Isra'iliyyat narratives are attributed to the imperfect and flawed nature of human being. Furthermore, this book was the first of its kind to be produce by a local Malaya scholar, therefore there was no other Malay tafsir scripture that could be used as a reference or to serve as a benchmark for it, except for Tarjuman al-Mustafid. The classical language style of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is considered as a plus point and makes it still relevant in tafsir studies classes and lectures in mosques, private religious colleges and institutions of higher learning in the country. Figure A2. Organization of the tafsir Said's admission of the flaws of the book Figure A3. Said's admission of the flaws of the book Translation: Murshidi wa ustadhi (My guide and my teacher).... if you find something which is right in this book, then it is by the grace of God, but if you stumble upon something which is wrong or an erroneous mistake, then it is due to my own flaws. Please help rectify it before it is subjected to scrutiny. Hopefully it may benefit the readers and help them to know more about God's commands in the Qur'an ... (Said, 1391H, Vol. 4).

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