Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2021)
Tafsir in the Non-Arab Muslim World – I

Articles

Tafsīr al-Jalālayn at the Crossroads: Interpreting the Qur'ān in Modern Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v6i4.429

Published 08.12.2021

  • Ervan Nurtawab
Ervan Nurtawab
Senior Lecturer, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Metro, Indonesia

Abstract

Scholarly studies of Southeast Asian commentaries of the Qur’ān produced prior to the 20th century uncover the dominant position of Tafsīr al-Jalālayn as the main reference among other popular classical and medieval Qur’ānic commentaries authored by al-Baghawī, al-Khāzin and al-Bayḍāwī. In this article, I question the Jalālayn’s position in modernist exegetical activities, given the translated text is usually presented so briefly that it prevents authors of tafsir from giving extra-explanations as glosses. Meanwhile, there is an increasing trend in modern tafsir literature to expand commentaries from various disciplines. For this study, I examine selected verses from Tafsir Qurän Karim by an Azhari-trained scholar, Mahmud Yunus (d. 1982), as among the first complete Malay/Indonesian commentaries in the modern period (1938). I argue the Jalālayn was at a crossroads for being marginalised from mainstream modernist Indonesian tafsir literature. While the absence of Jalālayn’s role in modern Indonesian commentaries is obvious, modernist commentators do not entirely neglect some legendary elements usually found in classical and medieval Qur’ānic commentaries and add them to their commentary works.

Keywords

Mahmud Yunus, Tafsir Quran Karim, Isra'iliyyat, Modern Qur'anic interpretation

PDF

References

  1. ‘Abd al-Raʾūf ibn ‘Alī al-Fanṣūrī al-Jāwī. Tarjumān al-Mustafīd [The Translator who Seeks Benefit]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1990.
  2. Baidan, Nashruddin. Perkembangan Tafsir al-Qur’an di Indonesia [The Development of Qur’ānic Exegesis in Indonesia]. Yogyakarta: Tiga Serangkai, 2003.
  3. Braginsky, Vladimir. The Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature: A Historical Survey of Genres, Writings and Literary Views. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2004.
  4. Daneshgar, Majid. “Dhū l-Qarnayn in Modern Malay Commentaries and Other Literature on Qur’anic Themes.” In The Qur’an in the Malay-Indonesian World: Context and Interpretation, edited by M. Daneshgar, P. G. Riddell and Andrew Rippin, 212-228. London: Routledge, 2016.
  5. Daneshgar, Majid. “Gog and Magog in Malay-Indonesian Islamic Exegetical Works.” In Gog and Magog: Contributions toward the World History of an Apocalyptic Motif, edited by Georges Tamer, Lutz Greisiger and Andrew Mein. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter,
  6. forthcoming.
  7. Fang, Liaw Yock. Sejarah Kesusastraan Melayu Klasik [The History of Classical Malay Literature]. Jakarta: Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, 2011.
  8. Federspiel, Howard M. “An Introduction to Qur’anic Commentaries in Contemporary Southeast Asia.” The Muslim World LXXXI, no. 2 (1991): 149-161.
  9. Feener, R. Michael. “Notes towards the History of Qur’anic Exegesis in Southeast Asia.” Studia Islamika 5, no. 3 (1998): 47-76.
  10. Jansen, J. J. G. The Interpretation of the Koran in Modern Egypt. Leiden: Brill, 1974.
  11. Johns, Anthony H. “Qur’anic Exegesis in the Malay World: In Search of a Profile.” In Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an, edited by Andrew Rippin, 257-287. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  12. Latif, Yudi. Indonesian Muslim Intelligentsia and Power. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008.
  13. Noer, Deliar. Administration of Islam in Indonesia. Jakarta: Equinox Publishing, 2010.
  14. Nurtawab, Ervan. “Qur’anic Translations in Malay, Javanese and Sundanese: A Commentary or Substitution?” In The Qur’an in the Malay-Indonesian World: Context and Interpretation, edited by M. Daneshgar, P. G. Riddell and Andrew Rippin, 39-57. London: Routledge, 2016.
  15. Nurtawab, Ervan. “The Decline of Traditional Learning Methods in Changing Indonesia: Trends of Bandongan-Kitab Readings in Pesantrens.” Studia Islamika 26, no. 3 (2019): 511-541.
  16. Nurtawab, Ervan. “The Malay Tafsīr in the Sheik Muhammad Said Collection in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, Philippines.” In The Library of an Islamic Scholar of Mindanao: The Collection of Sheik Muhammad Said bin Imam sa Bayang at the al-Imam As-Sadiq (AS) Library, Marawi City, Philippines: An Annotated Catalogue with Essays, edited by Oman Fathurahman, Midori Kawashima and Labi Sarip Riwarung, 129-154 Tokyo: Institute of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Studies, Sophia University, 2019.
  17. Nurtawab, Ervan. “Jalālayn Pedagogical Practice: Styles of Qur’an and Tafsir Learning in Contemporary Indonesia.” Ph.D. diss., Monash University, 2018.
  18. Nurtawab, Ervan, and Fasjud Syukroni, “Qur’anic Arabic, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn and Javanese: Javanese Translations in 18th-Century Banten Qur’ān A.54.” In Translating the Qur’an in Indonesia: Politics, Exegesis, and Linguistic Diversity, edited by Johanna Pink. London: Routledge, forthcoming.
  19. Pink, Johanna. “Form Follows Function: Notes on the Arrangement of Texts in Printed Qur’an Translations.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 19, no. 1 (2017): 143-154.
  20. Pink, Johanna. “Tradition, Authority and Innovation in Contemporary Sunnī Tafsīr: Towards a Typology of Qur’an Commentaries from the Arab World, Indonesia and Turkey.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 12 (2010): 56-82.
  21. Riddell, Peter G. “‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Sinkili’s Tarjumān al-Mustafid: A Critical Study of His Treatment of Juz’ 16.” Ph.D. diss., Australian National University, 1984.
  22. Riddell, Peter G. “Classical Tafsīr in the Malay World: Emerging Trends in Seventeenth- Century Malay Exegetical Writing.” In The Qur’an in the Malay-Indonesian World: Context and Interpretation, edited by Majid Daneshgar, Peter G. Riddell and Andrew Rippin, 25- 38. London: Routledge, 2016.
  23. Riddell, Peter G. “Earliest Quranic Exegetical Activity in the Malay-Speaking States.” Archipel 38 (1989): 107-124.
  24. Riddell, Peter G. Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses. Singapore: Horizon Books, 2001.
  25. Riddell, Peter G. Malay Court Religion, Culture and Language: Interpreting the Qur’an in 17th Century Aceh. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
  26. Steenbrink, Karel. Beberapa Aspek tentang Islam di Indonesia Abad ke-19 [Some Aspects on Islam in 19th-Century Indonesia]. Jakarta: Bulan Bintang, 1984.
  27. Steenbrink, Karel. Pesantren, Madrasah, Sekolah: Pendidikan Islam dalam Kurun Modern [Pesantren, Madrasah, Sekolah: Islamic Education in the Modern Period]. Jakarta: LP3ES, 1986.
  28. al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn, and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm [The Interpretation of the Almighty Qur’ān]. Indonesia: Dār Iḥyaʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabīyah, n.d.
  29. al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn, and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī. Tafsīr al-Jalālayn. Translated by Feras Hamza. Amman: Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, 2007.
  30. Van Bruinessen, Martin. “Kitab Kuning: Books in Arabic Script Used in the Pesantren Milieu: Comments on a New Collection in the KITLV Library.” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 146 (1990): 226-269.
  31. Van den Berg, L. W. C. “Het Mohammedaansche Godsdienstonderwijs op Java en Madoera en de Daarbij Gebruikte Arabische Boeken” [The Mohammedan Religious Education in Java and Madura and the Arabic Books Used]. Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 31 (1886): 519-555.
  32. Yunus, Mahmud. Tafsir Qurän Karim Bahasa Indonesia [The Interpretation of the Holy Qur’ān], 31st ed. Jakarta: Hidakarya Agung, 1993.
  33. Yusuf, M. Yunan. “Karakteristik Tafsir al-Qur’an di Indonesia Abad Keduapuluh” [The Characteristics of Qur’ānic Exegesis in 20th-Century Indonesia]. Jurnal Ulumul Qur’an 3, no. 4 (1992): 50-60.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.