SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This critical edition of an early 19th century Malay text consists of five parts: an introduction into the manuscripts and text, a comparison of the two extant manuscripts, a discussion of the language used with particular emphasis on the influence of the Minangkabau dialect, the critical text edition, a concordance correlating manuscript pages with the pages of a printed Malay edition in Jawi, the modified Arabic script used in the Malay World, the facsimile of the main manuscript, a glossary, a bibliography and an index. The text recounts the origins and course of the Padri War in Minangkabau (1825-31) when fanatical converts to Wahabbism tried to force other Muslims to follow their lead. The war only came to an end when the more moderate Wahabbis among the Minangkabau asked for Dutch military assistance against the fundamentalists. The moderates won the war but they had opened the door for colonial rule. This autobiographical account narrates the course of the war through the eyes of its author Syeikh Jalaluddin, the little fakir, who played a full role in the war. It pays particular attention to the efforts of one of the most prominent leaders of the moderate wing, his father. Overall, it is an apologia for the decision to call in the Dutch and, in fact, may have been written with the Dutch in mind.