Browsing by Author "Farid Mat Zain"

This research studies a Muslim religious scholar who could be regarded as a Muslim revivalist in Kedah during the first half of the 20th century named Wan Sulaiman Wan Sidek. He was a contemporary of Tuan Husain Nasir al-Mascudi al-Banjari known as Tuan Husain Kedah. These two Muslim religious scholars are very well-known because both were very active and prolific; Wan Sulaiman joined the government administration while Tuan Husain remained an independent religious scholar and teacher. The personality of Wan Sulaiman is presented in the chapter on his biography. His great contributions are studied and presented. In Kedah’s public administration, he contributed through his public position as Shaykh al-Islam. In Islamic education, Wan Sulaiman founded the madrasah education system unlike the pondok education system found in Kedah and in Patani. He founded Madrasah Arabiyah Limbung Kapal, the first and pioneering madrasah in Kedah before the establishment of Madrasah Maahad Mahmud, later known as Maahad Mahmud which exists until today. The establishment of Madrasah Arabiyah Limbung Kapal was the introduction of a new educational system for Muslims since the traditional Muslim education was the pondok system. In Islamic thought, Wan Sulaiman had differed from other Muslim religious more scholars of Kedah on some religious issues. His thoughts about the mystical order were different from those of his contemporaries who criticized him for opening the mystical order for the Muslim commoners instead of Muslim elites. In Islamic mysticism, Muslim Sufis, as understood by Wan Sulaiman, stayed among the Muslim society and actively contributed to its well-being; they did not isolate themselves from the society in holy and secluded shrines. In relations to the British administrators in Kedah, Wan Sulaiman was able to maintain good rapport with them although he often disagreed with some of their policies conducted in Kedah. He decided not to openly oppose the British administrators and their tactics but he used his influence in the State Council to diplomatically express his views regarding certain British projects, especially those involving the administration of Islam in Kedah. During his tenure as Shaykh al-Islam, Wan Sulaiman introduced the rules and regulations to protect the purity of Islam from the misleading teachings associated or mistakenly linked with the religion. This is a qualitative study that used analysed the content of the historical sources found in the archives and the personal documents found in particular individual collections. In addition, this study also interviewed local historians in getting additional data in connection with the relevant issues. The additional sources are books and articles related to Islam and religious Muslim scholars in Kedah. Based on these available and accessible sources, this study concludes that Wan Sulaiman had effectively contributed to the maintenance and development of Islam and Muslims in Kedah under the British rule.