A source analysis of two early local commentaries upon the Qurʾān in the Malay language provides key insights into early Malay Qurʾanic exegetical activity.
Cambridge MS Ii.6.45
The oldest example of extended Qurʾanic commentary in Malay is contained in a manuscript which has been held in the collection of the Cambridge University Library since the early eleventh/seventeenth century. This manuscript was in all likelihood collected by a Dutch seafarer in Aceh not long after the turn of the eleventh/seventeenth century, and it contains commentary in Malay on sūra 18 of the Qurʾān. It is an invaluable aid in our quest; it not only represents one of the very oldest Malay manuscripts extant in the world, but it enables us to assess which Arabic commentaries were in use in the area.
The composite nature of the sources of Cambridge MS Ii.6.45 has been demonstrated,1 with the following classical Arabic commentaries providing the core of the Cambridge Malay commentary:
- Maʿālim al-Tanzīl by al-Baghawī (d. 516/1122)
- Lubāb al-Taʾwīl fī Maʿānī al-Tanzīl by al-Khāzin (d. 740/1340)
- Anwār al-Tanzīl wa Asrār al-Taʾwīl by al-Bayḍāwī (d. 685/1286)
It is important to note the close connection between the first two commentaries listed above. Al-Khāzin based his commentary closely on that of al-Baghawī. He justified this in the introduction to his own commentary by describing al-Baghawī’s Maʿālim al-tanzīl as one of the great commentaries (min ajl al-muṣannafāt fī ʿilm al-tafsīr wa aʿlāha), and explains his choice of it as a base for his own work by referring to it as “a collection of the most reliable of the Prophet’s sayings, free from plagiarism, distortion, and alteration”.2
In the classical Arabic tradition of writing exegesis, it was not necessary for a later-generation exegete to acknowledge meticulously every citation which he took from previous commentaries. The usual practice was that the exegete in question would mention his sources in the introduction to his work in a general manner; thus al-Khāzin mentioned al-Baghawī, who had himself acknowledged his debt to al-Kashf wal-bayān ʿan tafsīr al-Qurʾān by al-Thaʿlabī (d. 427/1035) in his own introduction. The result was that in “derived” commentaries such as that of al-Khāzin which took their core from an earlier work, it is often quite difficult to identify immediate sources for particular phrases or passages, as those sources may or may not be several times removed. Thus, we may identify a particular passage in al-Khāzin as having been taken from al-Baghawī. If, however, that same passage or a version occurs in al-Thaʿlabī’s commentary, we cannot always be certain whether al-Khāzin has taken it directly from al-Thaʿlabī or perhaps taken it from al-Baghawī; often we are left to surmise as to the immediate source of a particular phrase or passage.
Similarly, in terms of our Cambridge Malay commentary, there are large tracts which are clearly based on the Baghawī/Khāzin stream of exegesis. For instance, the lengthy Malay account of the Seven Sleepers3 is drawn from this stream; as the Baghawī and Khāzin accounts are identical, it is not significant whether the Malay commentator actually had his hands on al-Baghawī’s or al-Khāzin’s commentary on the day he was rendering it into Malay.
However, close examination of other parts of the Malay commentary enables us on occasions to determine that sometimes the Malay commentator used al-Baghawī, and other times al-Khāzin, in drawing up his commentary. The following examples will demonstrate this.
Q 18:47: wa yawma nusayyiru-l-jibāl
After paraphrasing the Qurʾanic text, the Cambridge commentary mentions the variant readings (qirāʾāt) as follows:
Cambridge MS Ii.6.45 reads: Pada baca Ibn Kathīr dan Ibn ʿĀmir wa tusayyaru-l-jibāl. Maka dengan tāʾ maka maʿnā-nya pada hari berlalu segala bukit daripada suatu tempat kepada suatu tempat (Ibn Kathīr and Ibn ʿĀmir read this as wa tusayyaru-l-jibāl. With the tāʾ the meaning is ‘on the day the mountains move from one place to another’).
No mention of variant readings on this verse is made by al-Khāzin. However, al-Baghawī provides the reader with information on the qirāʾāt relating to this verse as follows:4
AL-BAGHAWĪ: qaraʾa Ibn Kathīr wa Abū ʿAmr wa Ibn ʿĀmir tusayyaru bi-l-tāʾ wa fatḥat al-yāʾ . . . wa qaraʾa l-ākhirūn bi-l-nūn wa kasrat al-yāʾ (Ibn Kathīr and Abū ʿAmr and Ibn ʿĀmir read this as wa tusayyaru with tāʾ and fatḥa on the yāʾ. . . . Others read it with a nūn and kasra on the yāʾ).
In this example, al-Baghawī and al-Khāzin are not competing as potential sources of the Malay passage. we deduce that al-Baghawī, and not another Arabic commentary, must have been the source of this Malay discussion of the qirāʾāt due to the frequent recourse made to this work in other sections of the Cambridge commentary. Note, however, that it is a selective rendering by the Malay commentator, who does not mention the variant reading concerning the yāʾ, nor that concerning the final vowel on jibāl. Nor does he mention that Abū ʿAmr agrees with Ibn Kathīr and Ibn ʿĀmir; nor in fact does he specify the alternative reading which has become standard, as does al-Baghawī. The reason for the condensed version in the Malay is probably that the commentator did not want to make his work too specialized; above all he wanted it to be accessible to as wide a readership as possible. The information about this reading which he provided gave his readers a taste of the qirāʾāt, but it did not dazzle them with science, as it were.
The following example, which points to al-Khāzin’s commentary as a source of the Malay commentary, is based on a comment on Q 18:29.
Cambridge MS Ii.6.45: Ceritera daripada Saʿīd anak Saʿidān al-Khadrī: Sabda rasūl Allāh ṣalla allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam5 bahwa dinding naraka empat sesuatu dinding dengan tebalnya, empat puluh tahun perjalanan (An account from Saʿīd b. Saʿidān al-Khadrī: the Prophet of god (peace be upon him) said that the walls of Hell have the thickness of four walls, and take forty years to walk around).
AL-KHĀZIN: ʿan Abī Saʿīd al-Khadrī ʿan al-nabī SAW qāla surādiq al-nār arbaʿa jadr kathf kull jiddār arbaʿūn sanna
The text of this comment in al-Baghawī is identical with that presented in al-Khāzin, except that it is preceded by a detailed isnād (chain of authorities). Al-Khāzin extracted this particular account and excluded the isnād. It seems likely that the Malay commentator has thus taken this from al-Khāzin, though its origins are al-Baghawī. Elsewhere in the Malay commentary we see similar instances where the commentator has obviously benefited from al-Khāzin’s abridgements of al-Baghawī.
The commentary by al-Bayḍāwī plays a secondary role, appearing to act as a supplementary source of information to that drawn from al-Baghawī and al-Khāzin. The narrative account of the Companions of al-Raqīm presented by the Cambridge commentary as part of its exegesis on verse 9 was most likely a rendering of the comment by al-Bayḍāwī,6 though the account is ultimately sourced from the Ḥadīth.7 The Malay commentary account may be rendered into English as follows:
Some commentators say that the Companions of al-raqīm were three young men, who were out walking in the direction of a village when it began to rain. So they went into a cave, whereupon a rock fell across the mouth of the cave, shutting them in so that they were not able to get out.
Then one of the three said: “Anyone of the three of us who has done a good deed should tell us all about it. Hopefully God will bless us with His mercy.”
Thereupon one of the three spoke as follows: “One day I had some work to do, so I employed several men to do it for me. I gave the same wage to those who began work at midday and those who had been there since morning. One of the latter was angry because of that, and said: ‘Why do you give us the same wage as those who came for part of a day?’ So I replied to him: ‘Why do you concern yourself with the length of time? Don’t reduce your wage by preventing me from giving away my wealth.’ Then he went away and left his wage, so I put his wage in a place [for safe keeping]. By God’s destiny, one day a man came by selling a cow, so I used the [man’s] wage to buy the cow. Little by little the cow and its offspring multiplied, so that by the grace of God a herd of cattle resulted. Sometime afterwards, a very weak old man, who I did not recognize, came by. He said to me: ‘You are holding my property. Give me my property which you are holding.’ So I said: ‘Who are you? I don’t know you.’ He then recounted the matter of the wage, whereupon I recognized him. So I showed him the herd of cattle, and he said: ‘Why do you mock me because I ask for what is rightfully mine? Why are you showing me this herd of cattle? It is not proper that you mock me simply because I am old and weak.’ So I said: ‘By the Lord God who created you and me, truly that is your property. With your wage I bought a cow, which multiplied by the grace of God.’ ” Then [the Companion] said: “This is my good deed. O my Lord, if my deed is because of You a...
