Shaykh Jalāl al-Dīn bin Kamāl al-Dīn al-Āshī and His Asrār al‐Sulūk ilā Malik al-Mulūk

Abstract

During its heyday, Acheh was not only a commercial, but also an Islamic intellectual center in the Malay archipelago that produced several prominent Muslim scholars or ‛ulamā’ who enriched Islamic literary works. The most illustrious among the native sons of Acheh were Ḥamzah al-Fansūrī, Shams al-Dīn b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Sumatrānī , and ‘Abd al-Ra’ūf al-Fanṣūrī al-Sinkilī. Hitherto, the study on native Achehnese ‛ulamā’ of the seventeenth century has largely focused on these illustrious figures while little attention has been paid to another native Achehnese ‛ālim, namely Shaykh Fāqih Jalāl al-Dīn b. Kamāl al-Dīn b. Qadhi Baginda Khatīb at-Tarusanī al-Āshī despite the fact that he held a very prominent position of Qāḍī Malik al-‘Adil, equivalent to Supreme Court Judge during the reigns of Sulṭān ‘Alā´ al-Dīn Maharaja Lela Ahmad Shah (r. 1727-1735 CE) and Sulṭān ‘Alā´ al-Dīn Johan Shah (r. 1735-1760 CE). Furthermore, the study of his literary works has mainly centered around his works on jurisprudence (fiqh), thus neglecting his literary contribution in taṣawwuf. This article therefore wishes to bring to light his valuable contributions in the field of taṣawwuf through his work Asrār al‐Sulūk Ilā Maliki al-Mulūk rendered into Malay by the author himself as Rahsia Menjalani Jalan kepada Raja Segala Raja so that he is properly recognized not only as a fāqih, but also a ṣūfī.