Volume II: Law, Policy, and Ecological Justice

Text, Ethics, and Knowledge: A Philological Study of Adab in the Tarjumān within the Framework of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas

  • Akhmad Rofii Damyati STAI Al Mujtama, Pamekasan, Indonesia
  • Imamuddin Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Muhammad Ikhlas bin Rosele Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Muhammad Safwan Bin Harun Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Abdul Rachman Institut Ilmu Al-Quran, Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords

adab; Kitāb Tarjumān; philology; al-Attas; Islamic epistemology; Malay-Islamic worldview; pesantren.

Abstract

This paper investigates the concept of adab in Kitāb Tarjumān, a classical Malay-Islamic text composed in the Madurese vernacular by KH. Abdul Hamid bin Isbat of Pondok Pesantren Banyuanyar, Pamekasan, Madura. Employing a philological analysis of the text's Malay translation and drawing upon the epistemological and philosophical framework of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, the study contends that adab in the Tarjumān operates not solely as a code of ethical conduct but as an integrated epistemic structure that organizes the Muslim's relationship with God, the Prophet, the community, and the self. The philological analysis demonstrates that the text's compositional structure, which integrates tawḥīd, fiqh, and tasawwuf in a deliberate, non-linear progression, exemplifies al-Attas's conception of adab as the just and proper ordering of all things, as well as his model of taʾdīb as the appropriate method of Islamic education. Furthermore, the study shows that the Tarjumān's pedagogical system, grounded in the triadic relationship among teacher, student, and parents, empirically embodies taʾdīb as a communal and relational process of knowledge transmission that depends on niyyah and barakah. The text's critical and constructive engagement with Madurese cultural practices, including its treatment of carok, kerapan sapi, and bersanding through the lens of adab and niyyah, constitutes a dynamic ethical-epistemological system rooted in the Malay-Islamic worldview (tasawwur Islāmī). Collectively, these findings position the Tarjumān as an indigenous and textually grounded resource for Malay-Islamic cultural resilience in the contemporary multipolar era.

References

  1. Al-Attas, S. M. N. (1993). Islam and secularism. ISTAC.
  2. Al-Attas, S. M. N. (1995). Prolegomena to the metaphysics of Islam: An exposition of the fundamental elements
  3. of the worldview of Islam. ISTAC.
  4. Al-Attas, S. M. N. (1999). The concept of education in Islam: A framework for an Islamic philosophy of education.
  5. ISTAC.
  6. Abdul Hamid bin Isbat, K. H. (n.d.). Kitāb Tarjumān. Pondok Pesantren Banyuanyar.
  7. Azra, A. (2004). The origins of Islamic reformism in Southeast Asia: Networks of Malay-Indonesian and Middle
  8. Eastern ʿulamāʾ in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. University of Hawai'i Press.
  9. Dhofier, Z. (2011). Tradisi pesantren: Studi pandangan hidup kyai dan visinya mengenai masa depan Indonesia.
  10. LP3ES.
  11. Rakhman, S., & Hidayat, A. (2022). Peranan Pondok Pesantren Darul Ulum Banyuanyar terhadap dinamika
  12. pendidikan Islam di Madura. Adz-Zikr: Jurnal Pendidikan Agama Islam, 7(1), 1–18.
  13. https://doi.org/10.55307/adzzikr.v6i2.105
  14. Suryaningrat, E., et al. (2026). Pegon as vernacular heritage literacy: A qualitative study in East Java pesantren.
  15. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2026.2635642
  16. Van Bruinessen, M. (1990). Kitab kuning: Books in Arabic script used in the pesantren milieu. Bijdragen tot de
  17. Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 146(2/3), 226–269.
  18. Van Bruinessen, M. (1995). Kitab kuning: Pesantren dan tarekat. Mizan.
  19. Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud. (1998). The educational philosophy and practice of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-
  20. Attas: An exposition of the original concept of Islamization. ISTAC.
Scroll to Top