XVI MOSLEM ADVANCE IN MALAYSIA Τ' by Islam. REV. N. ADRIANI, CELEBES HE great islands of Malaysia, except New On the islands of Java, Madura, Lombok, Sumbawa; in the southwestern peninsula of Celebes, the southern part of Gilolo; in Central and South Sumatra ; on the isles of Buton, Muna and Salayer, the population are already quite Islamized, so that in these countries there is no question of Moslem advance among pagan inhabitants, whether Christian missions are working there or not. In some parts of Malaysia a considerable number of the population are still heathen, as in the southern part of North Sumatra; in the whole interior of Borneo and Central Celebes; on the isles of Flores, Timor, Ceram, Buru, North Gilolo and in New Guinea. There has indeed been contact between these pagan people and the Mohammedans who are living on the seacoast, but what may be called propaganda only takes place where a numerous Mohammedan colony has established itself on the seashore and has entered into commercial relations with the heathen population of the interior. Regular Moslem propaganda is being exercised in all the countries where a mission of the Gospel is working among pagan races in the interior which are surrounded by Moslems, because Mohammedan zeal and jealousy are aroused by this Christian work and they wish to make haste with proselytism, in order to prevent the heathen from being converted to Christianity. Moslem propaganda is practiced to a considerable extent among the heathen population of the southern part of North Sumatra (Batak country) in the interior of the isle of Borneo and in Central Celebes. On the island of Gilolo Moslem advance is already put to an end by the influence of the Christian mission, which is working very successfully there. In Central Celebes Christian missionaries are doing good work as far as their influence reaches, so that Mohammedan propaganda is now out of question; but as only a small part of this large country is being evangelized, Islam goes on victoriously without any impediment on the whole of the northeastern and southeastern peninsula; and so it is in the southern and the western part of the centre. Strong Mohammedan influence is felt also in that part of the northern peninsula of Celebes which is situated on the west of the Gulf of Tomini and on the east of the Strait of Macassar, because Christian mission work has not yet made a start there. On the island of Borneo Moslem influence is increasing steadily in the same proportion as paganism is declining. Only where Christian missions are at work, the Moslem advance is resisted with success, but in the greater part of this island Mohammedan propaganda goes on without resistance. In the Batak country (southern part of North Sumatra) the inland population, which is partly Christian, partly pagan, is the object of the tenderest care of the missionaries, because the influence of Islam is very dangerous, owing to the fact that the Batak people are surrounded on all sides by Moslems, as the Achinese, the Malays, the natives of the western coast and the population of the Deli region on the eastern coast. Now let us consider the general character of Moslem propaganda on the islands of Malaysia. The Moslems of Malaysia, who leave their native country in order to establish themselves on the shores of other countries, whether temporarily or permanently, are generally anxious to make proselytes. It is not especially religious conviction that drives them, but rather commercial interest. Those who emigrate are always people who gain their living by trading. In order to be successful in trade, they have to procure for themselves safety for life and merchandise. Now pagan tribes in Malaysia live in communism. The family extends itself to a clan, clans grow to tribes; and family relation is the only tie that holds together these communities. Only among one's family does one feel safe. It is a matter of course that the Mohammedan foreigner, as soon as he is established on the shore of the heathen land, tries to enter into family relations with the native tribe in the neighbourhood of which he lives and trades. In this he succeeds by marrying a woman belonging to that tribe. In this way he and other fellow Mohammedans create Moslem family circles; for the wives have to adopt the religion of their husbands, be it only superficially. No one will expect the wife to fulfill the duties of her new religion, but her children are sure to become better Mohammedans than their mother. In this way a group of Mohammedan families is formed which by and by grows into a Moslem community, and at last becomes a society with its own chief. Thus some centuries ago Islam established itself in Sumatra, afterwards in Java and the other islands of Malaysia and in this way we see it at present establishing itself in Central Celebes. Sometimes a good number of Mohammedan families settle at the coast, choose a chief, and so from the beginning immediately form a political unity. But what ever its origin may be, a Moslem establishment always exercises influence on the heathen tribes of the interior. Various reasons bring about this supremacy. The Mohammedan population does not chiefly live on agricul ture. They earn their living by trade and, just as in Europe, it is considered more distinguished not to be an agriculturist. The Mohammedan coast population do grow some vegetables and fruit, but as for the principal food, which is rice, they depend on the people of the interior. On their excursions they have always money with them and they never forget to make a show of it. The Mohammedans also dress in a better way than the heathen, and they very cunningly array themselves in clothes which excite the covetousness and desire of their heathen neighbours, who are very fond of buying new articles. They like to perfume themselves and constantly speak with contempt about eating pork and of other customs of the people of the interior. In short, they know how to behave as people of higher rank and quality than the simple pagans. They are also expert in flattering the chiefs of the tribes, and know how to make use of the weak points of the character of these men by encouraging them to abuse their power and make greater show in their daily lives. These traders are very clever in persuading the chief to spend money at the expense of his subjects. Even the Mohammedan wives know how to assume the air of important and distinguished persons, by dressing as showily as possible; they never carry any burdens themselves, but always are escorted by one or more slaves. They noisily complain about the heat and the fatigue of walking, and always call the attention to the fact that they do not perform any agricultural work, but weave and sew only. Through all these means the Mohammedan traders arouse the desires of the people of the interior to imitate their customs and all these things are profitable to a propagation of Islam. If you ask how this is possible, because all these matters have nothing whatever to do with religion, I answer: According to our Western ideas, it is so, but we ought not to forget that we Europeans are accustomed to consider religion as having its own territory with definite limits. For the Indonesian mind religion is not a thing apart. In order to express the idea “religion," they have to borrow the Sanscrit word "agama," which we find in ever so many Indonesian languages. Religion, according to heathen conception, is a natural ingredient of existence of a tribe, and therefore it is most closely connected with the organization of the tribe. It enters into law, justice, food, clothing, language; into agriculture, medicine, marriage, birth, funerals, festivals, in short, into everything concerning daily life. Everywhere religion is to be found, but it is never conceived as a special thing. Therefore, when a heathen is converted to Christianity or to Islam, he will want to enter into the tribe of the nation whose religion he has chosen. He wants to imitate that nation's clothing; it is an important thing for him to know which food is forbidden by the new religion, and he wants to eat the food which he sees his teacher eating, though it is unknown to him, and when his stomach becomes disarranged by it, he will ascribe this to the power of the gods he has forsaken. He wants to learn his teacher's language; in a word, it seems absurd to him to adopt any one's religion without adopting his manner of living. If a native is converted to Christianity, he is apt to go too far in imitating his teachers, for instance in dressing like the Europeans, and if his missionary or his teacher too strongly tries to check this inclination, the new convert will begin |