Nūr al-Daḳā'iḳ by the Sumatran mystic Shamsu 'l-Dīn ibn 'Abdullāh

Extract

In MS. 104 of the Maxwell collection of the Royal Asiatic Society is a tract entitled Nūr al-Daḳā'iḳ. It is attributed to Shamsu '1-Dīn ibn 'Abdullah, the Sumatran mystic who died in 1630. This manuscript was unknown to van Nieuwenhuijze when he wrote his thesis, but he has dealt with Arabic texts of the same title, and printed extracts from them. In Leiden Cod. Or. 1945 which he hasanalysed are three passages which correspond in part with the Arabic text and the Maxwell manuscript, although none of these run parallel to this Maxwell version in its entirety. Taken together, however, these texts provide a complete second reading of the Maxwell text, and make it possible to amend several corrupt passages. When for a few words the Arabic text has provided the better reading, it has been easy to insert the equivalent in the Malay text. By this means it has been possible to produce a tolerable Malay text, and since none of Shamsu '1-Din's Malay works have been published this may be of interest.