Syair Syurga a devotional literary text in an early Malay printed book from Sumatra
This paper discusses an early twentieth century Malay literature that could be called ‘sastra dakwah’ (religious proselytizing literature), in the broader category of ‘sastra Islam’ (Islamic literature). Entitled Syair Syurga, it outlines tarekat teachings about the levels of consciousness and gi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2009
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1154/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1154/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1154/1/sari27%281%29-2009%5B05%5D.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper discusses an early twentieth century Malay literature that could be
called ‘sastra dakwah’ (religious proselytizing literature), in the broader
category of ‘sastra Islam’ (Islamic literature). Entitled Syair Syurga, it outlines
tarekat teachings about the levels of consciousness and gives a symbolic
interpretation of the prayer ritual. It tells about the reward that will be gained
by pious Muslims in the hereafter, where they will live happily forever in heaven.
This paper provides a transliteration of the poem in the Roman alphabet, reviews
its content, and provides an account of the authorship of the poem. In short,
this paper examines the motif of afterlife in classical Malay literature. By
examining the ‘coalition’ of religion and literature in classical Malay text like
The Poem of Heaven, our understanding of local Islam in the Malay world in
its historical perspective will be enhanced |
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