Thailand Law Journal 2012 Fall Issue 1 Volume 15

Part of the 19th Century.¹⁷ This book does not deal with Mecca as a holly city or about pilgrimage at first hand, but about Jawi people¹⁸ who settled in Mecca where the colonial government believed they were the mastermind of rebellious
resistances in the archipelago. Mekka mainly deals with the influence of 'Mohammedan fanaticism' upon the life of Jawi people. The last chapter of his book is devoted specially for discussing the life, customs and learning of the 'Jawah' (Hurgronje used jawah' term instead of 'Jawi' with the same meaning) people in the holly city. In this chapter he identified who were the most influential Muslim scholars from Jawah who settled in Mecca and their relation to the idea of Pan-Islamism in the archipelago. ¹⁹ By living in Mecca, Hurgronje had tried to trace the genealogy of rebellious Islamic ideology in the archipelago and learnt how to pacify it.

His experience of living in Mecca with the Jawi community gave him an extensive connection to the most respected ulamas (Muslim scholars) in Java in which it would later be very useful for his field of work. This connection was a key element to penetrate in the heart of people. When he arrived in Java, he personally knew almost all respected ulama of Jawah who settled in Mecca like Nawawi Al-Bantani of Banten, Khatib Sambas of Borneo, Abdul Gabi Bima of Sumbawa, Said Usman of Batavia, Hasan Mustapa of West Java, Abu Bakar Djajadiningrat of Banten (his main native informant in Mecca especially after Hurgronje left the holly city in 1885) and many more.²⁰ He even closely knew some of the leaders of Banten rebel, which took place eleven months prior to his arrival like Muhammad Qasid, Marzuki and Abdul Karim, the ulamas who for several years lived in Mecca and studied to Nawawi Al-Bantani.²¹

His relationship with Hasan Mustapa was a special one. Hasan Mustapa had become his main native informant and guide to penetrate both to people in Java and in Aceh. Hurgronje knew Hasan Mustapa at the first time in Mecca in 1884. After
returning from Mecca, Hasan became a penghulu²² in Garut, West Java. In 1893 Hasan Mustapa was appointed as chief penghulu in Kuta Raja, Aceh. This position was designed intentionally by Hurgronje to help him connect with local leaders in Aceh. At the time of Hasan Mustapa' s appointment as penghulu in Kuta Raja, the Aceh war was entering its fifteenth years.²³ This was the only region remaining to be conquered by the Dutch. And Hurgronje was the one who was responsible to give the best advice for the colonial government. By the assistance of Hasan Mustapa, Hurgronje toured across Aceh and lived there for one year from 1891 to 1892.²⁴ As he did in Mecca, in Aceh, Hurgronje was occupied by interviewing local ulamas, made ethnographic notes, analyzing landscapes, taking photographs, and observing local customs and life for his scholarly work. He was busy gathering raw materials to study Aceh and, consequently, he cleared obstacles and paved the way for the Netherland troops to conquer it.

De Atjehers (The Achehnese) is Hurgronje's magnum opus.²⁵ This book is not only impressive because of its scholarly achievement, but also because of its practical usefulness for the Dutch colonial government. This is an excellent example of how
knowledge was transformed to power during colonialism as well as of an implicit nature of imperialism in orientalists' scholarly works. His introduction in The Achehnese openly declares that the purpose of his massive book was to provide "the foresight and local knowledge necessary to enable officers with their small detachment of troops to march tens of miles a day over very hilly ground, often pathless, through forest, swamp and riverbed to reach some hidden destination" in the guerilla war against the Acehnese.²⁶ He fully realized that the only way to subjugate the most rebellious region in Indonesia was by knowing it in a full detail. He said that: "Holland has been engaged in war against Aceh for a period which has extended to about thirty
years without having led to the subjugation of native kingdom...due to faulty policy or to ignorance or to faithlessness."²⁷
For our purposes, this book is also really essential because in this book, the term adat law is repeatedly used by Hurgronje. From a purely scholarly point of view, this masterpiece with more than 800 pages in two volumes is an impressive achievement in the field of adat law.²⁸ This is also unique because through its passages and paragraphs we can see the un-separated organic-engagement of adat law with culture, politics, economy and religion. By simply looking into the table of content, we will know that there is no single chapter of his book devoted separately to discuss adat law. However, by diving into its subtle discussion of, for example, Aceh form of governments, calendars, navigations, domestic life and law and religion, we will become aware that the ultimate goal of his book is to define adat law. Moreover, adat law in Hurgronje' s book cannot be separated from 'Mohammedan law' (Islamic law). Indeed, in my opinion, adat law was invented by Hurgronje almost unintentionally while he was discussing the influence of Mohammedan law upon "the obstinate resistance of the Achehnese to Dutch rule."²⁹

The basic idea of Hurgronje's account on adat law, as discussed in his book, is that while the majority of Aceh people were Muslim, only little of their aspects of life were influenced or inspired by Islamic law. 'The transplantation' of Islamic law, to borrow Alan Watson' s terminology,³⁰ concomitant with the spread of Islam into the land of Aceh gained only minor success if not entirely failed. Almost all aspect of their life, from the form of government to divorce and marriage laws, were mainly still bound by local costmary laws, which called adat by the Acehnese.³¹ Thus, as long as it related to the guidance of life, two categories can be made: adat and syari'a-Hurgronje sometimes uses adat vs. hukom in his book. Adat is the rules that are pursuant to local custom and traditions, while syari' at is laws that are founded upon Al-Qur' an and divine revelation.³² Hurgronje notes that this is not a sui generis of Aceh phenomenon, but it is a common feature of every Muslim country.³³ In addition, contrary to the common assumption saying that hukom and adat should take place side by side without conflict,
Hurgronje explains that in reality both adat and hukom are in conflict with one another.³⁴

23 Laffan, supra note 21.
24 Id. at 89.
25 G.W.J. Drewes praised this Hurgronje's book as a great work' and "incomparably well written." See G.W.J. Drewes,
Snouck Hurgronje and the Study of Islam, 113 BIJDRAGETNO T DE TAAL, LAND- EN VOLKENKUND(EJo urnal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia and Oceania) 1-15 (1957).
26 Supra note 10, at XVI.
27 Id. at v. I & VII. See also v. II, at 269-270.
28 JOHNB ALLI,N DONESILAENG AHLI STOR1Y8 (1982). Probably he was the first Dutch scholar that used term 'adat law.' See supra note 25, at 13.
29 Supra note 10, at v. I(v).
30 ALANW ATSON,T HE EVOLUTIOONF WESTERN PRIVATEL AW 193 (2001).
31 Supra note 10, at v. 1(9) & v. 11(271-272). See also supra note 11, at 341.
32 Supra note 10, at v. 1(275-277, 280, 314 & else where).
33 Id. at 276-279.
34 Id. at 11-16.