The Popularizing of Sunni Doctrine In Southeast Asia: Sifat Dua Puluh in Malay Kitab Jawi of the 19th Century
Abstract
Sifat dua puluh (twenty attributes of God) is a specific Malay term to convey the doctrine of Sunni tradition in Southeast Asia. Formulated to digest the substance of a renowned book of Yusūf al-Sanūsī, Umm al-Barāhīn, this term began to appear in the 19th century as a leading Islamic theme in the kitab jawi of Malay scholars in Mecca. The scholars translated the book into Malay and expounded its contents in the form of commentaries (sharḥ), a rising style of writing kitab jawi on the doctrine of the period. Malay scholars' use of the term in Mecca was transmitted and then reproduced alongside the printing of kitab jawi in Southeast Asia. This process led the Sunni theology to constitute an Islamic orthodoxy in the region. This article presents a historical analysis of how sifat dua puluh became an established concept of Sunni theology in the Southeast Asian context, putting the mentioned work of al-Sanūsī as the source of the production of Sunni creeds in a popularly vernacular expression of the Muslims in the region.
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