Taiwan Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2005, pp. 55-98


Mandailing Islam Across Borders
＊


Abdur-Razzaq Lubis
＊＊


Abstract
The Mandailing people originate from north-western part of the province of North
Sumatra, Indonesia, today. They are relatively late comers to the Islamic faith, having
entered the fold of Islam only during the Padri War (1821-38), some at the point of the
sword. The Padri War paved the way to Dutch intervention in the Mandailing
homeland and triggered the mass migration of the Mandailing into peninsular West
Malaysia. By 1870s, the British had intervened in the peninsular states. On both sides
of the Straits of Malacca, the Mandailings negotiated their identity in terms of their
political and economic roles vis-à-vis the colonial powers. Possibly influenced by
Hambali and Maliki madhhab (school of jurisprudence), the Mandailing practice of
Islam gives prominence to adat (customary law) and ‘urf (common practice) as a form
of public good, hence the saying ombar do adat dohot ugamo (custom alongside
religion). In their enthusiasm to learn about their new found religion, Mandailing
participated in the knowledge networks of Minangkabau (province of West Sumatra,
Indonesia), Kedah in the Malaysian peninsula, and the Middle-East especially Makkah
(Mecca) and Cairo. This eventually brought indigenized ‘Mandailing-Islam’ closer in
line with mainstream Islam, entailing their absorption into the dominant madhhab
(school of jurisprudence) in Southeast Asia, that of the Shafie. Growing participation in
the Hajj transported the Mandailing from the margin to the ‘centre’ of the ummah and
exposed them to pan-Islamism as well as the idea of national liberation. Central to this
movement is the idea of modernity and standardization; the Mandailing response to the


＊
This revised paper was first presented at the 18
th
conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia at Academia
Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, December 6-10, 2004.
＊＊
The author is an independent scholar, environmentalist and social activist. The author would like to thank his wife, Khoo
Salma Nasution for her constructive comments and editing.
Received: May 10, 2005; Accepted: September 18, 2005
Articles
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


56


demands of modernizing Islam necessitated the abandonment or suppression of
traditional Islam. Subjected to both Dutch colonial rule in the Netherlands East Indies
and British colonial rule in Malaya, the Mandailings experienced and negotiated within
the framework of two different sets of state sponsored Islam. With merdeka (national
independence), state sponsored Islam is brought to its logical conclusion by enshrining
Islam as the state or official religion in both Malaysian and Indonesian constitutions.
Muslim conformity to statistic Islam is regulated through social-engineering, Islamic
policing and national consciousness construction. Disenchantment with nationalism and
modernist-reformist Islam has resurrected.
‘Islamic fundamentalism’ as well as revived ‘traditionalist Islam’. Mandailing
finds themselves on both sides of the spectrum. By contrast, an indigenized
Mandailing-Islam still lingers especially in the homeland. This takes on a number of
manifestations such as the kinship and clan-based social structure, tarombo
(genealogies), reverence for pre-Islamic ancestors and progenitors without
differentiation, and the playing of the mystical Gordang Sambilan music.
This paper is in four parts, and discusses the practice of ‘Mandailing Islam’ in
their homeland in Sumatra as well as in British Malaya (Peninsula West Malaysia
today); Christian missionary activities in the homeland contributing to the
consolidation of Mandailing cultural and religious identity in Sumatra and Peninsular
Malaya. It also looks at Mandailing religious attitude in the East Coast of Sumatra,
where significant numbers of Mandailings are concentrated. The period covered range
from pre-Islamic to the present time and deals with the question of Mandailing cultural
and Islamic identity.

Keywords : Mandailing, Malaysia, Indonesia, Islam, migration








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中文摘要
曼特寧民族源自今天印尼北蘇門達臘省的西北部，他們是在相當晚近的 Padri
戰役時期 (1821-38) 才改宗伊斯蘭教者，有些更是在生命脅迫下就範的。 Padri 戰
役舖陳了荷蘭人干預曼特寧地域之道，並造成大量的曼特寧移民湧入西馬來西亞
半島。到了 1870 年代，英國人介入馬來半島的政治事務，使得馬六甲海峽兩岸的
曼特寧人，根據他們跟個別殖民政權的政治與經濟角色來協商他們的認同。可能
是受到 Hambali 和 Maliki 的法學傳統 ( madhhab ) 之影響，曼特寧人所奉行的伊斯蘭
教非常強調作為一種公共利益形式之習俗法( adat )以及習慣( ‘urf )，因此在當地有所
謂風俗習慣與宗教並存( ombar do adat dohot ugamo )的說法。在他們熱衷學習新的
宗教中，曼特寧人參與了米蘭加保(印尼西蘇門達臘省)、馬來西亞半島的吉打，以
及中東；特別是麥加和開羅的知識網絡。這最終引入了與主流伊斯蘭教相符的土
著化「曼特寧伊斯蘭教」，使他們融入支配東南亞的Shafie法學傳統。參與朝聖
的增加也使得曼特寧人從邊緣進入教徒信眾(ummah)的「中心」，並讓他們暴露在
泛伊斯蘭主義以及國家解放的觀念中。這運動中心的觀念就是現代性和標準化；
曼特寧 人有必要放棄或壓制傳統伊斯蘭教，以回應現代化伊斯蘭教的要求。隸屬
於荷蘭殖民統治的荷屬東印度與英國統治的馬來亞，曼特寧人經驗了在兩套不同
國家支持之伊斯蘭教框架內做協商。隨著獨立(merdeka)的到來，透過把伊斯蘭教
奉為馬來西亞和印度尼西亞憲法內規定的國家或官方宗教，國家支持的伊斯蘭教
正式進入體制內。透過社會工程、伊斯蘭教政策以及國家意識建構，使得穆斯林
與國家伊斯蘭教相一致。但是對國族主義以及現代主義的幻滅-使得改革主義伊斯
蘭教開始復甦起來。
曼特寧人發現他們處於「伊斯蘭基本教義派」與復甦的「傳統伊斯蘭教」光
譜的兩端，對比之下，一種土著化的曼特寧伊斯蘭教還繼續滯留在他們的家鄉，
這有多種的表現形式，譬如透過親屬和氏族為基礎的社會結構、系譜(tarombo)、
毫無區辨地崇敬前伊斯蘭時期的祖先和創始者，以及演奏神秘的 Gordang
Sambilan 音樂等。

關鍵字：曼特寧、馬來西亞、印度尼西亞、伊斯蘭、移民。
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58


Mandailing in Sumatra
Introduction
Mandailing is located in the southernmost part of the Propinsi Sumatera Utara
(Province of North Sumatra). The Mandailing people refer to the northernmost part of
their homeland as Mandailing Jai (Lower Mandailing); the middle portion as
Mandailing Godang (Greater Mandailing) and the southernmost part as Mandailing
Julu (Upper Mandailing). In general Greater and Lower Mandailing, the Raja (the
chiefs) from the Nasution clan rules whereas the Raja from the Lubis clans rules Upper
Mandailing, although there are exceptions to the rule especially in the border areas
between Greater Mandailing and Lower Mandailing.
Today, Mandailing forms part of the kabupaten (regency) of Mandailing-Natal,
abbreviated as Madina. The Madina regency borders with the regency of South
Tapanuli to the north, and with the province of West Sumatra to the east and south; and
with the Indian Ocean to the west. Natal, the Portuguese name for the port on the west
coast, which forms part of the Madina regency today, was never an integral part of the
Mandailing homeland.
Nagarakretagama, a chronicle of Majapahit expansion into Sumatra in the
fourteenth century, first mentioned the name Mandailing, but the name slipped into
oblivion for the next few centuries until the rise of Islamic revivalism and European
expansionism in the nineteenth century. Both developments left a lasting impact on
Mandailing on both sides of the Straits of Malacca. Many Mandailing tree bark books
( pustaha ) survived the ravages of times, and are kept in the museums and institutions of
higher learning in the industrialized world; many of these are about magic and healing
sciences. Hardly anything is written in the pustaha about history in the sense that we
know it today.
Mandailing society is characterized by the presence of patricians inhabiting their
own territories, small self-governing communities – sometimes single villages,
sometimes a group of villages. The dominant clan in the community provides the
community head (Raja), with the migrant clans having representatives on the village
council. Cross cousin marriage are preferred, the clans being asymmetrically organized
so that each clan is related to a wife-giving clan on one hand and a wife-receiving clan

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on the other. There used to be a division of society into nobles ( Namora-mora ),
commoners and slaves.
Even though there were no reports of conquest and plunder before the mess
wrought by the puritanical Padris, warfare was probably endemic in a clannish society,
but not very destructive of persons or property. Competing chieftains exerted strong
territorial ownership leading to village rivalries. Scholars have commented on the
diversity of Mandailing society consisting, as it were, of autonomous ‘village
republics’.
The majority of Mandailing today are Muslims although a Christian minority can
be found in Pakantan, Upper Mandailing; Medan and other Indonesian cities. Before
they became Muslim, the Mandailing belief was focused on ancestral spirits or si pele
begu, while incorporating Hindu and Buddhist elements. In a recent expedition to
Mandailing, the author found both Hindu and Buddhist relics around Panyabungan in
Greater Mandailing. This period before the advent of Islam is known as na itom na robi
or the ‘dark ancient’ times.
As far as population goes, the Mandailing are in the majority in their homeland,
but they are a minority in Indonesia and Malaysia. According to the 2003 census, the
population of the regency of Madina stands at 369,691 the majority of which are
Mandailing (Harahap 2004: 20). In 1982, the Mandailing Welfare Association of
Malaysia (IMAN) estimated that there were about 30,000 Mandailing in Malaysia. This
figure, however, includes the Angkolan, the northern neighbours of the Mandailing,
since many people of Angkolan descent in Malaysia, consider themselves Mandailing
(Harahap and Siahaan, 1987: 193). The IMAN constitution admits persons who claim
to be Mandailing, and who can name as Mandailing one or both parents.
1
The author
estimates that there are about 50,000 people of Mandailing and Angkolan descent in
Malaysia today and comparable numbers in other parts of the Indonesian archipelago,
especially in Medan, East Sumatra and Jakarta.

Padri War (1821-38)
2

A number of Mandailing chiefs were already converted to Islam before the Padri
War which is considered a watershed in the Islamization of Mandailing society

1
Undang-Undang Tubuh, Ikatan Kebajikan Mandailing Malaysia, undated: 1.
2
Some dates the Padri War from 1816-33.
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60


(Schnitger 1983: 20, 35).

Ten of thousands of Mandailings were forcibly converted to
Islam as a result of a military invasion by the Padri of Minangkabau about 1820. The
southern neighbors of the Mandailing, the Minang of present-day West Sumatra
Province had been encroaching into Mandailing for some centuries, but the Padri
invasion accelerated the transformation of Mandailing society.
The Padris which originated from the Portuguese word, Padre meaning father,
were also known as ‘Orang Poetih’ (White People) as the Padris donned the white
robes of their Arabian counterparts (Moeda 1903: 56).
3
In turn, the pro- adat faction
was called the Black Party after the color of indigo-dyed native textiles which they
wore.
With regard to the religious practices of the Padri, Dja Endar Moeda wrote,
Adapoen Orang Poetih itoe tiada boleh merokok, makan sirih,
menjaboeng. Segala perampoean bertoetoep moeka. Segala orang jang
melanggar peratoeran ini, dihoekoemnja dengan hoekoeman seksa jang
amat berat (Moeda, 1903: 56). (Concerning the White People, they are
prohibited from smoking, eating the sirih leaf and cock-fighting. All their
women cover their faces. Whosoever transgresses the regulations, were
meted with severe punishments.)
Wahhabism is a reform ideology arising from the theological foundations of the
18
th
century reformer Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792). Their teachings
are characterized by uncompromising adherence to the letter of the Qur’an and the
hadith of the Prophet, with violence an integral part of the Wahhabi struggle (jihad).
4

Influenced by this ideology when they were in Makkah, three Minangkabau pilgrims
brought it to Sumatran soil upon their return some time in 1803 (Dobbin 1983; Radjab
1954).
5

The Padris, the Sumatran counterpart of the Arabian Wahhabis, were equally
violent in suppressing what they perceived as un-Islamic practices of the Agam
(Minangkabau people) and adat , a term denoting indigenous law, custom, usage, rule
and so on.

They were driven by the sole fanatical desire to establish a unitary realm

3
For a detail study on the etymology of the Padri, see J. Karthirithamby-Wells, 1986: 41
4
In the late 18
th
century, the Wahhabi doctrine mobilized the political and military might of the al-Saud in the Arabian Peninsula
to challenge Ottoman hegemony in the region, but was crushed by Egyptian forces. In the 20
th
century, the Wahhabi ideology
was resuscitated by ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Sa’ud, who having marshalled the political and military prowess of his and neighbouring
tribes, planted the seeds of what is today called the Saudi Arabia. The nationalist ideology of the Wahhabi is now very much a
global player in ‘Islamic’ politics worldwide.
5
For an exhaustive account of the episode see Dobbin 1983. See also Radjab 1954.
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with fire and sword. They embarked on a mission to eradicate the different customs of
the various tribes and ‘substituting their yoke [i.e., that of the Padris] for that of the adat
chiefs’ (Boland and Farjon 1983: 6). Ironically in the nationalist revisionist history, the
Padris are now seen as national liberators and anti-colonialists.
During the Padri War, Mandailing served as commanders and troops on both sides
of the civil war. Tuanku Tambusai and Tuanku Rao were two famous Padri of
Mandailing origins. From Padri-dominated and non-Mandailing territory, they
launched their campaign of terror and destruction into the land of their patrimony.
They saw themselves as Padri first and Mandailing second. They regarded their
countrymen as uncivilized pagans to be Islamizised.
Tuanku Tambusai, whose fierce reputation earned him the nickname, Si Harimau
Paderi (The Padri Tiger), is claimed by both Malays and Mandailings as one of their
own. Tuanku Tambusai took his grandfather's name of Hamonangan Harahap upon his
installation according to adat. The clan name Harahap is found in both Mandailing and
Angkolan societies. In negotiations to have Tuanku Tambusai recognized as Pahlawan
Nasional (National Hero) by the Indonesian government, he was made a member of the
Harahap clan (Barnard 1997: 524).
Tuanku Tambusai’s Muslim name was Pakih Saleh and upon his return from
Makkah in the Arabian Peninsula he became known as Hadji Muhammad Saleh.
6
A
common practice amongst Mandailing pilgrims was the adoption of Arabic names upon
the completion of Hajj rites. It was in Makkah that Pakih Salleh was exposed to the
Wahhabi teachings. He is credited to have spread the teachings of Islam in Padang
Lawas, Padang Bolak, Sipirok and Mandailing itself in present day province of North
Sumatra, during the Padri Wars.
Tuanku Rao was described as a ‘shadowy figure’ and ‘one of ‘two important Padri
leaders’, the other important Padri leader being Imam Bonjol himself, the supremo of
the Padri movement (Dobbin 1983: 177).

Tuanku Rao hailed from Huta na Godang or
Huta Godang, otherwise known as Tano Godang in Upper Mandailing. His father was a
member of the Lubis clan and his mother was a Rao woman. Before he was made
Imam Besar in Rao, with the title Tuanku Rao, he was known as Pakih Muhammad


6
Pakih is a corruption of Faqih, a juris-consult. In Minangkabau language, a pakih is a wandering derwish, Schnitger 1983: 20, 35.
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


62


(Muhammad 1992: 16-18). Tuanku Rao died in 1833, shortly after the Dutch entered
Rao.
Tuanku Tambusai's fort in Dalu-Dalu fell to a combined Dutch onslaught
consisting of Mandailing, Bugis and Madura troops in 1835. Some believed he escaped
and fled to Melaka when his fort fell. F.M. Schnitger, the author of the Forgotten
Kingdoms in Sumatra , discounted the possibility of Tuanku Tambusai's flight and
subsequent death in Melaka.
It was said that at the last assault, he had fled in a proa (perahu). They
never heard of him again, so that it is supposed he died during his escape.
Others maintain that he fled to Melaka and died there. There is no reason
for accepting this as the truth (Schnitger 1989 (1939): 63)
Up to the early 20
th
century, the term ‘Melaka’ was in usage by people from the
Indonesian archipelago refers to the Malay Peninsula as well as the port Melaka. Before
the opening of the port of Penang in 1786, many a Mandailing migrant came to the
Peninsula via the port of Melaka (Malacca), before making their way to Sungei Ujong,
Kuala Lumpur and Pahang in the interior.
Many a Padri had escaped to the Peninsula as there were several Islamic polities
not under any European rule. In the case of Tuanku Tambusai, he relocated to Sungai
Ujong (now known as Seremban, the capital of the state of Negeri Sembilan), where his
grave is to be found. His descendants still retain his regalia which included a sword, his
rompi (vest) with Arabic inscriptions and a copy of the Qur'an. Tuanku Tambusai’s
pedigree is very much contested as he is claimed by Mandailing, Angkolan and Malay
to be one of them.
7

Indonesian Mandailing and Angkolan were successful in their bid to obtain
recognition for Tuanku Tambusai to be declared a 'Pahlawan Nasional' (National Hero)
by way of an Indonesian Presidential decree in August 1995 (Pahlawan Nasional
Tuanku Tambusai, 1996: 4).Malaysian Mandailing are quite indifferent to this strategic
manoeuvre as they are rather removed from the motives and intentions of their
Indonesian Mandailing and Angkolan counterparts.
Both Tuanku Tambusai and Tuanku Rao came from the ranks of the
Namora-Natoras (Nobles and Elders), the traditional leaders of the Angkolan and

7
Postings on the website, by those claiming descent from him, declares that he is Mandailing, although historically the Tambusai
are seen as a distinct group from the Mandailing and Angkolan.
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Mandailing. As Padri leaders, they were regarded as generals and ulama . The title
Tuanku itself, of Minang origin, means religious leaders.
The anti-Padri and pro- adat faction was led by Patuan Naga and Raja Gadombang.
Patuan Naga, the Raja Panusunan of Panyabungan in Greater Mandailing rallied the
Mandailing, ‘new Muslims, old Muslims, pagans and Lubus’ (an indigenous people in
Mandailing), against the Padri, but even this force did not succeed in holding back the
advance of the zealous Islamists.
In order to stem the Padri tide, Raja Gadombang, the Raja of Huta na Godang,
invited Dutch intervention into his realm in 1832. He was the son-in-law of Tuanku
Rao, who fell out with his father-in-law and became the chief confederate of the Dutch
in their pincer movement through Mandailing against the Padri (Moeda 1903: 66;
Castles 1975: 71).
For a decade, Mandailing was under Padri domination. Governance was exercised
by Padri-appointed kali (originally qadi, Arabic for judge), many of whom were
originally Minangkabau before Mandailing kali took over. Through these kali, some of
whom were members of the Namora-Natoras themselves, Islamic values were
incorporated into Mandailing society. Padri rule, though strict and unpopular, was
nevertheless effective in introducing a vigorous and crude form of Islamic governance.
The incorporation of Padri titles such as Tuanku, Imam Prang, Kali, Pakih, and Peto
into Mandailing society indicated that Padri officials exercised military, political and
religious authority.
The Padri episode threw the Mandailing homeland into a state of socio-economic,
political, environmental and spiritual disruption, with serious repercussions on both
sides of the Straits of Malacca. After the Dutch defeated the Padri, the ex-Padris then
turned to spreading Islam through teaching supported by wealthy merchant hajis .
Having performed the Hajj successfully, these hajis were seen as religious figures with
Islamic knowledge and trading networks spanning all the way to the Arab world. They
played a critical role both in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula in integrating the
Mandailings into the Islamic ummah (brotherhood).
Dja Endar Moeda, a famous Mandailing journalist from the early twentieth
century, put the date of the spread of Islam in Mandailing as late as 1859, implying that
Islamic conversions took place during peace times and under Dutch rule rather than
during the turbulent Padri period. It was remarked in 1889 that the Mandailing ‘have
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


64


mostly become nominal Mohammedans, but not as yet fanatical ones’ (Enfield 1899:
24, 96-97) . By the turn of the 20
th
century virtually the whole of Mandailing population
had been converted to Islam, giving rise to the establishment of Islamic schools and
colleges in the homeland.
The Padri brought in its aftermath many values of the universal religion and global
culture of Islam. Mandailing society was historically transformed by a radical brand of
Islam – Wahhabi Islam, influenced to a lesser extant by the Hambali madhhab (school
of thought) and to a greater extant moulded by Abdul Wahhab, the founder of the
movement. Orthodox jurists at the time, and even today branded the Wahhabis heretics
and condemned their fanaticism and intolerance.
As it turned out, the interpretation and application of Islam in Mandailing is very
different from that of the Minangkabau, their converter. The Minangs are matrilineal
and adopt a position of custom based on Islamic law (adat basandi syarak), whereas
the Mandailings are patrilineal and adopt a position of adat on par with Islamic law.
This is reflected in the Mandailing maxim ombar do adat dohot ugamo, that is, adat in
close proximity with Islamic law. This was the basis for the evolution of indigenized
Mandailing Islam.

Silom Bonjol (Bonjol Islam)
Despite the forced conversion in the first instance, Islam quickly took firm root in
Mandailing as it offered local chiefs access to an enlarged economic andpolitical world,
and opportunities for considerable power and wealth through alliance with the
apparently powerful Islamic communities on the west and east coast of Sumatra as well
as the Malay Peninsula. Islam offered the promise of education and entrance into
modern society associated with the coastal cities. Coastal trade was for the most part in
the hands of Muslims.
in the aftermath of the Padri war, Islam spread thorough South
Tapanuli under the patronage of this chiefly hierarchy [the kepala kuria
and other adat chiefs], who in turn were deeply beholden to the
colonial regime. The local religious teachers were hand in glove with
the chiefs. The level of Islamic scholarship was low and popular
religion was largely magic (Castles, 1972: 116).
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Islam brought major changes to the social structure of Mandailing and Ang-
kolan society. After 1820,
a significantly different social organization emerged without abandoning
the basic system of patrilineal clans and autonomous villages. … The
higher chief ships tended to become more strictly hereditary and social
classes became differentiated (Castles, 1972: 20).
Islam contributed greatly to the development of a much more distinct pattern of
social stratification in both Mandailing and Angkolan society, then in, say, Simalungun
and Karo society further north. Islamization set in motion a gradual reduction in the
importance of marga loyalties. As a result, many Angkolan and more of the Mandailing,
eventually dropped their marga names in favour of Arabic/Islamic ones.
But the impact of Islamization was by no means uniform throughout Mandailing
and Angkolan societies. Important differences separated the central Angkola region
from Mandailing to the south. The people of Angkola, Sipirok and Padang Lawas
tended to identify with the Toba north so far as ethnic and marga loyalties were
concerned, but with the Mandailing on the basis of religion. On one hand, ethnicity plus
religion worked to separate North Tapanuli from south Tapanuli. On the other, ethnicity
alone separated the northern from the southern homeland of South Tapanuli.
8

The Islamization of the Mandailing prior to the Padri episode was considered
inadequate as this phase is called by the Mandailing as masa silom na itom (black Islam
period) (Schnitger 1983: 35). At this point, the Islam professed by the Mandailing was
believed to be adulterated with the religion of their forefather ( pele begu ). The coming
of the Padri known as silom Bonjol (Bonjol Islam) transformed the silom na lom-lom
(Black Islam) into silom na bontar (White Islam). The reference to white here refers
to the white robed Padri. The Mandailing also called the Padri period maso di na rinca
(Period of Tuanku Nan Renceh) after one of the founders of the Padri movement
(Zainuddin Lubis 1987: 163-4).





8
Mandailing was once part of the Tapanuli residency organized in 1843. North Tapanuli was viewed as Batak ‘proper’ and
predominantly Christian; South Tapanuli constituted the districts of Angkola, Padang Lawas and Mandailing, frequently
regarded as two subgroups, Angkola and Mandailing, and predominantly Muslim.
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


66


Mandailing Islam in the homeland
In addition to the Namora - Natoras and the ulama , two spiritual functionaries
found at the village level were the Sibaso and Datu , figures surviving from the
pre-Islamic period. Their proper role is in the spiritual realm of Mandailing indigenous
religion. Both the Sibaso and Datu are essential adjunct to the Raja , the head of the
polity. The Sibaso or shaman played out the role of the medium communicator between
the spirit world of the ancestors, and the living community.
The Datu in turn was the ‘storehouse of traditional wisdom’ whose intimacy with
the unseen world and whose knowledge of herbs forms the basis of the indigenous
healing sciences, critical to the community’s healthy existence. Many aspects of the
community life were regulated by the Datu ’s specialized knowledge. For example in
agriculture, the Datu decides when to plant paddy and when to harvest. He forecasts the
auspicious day for a wedding and for a house warming; wards off evil and impending
dangers, and secures propitious gains.
In the past, the Datu would preside over ceremonies. With the Islamization and
modernization of the Mandailing, the once highly regarded position of Datu is reduced
to traditional healer and medicine man. In Mandailing folklore, the Rangkuti clan
descended is from a Datu by the name of Datu Janggut (The Bearded Datu)
(Pandapotan 1983).
Up to the early twentieth century, remnants from the Mandailing indigenous
religion survived in the form of pasusur begu or marsibaso , a ritualistic ceremony
invoking the spirit of the ancestors to come to the aid of the community faced with
natural calamity, for example, draught. People who have witnessed such acts would
vouch that rain did come down after the rituals were performed. As recently as in 1998,
a ceremony was ‘performed’ for the author and urban anthropologist, Dr. Peter
Zabielski in Huta na Godang, Upper Mandailing. Over time these rituals were put in
check by the ulama (religious clergy) who deemed these rituals an aberration in Islam
and therefore not in keeping with the Mandailing Muslim identity.

Indigenised Islam?
The premise of ‘Mandailing-Islam’ is the practice of ombar do adat dohot ugamo
which places Islamic law on the same level as Mandailing adat unlike the practice of
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the Minangs, which subjects adat to Islamic law therefore making it subservient rather
than on par with divine law. Presumably during and after the Padri period, the pro- adat
and Islamic reformists settled on the middle ground by reconciling their traditional
customs with their new found religion. In Mandailing, the adat is embodied in the
concept of biaso (literally ‘usual’ indicating normality).
The biaso is a general guide to conduct but is not as rigid as a rule and
allows for a certain amount of compromise with circumstances and
constant redefinition of what is regarded as normal conduct. …Hence
the biaso, what is usual conduct, is redefined separately in each village
community and social practices so redefined are valid solely within
the community concerned. Thus small changes in social practices are
constantly occurring, and since such changes are not necessarily in the
same direction in each village, there is constant accumulation of
differences in social practices between one village and another (Tugby,
1960: 19).
Biaso, the common norm or customary practice, corresponds to the Islamic
concept of local custom (‘urf). In the Shaf’ie madhhab (school of thought) dominant
today in Malaysia and the Indonesian archipelago, ‘urf is tolerated so far as it does not
go against Islamic law; but in the Maliki school of law ‘urf is elevated as one of the
fundamental legal principles as it promotes public good.
The preservation of customs through legal judgment affirms familiarity, leading to
general acceptance whereas divergence from it may cause distress, which is disliked in
the passing of judgment in Islam as it amounts to hardship in the practice of religion.
This principle appears to be the guiding principle in the act of passing of judgment by
the Namora-Natoras , though it is doubtful that they were inspired by Maliki
jurisprudence.
The Namora-Natoras, who acted as the governing council, the political and jural
authority, were themselves considered Islamic experts at the local level. Therefore,
local traditions of Islamic jurisprudence evolved through judgments passed by the
Namora-Natoras . In fact, due to the localized nature of governance in the ‘village
republics’, judgments could vary from village to village, although judgments from
other villages were also referred to. There was no overarching Mandailing monarch or
authority to insist on a standardized Islam.
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68


The diversity of Islamic practices in the Mandailing homeland, which was
observed right up till the Japanese Occupation, can be explained according to its local
dynamics. Each village has a unique character but there are elements common to all
villages – Islamic institutions, the general form of kinship, the system of economic
ethics and the formal characteristics of the political and administrative structure in
conformity to a single legal order embracing a wider area.
The village community is coincident with the Islamic congregation ( kariah in
Malaysia and kuria in Indonesia); it is the unit in which redefinition of social practices
takes place. Adat , canon law and modernism provide different models of behavior. The
problem of how they can be rationalized must be solved in the village.
Eventually, the legal importance of adat was virtually reduced to the distribution
of privileges in favour of raja families, but adat principles still permeate social
organisation in the villages. The strongly held concept of biaso, emphasizes the
acceptance of practices which are part of the body of what constitutes normality in
Mandailing society. The ‘usual’ is redefined in each village; consequently different
social practices developed in the many villages all over Mandailing.
Through the adat courts, the Mandailing found a practical, flexible and dynamic
solution to forge an indigenized Islam based on their pre-Islamic heritage. The cases
brought before the village complex councils from 1923-36 illustrates the competence of
the adat court: ceremonial rights and precedence (11); divorce and marriage (14);
inheritance and succession (23); land rights (12); delicts such as unlawful courtship,
extra-marital intercourse and incest (10).
9

The adat courts nevertheless came under question increasingly from a class of
Islamic scholars, most of whom received their education either directly, or else
second-hand or third-hand at the hands of Middle Eastern scholars. In the Malay States
of Sumatra and British Malaya (West Malaysia today), many of the ulama class made
their living as religious teachers and religious professionals, and the most esteemed
amongst them became advisors to Sultans and other patrons. The ulama pointed out
many contradictions between the accepted Islamic practice in Mandailing and Islamic
law.

9
Reported in Adatrechtbundel 43, 1949: 8-334. The basis upon which these cases were selected for inclusion in Adatrechbundels
is unknown, and the number of cases of each kind may not, therefore, be a reliable statement of the number of such cases which
actually came before the court.
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The prohibition of marrying members of the same clans under the Mandailing
adat of Dalihan na Tolu is given as an example of the contradiction between Islamic
law and customary law. Marriage between the same clan is punishable by banishment
but can be circumvented by throwing a feast whereby buffaloes are sacrificed. This is
an effective deterrent as most ordinary Mandailings cannot afford the cost of holding
such a feast. Although marriage between the same clan members are becoming quite
common and are condoned and legitimized in the name of Islam, nevertheless marriage
between different clans is still very much the preferred norm. Mixed-marriages between
Mandailing and other pribumis in Indonesia or bumiputera in Malaysia as well as the
non- pribumi / bumiputera ethnic groups are also becoming commonplace.
The institution of hereditary leadership of the Raja was also put into question
though Islam does not in principle go against this form of leadership (Al-Wawardi1966:
144-9).
10
The custom of special privilege of the nobles (namora-mora) from the Lubis
and the Nasution clans to claims of Rajaship in Upper and Lower Mandailing
respectively, were also criticized. According to extant literature only nobles from the
two mentioned clans are entitled to rule over both halves of Mandailing; albeit this may
have been the principle but there were many exceptions that disprove the rule. For
example in the Maga area, Upper Mandailing, nobles from the Nasution, Lubis and
Rangkuti clans are installed as Raja.
In the zest for further Islamization, which doubles for modernization, the nobility
and the special privileges of the descendants of the founding clans in their claims to
Rajaship has been cast as ‘ancestor worship’ arising from pele begu (spirit worship),
the traditional religion of the Mandailing. This sinister inquisition undermines the
importance of ‘myth’ as an instructive educational tool on the origin of the clans,
tarombo genealogies, ancestor reverence and by extension the very basis of
territoriality (the banua and huta), and of governance (Namora-Natoras) itself. In the
conventional view of the Islamist, the pele begu heritage is in direct conflict, and
opposed to and irreconcilable with Islam.
In explaining the Mandailing shortcomings as Muslims, the latter-day ulama class
and the Islamists are quick to blame the Namora-Natoras singling them as the obstacle
and stumbling block towards reform and conformity to standard Islam with the rest of

10
The laws of Islamic governance recognized noble lineage, Al-Wawardi,1966: 144-9.
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


70


the ummah . The Namora-Natoras are charged for obstructing the flow of progressive
Islam as it was in their interest that the adat is kept alive and in place. It can equally be
said that the ulama class wants to usurp and prop themselves as leaders of the
community in preference to the traditional leadership. It has been pointed out that an
anomaly of ‘Mandailing-Islam’ is the separation of the ulama class from its
social-political structure. Allegedly the ulama class was not integrated into the structure
of Mandailing governance within the institution of Namora-Natoras . Instead, the two
groups competed for authority in Mandailing society.
11

Forced cultivation ( cultuurstelsel ) of cash crops such as coffee coupled with
belasting (corvee labor) had a great impact on Mandailing society. In essence the
cultuurstelsel is founded on a simple general principle, initially implemented in Java
before being extended to the ‘outer islands’. The idea was for each village to set aside
part of its land to produce export crops especially coffee, sugar and indigo, for sale at
fixed prices to the colonial government to offset land tax (‘land rent’) owed to the
government. ‘In theory, everyone was to benefit from this system…In practice, there
was hardly a ‘system’ at all. There were wide variations in the application…from one
area to another… (Ricklefs 2001: 156-161)’
12

The Dutch colonial period also opened the way for state-sponsored secular
education, missionary-sponsored Christian education and community-based Islamic
education. However, Dutch colonial rule for slightly over a century did little to change
‘Mandailing-Islam’; but it did erode the jurisdiction and powers of the Namora-Natoras.
This instance runs counter to argument proffered by some quarters that the Dutch
colonial powers tacitly promoted indigenous culture in order to reverse the progress of
Islam by promoting indigenous cultures. The Japanese entered Mandailing in 1942,
occupied the country with a small military force until 1945. They recruited labour but
interfered little with religious affairs or village government. Since World War II, the
pace of Islamization has increased, in part due to the activities of Islamic political
parties to combat secular modernism.




11
This argument was put forth by Zainuddin Lubis in his MA thesis Na Mora Na Toras: Pemimpin Tradisional Mandailing,
Universitas Sumatera Utara, Fakultas Sastra, Jurusan Antropologi, Medan, 1987.
12
For the origin of the corvee system, M.C. Ricklefs 2001 (1981,1993): 156-61.
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The wedge policy and Mandailing identity in
Sumatra

Stamford Raffles the architect of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, arbitrarily
carved out the British and Dutch spheres of influence in the Straits of Malacca, dividing
Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. The boundary between Malaysia and Indonesia
today is a direct legacy of that treaty. Raffles also promoted the geopolitical manoeuvre
of separating the Muslim heartlands of Aceh and Minangkabau by strongly
encouraging Christian missionary work among the ‘Bataks’ so as to create a Christian
buffer block between the two (Parlindungan 1962: 628; Aljunied 2004)
13

The Dutch authorities who subsequently gained full sovereignty over the island of
Sumatra, maintained a ‘wedge policy’, a strategy of keeping the two Islamic bulwarks
separated by a non-Muslim belt of which they called Bataklanden. (Bataklands)
(Castles 1972: 2). A consequence of this divides and rule policy was the typecasting of
the Mandailing as a sub-category of the Batak people.In the words of the American
anthropologist, Susan Rodgers,
In the early decades of this century Mandailing migrants found
themselves stereotyped as ‘Batak’, which in the migrant areas meant
either heathen, or Christian. …Most Mandailing were in fact Muslim
by this time (Rodgers, 1993: 156).
Islam was particularly active along the coastal borders of the ‘Batakland’ when
Christian missionaries first showed their presence in the area. In fact, as the Padri
invaded the ‘Batakland’, missionaries began to concentrate on the ‘Bataks’. At this
point, the soul of the Mandailing became a point of contestation between the two world
religions. In order to check the advance of Islam in that part of north Sumatra, the
Mandailing became the first target of zending (Christian missionary). The Baptist,
Rheinische Missionary Society from Bremen, Germany and Singapore-based Methodist
Episcopal Mission, carried out work in Mandailing but were not successful ( Enfield
1899: 8, 89, 92; Thiessen 1974).


13
This was first suggested by Mangaradja Onggang Parlindungan, the Angkolan writer in his controversial work, Parlindungan
1962: 628. Since then Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied has confirmed this in a serious study of Raffles attitudes towards Islam,
Aljunied 2004.
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


72


When the Dutch resumed control, they assigned an army chaplain, Colonel Elout
and Verhoeven, to evangelize the ‘Bataks’. Verhoeven had already started work in
Mandailing.
Verhoeven began meeting with groups of Bataks at Pakantan [in Upper
Mandailing] and studied the Batak language. Verhoeven may have baptized the first
Bataks, Padri soldiers returned from Toba, in 1834, although HKBP [Huria Kristen
Batak Protestant/Batak Protestant Christian Church] claims the first two Bataks to be
baptized were Jacobus Tampubolon and Simon Siregar on March 31, 1861 ( Pedersen,
1970: 49).
This shows that the Mandailing of Pakantan were among the first Chirstians in
North Sumatra. However, this conversion has conveniently been included as early
Batak conversions, to reinforce the association of Christianity with Bataks and Islam
with the Mandailings. The identification of religion with ethnicity has been part of the
language of missionary literature. A church, a Christian burial ground and the presence
of a tiny Christian community in the midst of a majority Muslim Mandailing
community is all that remains of the missionaries’ small but significant achievement.
Four years after the initial conversion, a Mennonite community was established at
Pakantan in 1838, where they erected a Byzantine-style church.
14
Several Mennonite
missionaries from the Russian Ukraine arrived at Pakantan between 1869 and 1918.
The last Mennonite missionary, Iwan Tissanove, moved from Mandailing to Bandung,
Java, in 1918 (Pedersen 1970: 56; Elkhart 2001).
15

In 1849, Neubronner van der Tuuk or Pondortuk (Big Nose) as he became known
was sent by the Dutch Bible Society to Barus on the west coast of Sumatra to advise
missionaries. He concluded that
There is no hope to be successful among the people of Angkola and
Mandailing. The largest portion of them have already entered Islam, as
have most of the Batak people under governmental control of the
Dutch. To spread Christianity, therefore, it will be necessary to take
resolute action. All of the missionaries will have to be directed to other
places. If we do not follow this plan, it is my opinion that the whole
society will become Islamized before we realize it. Usually the

14
The old church is no more; demolished only a few years ago, and in its place a new church has been set up.
15
http://www.goshen-edu/mqr/pastissues/jan04bookreviews.html
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Malayan language enters alongside governmental control, bringing
many people from Malaya [ sic ] with the intention of converting these
people to Islam ( Pedersen 1970: 54 ; Muller-Kruger1959: 181-182 ) .
The Dutch government inadvertently supported the advance of Islam. The
government severely restricted the progress of the missions fearing ‘that the spread of
Christianity might arouse the fanaticism of the Mohammedan and, thereby, make
difficulties for the Government’ ( de Klerck 1938: 390 ) . Later these restrictions were
modified and the government sought the help from the missionaries as allies. Even so,
many of the government institutions and staff were associated with Islam, for example,
the official language of office and school was Malay, often written in ‘Arabic script’
and civil servants were Malay Muslims.
Missionaries commented on the underlying assumption by the indigenous people
that Islam was the dominant growing religion in Sumatra, the religion of the future.
‘The association between civilization and Islam was so strong that even Christian
missionaries were obliged to assure Bataks that they were not Muslims in disguise’
(Pedersen, 1970: 45-46).
Once it was clear that the Mandailing people were highly resistant to Christian
conversion, the Dutch authorities goaded the Christian missions to go north of the
Mandailing country, where they were more successful among the Toba. The
Mandailings continue to attract the interest of Christian missions to this day,who
describe them in the negative as ‘the unreachable people’.
16

The failure of the Christian missionary in making the Mandailings Christian has
been explained in a historical-theological study. According to Jan Sihar Aritonang,
‘The missionaries’ negative evaluation and attitude toward Islam, its
teaching and sometimes towards Muslims themselves, gave rise to a
violent reaction on the part of the Batak Islamic community. Not only
that, but it stimulated among them a determination and enthusiasm to
counterbalance mission activities by carrying out their own dakwah
(missionary obligation to non-Muslims) to the heart of the Batak area
in Silindung and Toba, an initiative which had been undertaken by the


16
www.ad2000.org/people/jpl2035.htm
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


74


Paderi movement before. From the period of the movement’s fading
and the coming of the missionaries about 1840-1860, the desire to
fulfil the dakwah was not particularly evident since there was no
competition with other religions. But as soon as mission personnel
became aggressive, there arose a consciousness among Muslims to
defend themselves and also to deepen their faith. This resurgence of
commitment to the dakwah gave rise to anxiety on the part of the
Batakmission. In fact, the latter accused the Indies government of
supporting the Islamic side through state schools, through the
appointment of Muslim employees and their placement in regional
offices.
In addition to the religious factor why the southern Bataks rejected the
presence of the missionaries, we may assume a sociological factor as
well. In comparison with the North, the South was more solidified with
its social stratification composed of nobility, ordinary people and
slaves. At the same time, the Batakmission endeavoured to wipe out
the practice of slavery by redeeming and educating the slaves, and
through asking the government to promulgate regulations forbidding
the practice of slavery, an effort which was bound to invite an
unfavourable reaction from the nobility (Aritonang 2000).’
17


Indeed the failure of the Christian Batta Mission (Batak Mission), by their own
review, has, partly, as, if not largely, due to their insistence on calling theMandailings –
‘Batak’, thereby associating the Mandailing with the Tobas. The Mandailings found
this term objectionable as they had in the past, viewed the Tobas as slaves. This process
of ‘leveling’ was seen and interpreted by the Mandailings as an attempt to overpower
and humiliate them. Seen from the Mandailing perspective, the Christian Batakmission
was in league with the colonial agenda. The historian Lance Castles pointed out that
…those who converted to Islam, especially Mandailings have sought
to repudiate any association with the non-Muslims Tobas by rejecting

17
Aritonang, 2000, unpaged. This Ph.D thesis has been published under the title, Mission Schools in Batakland (Indonesia),
1861-1940 by E.J. Brilll, Leiden, but it is not available to the author. It has also been noted that ‘About Islam and the person of
Mohammed [and his followers] the missionaries initially held the usual views of their times. Their prejudices were generally no
bigger and no smaller than those of other colonial westerners’. (B. J. Boland and I. Farjan, Islam in Indonesia, A Biographical
Survey, Foris Publications Holland/U.S.A., 1983: 37).
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the Batak label altogether. This tendency has been strongest among
Mandailing migrants to the East Coast of Sumatra and Peninsular
Malaysia (Castles 1977: 67).
As Keuning points out, the social organizations of the Toba Batak and of the
Mandailing were, 100 year or so ago, very similar to that of the Mandailing. Yet, the
societies in this part of Sumatra became more sharply divided first when the majority of
Mandailings became Muslim, then when the Tobas became Christians, and further
when the Mandailing reacted to Christian missionaries by intensifying their
identification with Islam (Keuning 1954: 281-283).
Thus the Mandailing Muslims do not regard themselves as Bataks. As they
initially equated the Toba with slaves and then ‘Batak’ with ‘Christians’, they came to
define Mandailing as the antithesis of Batak. The antagonism became so strong
especially with the majority of Mandailing Muslims that they initiated a campaign for
separate recognition that they might no longer be regarded as Batak.
Ironically, linguists and ethnologists persist in the use of the Batak label to ascribe
the Mandailing justifying it as ‘necessary’ because of the strong common elements
found in these societies, but at the same time, ignoring their subjects’ historicity. This
in spite their acknowledgement that ‘Although all are Batak [Toba, Karo, Simelungun,
Pakpak, Angkola and Mandailing], each subgroup has its own dialect or language,
thinks itself as a separate ethnic unit, and has its own customs and traditions (Brune
1972: 221).’ Two American anthropologists acknowledge the relativism of these
anthropological categories.
As Indonesians and anthropologists, we too find the category Batak
and its subcategories useful, even necessary; they define a niche, label
our expertise, and are thus embedded in the social forms of our
profession. …We give substance to these categories, and in so many
ways, we create the Batak (Kipp and Kipp 1983: 5).

The Mandailing in East Sumatra
The Mandailing people being originally orientated more to Sumatra’s west coast,
did not identify with the ‘Malay’ of the Sumatran East Coast and Straits of Malacca.
They had an early model for maintaining their identity, for Marsden the author of
Mandailing Islam Across Borders


76


History of Sumatra fame, described them as Muslim but not Malay. In the aftermath of
the Padri War, some Mandailings migrated to the east coast of Sumatra, though
according to Mandailing sources substantial Mandailing migration to that part of
Sumatra only occurred towards the end of the nineteenth century ( Anderson 1971
(1824): 306 ) .
18

Kira-kira dalam tahoen 1875, disitoelah terboeka tanah Deli, sebagai
tanah perantauan bagi bangsa Mandailing, karena waktoe-itoelah
orang-orang Mandailing datang satoe datang doea ke-Deli, merantau
mentjahari kehidoepan (Ihoetan 1926: 5; Pelly 1983: 70). (Around the
year 1875, the land of Deli was opened as the place for sojourning for
the Mandailing people, (and) from that time on the Mandailings came
to Deli in search of a livelihood.)
The Mandailing migrants who spoke Malay dropped their clan names and
acknowledged themselves as Malay remained on the fringe of the Malayo-Muslim
culture. This blending in and association with Malay Muslim society, be it in East
Sumatra or in the Malay Peninsula amounts to cultural shift resulting in cultural loss to
the Mandailing identity. In the Mandailing homeland, Islamic conversion entailed a
movement away from the Batak label, but in East Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, it
was taken to mean the adoption of Malay identity instead.
As to how the Mandailing saw themselves in this period, we refer to the landmark
court case in the 1920s, whereby the Mandailing went to court to fight for public
recognition of their identity as distinct from that of the Batak.
In 1922, a dispute between the Batak and the Mandailing broke out in Sungei Mati,
Medan, over rights to be buried in religious endowment land (tanah wakaf) ,
irrespective of ethnicity. The curator of the burial ground had refused permission to
Bataks, including Mandailings claiming to be Batak, to be buried there, on the grounds
that the deed specified that the cemetery was for Mandailings only. This was a dispute
not between Christians and Muslims, but between people of North and South Tapanuli
origin.
The following year (1923), a commission, Madjelis Sjara’iah (Commissie van
Advies), was formed with the agreement of the Dutch Governor, to settle the dispute

18
Anderson, 1971 (1824): 306. Anderson identifies the ‘Kataran’ found in the east coast of Sumatra in the 1820s as being
Mandailing. The ‘Kataran’ or ‘Ketaren’ has been identified as a clan of the Karo. (Parkin, 1977: 4)
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according to Islamic law. The matter was even raised in the Diwan Raiat (Volksradd).
When the Governor-General decided in favour of the Batak, the Mandailing community
appealed to the highest court in the land, the Rad van Justitie, which reversed the
Governor-General’s decision.
The affair was documented in a work aptly entitled Asal-Oesoelnja Bangsa
Mandailing (The Origin of the Mandailing People), with the subtitle Berhoeboeng
dengan Perkara Tanah Wakaf Bangsa Mandailing, di Soengei Mati, Medan ,
(concerning the endowment land of the Mandailing People at Sungei Mati, Medan).
The work was published in 1926 in celebration of the Mandailing’s victory over the
Batak.
Mangaradja Ihoetan, who compiled the book emphasized three times in his preface
that the purpose of the Sungei Mati case was to remind future Mandailing generations,
especially those outside the homeland, not to give up or ‘sell’ their identity:
Riwajat tanah wakaf ini dikarangkan dan dihimpoenkan, goenaja
teroetama ialah sebagai peringatan kepada sekalian bangsa Mandailing
jang mentjintai kebangsaannja, terlebih-lebih bagi mereka itoe jang
berdiam dipertantauan.
…riwajat ini djadi peringatan kepada bangsa Mandailing…hanjalah
kadar djadi peringatan dibelakang hari kepada toeroen-toeroenan
bangsa Mandailing itoe, soepaja mereka tahoe bagaimana djerih pajah
bapa-bapa serta nenek mojangnja mempertahankan atas berdirinja
kebangsaan Mandailing itoe. Dengan djalan begitoe diharap tiadalah
kiranja mereka itoe akan sia-siakan lagi kebangsaannja dengan moeda
maoe mehapoeskannja dengan djalan memasoekkan diri pada bangsa
lain jang tidak melebihkan martabatnja (Ihoetan, 1926: 4). (This
account of the endowment land is written and compiled particularly for
the use as a reminder to all the Mandailing people who love their
nationhood especially for those who live outside the homeland.
…this account is a reminder to the Mandailing people…merely as a
future reminder to the descendants of the Mandailing people so that
they know the struggle of their ancestors in preserving the standing of
Mandailing nationhood. In this way, it is hoped that they will not again

Mandailing Islam Across Borders


78


carelessly waste their nationhood, easily erasing it by entering into
another nation that will not raise its status.)
Still, this court victory did not translate into long-term political recognition. When
the 1930 census approached, the Comite Kebangsaan Mandailing (Mandailing National
Committee) in Panyabungan, currently the capital of the regency of Mandailing-Natal,
petitioned with only partial success, not to be listed as Mandailing-Batak in the census.
The Mandailing were still listed under Batak in the census, but as a concession, the
term ‘Mandailing-Batak’ was not applied ( Castles, 1972: 188 ) .
In the 1950s, when the power of the Malay Sultanate in East Sumatra had been
completely eroded, the Mandailings began to distance themselves from Malay
cultureand reassert their ethnic identity, for instance, by using their clan names. They
argued that if you can ‘ masuk Melayu ’ (enter the Malay fold), you can also ‘ keluar
Melayu’ (exit the Malay fold) (Omar, 1993: 82).

Mandailing in Peninsular Malaya
19

The aftermath of the Padri War, Islamic conversion, corvee labors and modern
education provided new motives for trade and travel, marked the Mandailing migration
to the Malay Peninsula in the nineteenth century.
In terms of the scale of migration, the exodus that took place during and after the
Padri War was the most significant, when hundreds if not thousands left the homeland.
Many came as political and economic refugees escaping the hardship of their homeland.
They were led by their Namora-Natoras , and as such migrated in the traditional fashion,
whereby several clans migrated at the same time under ‘united command.’
By the 1860s, through a process of chain migration, the Mandailings became a
recognizable social group in the Malay Peninsula engaging in mining, trading,
mercenary activities, and economic and political mediation. Their presence in large
numbers and with strong leadership caused shock waves and changed the political and
economic landscape of the peninsula, the effects of which can still be felt to this day.
Economic opportunities attracted Mandailing migrants to open settlements
(mamungkas huta) in the states of Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan on the west
coast, and Pahang on the east coast, where they had already established a network of

19
For an excellent history of Malaysia, Andaya, 2001 (1982).
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migration, kinship, trade, industry and leadership. Many Mandailing settlements are
still extant today but in a state of hidup segan mati tak mau (benign neglect). A
significant settlement was Kuala Lumpur, founded by Sutan Puasa of the Lubis clan,
which eventually became the federal capital of Malaysia upon independence.
On their arrival to the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, the Mandailing migrants
found that it was already settled by the indigenous people (orang asli), Malays, Bugis
and other Sumatrans. As a militant force competing with the locals and other orang
dagang (literally foreign traders) for control of natural resources such as mines and
water ways, the Mandailing were implicated in at least four civil wars in the peninsula
– the Rawa War (1848) in Sungei Ujong in present day Negeri Sembilan, the Pahang
War (1857-1863), the Selangor War (1867-1873), known as ‘Porang Kolang’ to the
Mandailing, and the Perak War (1875).
The distribution of the Mandailing people in the west coast states of the Malay
Peninsula today can be traced back to their dispersion as a result of these wars. A direct
consequent of their involvement in the protracted wars, the Mandailing in the Malay
Peninsula acquired an unfair reputation; they were feared and regarded with suspicion,
and gained a notorious reputation as trouble makers, rebels and insurgents, a stigma
inherited by their descendants to this day.
Having undergone thirty years of war in the Malay Peninsula, the Mandailing
chose to collaborate with the winning side. They accepted Malay sovereignty and
British rule, and were rewarded with mines, lands and positions in the new British
influenced administration. Favourable Mandailing rajas were installed as British
appointed Penghulu, sometimes in place of native Malay penghulus. They were even
installed as Kathi (from the Arabic Qadi), Imam and other religious appointments. In
contrast to their previous unsettled existence, they now became agriculturalists planting
padi, rubber and coffee. They were also incorporated into the British civil service as
administrators, policemen, foresters, etc.. They assimilated into Malayan society, going
along with colonial policies regarding the political-economic functions of the various
ethnic migrant groups. They also accepted the reconstituted official Malay-Islam.




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‘Mendeling Malay’
From the social and economic point of view, the dominant event of nineteenth and
early twentieth century Malaya was the development of large-scale tin mining first
dominated by immigrant Chinese and subsequently by European mining companies.
With the further expansion of Chinese tin mining, the Mandailing immigrants were
pushed out of the tin industry to become agriculturalists. The entry of the European
enterprise into the tin industry, in turn forced the Chinese into other economic activities
which sequentially threatened Mandailing entrepreneurs.
The Chinese tin miners were backed by big financiers, and had a large supply of
cheap indentured labor and good technological know-how. The Mandailing migrants
had less technical knowledge, an uncertain labor supply, and less financial backing. In
short, economic opportunities in tin mining disappeared because of heavy competition
from Chinese miners and civil strife. Pressure from the Chinese in the rural towns of
Selangor and Perak forced the Mandailing traders out.
Plantation rubber began in the 1890s, and in 1897 special land regulations were
introduced in the Federated Malay States (FMS) to encourage rubber cultivation by
Europeans. At the time, there was little pressure from Chinese immigrants who were
still largely engaged in the tin industry. During the second rubber boom of 1909-12,
Mandailings turned rice land into rubber gardens and the liberal land policy made land
readily available to them. Some Mandailing immigrants produced food for the
non-agriculturalists.
Chinese, Indian, and Indonesian migrants poured into Malaya as the tin and rubber
industries expanded and the total population increased from 2.6 million in 1911 to 5.5
million in 1941. Most of the newcomers produced tin and rubber in the west coast
states and consumed rice. From 1920 to 1940 Malaya produced only about one third of
its rice requirements. The rice producers in Malaya were the ‘Malays’.
In order to protect their traditional way of life which was orientated around the
rice cycle the British administration enclosed the rice-producing lands in Malay
reservations, the first of which was promulgated in the Federated Malay States (FMS)
in 1913. Non-Malays could not obtain grants or buy land in the reservations. A ‘Malay’
was defined as a ‘person belonging to any Malayan race who habitually speaks the
Malay language or any Malayan language and professes the Moslem religion’. This
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definition allowed immigrant Muslim Indonesians to own land in the reservations, and
at the same time define Islam as a ‘race-religion’.
During the period of resettlement, many of the Mandailing communities outside
the Malay Reservations tended to lose their economic grip on their environment. In the
foothill zone of Perak and Selangor the pioneers on the fringe of settlement had to
move again and again as the mines advanced or adjust to an ecosystem which could no
longer support wet-rice cultivation. As a result many Mandailing communities declined
or became extinct.
The proliferation of Chinese and Chettiar economic activities from 1900s was
checked wherever it threatened to undermine the economic security of the ‘Malay’
farmers, for example by the purchase of land. The protectionist policy of the British to
some extent assured their land but at the same time, place them in a limited role as
agriculturalists. Some analysts are of the view that the role of Malays as rice grower
may have been responsible for the decline of Malay entrepreneurship which was
small-scale and dependent on individual initiative. The Chinese on the other hand, were
economically dynamic because they were marginal to the Anglo-Malay ruling cliques
and survived by intensifying their social cohesion.
As the indigenous positions of power in Malaya were ascribed, the best course
then for Indonesian immigrants including Mandailings was to identity themselves as
Malays and seek the favour of a local leader. For the Mandailing this meant the loss of
their collective ethnic identity. With back migration, the numerical inferiority of the
Mandailing community in British Malaya, further eroded whatever remained of their
distinctiveness and differentiation.

Mandailing Islam in Malaysia
The Mandailing were culturally divided from the Malays until their conversion to
Islam in the early nineteenth century, but this did not in anyway guarantee their full and
unconditional entry into the Islamic brotherhood. The following observation was made
in nineteenth century,
‘…they [the Mandailing] live apart [from the Malays]…, and they
have few dealings with the Malays of the country by whom they are

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82


regarded as foreigners of a somewhat uncivilized type (Swettenham
1899: 182-183).’
The Malays, see themselves as superior by virtue of them being Muslim much
earlier as well as becoming civilised thereof; in their eyes, the Mandailngs were
formerly Bataks: but became Muslim and therefore ‘raised their standards’. A more
pejorative view is encapsulated in the description of the Mandailing as ‘Bataks
disguised as Muslims ( Tugby 1977: 110 ) .’
Mandailing-Islam was imported into peninsular West Malaysia by Mandailing
migrants in the nineteenth century. In zones where they were dominant or influential,
for example in the tin rich Kinta valley in the state of Perak, Mandailings had their own
Kathi (Qadi), mosques, burial grounds, madrasahs, and practiced their own brand of
Islam which caused some friction with the local Malay community (Lubis & Khoo
2003: 71-84).
20
They celebrated their Id on a different day from the Malay Muslims,
their wedding customs and funeral rites were distinctive and conspicuously different
from those of the Malay Muslims.
As the British reformed and transformed the entire culture of governance in the
FMS, they found it impossible to draw the line on matters of religious administration.
Notwithstanding the Pangkor Treaty of 1874 which specified that the British Advisor to
the Sultan was not to interfere in matters of ‘Malay Religion and Custom’, the British
were instrumental in modernizing Islamic administration and reconstituting Islamic
laws in Perak. The general administration of Islamic law was referred to the Sultan as a
matter of course, but he occasionally referred them back to the State Council and in that
way to the British Resident.
In line with increasing standardization of the Islamic religion throughout the FMS,
the dating of the Idulfitri (celebrations at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan)
would no longer be left to the ‘sighting of the moon’ and calculations by independent
Muslim astronomer ( ahli falak ). Instead, they would be centrally calculated and
publicly declared by state-appointed religious officials, and communicated to the
community of believers through the Penghulus.
Prior to World War II there was little pressure on the Mandailing to Malayanize.
They were treated by the administration as ‘Malays’ along with the culturally very

20
Lubis & Khoo 2003: 71-84. See chapter, Papan Mosque and Islamic Administration.
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different Javanese and Banjarese from Borneo (Kalimantan); access to land and to
education was open to them as it was to the indigenous Malays; socially they were
classified as ‘ orang dagang ’ or ‘foreign Malays’.
Religion was the vehicle through which the Mandailing gained acceptance, first as
Malays albeit with some reservations and then as Muslims, for becoming Muslim in
both East Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula entailed becoming Malay or ‘ masuk
Melayu ’ in the local parlance. Islam is said to be the most definitive Malay marker, and
by extension Malays are Muslim and Muslim are Malays; in other words Malay equals
Islam and vice versa. This perception has been carried to its logical conclusion in the
Malay Reservation Enactment of 1913, and enshrined in the Malaysian constitution in
which the Malay is, in addition to language and custom, also defined by the Islamic
religion. While admitted to the fold of the Malays, the Mandailing lost their communal
identity, found their practice of Mandailing-Islam devalued, and were forced to
conform to state-sponsored Islam, which upon Merdeka (independence) became state
Islam.
The most sacred pre-Islamic ceremonies of the Namora-Natoras which have
survived Islamization and modernization, is the dirge with the passing of a Raja. When
a Raja passes away, a grand funeral is organized to honor him. The Namora-Natoras
are summoned, and a caretaker Raja is elected to preside over the funeral rites. Hence
the saying, ‘A Raja dies, a Raja lives’. The entire community is mobilized to carry out
this elaborate funeral. The deceased Raja is laid in coffin, which is then put on a
stretcher ( roto ). The roto is carried in a solemn procession, with standard-bearers, to the
burial site, accompanied by a dirge (bombat) solemnly played on the ensemble of the
nine great drums (Gordang Sambilan), and the firing of guns and cannons. The
mourning period ( mardangol ) lasts for at least one month and ten days, at the end of
which a ceremony to ‘remove sand from one’s eyes’ ( patar-tar rihit tingon mata ) is
conducted to signify the end of the mourning period. After this, a ceremony is held to
install the Raja’s successor (Zainuddin Lubis 1987: 108-109; Abu Bakar circa 1930s:
36-38).
The most vivid account of the dirge is one that took place in nineteenth century
Malaya as part of the funeral ceremony upon the death of Raja Pinayongan at Bukit
Nanas, the Mandailing fortification in Kuala Lumpur. The account was written circa
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1930s by the Raja’s son Abu Bakar alias Lebai Ahmad. A follower of the Naqsabandi
tariqa (spiritual path), Abu Bakar disapproved retrospectively of the way his father’s
burial was carried out, pointing out that the beating of drums and the firing of canons
had nothing to do with the ‘religion of Muhammad’ and that all these stem from
‘ignorance’ a term used to describe un-Islamic practices or conduct. This very same
sentiment is echoed today by Mandailings and Angkolan who perceived adat
ceremonies including funeral rites as having animistic and feudalities elements
( Harahap 1987: 235 ) . Abu Bakar lamented that the Islamic religious functionaries could
only recite the rites of passage after the performance of Mandailing adat , that is, after
his father was laid to rest.
We are reproducing the account in full in view of its historical,
ethno-musicological and anthropological value as well as Abu Bakar’s view of the
practice as a Mandailing Muslim.
Bermula adapun peraturannya hendak mengangkat jenazah itu dua
orang di atas usungan itu, ia berdiri dan di sebelah depan berdiri
memegang To’… Bandarang namanya berbulu2 di pangkal tombak,
bulu kuda, dan seorang berdiri di sebelah belakang memegang pedang
tercabut dan disiapkan pula gendan (gerdang) sembilan namanya.
Adapun sebab dinamakan gendang kerana ia 9 benar2, ada rupa2
seperti sebuah mesjid Juma’at masa ini juga dan bila dipukul jadi
bersatu…bertenggah-tenggah. Tetapi orang yang memukul itu tak
berdiri; yang pertama pada seorang tinggi gendang padanya
dinamankan itu Manjapati, dan yang kedua ada gendang kepadanya
dinamakan gudung2 dan kecil hinang2 namanya, dua gendang padanya
itulah yang kecil sekali dan dua gendang lagi, dua itu seorang
memukulnya. Jadi semuanya sembilan gendang besar dan panjangnya
nanti disebutkan serta kambu2 di belakang ini. Maka adalah pula
disiapkan beberapa meriam besar di situ atas kubu (kota) di bukit itu
sudah diisi dengan ubatnya (mesiu) dan apabila siap sekaliannya
tempillah orang mengangkat….
Dan seketika itu berbunyilah senapang berpuluh2 dipasang oranglah
meriam kubu (kota) telah meriam di buku bukit tiada berhenti dan dan
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selagi belum sampai ke kubur bapaku itu, meriam senapang tiadalah
berhenti berbunyinya seperti bunyi guruh di langit gelap gempita
bunyinya apatah riuh tangan orang2 dan apalagi bunyi gendang
sembilan itu, haraplah aku kepada Tuhan Allah swt akan mengampuni
seksa bapaku itu di dalam kubu, kerana semuanya itu perbuatan
jahiliah jua yang tiada masuk dalam bicara ugama Muhammad. Allahu
Akbar. Dan bila sudah siapkan masuk kubur baharulah datang duduk
qadi dan imam khatib bilal membaca talqin dan serta tahlil dan bila
sudah membaca talqin baharulah pula membaca du’a bagi mayat
bapaku itu dan telah selesai berdirilah balik orang semuanya (Abu
Bakar 1930s: 36-8). (To begin with, concerning the regulations for
carrying the dead, two persons stand at the head of the stretcher in
front someone holds a To’…Bandarang by name, a fluffy lance of
horse hair; someone behind holds a naked sword and the drums are
prepared, the nine drums they are called. The reason why they are so
named is because there are really nine drums, like each similar to the
drum used in a Friday mosque today…bertengah-tengah. But the
drummers do not stand; the drum of first drummer which is the longest
is called Manjapati; and the drum of the second drummer is called
gudung-gudung and the smaller ones are called hinang, the two drums
of the drummer is the smallest and two other drums, the last two are
beaten by one drummer. So there are nine big and long drums in all, of
which more will be mentioned later as well as the sticks. Then a few
huge cannons were placed on the fort on top of the hill and fill with
gun-powder and when everything was ready.
At that moment, the guns were fired, scores of them, and the cannons
from the fortification were fired ceaselessly and before the body of my
late father reached the graveyard, the sounds of guns and cannons were
unending like thunder in the dark sky what with the din of human
clapping and what more with the pounding of the nine drums: I pray to
God Allah, the Most High, to absolve His punishment upon my father
in his grave as all these are ignorant acts, which is not excluded from
the precepts of the religion of Muhammad. Allah is Great! And only
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after my father was interned in his grave, did the Qadi and Imam,
Khatib, Bilal come to sit and recite the talqin as well as the tahlil, and
when they finished reading the talqin, they recited the prayer for my
father’s corpse; when that was done everyone got up and went home.)
In spite of disapproval from certain religious quarters, the roto music or dirge
( bombat ) is well and alive in the Mandailing homeland. Indeed, there has been a revival
of the Mandailing ceremonial drums, the Gordang Sambilan , in the past few decades.
The revival of the Gordang Sambilan, once availed as war drums, is symbolically
important for the revival of Mandailing identity on both sides of the Straits of Malacca.
With the loss of status and authority of the Namora-Natoras , the Gordang
Sambilan was silent for a long time, until it was revived in Mandailing by the
present-day descendants of the Namora-Natoras , including the writer’s uncle, Raja
Syahbudin. Once considered a sacred drum that cannot be played without the
permission of the Namora-Natoras and in compliance with the adat, the Gordang
Sambilan began to be promoted as a performing art. The Gordang Sambilan festival in
the form of inter-settlement competition is held annually. In Malaysia, the Mandailing
Welfare Association (IMAN) has been successful in promoting the Gordang Sambilan
and getting it recognized as the official musical ensemble in the state of Selangor. It is
performed at the Selangor Art Festival under the Malayanized name Gendang Sembilan
(Lubis, 2003: 74 ). The performance of the Gordang Sambilan, which epitomizes
Mandailing adat and spirituality, is looked upon with disdain by the Malay Muslims,
because some of the drummers typically enter into trance.

The Namora-Natoras and the Ulama
After the Padri War, the charismatic Jang Dipertuan of Huta Siantar, the Raja
Ulama (the doyen of the ulama), described by the Dutch as primus inter pares, sent a
messenger to Syekh Abdul Fattah (1803-1863), the Islamic cleric of Minang origin
based in Natal, inviting the latter to become the religious teacher at Huta Siantar in
Greater Mandailing (Sejarah Ulama-Ulama 1983: 16; Harahap, 1997: 2). Syekh Abdul
Fattah sent his disciple instead – Syekh Abd. Malik, nicknamed Baleo Natal
(1825-1910).
21
Syekh Abd. Malik’s teaching was well received by the Namora-Natoras;

21
Syekh Abd. Malik’s father was from Muara Mais near Kota Nopan in Upper Mandailing.
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in fact people from as far as Padang Sidempuan, Padang Lawas, Sipirok and Dalu-Dalu
came to learn from him. The Namora-Natoras found it tough fasting during the month
of Ramadan, so Syekh Abd. Malik got them to fast one day each at the beginning, the
middle and the end of the month. In doing so, Syekh Abd. Malik was adopting the
gradual (tadrij) method of teaching the foundations of Islam (Schnitger 1983: 20,
35-36)
22
.
At the point when Islam was taking hold in Mandailing society, the ‘Natal school’
seems to have been very influential in reconciling the practice of Islam and adat , for
about the same time, two other Islamic clerics from Natal were teaching Islam in Huta
Siantar; they were Abd. Fattah of Pagaran Sigatal (1809-1900) and Syekh Abd. Syukur,
a son of Syekh Abd. Malik.
23
Abd. Fattah taught the Sufic tariqa (spiritual path) of
khalwah and suluk ( Sejarah Ulama-Ulama 1983: 19-23). From the presence of suluk
practice, it can be concluded the Sufi tariqa was Naqshabandiah. It is well-known that
the Naqshabandiah had a strong presence in Mandailing, and evidence of this can still
be seen today in Islamic institutions at village level. The only indication that the ‘Natal
school’ was influenced by the Maliki school of thought is the suggestion that Islam was
brought to it shores by one Tuan Sjech Maghribi (Maulana Malik Ibrahim). Pressed by
the Shia presence there, the school did not spread – or so it seems. Maulana Malik
eventually fled to Gersik, Java (Parlindungan, 1962: 117).
In another instance, Syekh H. Muhammad Yunus (1834-1909), an Islamic cleric
was invited to settle in Huraba in Angkola. Syekh H. Muhammad Yunus of the
Nasution clan received his Islamic education in Rao, West Sumatra, a stronghold of the
Padri, the state of Perak in Peninsula West Malaysia and Makkah in the Hijaz (Saudi
Arabia today). When Sipirok was under Dutch rule, he was made a Kadhi and his
works used for the propagation of Islam (Schnitger 1983: 45-48). Like many others, he
was an aspiring student from the Dutch East Indies who studied in the Malay Peninsula
as a stepping stone to further his studies in the Middle East.
In some cases, the ulama became so powerful that they challenged the adat , and in
doing so, posed a direct challenge to the Namora-Natoras as upholders of the adat.
This is illustrated in a celebrated clash between the Namora-Natoras and the ulama

22
Schnitger 1983: 20, 35-6. The five foundations of Islam are the Shahada (The Dual Declaration of Fatih), Salaat (The Prayer),
Sawm (The Fast), Zakat (The Wealth-Tax) and the Hajj (the pilgrimage to the holy lands).
23
Both Huta Siantar and Pagaran Sigatal are close to Panyabungan, the current capital of the Natal regency.
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class which took place in Maga, Upper Mandailing. Syekh Juneid Thola (1886-1948)
whose real name was Simanonga, of the Rangkuti clan, hailed from Maga.
24
He
received his early Islamic instruction in Basilam in Sumatra, before furthering his
education to Peninsula West Malaysia in the state of Kedah, Bukit Mertajam in Penang
and Padang Rengkas in Perak, and from there to al-Azhar University in Cairo (Egypt)
( Sejarah Ulama-Ulama 1983: 155-164). Syekh Juneid was very much inspired by his
alma mater, Al-Azhar University, in setting up the most extensive Islamic endowment
in all of Mandailing. Upon his return to Perak, Syekh Juneid first revitalised a madrasa
(Islamic school) in Padang Rengas, which is still extant today. In 1927 he returned to
his native village in Hutanamale, where he founded a large endowment, a madrasa
complex with houses, shops, hostels for students and a market on waqf (Islamic
endowment) with padi fields, rubber and mandarin oranges. Hutanamale is famous for
this waqf even today.
On account of his marriage, Syekh Juneid angered the Namora-Natoras and was
eventually evicted from Hutanamale. Firstly, Syekh Juneid broke the laws of adat by
marrying a woman from the same clan, who was furthermore the daughter of his uncle.
(Mandailing adat favour a man marrying a woman from a different clan, ideally the
daughter of the mother’s brother, but not from the father’s brother). Secondly, the
wedding was conducted with disregard to Mandailing adat, and without slaughtering
the compulsory buffalo. Instead people complained that he only served air stroop (a
syrup drink), followed by a supplication. By not giving face to the Namora-Natoras,
and was accused of inciting fellow Mandailings to oppose the adat.
According to the Sejarah Ulama-Ulama Terkemuka di Sumatera Utara (The
History of Famous Clerics in North Sumatra), Syekh Juneid was strenuously opposed
to adat that was jahiliah (stemming from ignorance). Although the Sejarah is silent
about who was behind Syekh Juneid’s eviction and the kadhi’s dismissal, it is obvious
that the prime mover was Mangaraja Gunung Sorik Marapi, kepala kuria (headman of
the parish) as well as adat chief of Maga. According the older generation, Mangaraja
Gunung Sorik Marapi took Syekh Juneid’s conduct as a personal affront.
25

Interestingly, Mangaraja Gunung Sorik Marapi was also a khalifa (a spiritual leader) of


24
Pembaharuan Islam di Perak, www.lib.usm.my/Moro/GPI/bab10.html.
25
When the author was doing his research in Maga under the Nippon Foundation API Fellowship in 2000, the subject came up for
discussion.
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the Naqshahabandiah tariqa . As kepala kuria, he also created endowments, perhaps in
competition with the Syekh.
In contrast to the Mandailing homeland, there was no open conflict between the
Namora-Natoras and the ulama in Malaya, where the adat had become weak and
seemingly irrelevant. By the turn of the 20
th
century Malaya saw the emergence of the
Mandailing ulama class as court advisors and the adoption of Malay adat in marriage
by the small migrant Mandailing communities. Probably the first Mandailing to get
close to the Malay royal circles in Kuala Kangsar, the seat of the Perak Sultan, was Haji
Muhammad Nur. He was apparently brought to Pusing in the state of Perak as a child
from Mandailing, and became a Qur’an teacher there. He eventually became an
outstanding Qari (Qur’an Reader), and caught the ear of the Perak Sultan, who
handpicked him to become the Imam of the Kuala Kangsar Mosque.
After his appointment, he was known as ‘Imam Sultan’ (The Sultan’s Prayer
Leader). Haji Muhammad Nur was also the leader of the organizer of the Qur’an
reading party held during the fasting month of Ramadan. Sultan Idris was the patron of
the reading party, where Qaris (reciters) from all over Malaya converge at Kuala
Kangsar. A contemporary of Haji Muhammad Nur described him as ‘a great Qari with
a sweet voice and a favourite of H.H. Sultan Idris of Perak’ (Roff 1978: 5-7; Lubis and
Khoo 2003: 215, 218). He was also the Qur’an teacher to Sultan Idris’s children at the
Bukit Chandan palace and also at the Malay College, billed the Eton or Harrow of
Malaya, set up for Malay nobility.
Raja Bilah (1834-1911), the penghulu (headman) of Papan and the doyen of the
Mandailings in Perak, himself regarded as an alim (singular for ulama), founded
mosque and endowed burial grounds for Muslims. He facilitated the appointment of his
clansman, Haji Abdul Kadir Mandailing as the Assistant Kathi of Kinta, the highest
religious post for the district, and even put right the Mufti of Perak, the highest Islamic
legal authority in the state, over his authorisation to zakat collectors from Krian and
Larut districts to collect zakat in the Kinta district, in which Papan is located (Lubis and
Khoo, 2003: 71-84). When it came to marriage custom, Raja Bilah gave way to the
Malay adat Temenggong but entertained the less controversial practices of Mandailing
adat such as displaying oratory skills by the Namora-Natoras during Mandailing
weddings (Lubis and Khoo 2003: 169). However, in his will, he divided his property,
Mandailing style, evenly among his sons and daughters.
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Adat versus Islam
The march of global Islam promotes Arabized Islam as the mainstream religious
outlook of the Middle-Eastern religion. Going by the symbolism, logic and language
employed, it is the Wahhabi ideology, intolerant to difference of opinion and juristic
diversity that is in ascendance. To the proponents of ‘universalistic’ Islam, adat that
derives from local custom is seen to be irreconcilably opposed to Islam and therefore
ought to be purged. This only goes to show that the Islamic religion has been
homogenized in conformity to a constructed standard in the service of the state which
keeps its Muslim subjects in check.
A study of ‘Islam and Adat Among South Tapanuli Migrants in Three Indonesian
Cities’ by Basyral Hamidy Harahap found that both adat and Islamic principles are
utilized in ‘solving problems of everyday life’. Harahap notes that the institution of
dalihan na tolu is still the most central feature of traditional social life and remains of
‘contemporary importance’. In some ways it is weakened, as ‘Islam strongly sculpts
this centerpiece of adat’. Harahap concludes that ‘Islam does not simply adjust to local
adat – Islam defines adat’, while pointing out that the relationship between adat and
Islam are antagonistic (Harahap 1987: 222).
Indeed the significance of the adat ceremonies have diminished in Mandailing,
partly due to the influence of Islam as well as to economic difficulties. Religious
loyalties, locally conceptualized as somewhat antagonistic to local ethnic customs, are
stronger than adat conscience. All the same, there are areas where ‘avowed Muslims’
are ‘still strongly influenced by animism and the traditional culture (Harahap, 1987:
223, 236).’
In Malaya, in stark contrast to conventional Islamic disbursement of inheritance,
Mandailing parents have been known to have divided their properties equally amongst
sons and daughters. In apportioning the properties equally among their children, parents
were following a strong Mandailing tradition, which was practiced not only in
Mandailing homeland, but also by Mandailings in Malaya (Lubis and Khoo 2003: 223;
Tugby 1977: 65-66).
The fact of the matter is that both Islam and adat regulate social life of the
Mandailings whether in the homeland or in the rantau (outside of the homeland); more
so in Indonesia than in Malaysia. ‘Migrants use marga clan identities and dalihan na
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tolu relationships as a partial basis for structuring social life in the cities, but as
followers of Islam, they also see religion as a source of brotherhood and commonality’
(Harahap, 1987: 232). This applied flexibility resonates with the idea of the
compatibility of adat with Islam, instead of the view that the former and the latter are
compartmentalized into two distinct spheres of influence.
To begin with, the Islamic religion was heterogonous with its many school of
thoughts. Differences within the ummah (Islamic community) were seen as a blessing
rather than a division. Historically, Islamic precepts have been creatively reconciled
with local cultures through a delicate adjustive mechanism that conserves uniqueness
and endorses harmonious fusion. Acceptable adat is given fresh legitimacy and further
advanced, consolidating the believers’ heritage with their new found faith. This
reconciliation of adat and Islam into an integral and compatible whole is best described
in the words of Muhammad Abu Zahrah, a famous Maliki scholar
So when a custom is not a vice and is respected by people, honouring it will
strengthen the bond which draws people together because it is connected to
their traditions and social transactions where opposition to it will destroy that
cohesion and bring about disunity.
26

This position promotes a peaceful coexistence between adat and Islam, and even
encourages the continuation of the adat as a means of bonding and common identity,
instead of creating cleavages within the community. In spite of the fact that such a
dynamic approach has been formulated within the Islamic mainstream, adat is often
conceptualized today, throughout the Muslim world, as a system opposed to, and in
retreat from, Islam. Assaulted by the ulama class, Mandailing adat has, by and large,
been reduced to a ceremonial status.
All Malaysians and Indonesians have to subscribe to authorised scriptural religion
as they are required to identify themselves on documents such as birth and death
certificates, citizen identity cards and school registration forms. In the case of Indonesia
after 1945 the government’s official category of ‘religion’ (agama) is reduced to five –
Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hindusim or Buddhism.
27
Not much difference in
the case of Malaysia. In opposition to these religions are ‘superstitions’ or ‘beliefs’
( kepercayaan ), a category used by both governments to describe almost all indigenous

26
Muhammad Abu Zahrah, at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ABewley/usul12.html
27
There are a few exceptions to the rule, where indigenous religions have been classified under the rubric of a world religion.
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religions in the archipelago. In that straight jacket, religion is put in opposition to
indigenous tradition, and no where is the tension between modernity (of which
universal religion is a representation) and tradition more acute that in the Muslim world.
The pressure to conform to a ‘standard’ is enormous.

Conclusion
In Indonesia today, the Mandailings are subsumed under the official Batak
category. This category is in reality dominated by the Toba Batak Christians, while the
Mandailing Muslims remain a distinct sub-group within this category; acceptance of
the Batak category varies in degrees among Mandailings themselves. In the Mandaling
homeland, some Mandailings have acquiesced to the Batak label, while others proudly
assert their Mandailing ethnicity. In Malaysia today, the Mandailings have by and large
assimilated and submitted to the Malay hegemony.
The Mandailings who accept the Batak label are more likely to accept the primacy
of adat, just like their Batak Christian counterparts. The Mandailings who see
themselves as Mandailings largely want to keep the adat, although they feel pressured
to re-examine and rationalize the Mandailing adat in Islamic terms. The Mandailings
who see themselves as Malay, range from those who retain vestigial adat practices, to
those who, wanting to be more Malay than Malay, totally abandon the Mandailing adat
for the Malay adat Temenggong. In the light of this, the discourse of indigenized Islam
is further undermined and confused by the politics of fragmented identity.
The Namora-Natoras, who largely became Muslims during the Padri War were
the custodians of Mandailing adat as well as practitioners of Islamic governance, albeit
in an indigenised form. During colonial rule, their powers were circumscribed, but
nevertheless, the Mandailing kepala kuria in Dutch Sumatra and the Mandailing
penghulu in British Malaya retained their functions as adat chiefs. But as their
authority had been compromised through colonial co-optation, so the emerging class of
Arabized ulama castigated the Namora-Natoras for collaborating with the kafir
(infidels/unbelievers) colonialists, condoning un-Islamic practices and impeding the
society’s Islamic progress. The ulama ’s allies, the nationalists, in turn cast the
Namora-Natoras as feudal lords collaborating with the imperialist order and detracting
from the higher goals of an independent nation-state. With the end of colonial rule, the
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nationalists and ulama succeeded in creating nation-states that were religious in image
and secular in function. Traditional chiefs drew their legitimacy from adat , just as
elected officials draw their legitimacy from the newly constituted national power
structure. However the Namora Natoras ’ significance as leaders diminished relative to
religious leaders and secular leadership propped up by the emerging state.
The centralization of state religion in the form of official Islam directly
corresponded to the marginalization of indigenized Islam. In the process, local
authority which holistically incorporated political, religious, moral and legal functions,
and understood these functions in the light of indigenous knowledge and its own social
evolution was eroded. By discrediting indigenized Islam as promoted by the
Namora-Natoras , the ulama destroyed part of the basis of Mandailing identity. By
undermining Mandailing ethnicity through census constructs in the name of
nationalism, traditional religious authority was also displaced. Politicians and religious
functionaries thus acted to destroy local diversity paving the way for the nation-state’s
authority, social engineering, and homogenized statistic Islam.
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Websites
《AD2000 and Beyond》
http://www.ad2000.org/people/jpl2035.htm
Pembaharuan Islam di Perak
http://www.lib.usm.my/Moro/GPI/bab10.html
Muhammad Abu Zahrah, The Fundamental Principles of Imam Malik’s Fiqh, see
Chapter 12, ‘Adat (Customs and ‘Urf (Customary Usage)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ABewley/usul12.html



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