The word below, written more than half a millennium ago, are as true now as ever. In an era of growing isolationism and what has recently been termed ‘the most beautiful word’ (tariffs), it is refreshing to see an exhibition that looks at trade as a bringer of life. According to the Malay ruler above, trade also unites ‘all living things’, which sounds like a green statement centuries ahead of its time.
‘We have learned that to master the blue oceans. People must engage in commerce and trade, even if their countries are barren… All the lands within the seas are united in one body, and all living things are being nurtured in love; life has never been so affluent in preceding generations as it is today.’
Sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca to the King of Ryukyu, 1468
Oceans that Speak: Islam and the Emergence of the Malay World examines the aesthetic development of a region which has been reasserting its place in the wider world over the past few decades. The exhibition is the largest of its type for years. It includes more than 100 artefacts, each one telling a story of migration, exploration, integration, and diplomatic and religious exchanges. Many of the works on display have never been shown before, and quite a few are objects that visitors won’t necessarily know at a glance.
The first hurdle to overcome is the meaning of ‘Malay world’. It is a relatively new term that has come about because ‘Malay Archipelago’ does not strictly speaking include the Malay Peninsula, which is an essential part of the regional story. The region in question is very ocean orientated. It is located between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean and has long been a vital maritime trade route. Above all, there was the Spice Route, which traversed the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean and beyond, defining the Malay world’s connection with other regions. This was, in its way, a bigger thing than the better-known Silk Road – although, as the recent British Museum exhibition showed, there were many different silk roads.
The ports and harbours scattered throughout the archipelago and peninsula served as crucial meeting points for traders, offering opportunities to replenish supplies and await favourable monsoon seasons and trade winds. One of the most important port cities was Malacca, which flourished as a spice emporium between the 15th and early 16th centuries. It was a pivotal port in collecting produce from neighbouring islands, including the Maluku Islands, famously known as the ‘Spice Islands’, a major producer of nutmeg, mace, and cloves.
Through the spice trade, the Malay domains once ruled by Hindu-Buddhist kings mostly became Muslim. The South Arabian-Malay world connections, forged through religious ties and commerce, played a significant role in the Islamisation of the region. Unexpectedly, the Hadhrami descendants who propagated Islam in the Malay world often did not originate directly from Yemen; instead, they travelled from Gujarat to reach Southeast Asia and have remained there ever since. Additionally, individuals from the Indian Subcontinent, particularly from the Malabar coast, embarked on journeys to disseminate Islam in the Malay world. This propagation involved people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Malays and Javanese, highlighting the complex and multifaceted nature of the conversion process.
The arrival of Islam brought changes to language and the writing system. The transition from Indic scripts, such as Pallava and Kawi, to Jawi facilitated the development of Islamic calligraphy in the region. This conversion process unfolded gradually, allowing for the syncretism of pre-Islamic elements with Islamic influences. Early mosques in coastal Java, for example, are filled with cross-cultural elements. Muslim worshippers might be surprised to find that some of the vegetal motifs on carved wooden pulpits (minbar) have their origins in the pre-Islamic Kala monster heads.
Just as the arrival of Muslim traders and missionaries from distant lands changed the Malay world from a Hindu-Buddhist region to a committed part of the Islamic umma, the arrival of Europeans was also significant in more than politics. The fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511 paved the way for colonial territories to be established by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the British East India Company, and the Spanish. Some fought against being colonised, especially in the southern Philippines.
During the period of European colonisation, there were numerous interactions and exchanges in the pursuit of colonial knowledge. By the 19th century, a new wave of intellectual movements started in colonial port cities such as Singapore, Penang, Malacca, Riau-Lingga, Palembang, and Batavia. These urban centres soon blossomed with local printing houses that facilitated the dissemination of ideas and knowledge. The anti-colonial movements soon gained momentum through these intellectual groups, fuelled by many factors including the Pan-Islamism campaign originating in the Ottoman Empire. As Mecca became a centre of education and sanctuary from colonial rule among the Malays, anti-colonial movements also spread in the Malay world through the network of religious scholars.
From the earliest Islamisation of the Malay world, the emphasis has been on the written word – and there is plenty of calligraphy on display at this exhibition. On everything from textiles to weapons and woodwork, space can be found for inscriptions. The main category in which the written word exists is, inevitably, sacred texts. The exhibition displays copies of the Qur’an from throughout the archipelago and an especially strong showing from one corner of what is now Malaysia. The northeastern peninsular state of Terengganu has produced some of the most lavish manuscripts. The size and quantity of gold illumination make these works seem outstanding, while the look of all the regional works is not only radically different from each other but also from other parts of the Islamic world.
The additional connections with the two Holy Cities of the Arabian Peninsula, facilitated by improved sea travel in the 19th century, encouraged the flourishing of Qur’an production with regional styles of illumination. The traditions of scribes in the Malay world were also broadened by the transmission of imagery such as illustrations of the Ka’ba and its surroundings in Mecca found in prayer books. Printed Qur’ans also proliferated – something disapproved of by the Ottoman authorities to the west.
Two important works in the exhibition are manuscripts loaned by the family of Malaysia’s most famous royal scholar. The collection of the late Professor Ungku Aziz includes one volume that is considered to be the oldest known Malay manuscript. The Aqa’id of al-Nafasi is a religious work in Arabic with Jawi translations, which dates back to the 16th century. This may not be the most visually enticing item on display but is an exceptional opportunity to look at a rare survivor from 500 years ago. Similarly, there is a later copy of the defining literary work of the Malay Peninsula. The Tale of Hang Tuah stands out for being signed and dated by the British colonial administrator Sir Frank Swettenham (1850-1946) at the front and the back of the book. It seems that he read this classic – in Jawi script – over a one-month month period in 1882.
Swettenham was more of a scholar than most colonisers of the Malay world. Despite his imperialist failings, he did at least make an effort to understand the society that he commanded, although his conclusions will not please readers in the modern world.
Colonisers and other visitors came to the region for different reasons. Greed and the hope of cornering the lucrative spice market were powerful factors. Others came to Southeast Asia in pursuit of knowledge. The naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) never found the fame of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), despite coming to the same conclusion at the same time. He did find some interesting fruits though. In Wallace’s 1869 book on the Malay Archipelago, he wrote: ‘In fact, to eat durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience’.
The exhibition features a number of less well-known written works, sometimes derived from Islamic practices such as the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (Mawlid). These could already be found around the Indian Ocean rim and were also disseminated to the Malay world through the network of travelling scholars. The most distant outpost of Malay learning was in South Africa. Cape Town, along with what is now Sri Lanka, became dumping grounds in which colonial authorities could exile religious and political agitators from the Malay world.
The international exchange of people and goods went in many directions, but always by sea. The crosscurrents on land were minimal between the Muslim/Malay world and the more Buddhist lands of mainland Southeast Asia. The exhibition does feature a book instructing speakers of the Thai language on how to make the sounds in Arabic that are so central to Islamic practice. Thailand’s most southerly province is the often-ignored Malay ex-sultanate of Patani.
Between Muslim realms across the ocean, however, the interchange was considerable. Novel mediums of manufacture and unusual materials arrived in maritime Southeast Asia from distant regions, all finding their way into the homes of Malay royal courts. Some were reproduced locally, further enriching the cultural landscape. These included the adaptation of Islamic artistic symbolism and a fair number of superstitious practices. For truly superior protection, there is a waistcoat made up in the Malay world from the same material that ornamented the inside of the Ka’aba, brought back from Mecca by a Haj pilgrim in the 19th century. It is ornamented with words from the Qur’an.
The contents of the exhibition are strongly inclined towards calligraphy. Language is a link between people and sometimes a decorative motif. Individuals who choose to keep their faith close to them might ornament anything from a door to a dagger with the word of God. There is much more to regional culture than that. The aesthetic triumphs include everything that is part of civilised life. Islamic art is very much about beautifying the mundane and the everyday. It might be a fisherman’s food box or a sultan’s symbols of power. Whether it is woodcarvings, textiles, or weapons, the subject matter and motifs convey the same message with delicacy and technical expertise. Some of these works of applied art – especially the textiles – have been admired for centuries while others have not.
For more than 25 years, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) has been committed to exploring these regional themes. The Malay World permanent gallery has been there from the start, backed up by a variety of temporary exhibitions. This presence was made more international seven years ago, when the IAMM developed the Albukhary Gallery of the Islamic World at the British Museum. It is a continuation of centuries of movements, facilitated by maritime routes and the exchange of ideas. These have woven a rich tapestry of cultural adaptations and interactions, creating a surprisingly cosmopolitan Malay world.
BY LUCIEN DE GUISE
Until 15 June, Oceans that Speak: Islam and the Emergence of the Malay World, is at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, iamm.org.my Catalogue available, RM195
