• Novel Merantau Ke Deli

Prof. Dr. H. Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, better known by the pen name Hamka (17 February 1908 — 24 July 1981) was an Indonesian ulama and philosopher.^[1] During his life, he was also known as a writer, lecturer and journalist. He went into politics through the Masyumi Party until it was disbanded, served as the first Head of Majelis Ulama Indonesia, and was active in Muhammadiyah until he died. The Al-Azhar University and The Malaysian National University bestowed upon him an Honorary Doctorate, while Moestopo University of Jakarta appointed Hamka as one of their distinguished Professor. His name is used for Muhammadiyah's University of Hamka and he was listed in the Indonesian's National Heroes List^[2].

• 1Early Life
• 2Career and later life

Early Life[edit]

1. Merantau Ke Deli has 736. Antara buku Buya Hamka yang saya baca, rasanya Merantau Ke Deli lebih. Merantau ke deli sebuah novel yang memberi aku.
2. Merantau Ke Deli by Hamka, with three points of discussion: hard-work, patience. This novel is one of the classic novels written by Buya Hamka in 1939 and published.

Merantau Ke Deli adalah salah satu novel karya Haji Abdul Malik Karim „Amrullah atau juga yang disebut dengan Hamka atau Buya Hamka, novel ini 1 Rene Wellek & Austin Warren, Teori Kesusastraan, (Jakarta: PT.

Hamka was born on 17 February 1908 in Kampung Molek, Sungai Batang, Tanjung Raya, Minangkabau as the first child of seven. He was raised in a family of devout Muslims. His father was Abdul Karim Amrullah, a clerical reformer of Islam in Minangkabau who was known as Haji Rasul. His mother, Sitti Shafiyah, came from artists of Minangkabau descent. The father of Abdul Karim, Hamka's grandfather, namely Muhammad Amrullah was known as a follower of the Jamaah Naqsyabandiyah.

Before his education in formal schools, Hamka lived with his grandmother in a house south of Maninjau. When he was six years old, he moved with his father to Padang Panjang, West Sumatera. Following common tradition in Minang, he studied the Quran and slept in a mosque near the place where he used to lived because Minang boys did not have a place to sleep in the family home. In the mosque he studied the Quran and silek. He listened to kaba, stories which were sung along with traditional Minangkabau music. Interaction with these storytellers gave him knowledge of the art of storytelling. Later, through his novels, Hamka often drew on Minang terms. Minang rhymes and proverbs often influenced his works.

Education[edit]

In 1915, at the age of seven, he enrolled in a village school (Sekolah SMKA Sultan Muhammad) and studied general sciences such as mathematics and reading. Hamka considered this time of his life to be one of the more joyous times. In the morning, he rushed off to school so that he could play before class started. Then after school, he would go play again with his friends, such as hide and seek, wrestling, chasing after one another, like other kids his age. Two years later, while still studying at the village school in the morning, he also studied in Diniyah School in the afternoon. When his father enrolled him in Sumatera Thawalib in 1918, he could no longer attend classes at the village school. He quit after passing two classes. After that, he studied at the Diniyah School every morning, while in the afternoon and evening he studied in Thawalib back at the mosque. Young Hamka's activities, he admitted, were not fun and he felt that his freedom was curbed.

While studying in Helmi Talib, he was not considered to be a smart child. He often did not attend school for a few days because he felt bored and chose to study by himself. He preferred to stay in a library owned by his public teacher, Afiq Aimon Zainuddin rather than study the lessons he needed to memorise for class. In the library, he was free to read a variety of books and even borrowed them to bring home. However, because of the books he borrowed had nothing to do with lessons in Thawalib, his father reprimanded him when he was caught busy reading Kaba Cindua Mato. His father said, 'Are you going to be a pious person or become a storyteller?'

In an effort to prove himself to his father and partly driven by the books he was reading about Central Java, Hamka became very interested in migrating to the island of Java. At the same time, he was no longer interested in completing his education at Thawalib. After studying for about four years, he left Thawalib without obtaining a diploma. Afterwards, Hamka moved to Parabek, about 5 km from Bukittinggi, in 1922 to study under Aiman Ibrahim Wong, but did not last long. He preferred to follow his heart to seek knowledge and experience in his own way. He decided to leave for Java, though his father initially knew about his plan.

Migrating to Java[edit]

Hamka had traveled to many places in Minangkabau since he was a teenager. He gained a nickname 'The Faraway Kid' (Si Bujang Jauh) from his father. His parents divorced when he was 15, which had a great impact on him. He decided to go to Java after he learnt that the Islam taught in Java was more advanced than that in the highlands, especially in terms of movement and organisation. However, he contracted smallpox when on his way in Bengkulu, so he decided to return to Padang Panjang after being bedridden for about two months. Even so, his desire to move to Java never went away, and he departed for Java in 1924, a year after recovering from the disease.

Arriving in Java, Hamka went to Yogyakarta and settled in the house of his father's younger brother, Amrullah Ja'far. Through his uncle, he had the opportunity to participate in the discussions and trainings organized by the Islamic movements Muhammadiyah and Sarekat Islam. In addition to studying with the Islamic movements, he also expanded his views in the disruption of Islam's progress by Christianization and communism. While in Java, he was active in various social and religious organizations. He also studied under many experts such as Bagoes Hadikoesoemo, HOS Tjokroaminoto, Abdul Rozak Fachruddin, and Suryopranoto. Before returning to Minangkabau, he visited Bandung and met with Masjumi leaders such as Ahmad Hassan and Mohammad Natsir, which gave him the opportunity to write in the magazine Pembela Islam ('Defenders of Islam'). Subsequently, in 1925, he went to Pekalongan, West Java to meet Sutan Mansur Ahmad Rashid, who was the chairman of the Muhammadiyah's Pekalongan branch at the time, and learnt more about Islam from him. While in Pekalongan, he stayed at his brother's house and started giving religious talks in some places.

In his first wandering in Java, he claimed to have a new spirit in studying Islam. He also saw no difference between Islamic reformation missions in both the Minangkabau and Javan regions: the reformation in Minangkabau aimed at purifying Islam off regressive practices of imitation and superstition, while the Javan movement was more focused to the efforts of combating backwardness, ignorance and poverty.

Performing the Pilgrimage[edit]

Novel Merantau Ke Deli

After a year in Java, Hamka went back to Padang Panjang in July 1925 where he wrote his first magazine titled Chatibul Ummah, which contained a collection of speeches that he listened on Iron Bridge Mosque (Surau Jembatan Besi), and Tabligh Muhammadiyah. Between the business of his activity in the field of Dawah through writing, he made speeches in several places in Padang Panjang. But at that moment, everything is precisely sharply criticised by his father, 'Speeches alone are useless, fill yourself with knowledge, then those speeches would be meaningful and useful.' On the other hand, he did not get a good reception from the public. He was often derided as an 'uncertified Islam orator', even he had received criticism from some scholars because he did not master Arabic language well. Criticism he received in his native land motivated him to be more mature.

In February 1927, he made the decision to go to Mecca to expand his religious knowledge, including learning the Arabic language and performing his first hajj pilgrimage. He left without saying goodbye to his father and went on his own dime. While in Mecca, he became correspondent of the daily 'Andalas Light' (Pelita Andalas) and also worked at a printing company owned by Mr. Hamid, son of Majid Kurdish, Ahmad Al-Khatib Minangkabawi's father-in-law. His mastery of the foreign language he learned enabled him to read classic Islamic kitab, books, and Islam newsletters.

Towards the pilgrimage, Hamka and several other pilgrims candidate founded the East Indian Association (Persatuan Hindia Timur), an organisation giving lessons to Dutch Indies pilgrims-to-be. He lived in the Holy Land for some time after the pilgrimage, where he met Agus Salim and had expressed his desire to settle in Mecca, but Agus Salim instead advised him to go home reasoning: 'You can do a lot more work with your study and movements that you are fighting for. Therefore, it would be better to develop yourself in your own homeland', Agus Salim said. Hamka soon returned to his homeland after seven months of living in Mecca. However, instead of going home to Padang Panjang, Hamka instead settled in the city of Medan, where his returning ship had anchored.

Career in Medan[edit]

While in Medan, he wrote many articles for various magazines and had become a religion teacher for several months in Tebing Tinggi. He sent his writings to the newspaper Pembela Islam in Bandung and Voice of Muhammadiyah, which was led by Abdul Rozak Fachruddin, in Yogyakarta. In addition, he also worked as a correspondent for the daily paper Pelita Andalas and wrote trip reports, especially about his journey to Mecca in 1927. In 1928, he wrote the first story in Minangkabau titled Sabariyah. In the same year, he was appointed as editor of the 'Era Progress' (Kemajuan Zaman) magazine, which was based on the results of the Muhammadiyah conference in Padang Panjang. The next year, he wrote several books, among others : Agama dan Religion and Women, Islamic Defenders, Minangkabau Tradition, Islam Defender, Kepentingan Dawah, and Mi'raj Verses. However, some of his writings were confiscated because they were considered as seditious by the colonial government in power that time.

When in the field, the people in the village had repeatedly asked him to send some letters home, yet he declined. This worried his father, who asked Sutan Mansur Ahmad Rashid to pick him up and persuade him to go home. Sutan's plea finally convinced Malik to return to his hometown in Maninjau, which at the time was in ruins due to the 1926 earthquake, including his father's home in Padang Panjang Lantah. Arriving at his hometown, he finally met his father and was overcomed with emotions. His father was shocked to learn that he journeyed to Hajj on his own and paid with his own money, saying 'Why don't you let me know about this noble and sacred mean? I was poor and on hard times at the time' His realization for his father's honest concern of him changed his view of his father.

After about a year settling in Sungai Batang, Abdul Malik left his hometown again to go to Medan in 1936. During his time in Medan, he worked as an editor and became editor-in-chief of a magazine Pedoman Masyarakat, which he founded with an Islamic cleric M. Yunan Nasution. Through Pedoman Masyarakat, he used the penname 'Hamka' for the first time. While in Medan, he wroteDi Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah, which was inspired by his trip to Mecca in 1927. After the novel was published in 1938, he wroteSinking of the van der Wijck, which was written as a serialised story in Pedoman Masyarakat. In addition, he also published several novels and books such as: Merantau ke Deli ('Going Away to Deli'), Kedudukan Perempuan dalam Islam ('Women's Position in Islam'),Tuan Direktur ('The Director'), New Forces, Driven, In The Valley of Life, Father, Modern Mysticism, and Falsafah Hidup ('Life Philosophy'). The parent magazine for Pedoman was shut down in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies.

During the Japanese occupation, Hamka was appointed as a religious adviser to the Japanese. He was also a member of a makeshift assembly that handled government and Islamic matters in 1944. He accepted this position, believing the Japanese's promise to grant independence to Indonesia. But after occupying this position, he was regarded as an accomplice to the invaders by his friends. He was subjected to endless criticism as the Japanese were defeated and surrendered to the Allies, which drove him back to the Minangkabau after the Revolution broke out in 1945, in the mean time also fighting to repel the invaders by joining Indonesian guerrillas to fight against the return of the Dutch in the jungles in Medan.

Career and later life[edit]

Muhammadiyah[edit]

After his marriage to Siti Rahim, Hamka Muhammadiyah branch was active was the management of Minangkabau, whose origin stemmed from the association Joints bakalnya Safe founded by his father in 1925 in Batang River. In addition, he became the head of Tablighi School, a religious school founded Muhammadiyah on 1 January 1930.

Since attending the congress of Muhammadiyah in Solo in 1928, Hamka never missed attending congresses next Muhammadiyah. Upon his return from Solo, he began to assume various positions, until finally he was appointed as Chairman of Muhammadiyah branch of Padang Panjang. After the 19th Muhammadiyah Congress in Bukittinggi in 1930, followed by the next congress in Yogyakarta, he meets an invitation to set up a branch of Muhammadiyah in Bengkalis. Subsequently, in 1932, he was sent by Muhammadiyah to Makassar to prepare and move the spirit of the people to welcome the Muhammadiyah Congress to-21 in Makassar. While in Makassar, he had published Al-Mahdi, a monthly Islamic science magazine. In 1934, a year after attending a congress of Muhammadiyah in Semarang, he was made a permanent member of the Council of Muhammadiyah Council for the region Central Sumatra.

Muhammadiyah increasingly uphill career when he moved to Medan. In 1942, along with the fall of the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese colonial power, Hamka was elected as leader of East Sumatra Muhammadiyah to replace H. Mohammad Said. But in December 1945, he decided to return to the Minangkabau and the release position. The following year, he was elected Chairman of the Assembly of West Sumatra Muhammadiyah leaders replace SY Sutan Mangkuto. This position he embraces until 1949.

In 1953, he was elected as the leader of the centr Muhammadyiah Muhammadiyah Congress to-32 at Purwokerto. Since then, he has always chosen the Muhammadiyah Congress further, until in 1971 he pleaded not elected because he was senile. However, he was still appointed as an adviser to the central leadership of Muhammadiyah until the end.

List of books and novels[edit]

A prolific writer, apart from his magnum opus, the thirty-volumes Qur'anic commentary called Tafsir Al-Azhar, he was known to have written 'over 100 books, ranging from philosophy, politics, Minangkabau adat, history and biography, Islamic doctrine, ethics, mysticism, tafsir, and fiction.'^[3]

1. Khatibul Ummah (written in Arabic).
2. Pembela Islam (History of Abu Bakar as-shiddiq) (1929).
3. Ringkasan Tarikh Ummat Islam (1929).
4. Kepentingan Melakukan Tabligh (1929).
5. Tasawuf Modern (1939)
6. Hikmat Isra' dan Mikraj
7. Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah (1937)
8. Tenggelamnya Kapal van der Wijck (1939)
9. Tuan Direktur (1939)
10. Merantau ke Deli (Travelling to Deli) (1940)
11. Revolusi Agama (1946).
12. Mandi Cahaya di Tanah Suci (1950).
13. Mengembara di Lembah Nil (1950).
14. Ditepi Sungai Dajlah (at the Tigris River) (1950).
15. Kenangan-kenangan Hidup (4 series, Hamka's autobiography) (1950).
16. Sejarah Ummat Islam /Sejarah Umat Islam edisi Baru tulisan dan kajian Prof Dr.Hamka (4 series).
17. 1001 Soal Hidup (1950).
18. Pelajaran Agama Islam (1956).
19. Sayid Jamaluddin Al-Afghani (about Jamal-ad Din Al-Afghani) (1965).
20. Ekspansi Ideologi (Alghazwul Fikri) (1963).
21. Hak Asasi Manusia Dipandang dari Segi Islam (Human Rights from the Islam Perspective) (1968).
22. Falsafah Ideologi Islam (1950).
23. Keadilan Sosial Dalam Islam (Social Justice in Islam) (1950).
24. Studi Islam (1973).
25. Himpunan Khutbah-khutbah.
26. Muhammadiyah di Minangkabau (Muhammadiyah in Minangkabau) (1975).
27. Pandangan Hidup Muslim (1960).
28. Kedudukan perempuan dalam Islam (1973).
29. Falsafah hidup
30. Falsafah ketuhanan

References[edit]

1. ^Jeffrey Hadler, 'Home, Fatherhood, Succession: Three Generations of Amrullahs in Twentieth-Century Indonesia'.
2. ^Zakky, Oleh (4 March 2018). 'Daftar Nama Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia & Asal Daerahnya Lengkap'. ZonaReferensi.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 9 May 2019.
3. ^Zaid Ahmad, 'Hamka (1326–1401 / 1908–81)' in Oliver Leaman (ed.), 'The Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic Philosophy', Bloomsbury Publishing (2015), p. 138

Further reading[edit]

• Jeffrey Hadler, 'Home, Fatherhood, Succession: Three Generations of Amrullahs in Twentieth-Century Indonesia'.
• (in Indonesian)Ceramah Buya Hamka
• (in Indonesian)Info lain tentang Hamka
• (in Indonesian)Tafsir Hamka Online

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