An age in motion

As a Sayyid—a direct descendant of the Prophet—‘Uthman was expected to lead an exemplary Islamic life—which he did. As a scholar, with lengthy exposure to Mecca and his ancestral Hadramaut, he was firmly rooted in tradition. Consequently, throughout and up to the very end of his years, he tirelessly held up a critical mirror for his fellow Arabs in the Indies, and through his sheer countless publications pointed the way to go for the righteous.

Interestingly, in an age that saw the awakening of more puritan practices and native self-consciousness, he steadfastly supported Dutch rule —and argued the reasons why—which resulted, in 1889, in his appointment of Honorary Advisor for Arab (read Muslim) Affairs under the legendary Snouck Hurgronje. 

In this period of his life, we see the rise of the Pan-Islamist ideology, and so there is no cause for wonder that he became a target of criticism. Even so, he composed a prayer at the occasion of Queen Wilhelmina’s ascension to the throne in 1898, which ultimately resulted in a royal decoration. In the early years of the following century, he reacted to the spreading Egyptian Reformism and, as the greatest scholar in the Indies, he was challenged by Rashid Rida of the influential Cairene journal Al-Maner. Although his position in the far-away Archipelago was immune to the challenge, he was less than successful in confronting the Egyptian modernist.

In spite of his ninety-two years, he delivered a spirited speech at the inaugural congress of the Sarekat Islam in Solo. At that time, the purpose of the Sarekat Islam—that would develop into the first mass movement in the Indies with political overtones—was conceived of as a mutual support association among the Muslim merchants against criminals, while striving for ‘progress’ or the improvement of the native population. It was greeted with great enthusiasm all over Java, and in this early phase, the Sarekat Islam was pro-government, and so, ‘Uthman approved of it and endorsed the association.

The attractive frame, in which this thorough historical research is presented, consists of setting the eulogistic biography, written by a grandson within ten years of Sayyid ‘Uthman’s death, next to the exhaustive work of the Leiden-based historian of Islam, Kaptein. Whereas the eulogy sidesteps the debate between Sayyid ‘Uthman and Rashid Rida, and only fleetingly mentions the highly controversial royal decoration, there were no fundamental differences, albeit that Kaptein’s research ranges through all the nooks and crannies of Sayyid ‘Uthman’s public activities that are merely subsumed in a rather brief eulogist success story.

Be this as it may, the book here reviewed set out on describing how Sayyid ‘Uthman viewed the place of Islam in the colonial state and on explaining the remarkable pro-government position of the protagonist in a period of, first, the gestation, then the declaration of the Ethical Policy that was replacing the colonial exploitation of the native population with concern for its well-being. 

This, and Sayyid ‘Uthman’s utterly traditionalist, conservative understanding of Islam, clarifies his views of Western civilization and his own position as a servant of the colonial administration. This nicely conceived and clearly written account of Sayyid ‘Uthman’s life and times makes for a smooth and very informative read. Congratulations, Nico Kaptein!

Niels Mulder (1935; Dutch) has devoted most of his professional life to research on the mental world of members of the urban middle classes on Java, in Thailand and the Philippines. His latest work is Life in the Philippines: Contextual Essays on Filipino Being (forthcoming). <niels_mulder201935@yahoo.com.ph>

Citation: Mulder, N. 2016. A review of Kaptein, N.J.G. 2014. Islam, colonialism and the modern age in the Netherlands East Indies: a biography of Sayyid ‘Utman (1822-1914), posted to New Asia Books on 15 Jan 2016, http://newbooks.asia/review/age-motion