The Intellectual Genealogy of Indonesian-Malay Qur'an Interpreters: A Historical Tracking

This article aims to trace the intellectual genealogy of Qur'an interpreters of Indonesia and Malaysia. The term `genealogy' here refers to the origins of the interpreters in terms of their master-pupil relationships and their intellectual networks. Employing a historical approach to the issue, this article concludes that in the 17th century, Shaikh Abd al-Ra'uf of Singkil of Aceh became the first link from whom many early generations of Malay interpreters transmitted knowledge on Qur'anic interpretation. Tok Pulau Manis, the first Malay interpreter, developed the Qur`anic interpretation in the 18th century from this figure. In the subsequent era, Tok Kenali became the common link under whom many Malay interpreters studied, namely Muhammad Idris al-Marbawi, Haji Abdullah Abbas Nasution, Shaikh Uthman Jalaluddin al-Kalantani, and Shaikh Muhammad Salleh Tok Kenali