According to Snouck the fundamental problem
with Islam was the fact that Muslims believed in the need for Unity of State,
with a Khalifah governing over all of them according to Sharia law. In a letter
to Goldziher in 1886, one year after his journey to Mecca, Snouck said: “… I
never had any objections to the religious elements of this institute [Islam].
Only its political influence is, in my opinion, deplorable. And as a Dutchmen
especially I feel a strong need to warn against this.”
Although dead for over half a century, Christiaan Snouck
Hurgronje remains a highly controversial figure in both the western and the
Muslim world.
In his time he was a world-famous orientalist, because he had
travelled to Mecca and studied and documented Muslim life there. For many years
also he lived and worked amongst the Muslims in Indonesia, making him an expert
in the traditions, languages and religion of the various tribes in Indonesia.
To the people and governments of the west he always presented
himself as a scientist. And as a scientist he advised various western
governments on “Muslim affairs”. At the same time he presented himself as a
sincere Muslim – and not as a scientist – to the people of the Muslim world
that he lived with and studied. Amongst them he went by the name of “Abdul Ghaffaar”.
As an Islamic scholar he even counseled the Muslims on religious and political
affairs.
Because he played this dual role throughout his life, today,
both in the western and in the Muslim world, he is held in great esteem by some
and doubted by others. This article intends to set out the facts regarding
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje.
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, the person
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje was born on the 8th of February 1857
in the Dutch city of Oosterhout. His father was Jacob Julianus Snouck Hurgronje
(1812 – 1870), who was a preacher in the protestant Dutch-Reformed church. For
a while, Jacob had been expelled from the church for having an affair with Anna
Maria de Visser (1819 – 1892) while being married to Adriana Magdalena van
Adrichem (1813 – 1854). After Adriana died, Jacob finally married Anna Maria
and he was allowed back into the church. From his marriage with Anna Maria,
Christiaan was eventually born.
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje’s mother Anna Maria also came from a
family of protestant preachers. Jan Scharp (1756 – 1828) was Anna Maria’s
grandfather, and he was a famous preacher in the south-east of the Netherlands.
He was also a missionary, and to support the missionary activity of the Dutch
protestant church he wrote a book about Islam in 1824.
After finishing high school in the city of Breda, in the year
1874, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje moved to Leiden to study theology. The plan
was for him to become a preacher in the protestant church, following the
examples of his father and grandfather. In 1878 he indeed finished his
university education in theology, but by that time he no longer believed in the
dogmas of Christianity. Hence, instead of becoming a preacher, Snouck continued
studying. He began a study of Semitic languages, specializing in Arabic and
Islam. In 1880 he graduated in this field with honor’s. For his doctorate he
had researched the Hajj of the Muslims. The book Snouck wrote about this
subject following his research, “The Meccan Celebrations (Het Mekkaansche
Feest)”, he dedicated to his mother.
Immediately following his promotion Snouck travelled to Germany
to privately study with the most famous orientalist in the world at that time,
Theodoor Nöldeke. After this study Snouck then began his own career in
Orientalism.
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, the scientist
Snouck was close friend of another famous orientalist of his
time, Ignac Goldziher (1850 – 1921). Goldziher was a Hungarian of Jewish
heritage who had also studied in Leiden. In 1873 Goldziher had been granted a
scholarship by the Hungarian government to travel through As Shaam, (today
Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan) and Egypt. This had given Goldziher the
opportunity to become the first non-Muslim to study Islam at Al Azhar in Cairo.
Goldziher eventually wrote a book about his experiences, which made him a world
famous orientalist.
It was Snouck’s dream to achieve a similar position in the field
of Orientalism. In 1884 he got his chance. The Dutch consul in Jeddah, today
Saudi-Arabia but at that time still part of the Ottoman Islamic State, a
certain J.A. Kruyt, arranged a scholarship worth 1500 guilders for Snouck with
the Dutch Government[1]. With this money Snouck could
travel to Mecca. The only problem was that Snouck was not a Muslim, which was
required for anyone wanting to travel to the Holy City. Therefore, Snouck first
travelled to Jeddah. After having lived in the offices of the consulate for
some time, on the 1st of January 1885 he moved into the house
of an Indonesian nobleman in Jeddah, Raden Haji Aboe Bakr Djajadiningrat from
Pandeglang[2]. From that moment onwards
Snouck used the name Abdul Ghaffaar as he presented himself as a convert to
Islam and on the 5th of January he even had himself circumcised
according to Islamic tradition. When a little later, on the 16th of
January 1885[3], Snouck was visited by the Judge (qadhi) of Jeddah,
Ismail Agha, and two representatives of the Governor (wali) for the
Hejaz of the Ottoman Khilafah sitting in Istanbul, he declared conversion to
Islam (shahadah) in their presence. The next day Snouck was told that
the Governor for the Hejaz invited him to travel to Mecca.
Snouck himself confessed that his conversion to Islam was not
sincere, but only a step he deemed necessary to achieve his goal of travelling
to Mecca. In a letter to his friend Goldziher, written on the day he converted,
he said: “I do not want to keep hidden from you that it is possible, or even
quite possible, that I will travel to Mecca […]. Of course, if one does not
pretend to be Muslim [literally: does Izhar al Islam], this is not possible.”
Snouck’s Muslim disguise was a success. Letters he received
during his stay in Mecca were addressed to “Abdul Ghaffaar”, and in them Snouck
was regularly called “brother in Name of Allah”. Snouck was also informed by
letter that the scholars of Mecca had accepted him as a Muslim and that they
did not doubt his conversion. And that, hence, he would be allowed to join in
their study circles, which Snouck then did.
After just five and a half months, however, and just days before
the start of Hajj, Snouck had to flee Mecca because the French embassy had
spread rumours about him being a thief of ancient artifacts. Hence, just a few
days before Snouck could witness what he wanted to witness, he left Mecca.[4]
Back in The Netherlands Snouck began work on a book about his
experiences in the Holy City. Where his own notes on the ways and practices of
the Meccans whre limited, his friend Raden Aboe Bakr helped out through sending
Snouck letters with additional information. This way Snouck was able to publish
the book “Mecca (Mekka)” in 1888. And this book did indeed make him
world-famous as an orientalist. But although around 100 of the 300 pages of the
book, which include the descriptions of the personal life of the Meccans and
the biographies of the Indonesian Ulema living in Mecca, were based on the
letters by Raden Aboe Bakr, Snouck made no mention of the support he had
received from Aboe Bakr and instead presented the entire work as purely his own
effort.
The book made him such a famous orientalist that both the
University of Leiden and the University of Cambridge offered him the faculty
chair for their Arabic and Islam departments. But Snouck declined both offers,
as he wanted to do more research on Islam, this time in the Dutch colony
Indonesia. For this purpose Snouck again left The Netherlands, on the 1st of
April 1889, this time to travel to Indonesia. In Indonesia as well he presented
himself as a Muslim, as he introduced himself to the locals as Abdul Ghaffaar.
And he travelled throughout Indonesia accompanied by the Indonesians he had met
during his time in Mecca. Raden Hadji Hasan Moestafa from Garut, for instance,
accompanied Snouck on his first trip through West and Central Java. Leaving
Batavia[5]on the 15th of July, Snouck visited Sukabumi,
Bandung, Garut, Tjalintjing, again Garut, Tjeribon, Mangunredja, Tjiamis, again
Tjeribon, Tegal, Pekalongan, Wiradesa, Bumiadjo, Banjumas, Purbollinggo,
Wonosobo, Purworedjo, Kebumen, again Garut en Tjiandjur. In January of 1890,
finally, Snouck returned to Batavia. In a letter to Theodoor Nöldeke, dated the
12th of November 1889, Snouck said about his travels: “For over three months I
have been travelling now. I have visited the most important places of Java’s 26
main cities and made acquaintance with the highly interesting way of life of
the local Sunda and West-Java[6] people, especially the religious side of it, but also with
the ‘adat’[7] which are so loved and honored here…”. During his travels
Snouck regularly contributed to the Dutch Newspapers “De Locomotief” (published
in Indonesia) and “Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant” (published in The
Netherlands). In his articles he described the Javanese way of living, as he
witnessed it first-hand. For these articles Snouck used the pseudonyms “Toekoe
Mansoer” and “Toekoe Si Gam”.
Following this, from the 16th of July 1891 until
early February 1892 Snouck resided in Aceh. There, as the first Dutchmen ever,
he studied the local Acehnese language. In 1900 he then published a book on
this subject, entitled: “Studies in the Acehnese language (Atjehsche
taalstudiën)”. Again together with Raden Hadji Hasan Moestafa from Garut Snouck
also travelled to the pesantrens[8] of Aceh, to develop
insight into the religious education of the area. On the basis of these travels
Snouck then published the book “The Acehnese (De Atjehers)”, in two volumes
between 1893 and 1894. “The Acehnese” is an anthropological book that describes
all aspects of the life of the Acehnese, their political situation, the
religion, their language, their traditions and customs, et cetera.
In 1906, then, Snouck returned to The Netherlands to become
professor of Arabic at the University of Leiden. He remained in this position
until 1927.
In 1914 and 1915 Snouck was invited to travel to various
universities in the United States. The lectures he gave at that time were
turned into a book in 1916, with the title “Mohammedanism: Lectures on Its
Origin, Its Religious and Political Growth, and Its Present State”. These
lectures set out well Snouck’s personal views on Islam. According to Snouck,
the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had made up Islam. He said: “Even for
the parts [of the Quran] which we do understand, we are not able to make out
the chronological arrangement which is necessary to gain an insight into
Mohammed’s personality and work.” This remark implies that according to Snouck
Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had made up the Quran. Because according
to Snouck the personality of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) can be
learned from the Quran, as the personality of a writer shows in his writings.
According to Snouck also, Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had learned
certain things about Judaism and Christianity, and had on the basis of this
information made up the Quran. He said: “We shall probably never know, by
intercourse with whom it really was that Mohammed at last gained some knowledge
of the contents of the sacred books of Judaism and Christianity; probably
through various people, and over a considerable length of time. It was not
lettered men who satisfied his awakened curiosity; otherwise the quite confused
ideas […] could not be explained. Confusions […] might be put down to
misconceptions of Mohammed himself, who could not all at once master the
strange material. But his representation of Judaism and Christianity and a number
of other forms of revelation […] could not have existed if he had had an
intimate acquaintance with Jewish or Christian men of letters.”. That is why
according to Snouck the ethics of Islam were not much more than a collection of
laws from the old and new testament: “Now this rich authentic source […] of
exhortation to the practice of the cardinal virtues of the Old and New
Testament…”
For as far as the narrations were concerned, according to Snouck
most of these were invented by the Muslims: “in the first centuries of Islam no
one could have dreamt of any other way of gaining acceptance for a doctrine or
a precept than by circulating a tradition, according to which Mohammed had
preached the doctrine or dictated it or had lived according to the precept.”.
According to Snouck many things had not yet been clarified when Prophet
Mohammed (peace be upon him) died. Hence, he said, the Muslims invented
traditions to resolve the issues this was causing. The books of Seerah
therefore were complete forgeries, so Snouck said: “The generations that worked
at the biography of the Prophet were too far removed from his time to have true
data or notions; and, moreover, it was not their aim to know the past as it
was, but to construct a picture of it as it ought to have been according to
their opinion.”
His opinions regarding the Sunnah and the Seerah show that
Snouck considered Muslim authors as wholly unreliable. Most likely this is why
he said regarding the books of Tafseer written by the Muslims: “We must
endeavour to make our explanations of the Quran independent of tradition.”. In
other words, to understand the Quran western scientists should ignore the
opinions of the Muslims regarding the meaning of the Quran, according to
Snouck, as he saw these opinions as unreliable and most likely wrong.
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, the political
advisor
Snouck lived during the times of colonialism. The Netherlands
were the colonial ruler over Indonesia, and hence the Dutch newspapers
regularly reported about events and occurrences in the “Dutch-Indies”. In
addition, the Dutch newspapers regularly ran opinion pieces that discussed the
problems the Dutch were facing in their colony, and that proposed solutions to
these problems. In other words, colonial politics were hotly debated. A major
problem for the Dutch in Indonesia was the resistance by the local people
against the Dutch rule. To a large extent, this resistance was inspired by
Islam. Many Indonesians fought as they saw themselves subjects of the Islamic
State Al Khilafah whose lands had been occupied by foreigners. This was the
case especially in Aceh. As a consequence, the Dutch found themselves bogged
down in a long, tiring and above all expensive war in that region of Indonesia.
It is very clear that Snouck realized he had the ability to play
a prominent role in this issue. From the earliest beginnings of his career as
an orientalist he did his best to play this role. For instance in the book he
wrote for his dissertation, “The Meccan Celebrations (De Mekkaansche feesten)”,
he wrote the following advice for the Dutch government: “Where in the Dutch
Indies the pilgrims have a bad influence on the local [Indonesian] people,
there one should punish as hard as possible, also with the goal of reducing the
number of people going to Hajj”.
Equally, Snouck’s journey to Mecca did not only serve a
scientific goal. The reason that consul Kruyt in Jeddah organized a scholarship
from the Dutch Ministery of Colonial Affairs for Snouck, such that Snouck could
travel to Mecca, was that Kruyt wanted to have spy in Mecca who could provide
information on the Indonesians in Mecca. It wasn’t really a coincidence,
therefore, that the house in Jeddah that Snouck lived in together with Raden
Aboe Bakr was exactly across the street from the house of a prominent Acehnese
nobleman, that was used as hotel by many Acehnese pilgrims. So from their house
Snouck and Raden Aboe Bakr could keep track of whoever entered or left the
guesthouse for Acehnese in Jeddah. In the book about his time in Mecca Snouck also
gave advice to the Dutch government regarding Indonesia. He said that the
colonial government should keep an eye on returning pilgrims and try to win
their sympathy. If efforts to realize this failed with any particular pilgrim,
Snouck further said, then the Dutch government had to neutralize that pilgrim.
So where it could be said that Snouck’s journey to Mecca had
science as its real aim, and intelligence gathering as a side task; regarding
Snouck’s journey to Indonesia it is clear that its real aim was intelligence
gathering. Any stated scientific goals served as nothing but a cloak to hide
this truth. Snouck himself had asked the Dutch government to be sent to
Indonesia as a spy for the Dutch: “In response to the discussion I was honored
enough to have with your Excellency[9], I wish to repeat the request
I have earlier communicated through letter, which is that I be sent to Aceh…”.
The Dutch government agreed to his request en indeed sent him to Indonesia as
their agent. Snouck said he wanted to concentrate his work on Aceh: “Before
leaving for Indonesia […] I explained the minister that for as far as the
political importance of Islam is concerned, Aceh must be of prime importance of
my research.”. The Dutch government therefore sent a letter to its civil
servants in Indonesia which said: “Direct interference [in Snouck’s visit] by
yourself or those reporting to you must be carefully avoided, such that it can
be ensured its official goal does not become apparent to the local people,
because that would be most damaging to the possible results.”. In other words,
the Dutch instructed the colonial administration to stay clear of Snouck, such
that he could win the trust of the local people.
In The Netherlands, however, the reality of Snouck’s journey to
Indonesia was common knowledge. And many people hoped that Snouck would be able
to solve the problems for the Dutch in Indonesia, once and for all. Various
newspapers therefore tried to keep their readers informed of Snouck’s
activities in Indonesia. Until, that is, one day the NRC newspaper published a
letter it had received, which said: “In our newspaper one can occasionally find
articles about Dr. Snouck Hurgronje, who he is, what he is doing in our colony,
and his mission. I urgently request the editors of these newspapers, especially
those published in Indonesia, to stop this, as they are not helping his work
this way. The goal of Dr. Snouck Hurgronje is to get to learn Islam amongst the
Mohammedans themselves, and that way [get to know] the big movement in our
East, that procreates itself under the leadership of fanatical pilgrims, and
that through many a bloodbath has already shown its importance.”. Quite clearly
this letter to the NRC newspapers was a request to stop reporting on the
activities of Snouck, such that these activities and the true goal they served
could be hidden from the Indonesians.
When Snouck left for Indonesia his original plan was to travel
in disguise to the inlands of Aceh, in order to get close to the Sultan of Aceh
in Keumala and gather intelligence that would be of benefit to the Dutch army.
The Dutch army, however, did not want Snouck’s help. Hence, the Dutch governor
for Indonesia sent Snouck to Batavia. There he arrived on the 11th of
May 1889, and shortly after it became apparent most Indonesian Muslims were
unaware of his true intentions. Snouck’s Indonesian friends in Mecca had
informed their countrymen of the arrival of Snouck, and had presented him to
them as a learned Muslim scholar. Snouck therefore received many invitations
from local Indonesians, in which he was regularly addressed as “Al Hajj Abdul
Ghaffaar”, “Mufti” and even as “Sheikh al Islam of Batavia”.
During his later travels through Indonesia Snouck not only
recorded all kinds of information about the local people. He also tried hard to
increase his status amongst the local population. For this purpose he used to
visit all the leading figures in any one area. And when in one area he was
given the opportunity to marry the daughter of one of these leading figures, he
gladly accepted. He married the 17-year old daughter of the head-panghulu[10] of Tjiamis, Raden Hadji
Mohammed Ta’ib, and his wife Nata Rasmi. Her name was Sangkana. She herself did
not want to marry Snouck, who was much older than she was and not particularly
handsome. But her parents urged her to marry the “great scholar” to increase
the status of the family, so she did. Snouck married Sangkana according to
Islamic practice. However, according to Dutch law it was not allowed for a
European to marry a native woman. Therefore, once the Dutch media began to
report on rumors that Snouck had married a native woman, Snouck himself sent
letters to these newspapers to officially deny that he had gotten married.
For as far as Snouck’s time in Aceh is concerned, from July 1891
until February 1892, his role there was purely political. He was appointed
“Advisor Eastern Languages and Mohammedan Law”. The book “The Acehnese” that
Snouck published following his time in Aceh is actually made up of reports he
had written for the colonial administration to advise them. The official name
of this research project for the Dutch government was “Report on the religious
and political situation in Aceh (Verslag omtrent de religieus politieke
toestand in Atjeh)”. This report was over 1000 pages in length, and the book
“The Acehnese” was made up of the first two chapters of the report. The Dutch
government declared the third part of the report a “state secret”, and
consequently this was kept hidden from the public until 1957. The main
message in “Report on the religious and political situation in Aceh” was that
the resistance in Aceh was not really being lead by the Sultan, as the Dutch
had always thought, but by the Islamic scholars, the Ulema. Snouck therefore
suggested the Dutch government should try to bribe the Sultan, and persecute
the Ulema with full force. He said: “It is not possible to negotiate with the
Ulema. Their teachings and self interest imply that they will only listen to
violence. To hit them where it hurts, such that the Acehnese will become too
afraid to join these gang-leaders, is an absolute prerequisite for restoring
the order in Aceh”. The violence against the Islamic scholars that Snouck was
calling for should achieve the following goal, as Snouck put it: “Such that in
the end he [the scholar] will have to admit. He will have to distance himself
from the teachings of Jihad, en he will have to turn to the harmful teachings
regarding the Last Day. At that moment Islam will differ from the other great
religions only through its teachings about worship and the rituals to be
performed for attainment of eternal bliss.”. In other words, Snouck wanted
violence against the Ulema such that they would stop talking about Jihad, the
Islamic State, and other such concepts from “political Islam”; and going
forward would only talk about the Day of Judgment and the rituals of worship.
Initially, the Dutch government ignored Snouck’s advise. They
continued their wars focusing on the Sultan. But as the Aceh War was not being
won, in 1896 they decided to try something else. They appointed general Joannes
Benedictus Van Heutsz as governor for Aceh, and gave him the expressed task to
organize complete subjugation of the region to Dutch rule. In 1898 Van Heutsz
then appointed Snouck as his advisor in Aceh. Snouck would remain Van Heutsz’s
advisor until 1901. Van Heutsz made sure the army followed the advice of Snouck
from 1892, and regularly sent Snouck along with the army on military
expeditions. As a consequence, Van Heutsz’s nickname became “the sword of Snouck”.
The Dutch army then began a campaign that focused on finding and killing the
Ulema of Aceh. And they were so successful in this that by 1903, after 30 years
of war, they finally declared victory in Aceh.
Shortly after this announcement, however, pictures emerged from
the battlefields in Aceh. They made clear that most “battlefields” of Van
Heutsz’s and Snouck’s war had in fact been the villages of Aceh. To find and
kill the Ulema the Dutch army had regularly gone into villages and simply
killed each and every inhabitant – men, but also women and children.
Nevertheless, after Aceh Snouck remained an advisor to the Dutch government. He
also advised them in response to rebellions in Djambi, Krintji, Bandjarmasin,
Riau-Lingga en Boni, for instance.
Snouck Hurgronje’s vision regarding the “Issue
of Islam”
During Snouck’s time, just as now, the “Issue of Islam” was high
on the political agenda. And clearly, Snouck Hurgronje was not a scientist who
remained on the sidelines of the issue. As a spy and advisor to the Dutch
government he actively worked on solutions for the problems the Dutch were
facing. Wherever In Indonesia there was a fire to be put out, there Snouck
would be sent to ensure the Dutch regained control over the Muslims. But Snouck
also worked on longer term solutions to the problems of the Dutch in Indonesia.
According to Snouck the fundamental problem with Islam was the
fact that Muslims believed in the need for Unity of State, with a Khalifah
governing over all of them according to Sharia law. In a letter to Goldziher in
1886, one year after his journey to Mecca, Snouck said: “… I never had any
objections to the religious elements of this institute [Islam]. Only its
political influence is, in my opinion, deplorable. And as a Dutchmen especially
I feel a strong need to warn against this.”
According to Snouck it was the political side of Islam that
caused all the problems for the Dutch in Indonesia – because it motivated the
Indonesians to resist the Dutch occupation. But, according to Snouck the
political side of Islam was a problem for the Muslims themselves also.
According to him the belief of the Muslims in the Islamic State Al Khilafah
with Islamic Law is what kept them backward. Snouck was of the opinion that the
Shariah laws were not really revealed laws, but were laws invented by the
Muslims of the Middle Ages. Because the Muslims believed they were revealed
laws, and hence did not want to distance themselves from these laws, the
Muslims were stuck in the Middle Ages, Snouck argued. Colonialism was
really a blessing, Snouck therefore said, because it introduced the Muslims to
the modern ideas of the Enlightenment, secularism, personal freedom and
democracy. Snouck said: “The approximately 230.000.000 Mohammedans that live
under non-Muslim rule very often do not have sufficient awareness of history to
be able to recognize that the change in governance has meant an improvement for
them. They look at the political history of Islam through the veil of a legend.
And if and when this legend gives reason to complain, they usually belief that
all these complaints would be resolved if the Emir al Mu’umineen would manage
their affairs.”
What Snouck envisioned as a final solution for the “Issue of
Islam” was a change of Islam. Snouck wanted Islam to become just like
Christianity. A religion that consists solely of rituals of worship, and that
leaves all other affairs of men, such as legislation and politics, to man.
Snouck said: “The only true solution for the problem lies in assimilating the
Mohammedan subjects of the Dutch with the Dutch. If we can succeed in this,
there will not be an ‘Issue of Islam’ any more. Then there will be enough
cultural unity between the subjects of the Queen of The Netherlands living at
the coast of the North Sea and those living in Insulinde[11], making the difference in
their religions devoid of any political or social importance.”. Snouck called
this goal of his “mental annexation”. If the Indonesian Muslims would believe
in the western ideology just like the westerners, then they would feel one with
the westerners and no longer object to being ruled by the westerners, although
their religious rituals might be different.
Snouck therefore advised the Dutch government to distinguish
between what he termed the “real core of dogma” of Islam, such as praying,
Hajj, belief in the Day of Judgement, et cetera, which according to Snouck were
all harmless matters of belief; and “everything that is political or could
eventually become political”. The “real core of dogma”, or what Snouck would
sometimes call “the purely religious”, should be left completely free[12]. But the government should forcefully
act against political Islam. The Caliphate, Holy War, Shariah, should not be
talked about anymore, anywhere.
Snouck believed this goal of his was a realistic goal, as he
made clear in a letter to his friend Goldziher: “I am convinced that in Indonesia
a compromise between Islam and humanism is possible.”
And he saw realizing this compromise as his real task as an
orientalist: “The development of the Mohammedan world in the direction of our
culture, that is part and parcel of my life’s work.”
Idries De Vries is an international management consultant, and
an international speaker and author of several publications on geopolitical,
economic and Islamic affairs. He is also a guest contributor for New
Civilisation.
The views expressed in this article are the
author’s own and do not necessarily reflect New Civilisation’s editorial
policy.
[1] The Dutch government funded Snouck’s travel indirectly, by
providing him with the grant through the Government financed Royal Institute
for Linguistics and Anthropology (Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-, en
Volkenkunde).
[2] For more on Raden Aboe Bakr, see: “Raden Aboe Bakar; An
introductory note concerning Snouck Hurgronje’s informant in Jeddah
(1884-1912)”, by Michael Laffan, in “Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en
Volkenkunde”, volume 155, number 4, pages 517-542, Leiden, 1999. www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv/issue/view/673/showToc
[3] According to P.S. Van Koningsveld. Other some sources say
the date was the 22nd of February 1885.
[4] According to the curator of an exhibition about Snouck in
Dubai, Elie Domit, Snouck had gotten married in Mecca to an Ethiopian Muslim
lady. When he fled the city, he left her – pregnant at that time – behind. See:www.arabnews.com/lifestyle/article199027.ece
[5] Today Jakarta.
[6] The Sunda and the West-Java are the main tribes on the
Indonesian Island of Java.
[7] Traditions.
[8] Indonesian for “madrassah”.
[9] In this letter Snouck addressed the Dutch Minister for
Colonial Affairs, A.P.C. van Karnebeek.
[10] An Islamic judge with administrative responsibility for
the mosques and its personnel.
[11] Old-Dutch term for Indonesia.
[12] During the First World War Snouck had a slight change of
heart, however. At that time he urged the Dutch government to not allow
Indonesian Muslims to go on Hajj, as he believed the contact between the
Indonesian Muslims and the Islamic State should be completely broken during
times of war.
