THE MALAY EPISTEMOLOGICAL BACKGROUND IN THE ISLAMIC WRITINGS OF HAMZAH FANSŪRĪ

Abstract

The study of Hamzah Fansūrī’s writings has long been focused on
understanding its connection to Islamic philosophy rather than its
indigenous philosophical origins. The objective of this study is to
identify and expose the traditional Malay epistemological
background behind Hamzah Fansūrī’s writings. This objective is
achieved through the evidence and analysis methods of historical
linguistics on the one hand, and by judging these analytical
conclusions based on Buddhist Yogācāra’s epistemology of Śrīvijaya
on the other hand. Three important research findings are as follows:
1) the overall style of Hamzah Fansūrī’s writings is the logical
tradition of Dignāga, 2) all the metaphors of Hamzah Fansūrī’s
writings, which are of the type of pariṇāma theory, can be
understood in the epistemological tradition of Vasubandhu, which
was influential in the writings of Śrīvijaya from the end of the seventh
century to the beginning of the eleventh century, and 3) Hamzah
Fansūrī’s works are also influenced by the recent Malayu-Singapura
philosophy of Saṃkhyā, mainly the distinction between śabda and
katā, which is used to receive the new Islamic epistemological
distinctions and traditions. In other words, to say that the Śrīvijaya
period had no major impact on philosophy, and that pre-Islamic
Malay mind was more aesthetic than philosophical cannot be
supported by the writings of Hamzah Fansūrī.