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.