COMMUNICATING THE LOSS OF ADAB: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON AL-ATTAS’ CONCEPT OF ADAB IN THE PLAY AYAM JANTAN AYAM BETINA

It is the nature of man to be equipped with two souls namely; the first one is described as the animal soul (al-nafs al-hayawaniyyah) and the other one as the rational soul (al-nafs al-natiqah). Therefore, in Islam, it is required that man must place his aql first than his animal instinct to achieve a proper balance of life in this world and the world hereafter. It is set by the religion, and generally that is the basic concept of adab for any man to follow strictly. This article will discuss on the ways in which how adab as a concept works within the parameters of human ethics to achieve a balance life, which clearly could be seen in the play, Ayam Jantan Ayam Betina by Bidin Subari. The play was written in 1974, and the issues highlighted are still prevalent. His play focuses on the situations when Malay Muslims, especially, shied away from the guideline of adab that is supposed to be adhered to. This has resulted a chaotic moment, thus indicated the playwright’s concerns. The depiction of a wealthy and westernized lifestyles had left the characters to be drifting away from the real teachings of Islam and they are depicted to be experiencing the loss of adab. The scope of discussion in this paper will focus on the definition of adab and how it is to be found common in Malay Muslim’s ideal practice through the lens of Syed Naquib al-Attas, in the book, Ilmuan Penyambung Tradisi edited by Wan Mohd. Nor Wan Daud. It is to be found that, moral and religious decadence in the society are due to the lack of understanding on the concept of Islam hence the concept of adab is not truthfully applied.