Semantic Analysis of the Malay Islamic Concept of Man and the Universe

The conception of Man and the Universe by Malay classical texts has led Malay Muslims to conceive Man and the Universe in interesting ways. More often than not the Hindu concept of devaraja or kingship and the concept of mount Mahameru are seen as the most appropriate Malay conception of Man and the Universe. Unfortunately, these two concepts represent only a minor part of the Malay classical tradition. The dominant part of the Malay intellectuallegacy, i.e. the Malay Islamic tradition, is frequently neglected. Obviously, it is not so easy to describe the concept of Man and Universe in the Malay Islamic tradition due to the limitation of sources and lack of proper method of understanding. Studies show that a properunderstanding of the worldviews of the past is possible by looking through the eyes of the people of that time. Based on this notion, this study has selected the semantic approach to unveil a proper Malay Islamic concept of Man and the Universe. This approach is wellknown through the writings of a Japanese scholar, Toshihiko Izutsu. Semantics, according to Izutsu, is an analytic study of the key-terms of a language with a view of arriving eventually at a conceptual grasp of the weltanschauung or world-view of the people. Through thisapproach, this study has arrived at the conclusion that the Malay Islamic concept of Man is not the concept of devaraja or “kingship,” rather, it is strongly based on the concept of duties and responsibilities inspired by the religious consciousness of the people. Similarly, theMalay Islamic concept of the Universe is not the concept of Mount Mahameru. It is rather the concept of al-dunya wa al-akhirah. The purpose of this paper is to further discuss somediscoveries of the Malay Islamic concept of Man and the Universe embedded in three great books of Malay history, namely Sejarah Melayu, Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai, and HikayatMerong Mahawangsa.