Written by Nurel Javissyarqi
Translated by Agus B. Harianto
II
Before I wrote a little further, allowed me to confide about what I felt for this moment. Actually I’m not old enough and science to interpret it. But to answer the Tardji’s essay and the interpreting of the poets I’ve ever read about Asy Syu’ara, I felt like there was a wind blow forced me to write on. Certainly, it will not hamper re-determination in the future, for the sake of sharpening the meaning of life experiences, so sure of, and that’s the prologue of the wanderer.
Basically, the surah Asy Syu’ara describes the story of the prophet and apostles, of whom Musa (Moses), Harun (Aaron), Ibrahim (Abraham), Nuh (Noah), Hud, Sholeh, Luth, Shu’aib, the Prophet Muhammad SAW., as the final successor and the most success. The title Asy Su’ara possibly is taken from the end of the surah (225-227) that are often interpreted by Muslim poet and now I added a description of Tafsir Jalalain, which is the words in brackets, in order to it won’t be far away from it should be.
Ayah 225
“Tidakkah kamu melihat (apakah kamu tidak memperhatikan) bahwasannya mereka di tiap-tiap lembah (yaitu di majelis-majelis pembicaraan dan sastra-sastranya, yakni majelis kesusastraan) mengembara (mereka mendatanginya, kemudian mereka melampaui batas di dalam pujian dan hinaan mereka melalui syair-syairnya)”
“Have you not noticed that – are you not aware that – in every valley, of the valleys of rhetoric and the art thereof, they rove, overstepping the bounds [of decency] in [their] eulogies and diatribes”
Ayah 226
“Dan bahwasannya mereka suka mengatakan (kami telah mengerjakan) apa yang mereka sendiri tidak mengerjakannya (artinya mereka suka berdusta)”
“And that they say, we do, what they do not do, in other words, that they lie.”
Ayah 227
“Kecuali orang-orang yang beriman dan beramal saleh (dari kalangan penyair itu) dan banyak menyebut Allah (maksudnya syair tidaklah melupakan mereka untuk berzikir kepada Allah) dan mendapat kemenangan (melalui syair atas orang-orang kafir) sesudah menderita kezaliman (sesudah orang-orang kafir menghina mereka melalui syair-syairnya yang ditujukan kepada kaum mukminin semuanya).”
“Save those, poets, who believe and perform righteous deeds and remember God frequently, in other words, [those whom] poetry does not distract from the remembrance [of God], and vindicate themselves, by lampooning the disbelievers, after they have been wronged, by the disbelievers’ reviling of them [as belonging] together with all believers — such [individuals] are not reprehensible. God, exalted be He, says: God does not like the utterance of evil words out loud, unless a person has been wronged [Q. 4:148]; He, exalted be He, also says: so whoever commits aggression against you, commit aggression against him in the manner that he committed against you [Q. 2:194]; and those, poets and others, who are wrongdoers will soon know the reversal, the return, with which they will meet, [by which] they will return, after death.”
(taken from the origin translation of Tafsir Jalalain on http://www.altafsir.com/Al-Jalalayn.asp)
From the book Terjemahan Tafsir Jalalain and also asbaabun nuzuul, vol III, the work of Imam Jalaluddin al-Mahalli and Imam Jalaluddin As-Suyuthi. Translated by Bahrun Abubakar, L.C., editors Drs. Ii Sufyana, and H. Anwar Abubakar, L.C., as corrector, published by Sinar Baru Algensindo Bandung, the fifth prints, 2001.
***
The surah Asy Syu’ara belongs to the surah of Makiyah, except for ayah 197 and 224 until the end of the ayah are Madaniyah, which fell after the verse Al Waqi’ah.
If we observe at the whole surah of Asy Syu’ara, which is in the last ayahs responded to the heathen poets Musailamah, and others. Carefully rereading the works of Ibn Arabi as nisbat, which interpret 27 prophets in the Fusus Al-Hikam, I believe Sutardji Calzoum Bachri would not say in his speeches by rash, such as the poets as an instance of God, stooge of the prophets on his wrong presumption on his paragraph 3 and 4:
“(Manusia sebagai mahluk imajinasi Tuhan pada gilirannya menciptakan pula imajinasi. Para penyair sebagai makhluk yang profesinya menciptakan imajinasi atau mimpi—meskipun posisinya jauh di bawah Tuhan—memiliki kesejajaran seperti Tuhan. Penyair menciptakan imajinasinya, mimpinya, lewat kata-kata sebagaimana Tuhan menciptakan mimpinya lewat firman.)
Human beings as creature of God’s imagination, in turn, created the imagination anyway. The poet as a being who his profession creates imagination or dream – even though his position is far below the God – has parallels like God. The poet creates his imagination, his dreams, through the words as the God creates His dreams through His commandment.”
“(Peran penyair menjadi unik, karena—sebagaimana Tuhan tidak bisa dimintakan pertanggunganjawaban atas ciptaannya, atas mimpinya, atas imajinasinya— secara ekstrem boleh dikatakan penyair tidak bisa dimintakan pertanggungjawaban atas ciptaannya, atas puisinya.)
The role of poet becomes unique, because – as the God could not be requested the responsibility of His creation, of His dream, of His imagination – extremely we may say the poet can not be asked the responsibility of his creation, of his poetry.”
***
In fact, the story of the prophets in the verse, the God responsible on His wills, His commandment and His deed. Even the prophets have responsibility to be servants to his people, nor beg for rewards (wages) at all of their teachings. Please re-observe, every ayah as the overall description of the verse Ash Syu’ara means the verse of the poets. Through the books of tafsir experts, in order not be fooled deeply by the power of mind on his (her) own will, merely lust (wallahualam bisshawab).
The negligence of Tardji to interpret kun fayakun through Ibn Arabi, which did not mention the source of the book (probably he intended to simplify, but he failed). Thus, it is easy to escape and difficult to be tracked, until it dragged his readers to the darkness of imagination, look at his first two paragraphs:
“(Ketika Tuhan merindu memimpikan dirinya agar dikenal dan lepas dari kegelapan rahasia-Nya, Ia berfirman: Kun fayakun. Maka jadilah alam semesta ini.)
When the God was missing to dream Himself to be known and free from the darkness of His secret, He said, Kun fayakun. Then become this universe”.
“(Manusia sebagai bagian dari alam semesta serta alam semesta yang terkandung di dalam dirinya adalah bagian dari mimpi Tuhan, seperti yang dikatakan oleh sufi besar Syeh Muhyiddin Muhammad ibn Arabi. Dari mimpinya, dari imajinasiNya, Tuhan melalui kata-kata kun faya kun, menciptakan sejarah jagat raya berikut sejarah manusia di dalamnya.)
Human being as part of the universe and the universe contained within it are part of the dream of the Lord, as claimed by the great Sufi Sheikh Muhyiddin Muhammad ibn Arabi. From His dreams, His imagination, the God through the words of kun fayakun, he creates entire universe and also history of human in it. ”
***
In the book Syajaratul-Kaun and Hikayat Iblis (translated into Indonesia entitled Doktrin Tentang Person Muhammad SAW.), the work of Ibn Arabi, published by Risalah Gusti,2001, reorganized in Egypt, by Mustafa al Babi al Halabi wa Auladuh, 1360/1941, at there, I couldn’t find those understanding, even in Fusus Al Hikam that is more approach, thus I rewrote below, it’s about Hikmah Keilahian dalam Firman Tentang Nabi Adam (Divine Wisdom in the Word About the Prophet Adam):
“Ketika realitas ingin melihat esensi nama-nama-Nya yang Indah (al-Asma’ al Husna) atau dengan kata lain, ingin melihat esensi-Nya dalam sebuah objek inklusif yang meliputi seluruh perintah-Nya, yang didasarkan pada eksistensi. Ia akan memperlihatkan rahasia diri-Nya kepada-Nya. Penglihatan terhadap sesuatu, diri-Nya oleh diri-Nya sendiri, tidaklah sama dengan melihat dirinya pada yang lain, sebagaimana dalam sebuah cermin. Sebab, ia muncul untuk diri-Nya sendiri dalam sebuah bentuk yang ditanamkan oleh lokasi penglihatan yang hanya muncul dengan adanya eksistensi lokasi dan penyingkapan diri (tajalli) lokasinya terhadapnya”.
“Realitas ini memberikan eksistensi pada seluruh kosmos, pertama kali sebagai sesuatu yang khas tanpa ruh apa pun di dalamnya, sehingga ia seperti cermin yang digosok. Dalam hakikat penentuan ilahi, Dia tidak menetapkan sebuah lokasi kecuali untuk menerima ruh ilahi, yang juga dikatakan dalam Al Quran dengan ‘Ditiupkan kepadanya’. Yang terakhir ini tidak lebih daripada terwujudnya kecenderungan bentuk khas batin untuk menerima pancaran emanasi /penyingkapan rahasia-Diri (al-fayd at-tajalli) yang tidak habis-habisnya, yang selalu, dan akan demikian. Di sana hanya menerima dan penerimaan ini hanya berasal dari limpahan-Nya Yang Tersuci (faydib al-Aqdas), dari Realitas, karena semua kekuatan untuk bertindak, atau semua inisiatif berasal dari-Nya, di awal dan akhir. Semua perintah berasal dari-Nya, bahkan sewaktu ia mulai dengan-Nya.”
(Fusus Al Hikam, Mutiara Hikmah 27 Nabi, work by Ibn Arabi, published by Islamika, 2004, from the book “The Bezels of Wisdom”, translated into Indonesia by Ahmad Sahidah and Nurjannah Arianti)
“The reality wanted to see the essence of His Most Beautiful Names (al-Asma ‘al Husna) or, to put in another way, to see His own Essence, in an all-inclusive object encompassing the whole [divine] Command, which, qualified by existence, would reveal to Him His own mystery. For the seeing of a thing, itself by itself, is not the same as its seeing itself in another, as it were in a mirror; for it appears to itself in a form that invested by location of the vision by that which would only appear to it given the existence of the location and its (the location’s) self-disclosure (tajalli) to it “.
“The reality gave existence to the whole Cosmos [at first] as an undifferentiated thing without anything of the spirit in it, so that it was like an unpolished mirror. It is in the nature of the divine determination that He does not set out a location except to receive a divine spirit, which is also called [in the Qur’an] the breathing into him (QS, XXI;91). The latter is nothing other than the coming into operation of the undifferentiated form’s (innate) disposition to receive the inexhaustible over-flowing of Self-revelation (al-fayd at-tajalli), which has always been and will ever be. There is only that which is receptive and the receptive has been only from the most Holy Superabundance [of the Reality] (faydih al-Aqdas), for all power to act [all initiative] is from Him, in the beginning and at the end. All command derives from Him (QS, II; 210), even as it begins with Him.”
(taken from the original text at http://books.google.com/books?id=p4PeeQGStQkC&pg=PR7&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false)
***
Even if Tardji took the point from any references of the thought of Ibn Arabi, he shouldn’t to remodel and make it to be manifested into another understanding, which is then further stressed his imagination. Whereas in the works of Ibn Arabi, there was not referring to the imagination, but the emanation. Most importantly, it is far from the true Tardji’s expression at the opening of cultural oration.
My research was more simply about the two paragraphs of Tardji’s at the beginning of his oration probably derived from fascination reading to Pengantar Penerbit (prologue of publisher) of the book by Islamika I have mentioned above. And then his soul was extraordinary delighted, until his understanding so flared up, which I thought too reckless. Below I quoted the first writing of the book as intermediary for the findings:
“Secara tak terbantahkan, ajaran-ajaran esoterik Ibn Arabi dipengaruhi oleh al-Hallaj, melalui konsep Hulul-nya. Namun berbeda dari pendahulunya tersebut, Ibn Arabi beranggapan bahwa Tuhan sebagai esensi mutlak, sebelum memanifestasi (ber-tajalli) dalam nama-nama dan sifat-sifat-Nya, tidak mungkin dikenal atau mengenal diri-Nya, karena bagaimana mungkin disebut Tuhan, kalau tidak ada yang mempertuhankan-Nya? Ibnu Arabi mendasarkan pandangannya ini pada Hadits Qudsi: “Aku adalah khazanah yang tersembunyi, Aku ingin agar Aku dikenal, maka Aku ciptakan dunia”.
Bertolak dari Hadis ini, Ibn Arabi menjelaskan bahwa tatkala Allah hendak melihat esensi-Nya yang universal, mutlak, melalui nama-nama-Nya, Dia ciptakan kosmos. Laksana penglihatan dalam cermin, ketika Allah baru menciptakan kosmos, yang tidak mempunyai ruh, penglihatan awal keagungan-Nya, belum memberikan kejelasan. Maka, diciptakanlah Adam, yang mempunyai ruh, demi ‘menjernihkan’ penglihatan-Nya. Dengan demikian Ibn Arabi memosisikan realitas tunggal ke dalam dua aspek: Al Haqq dan Al Khalq. Aspek pertama merupakan Esensi yang merupakan Tuhan sendiri, yang transenden, sedangkan aspek kedua sebagai fenomena yang memanifestasikan aspek pertama, yang merupakan bayang-bayang Tuhan atau makhluk (Tuhan imanen). Jadi, keduanya pada dasarnya adalah satu, hanya saja dalam penalaran akal, keduanya tampak dua. Dalam istilah lain, Ibn Arabi berpendapat bahwa al-Khalq itu maqul sedangkan al-Haqq bersifat mahsus dan masyhud; al-Khalq eksistensinya tampak pada dunia pikir (rasio; al-ma’qul), sedang al-Haqq eksistensi-Nya hanya tampak dan dirasakan memalui intuisi (hissi dan zawqi)
“It’s undeniable, esoteric teachings of Ibn Arabi is influenced by al-Hallaj, through his concept Hulul. But it is different from his predecessor, Ibn Arabi thought that the God as the absolute essence, before manifest (tajalli) in His names and His nature, it’s impossible to be known or know Himself, because how could be called as the God, if nothing deify Him? Ibn Arabi built his view on the Hadith Qudsi: “I am a hidden treasure, I want to be known, and then I created the world “.
”From this Hadith, Ibn Arabi explained that when God wanted to see His universal essence, absolute, through His name, He created the cosmos. Like a vision in the mirror, when the God just created the cosmos, which had no soul, early vision of His glory, had not provide clarity. Thus, Adam was created, which has a spirit, for the sake of ‘clarify’ His eyesight. Thus Ibn Arabi positioned single reality into two aspects: Al-Haqq and al-Khalq. The first aspect is the essence which is the God Himself, the transcendental, while the second aspect is the phenomenon manifests the first aspect, which is the shadow of the God or creatures (the God immanent). So, both are basically one, only in the reasoning mind, both are two. In other terms, Ibn Arabi argues that al-Khalq is maqul while al-Haqq is mahsus and masyhud; the existence of al-Khalq seemed in ratio (ratio; al-ma’qul), and al-Haqq is only visible and felt through intuition (hissi and zawqi) “.
***
I tried to summarize the plot of Tardji’s essay on his cultural oration at the event of Pekan Presiden Penyair, as follows:
With insignificant addition of Ibn Arabi as his predicate, Tardji apprehended the understanding of kun fayakun to comply his highest desire with crushed out through the doctrine that did not previously exist in the teachings of Islam also speech of scholars and Sufi poets, where their works are not separated from the Islamic theology, in other words they never fetched.
Tardji who has famously known as Presiden Penyair Indonesia, take advantage of the situation to press reason-imagination of the poets afterwards, so his way to speech and scatter discourse was messy, then had risen and quoted Asy Syu’ara blindly, blindly followed the guidelines or understanding. He didn’t review the causality of the revelation, until the words do not inhabit the true spirit, it could be provoked by his legendary soul impulse.
And then, Tardji claims that Sumpah Pemuda is a poem which the power of its spoken repetition like mantra, like his poetry. Priketiwi I said, if Tardji states;
“(Penyair tidak bisa dimintakan pertanggungjawaban atas ciptaannya. the poet can not be asked the responsibility of his creation.)” Moreover, he patented those matters equal with this: “(Sebagaimana Tuhan tidak bisa dimintakan pertanggunganjawaban atas ciptaannya, atas mimpinya, atas imajinasinya) as the God could not be requested the responsibility of His creation, of His dream, of His imagination”.
When does the God dream? When does the God imagine? Thus, re-read the whole surah of Asy Syu’ara for inconsequential understanding back to the straight path.
In the view of Tardji, the poet’s jobs is as if to be lazed, delirious wonderful words that is intoxicating, as if possessed by the God, such as a swearword (accusation) of Fira’un and woe to those messengers of God, when they lost in the debate ( in Surah Ash Syu’ara, and wallahualam bissawab).
At above, the stressing word of imagination, Tardji performed his understanding arbitrarily through the evocative power of reason, then he figured out 1970’s literature, and the dismantling of local values, as if he wanted to get the ratification that all his acts is in conformity with he believed so far, while developing knowledge of governance, in: ” the poet can not be asked the responsibility of his creation, of his poem”. It seemed have been colored certain degree of regional autonomy movements [Only Sutardji Calzoum Bachri knows better the content of his heart].
http://sastra-indonesia.com/2011/06/menggugat-tanggung-jawab-kepenyairan-sutardji-calzoum-bachri-ii/