الشيخ عبد الله عارف
Shaykh 'Abd Allah 'Arif (RH)
Also known as: Syeikh Abdullah Arif, Abdullah Arif
c. 493–c. 573 AH · c. 1100–c. 1177 CE
Da'wah Shafi'i Sufism
A preacher said to have brought Islam to Aceh in the 12th century, to whom the Bahr al-Lahut is attributed.
Acehnese tradition remembers Shaykh 'Abd Allah 'Arif as an Arab preacher who came to the north of Sumatra in the 12th century and taught Islam and Sufism there. He is buried, by tradition, near Banda Aceh.
A short Sufi treatise in Arabic, Bahr al-Lahut ('The Ocean of Divinity'), is attributed to him; it would be among the oldest Islamic writings from the archipelago. Little else is known with certainty, and some historians doubt both the early date and the attribution.
Life journey
- c. 1100 CE Banda Aceh آتشيهDied c. 1177 CE · c. 573 AHSaid to have come to Aceh from Arabia in the 12th century; his origins and dates are uncertain.
Key works
- Bahr al-Lahut بحر اللاهوتThe Ocean of DivinityA short Arabic treatise on Sufi metaphysics, attributed to him; the attribution is uncertain.
Places in their life
Photo: ROFIQOHHASAN, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources
- Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Preliminary Statement on a General Theory of the Islamization of the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago (1969)
- M. C. Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200 (4th ed., 2008)
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.
Semi-legendary: dates (here estimated) and the attribution of the Bahr al-Lahut are uncertain. Please check whether he should be included.