حمزة الفنصوري
Hamzah Fansuri (RH)
c. 936–c. 998 AH · c. 1530–c. 1590 CE
Sufism & Theology Sufism
Sufi poet of Sumatra, pioneer of Malay religious poetry (syair) and prose.
Hamzah Fansuri came from Barus (Fansur) in Sumatra and travelled widely, studying in the Hijaz and Baghdad, where he joined the Qadiri order. He was one of the first to write deep religious ideas in Malay, and his poems are among the earliest known Malay syair.
In works such as Asrar al-'Arifin and Sharab al-'Ashiqin he taught the doctrine of the unity of being (wujudiyyah) in the tradition of Ibn 'Arabi. His teachings were later sharply opposed by Nur al-Din al-Raniri, and some of his followers' books were burned in Aceh. He is honoured today as a founder of Malay literature.
Life journey
- c. 1530 CE Barus (Fansur) فنصورFansur is the old name of Barus on the west coast of Sumatra. He travelled to the Hijaz, Baghdad and Siam.
- 1570 CE Banda Aceh آتشيهDied c. 1590 CE · c. 998 AHAssociated with the Aceh sultanate; the year is approximate.
Key works
- Sharab al-'Ashiqin شراب العاشقينThe Drink of the LoversA Malay prose treatise on the Sufi path.
Places in their life
Photo: ROFIQOHHASAN, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources
- Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, The Mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri (1970)
- G. W. J. Drewes and L. F. Brakel, The Poems of Hamzah Fansuri (1986)
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.
His dates are very uncertain. Traditional accounts place him in the late 16th century; a tombstone study (Guillot and Kalus, 2000) argues he died in Makkah in 1527. The dates shown are placeholders.