1.1 Southeast Asia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 9
2.1 Headstone commemorating a daughter of Sultan Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn of Samudera-Pasai, d. 831/1428. White marble, imported from Cambay in Gujarat. (Leiden University Library, MS Or.23.481, photograph 79) 28
2.2 Colophon of the Persian adaptation of the Arabic grammar treatise Marāḥ al-Marāḥ copied in Java, possibly Banten, in 990/1582. Leiden University Library, MS Or. 1666, fol. 33b 38
2.3 The conclusion of al-Buṣīrī’s al-Burda and beginning of al-Ūshī’s al-Amālī, with interlinear Malay translation. Aceh, c.1604. Cambridge University Library MS Ll.d. 25, fol. 30b–31a 40
3.1 Al-Rānīrī’s Daʿwā al-Ẓill maʿa Ṣāḥibihi. Early twentieth century MS from Banten. Leiden University Library, MS Or 8541, fol. 64a 83
3.2 Collected works of Hamzah Fansuri his circle, owned by sultan Abūʾl-Maḥasin Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, dated 1116/1704. Leiden University Library, MS Or 2016, fol. 5a 88
3.3 Al-Mahāʾimī’s Mashraʿ al-Khuṣūṣ ilā Maʿnā al-Nuṣūṣ dated 1142/1729, owned by Sultan Abuʾl-Fath Muḥammad Shifāʾ Zayn al-ʿĀrifīn. Leiden University Library, MS Or 5675, fol. 1b–2a 88
3.4 Shams al-Dīn al-Sumāṭrāʾī, Jawhar al-Ḥaqāʾiq, formerly part of Banten sultan’s library. Jakarta, Perpustakaan National, MS A 31/1 89
3.5 Treatise by Muḥammad al-Manūfī on the wujūdī debates in Aceh, with interlinear Malay translation. Princeton University Library, Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 476L, fol. 1a 106
3.6 Waqf inscription on the majmūʿa of Sufi texts, including al-Kūrānī’s al-Maslak al-Jalī, endowed by Sunullah Efendi to the bezistan (market hall) of Serez, northern Greece to be given to those who ask for it to read on condition they pay a deposit. Istanbul, Süleymaniye Library, MS Serez 3939, fol. 1ª 109
4.1 Ibn ʿAllān, Ghawṣ al-Biḥār al-Dhākhira, dedicated to Sultan Abūʾl-Mafākhir of Banten. Jakarta, Perpustakaan National, MS A 32, pp. 2–3, copied in the majmaʿ of Qāyitbāy in Shawwal 1046/February-March 1637, by Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Ṣaʿdī 119
4.2 Ibn ʿAllān, colophon of the Naṣḥ al-Nāṣiḥ Naṣīḥa fi Sharḥ al-Naṣīḥa, Jakarta, Perpustakaan National, MS A 104, p. 370. Copied in Mecca in Dhūʾl-Ḥijja 1046/April 1037 by Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Asadī 126
4.3 Ibn ʿAllān, the opening of al-Mawāhib al-Rabbāniyya, with interlinear Javanese translation. Jakarta, Perpustakaan National, MS A 105 (probably eighteenth century) 127
4.4 Ibn ʿAllān, the opening of al-ʿIqd al-Farīd fī Maʿrifat al-Tawḥīd, copied by Shaykh Yūsuf al-Maqāṣīrī. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS Sprenger 677, fol. 107b 150
5.1 Muḥammad Amīn al-Bakrī al-Lārī, al-Risāla fī Ithbāt Wājib al-Wujūd, colophon showing the work was copied by Yūsuf b. al-marḥūm Abīʾl-Jalāl ʿAbdallāh al-Jāwī al-Maqāṣīrī. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS Sprenger 677, fol. 150b 159
5.2 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī’s al-Durra al-Fākhira, copied by Shaykh Yūsuf al-Maqāṣīrī. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS Sprenger 677, fol. 107a 160
5.3 Ownership marks on the titlepage of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī’s al-Durra al-Fākhira copied by Shaykh Yūsuf al-Maqāṣīrī. including that of al-Kūrānī’s Damascene pupil Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-maʿrūf biʾl-Dakdakjī (d. 1131/1719), Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS Sprenger 677, fol. 91a 167
5.4 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī’s al-Durra al-Fākhira copied in the ribāṭ of Imam ʿAlī outside Medina by Yūsuf al-Tāj b. ʿAbdallāh b. Abīʾl-Khayr al-Jāwī al-Maqāṣīrī al-Talluqī al-Munjalāwī in Rabīʿ II 1075/October 1664. Princeton University Library, Garret Collection, MS Yahuda 3872, fol. 23a 169
5.5 Colophon of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī’s al-Durra al-Fākhira copied in the ribāṭ of Imam ʿAlī outside Medina by Yūsuf al-Tāj b. ʿAbdallāh b. Abīʾl-Khayr al-Jāwī al-Maqāṣīrī al-Talluqī al-Munjalāwī in Rabīʿ II 1075/October 1664. Princeton University Library, Garret Collection, MS Yahuda 3872, fol. 23a (detail) 170
5.6 Colophon of al-Suyūṭī’s Kitab al-Taʿaqqubāt ʿalā al-Mawḍūʿāt, copied by ʿAbd al-Raḥman b. ʿAbdallāh al-Jāwī al-Maqāṣīrī al-Katūnukanī in Medina in Ṣafar 1075/September 1664. Princeton University Library, Garret Collection, MS Yahuda 3872, fol. 85a 171
5.7 Colophon of Zakariyāʾ al-Anṣārī’s thabat, copied by ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jāwī al-Faṭānī in 1075/1664. Princeton University Library, Garret Collection, MS Yahuda 3872, fol. 132b 172
5.8 Colophon of Yūsuf al-Maqāṣīrī, Maṭālib al-Sālikīn, showing the date of copying of 1186/1773. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 101, p. 79 177
5.9 The opening of Yūsuf al-Maqaṣīrī’s Zubdat al-Asrār with interlinear Javanese translation, probably Banten, eighteenth century. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 45, pp. 103–4 178
5.10 The opening of Yūsuf al-Maqaṣīrī’s Zubdat al-Asrār. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 101, p. 30 182
5.11 ʿAbd Baṣīr al-Ḍarīrī’s Bahjat al-Tanwīr, composed for Sultan ʿAbd al-Jalīl of Makassar. British Library, MS Add 12367, fol. 28v 196
5.12 ʿAbd al-Baṣīr al-Darīrī’s Daqāʾiq al-Asrār, part of a collection of Sufi texts made for Sultan Aḥmad al-Ṣāliḥ of Bone by his qadi Yūsuf, in Shaʿbān 1221/October-November 1805. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 108, pp. 132–3 197
5.13 The ending of ʿAbd al-Baṣīr al-Darīrī’s Daqāʾiq al-Asrār, written for Sultan Idrīs Aʿzam al-Dīn of Bone and dated the beginning of Ṣafar 1126 (February 1714), which is followed immediately by a translation into Bugis. British Library, MS Add 12367, fol. 11r 199
5.14 Sultan Aḥmad al-Ṣāliḥ of Bone, al-Nūr al-Hādī, Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 108, pp. 450–451 201
5.15 Frontispiece of the collection of Sufi texts made for sultan Aḥmad al-Ṣāliḥ of Bone by his qadi Yūsuf, in Shaʿbān 1221/October-November 1805, invoking the Nūr Muḥammad. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 108, p. 1 203
6.1 The Malay adaptation of Ibn Shaddād al-Ḥimyarī’s Tuḥfat al-Zamān, produced for the court of Palembang in 1175/1761. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Malay D.1 214
6.2 Title page of Idrāk al-Ḥaqīqa fi Takhrīj Aḥādīth al-Ṭarīqa by ʿAlī b. Ḥasan b. Ṣadaqa al-Miṣrī, copy from the Palembang kraton library, showing the ownership of sultan Badruddin Mahmud. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 161 215
6.3 The section on Arab tribes in Ibn Shaddād al-Ḥimyarī’s Tuḥfat al-Zamān, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Malay D.1, fol. 12b–13a 218
6.4 Binding of Ibn Shaddād al-Ḥimyarī’s Tuḥfat al-Zamān, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Malay D.1 218
6.5 Colophon of the autograph manuscript of ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Palimbānī’s Naṣīḥat al-Muslimīn. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 209 223
6.6 Muḥammad al-Sammān, al-Nafaḥāt al-Ilāhiyya fī Kayfiyyat Sulūk al-Ṭarīqa al- Muḥammadiyya. MS in possession of Sultan Muḥammad ʿAydarūs of Buton, copied at the request of a pupil of ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Palimbānī’s. Abdul Mulku Zahari collection, Bau-Bau, IS/14/AMZ; Image courtesy of British Library, Endangered Archives Programme, EAP 212/1/4 230
6.7 Colophon to al-Zurqānī’s al-Asʾila, copied by ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār al-Jāwī in Mecca in Ṣafar 1159/February 1746. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 131, p. 29 233
6.8 Colophon to the abridgement of al-Qushayrī’s al-Risāla, the Minhaj al-Sālikīn, copied by ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qādir in Banten in Dhūʾl-Qiʿda 1187/January–February 1774. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 114, pp. 435–6 234
6.9 Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Ṭabarī, Fayḍ al-Aḥad with interlinear Javanese translation. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 34 238
6.10 Frontispiece of Ibn Ḥājib, al-Kāfiyya, copied by ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār, part of a majmūʿa in various hands he owned. Jakarta Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 159, p. 317 242
6.11 Magic squares (awfāq) in ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār’s majmūʿa. Jakarta Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 159, pp. 45–6 243
6.12 The Prophet’s shoe and its properties in a majmūʿa in the hand of ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 66 245
6.13 Magic circles and prayers for the “Sultan of Banten, Cianjur and Cirebon” in a majmūʿa in the hand of ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 114 247
6.14 ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār’s ijāza to perform Rifaʿi rituals to the royal owner of a book of silsilas, Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 96, pp. 24–5 251
6.15 Sultan Zayn al-ʿĀshiqīn’s ownership statement on a rātib proclaiming himself to be a disciple of al-Sharīf Mūsā b. Sīdī al-Sharīf ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Rifāʿī al-Ḥamāwī. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 117, p. 1 255
6.16 Sufi rātib owned by Sultan ʿAlī al-Dīn of Banten. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 73, pp. 2–3 256
6.17 ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār, Mashāhid al-Nāsik with interlinear Javanese translation. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 31/2, pp. 322–3 261
6.18 ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār, Fatḥ al-Mulūk, Jakarta Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 111, pp. 2–3 262
7.1 Ownership statement of Muḥammad Qāhir son of sultan ʿAbd al-Fatḥ. Leiden University Library, MS Or 5658 272
7.2 Ibn Ghanāʾim al-Maqdisī, Ḥall al-Rumūz, ownership statement of Sultan Zayn al-ʿĀshiqīn. Leiden University Library, MS Or 1840 273
7.3 Rifaʿi-Qadiri rātib bearing the ownership statement of the unnamed Banten prince bearing titles Kanjeng Pangeran Ratu. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 96, p. 1 275
7.4 Abridgement of al-Rāfiʿī’s al-Muḥarrar from the library of the Banten sultans. Jakarta Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 134, pp.2–3 277
7.5 al-Jazūlī, Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt. Illustration of the tombs of the Prophet, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 78 279
7.6 Manuscript of Mawlid and devotional texts belonging to Sultan Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Dīn, Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 67 280
7.7 Arabic verses attributed to the Yemeni poet al-Sūdī in a majmūʿa of works of Hamzah Fansuri and his circle belonging to Sultan Zayn al-ʿAbidīn of Banten, Leiden University Library, MS Or 2016, fol. 58b 282
7.8 ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār’s copy of Muḥammad Ghawth’s al-Jawāhir al-Khamsa. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 42 286
7.9 Record of the birth of Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn in 1084 in Ibrāhīm b. Abī Bakr al-Azharī’s al-Mawāhib al-Mustarsala ʿalā al-Tuḥfa al-Mursala. Jakarta Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 98, pp. 2–3 289
7.10 al-Mahāʾimī, Mashraʿ al-Khuṣūṣ ilā Maʿnā al-Nuṣūṣ, copied by Muḥyi al-Dīn ibn Shaykh ʿAbd al-Shakūr ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn al-Sulṭān Abūʾl-Mafākhir in 1142/1749. Leiden University Library, MS Or 5675 292
7.11 Ijāza from Ibrāhīm al-Kūrānī to ʿAbd al-Shakūr b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jāwī al-Bantānī, Medina, Shawwal 1084/January 1674. ʿAbd al-Raʾūf b. Tāj al-ʿĀrifīn al-Munāwī, Masālik al-Abrār ilā Aḥādīth al-Nabī al-Mukhtār. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 29, p. 80 293
7.12 Muḥyi al-Dīn b. ʿAbd al-Shakūr’s copy of al-Kūrānī’s al-Ghāya al-Quṣwa, Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 125, fol. 1a 295
7.13 al-Kūrānī, Kashf al-Mastūr fī Jawāb ʿAbd al-Shakūr. Istanbul, Süleymaniye Library, MS Hamidiye, 1440, fol. 30b–31a 296
7.14 Ijāza to Sultan Zayn al-ʿĀshiqīn from ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Qahhār on the authority of his own ijāza from Muḥammad al-Ṭabarī. Leiden University Library, Or 1842, fol. 325b 297
7.15 Ownership statement of Sultan Zayn al-ʿĀshiqīn al-Rifāʿī al-Qādirī on a copy of Aḥmad al-Būnī, Shams al-Maʿārif. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 19, p. 1 299
7.16 al-Shiblī, Ākām al-Marjān, copied in eighteenth century Banten. Jakarta Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 124 302
7.17 Khaṭīb al-Tabrīzī’s Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ purchased in Medina by ʿAbd al-Shakūr from Ḥasan b. Muḥammad al-Kūrānī in 1081/1670–1 before being brought to Java and entering the Banten palace library. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 26 304
7.18 Collation note in hand of ʿAbd al-Shakūr mentioning “my comrade Aḥmad al-Takrūrī”, Medina, Rajab 1084/October 1673. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 29, p. 273 305
7.19 Al-Shattanawfī, Bahjat al-Asrār, probably copied in Yemen, dated Jumādā I 1104/January 1693. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional A 95 307
7.20 Abū Yaḥyā Zakariyyā al-Anṣārī, al-Ghurar al-Bahiyya fi Sharḥ al-Bahja al-Wardiyya. To the left of the title is a note explaining the transfer of the ms from Jerusalem to Ḥasan b. Ḥasan al-Azharī in Majdal ʿAsqalān, Ghazza. On the right the ownership statement of Zayn al-ʿĀshiqīn. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 43 308
7.21 Ownership marks on the title page of Ibn Ḥajar’s al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A40 309
7.22 The misleading colophon of al-Būnī’s Shams al-Maʿārif, claiming to have been copied in Hyderabad (misspelt) in 1014/1605, but evidently actually copied in Banten in the eighteenth century, complete with interlinear Javanese translation. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 20 310
7.23 Ownership notes on Zayn al-Dīn al-Naḥawī al-Khālidī’s al-Taṣrīḥ bi-Maḍmūn al-Tawḍīḥ. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 5, p.1 312
7.24 al-Ghazālī. Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn. Titlepage and ownership statement of Jaʿfar b. Abī Bakr b. ʿAbdallāh Muṭahhar Bā ʿAlawī. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 99 B 314
7.25 Titlepage of Mujīb al-Nidāʾ ilā Sharḥ Qaṭr al-Nadāʾ by ʿAbdallāh b. Aḥmad al-Fākihī, copied in Banten by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Aḥmad. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 7 317
7.26 Binding of al-Nawawī, Rawḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 88 318
7.27 Qurʾan on gold-embossed paper belong to Sultan ʿAlī al-Dīn of Banten. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 50 319
7.28 Collection of mawlid and liturgical texts made for Sultan ʿAlī al-Dīn. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 73 320
7.29 Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt, showing textual annotations. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, MS A 80 322
7.30 Collection of Qadiri and Rifaʿi texts, probably made in Banten. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 70 323
7.31 Frontispiece of collection of Qadiri and Rifaʿi texts, showing dabbūs. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 70 325
7.32 Persian musical modes in Arabic poems in a Sufi liturgical collection made for the prince Muḥammad Qāhir. Leiden University Library, MS Or 5658, fol. 20b–21a 326
7.33 Al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn. Comparison of the sizes of a Middle Eastern (probably Hadrami) ms (Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional, A 99A, top) and a Banteni one (A100, bottom) 326
7.34 Qurʾan with Javanese translation. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 54 330
7.35 Qurʾan with interlinear Malay translation. Jakarta, Perpustakaan Nasional MS A 51A 332
8.1 Letter from Sultan Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn of Pasai to Afonso de Albuquerque. Arquivo Nacional Torre de Tombo, Lisbon, Colecção de cartas, Núcleo Antigo 891, mç. 1, Doc. No. 59 354
8.2 Letter from ʿAlaʾ al-Din Riayat Syah of Aceh to Prince Maurice of the Netherlands, 1603. Royal Archives (Koninklijk Huisarchief), The Hague, inventory number A13-XIB 358
8.3 The National Archive, London. SP 102/4/8. Letter from the ‘Raja Banten’ addressed to the ‘Raja of England, Scotland, France and Ireland’, c.1605 363
8.4 The National Archive, London, Ext 8/2, f. 126r. Letter from Sultan Abūʾl-Fatḥ, also known as Sultan Ageng Tirtiyasa, addressed to King Charles II, dated 17 Jumādā II 1075/29 December 1664 364
8.5 The National Archive, London Ext 8/2, f. 45. Letter from Sultan Abūʾl-Fatḥ Sultan Ageng Tirtiyasa addressed to King Charles II, undated, but evidently composed around the same date, 1664 366
8.6 The National Archive, London, CO77/14. Letter from Sultan Abūʾl-Fath Sultan Ageng Tirtiyasa to King Charles II, dated beginning of Dhūʾl-Ḥijja 1091/end of December 1680 369
8.7 The National Archive, London, CO77/14, f. 111. An illuminated letter from Sultan Abū Naṣr ʿAbd al-Qahhār to King Charles II, undated, but probably composed in 1682 373
8.8 The National Archive, London, CO 77/14, f. 112. A letter from Sultan Abū?l-Fat? Sultan Ageng Tirtiyasa to King Charles ʾl-Fatḥ Sultan Ageng Tirtiyasa to King Charles II, dated 13 Rabīʿ I 1093/21 April 1682 374
8.9 The National Archive, London, CO 77/14, f. 114. A letter from Sultan Abū?l-Fat? Sultan Ageng Tirtiyasa to King Charles ʾl-Fatḥ Sultan Ageng Tirtiyasa to King Charles II, dated 6 Ramaḍān 1093/6 September 1682 375
8.10 Copenhagen, Rigsarkivet, MS As. Komp. 2188a, QQ (1). Undated letter of Sultan ʿAlaʾ al-Din Johan Syah (r. 1735–1760) of Aceh to the governor of the Danish East India Company settlement at Tranquebar in India 377
8.11 British Library, Or. 16900. Letter from Warren Hastings to Sultan Muḥammad Saʿd al-Dīn of Maluku (Sultan Nuku, d. 1806), dated 1782 379
8.12 Lisbon, Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Conselho Ultramarino, Índia, Caixa 402. Sultan Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn of Terengganu to Dom João of Portugal, c.1793 382
8.13 London, School of Oriental and African Studies. MS 40320, vol. 6, fol. 89r. Letter from Sayyid ʿAbdallāh b. Shaykh al-Ḥabashī to James Scott dated 28 Muḥarram 1208/ 5 September 1793 390
8.14 London, School of Oriental and African Studies. MS 40320, vol. 7, fol. 238r–v. Letter from Sayyid ʿAbdallāh b. Shaykh al-Ḥabashī to James Scott dated 25 Ṣafar 1208/2 October 1793 391
A.3 Shaykh Yūsuf al-Maqāṣīrī’s Letter to Karaeng Karunrung. Mid-twentieth-century transcription of MS formerly held in Dinas Purbakala, Jakarta (by kind permission of Martin van Bruinessen) 450