contiguity of traditional Minang and Mandailing

MANDAILING PEOPLE IN THE JORONG PASAR RAO NAGARI TARUNG-TARUNG DISTRICT PASAMAN-RAO 

Dona Erviantina (1)

Anthropology Sociology Program Educational Studies 

Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences 

State University of Padang 

email: donaerviantina@ymaaill.com 

Abstract 

This paper discusses the existing Mandailaing in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung. Based on research that describes and explains the Mandailaing use some of the elements of Minangkabau culture. The approach used in this research is a qualitativeapproach to the type of ethnographic. Informant selection snowball sampling techniques. Data were collected through interviews, observation and documentation, and Analyzed by interactive analysis techniques using measures of Miles and Huberman analysistechniques of research items, namely: reducing the the data, displaying the data, and drawingconclusions. The results revealed that Mandailing people in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung uses some elements of Minangkabau culture such as wedding ceremonies, death, and language arts. Minangkabau culture dominance occurred is because of the long lived, "bainduak", the same religion, and the amalgamation occurred. 

Keywords: Mandailaing People, the dominant culture, ethnic boundaries, the use of elements of Minangkabau culture. 

A. Preliminary

Border area is a place that has two or more cultures interact. Pasaman is one of the districts in the province of West Sumatra, which is administratively Natal border with Mandailing North Sumatra province, so there Minangkabau ethnic population and a resident population Mandailaing tribes of the nation Mandailing Natal Propince of North Sumatra, residents not only from the Minangkabau ethnic, but also ethnic Mandailaing.(2) 

According to legend Minangkabau, District Rao is an overseas region of Luhak Tanah Datar, there is vacant land in the district resulted Rao, Mandailaing People move and open residential land, so until now there are many people in the district Rao, Mandailaing people compared the Minangkabau who are locals. 

Mandailaing people in the border areas as newcomers adapt to the environment in which they are located, owned cultural pattern is the result of adaptation to the social environment, among others, a different culture. Adaptation to the natural environment manifested in various types of livelihood they have, in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung, Mandailaing people learn trading techniques which are skills possessed by the Minangkabau people, as well as transportation services. Then people started Mandailaing have the same expertise with Minang people in trade and transport services. Though at first only rely on expertise to cultivate agricultural land to make ends meet.(3) 

Adaptation to the social environment manifested in cultural patterns as a result of interaction with different ethnic cultural background. From the result of adaptations made, do not close that in society there Jorong Pasar Rao dominant culture, then there are also cultures that still serves as a frame of reference and preserved within each social group interacting. 

Mandailaing people as newcomers to follow most of the elements in the life of Minangkabau culture. Though the nation Mandailaing is "sub-tribes Batak" from Province of North Sumatra. This is the interested researchers in researching Mandailaing people in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung. This study focused on people who use part Mandailaing elements of Minangkabau culture in Jorong Pasar Rao. 

Assumed Minangkabau culture is the dominant culture in Jorong Pasar Rao, the alleged conduct of some traditional ceremonies Mandailaing people use most of the elements of culture Minangkabau, therefore researchers want to know why Mandailaing people using elements of Minangkabau Culture in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung District of Pasaman District? 

This study aims to describe and explain cultural elements that Mandailing people use in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari  Tarung Nagari-Tarung District of Pasaman-Rao who follow some elements of Minangkabau culture. 

Looking at the phenomenon that occurs, will be appropriate if the dominant culture is explained by the theory by Professor Edward M. Burner(4) declare substantive model of inter-ethnic relations reflect reality in a context of local power structures. Relationships between ethnic groups is determined by the nature of the relationship between local ethnic groups as well as with the existing power structure. 

Further stating Frederik Barth(5) is ascriptive ethnic identity, because the identity of the person classified on the identity of the most common and fundamental is based on the place or origin, then that ethnic boundaries are still there, even though there is a process of mutual penetration of cultures between the two ethnic different. Cultural differences always remain despite inter-ethnic contact and interdependence among ethnic groups that happen. 

B. Research Methods 

The researcher used a qualitative approach because this approach is able to describe and explain the Mandailaing people in Nagari Tarung-Tarung District of Pasaman Rao who uses elements of Minangkabau culture and consider in order to understand more deeply about aspects Mandailaing encourage people to use the elements of Minangkabau culture. The study was conducted with ethnographic research, aims to find the essence of a culture and its unique complexity for a description of the group, interaction.(6) Furthermore, culture refers to browse the attitudes, knowledge, values ​​and beliefs that influence the behavior of a particular group. In this study examines the Mandailing people in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung Tarung using the elements Minangkabau culture. 

C. Discussion 

Humans are politikon zoon, namely social creatures who love living have a group or find a friend to "living togather".(7) Leads to interaction, both with the same group or different, so that the people in Jorong Rao Mandailaing Tarung Nagari-fighting occurs as follows: 

1. Use Element of Culture Minangkabau by People Mandailaing. 

As a newcomer, whose land is dominated by Minangkabau culture affects Mandailaing people, as seen in some of the Minangkabau culture elements used by the Mandailaing people as follows: 

a) Marriage Ceremony. 

Each ethnic differences in performing marriage ceremonies, marriage ceremonies in the actual customs Mandailaing known as marriage honesty, the men pay money to buy women's aiming honesty, after the women living in the husband's relatives. In Mandailaing custom, wedding ceremony would take place when the boys meet money honesty, if it is unable to meet the agreement, then the men took women to elope known as "marlojong", or full name "mangalojongkon boru". 

According to some informants in Mandailaing custom called "marlojong" with "manjujur" ​​no longer found in the Jorong Pasar Rao, in this area there is a rule, so it can not be owned custom implemented at will, just like the sky where there trampled arth upheld. Based on the observation that researchers do "manjujur" ​​and "marlojong" in Mandailaing custom not found when the Mandailaing carry out marriage ceremonies in Jorong Pasar Rao, marriage rites were performed the same as the Minang. 

Mandailaing people stated that the Mandailaing customs, when they carry out marriage ceremonies cook together, but they are simple dishes, dishes that should be there that is mashed cassava leaf stew, scrambled eggs, chili, crackers and fried fish, is the menu that is served to guests, but now a lot of menus that served as "rendang", jackfruit curry, "lemang", spicy sour fish curry. Used clothes bride Mandailaing when people wear the marriage ceremony the bride and bridegroom Minangkabau and biting at the wedding, no one is providing custom clothing Mandailaing bride for the marriage ceremony. 

b) Death Ceremony 

Mandailaing customs if a marriage is at the time held the traditional ceremony, then at the time of death must also be done with the traditional ceremony of death. When people die from the world is an obligation for those organized bodies, usually gathered at the funeral home until the bodies are buried, no one should go home. The mother brought the rice when going mourn, let alone if the death of a father in a family must be buried by custom, would otherwise be payable to the family and when the children will perform tomorrow, the next day the marriage is not allowed by custom as well, until the family to pay the debt. 

Mandailaing people died when implementing marpege-pege to entertain people who come to mourn, then no one home to complete burial. Based on field observations, researchers found that traditional ceremonies again be lakasanakan people Mandailaing, when the death of one member of the family, local communities implement cook together to entertain people came for. Furthermore, carrying out lectures for one week until the hundredth day. 

c) Language 

Mandailaing tribe has its own language and script, development of civilization in the past Mandailaing language has grown into a unique language. Language Mandailaing there are actually five different forms of language with the use of words. 

First in custom Mandailaing said "Hata Somal" (colloquialism) used in day-to-day. "Hata Andung" (the words of lamentation) used at the time bemoaning the bride's body and used to lament the time to leave her family because her husband brought home. "Hata teas dohot jampolak" (dirty word) used for invective. "Hata Parkapur" (sayings ask permission) is used by people who are in the woods, Hata sibaso (spell words) typically used in traditional medicine. 

Based obesrvasi, language is a tool of communication in everyday life, with language interaction will occur with others. Language is the language used in the interaction Mandailaing and Minang language (dialect Rao). Based on the results of research in the field of language Rao Minangkabau dialect different from the Minang language, and is used to interact in the environment, then Mandailaing language used when communicating between people. 

d) Arts 

When attending the marriage ceremony Mandailaing, not found Mandailaing the traditional art form of dance "Tortor" and "Gordang Sambilan". "Tortor" dance is a dance that aims to entertain the guests as wedding ceremonies and ceremonies Mandailaing. 

Arts barganzi and randai used to entertain the guests, and the organ is one entertainment tool of choice when the marriage ceremony. Not seen dance tor-tor in Jorong Pasar Rao when traditional ceremonies, because no one can dance. Though the Mandailaing custom a traditional dance, but are not preserved by the Mandailaing in Jorong Pasar Rao Naga Tarung-Tarung. 

Dominant culture proposed by Professor Edward M. Burner(8), stated that there are three distinct elements but are related as follows: First the existence of social demographic and population ratios include heterogeneity in the level of mixing patterns in the relationships that exist between ethnic groups in a similar context. Both the existence of stability and dominance of the local tribes performed the usual way by ethnic immigrants in touch with the local nationalities, using elements of their respective cultures. All three of the existence of social forces and the distribution was between ethnic groups living in the context of existing background.

Stability of cultural domination by the Minangkabau as locals Mandailaing affect people who live in Jorong Pasar Rao, Minangkabau dominate the different ethnic communities living together in a local environment. Dominance by the Minangkabau culture, resulting in the Mandailaing use most elements include Minangkabau culture in the marriage ceremony, the arts are displayed when the marriage ceremony was not found tor-tor dance used to welcome guests who came, but people Mandailaing invite Minangkabau traditional arts as a means of entertainment for the marriage ceremony. 

Then also seen during ceremonies Jorong Rao Market, as well as the language used when interacting, compared to the amount of inter-ethnic look that is a group of people Mandailaing majority, compared to the Minangkabau only as a minority group. In Rao interacting language is not the language used Mandailaing. 

Limits proposed by inter-ethnic by Frederik Barth, in relation to border areas, Jorong Rao Market Tarung Nagari-fighting is an area border. inter-ethnic boundaries remain. Limitation of visible ethnic kinship systems owned Mandailaing people who are patrilineal and the matrilineal Minangkabau people, as well as the area of ​​origin is also an inter-ethnic ethnic boundaries. 

2 Dominance Minangkabau culture in society Mandailaing. 

Minangkabau culture dominance in society Mandailaing occur because: 

a) Long-Residential 

Place of residence affects the interaction between the different ethnic groups living in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung. If people of different ethnic groups living in relatively long time, causing pencampuaran culture and produce a new culture, to establish the balance and social stability which inhibits conflict. 

Based on the observation that the authors saw the Mandailaing activity in interacting with people around the residence in everyday life, in general they have been long settled, the interaction with the Minang people like having family ties, Mandailaing  and Minang people children play without any restriction from each parent. 

Found no entry of their family origin with certainty, because there is no source of information that must be found, because in general the elderly informants had died. 

b) "Bainduak" 

"Bainduak" means finding the next of kin according to the traditional Minangkabau, in the hypothesis of the dominant culture, the two elements which determine the case associated style tribes, states the existence of stability or the dominance of the local ethnic culture, People Mandailaing in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung follow all the rules imposed Minang people as locals and was in the area of Minangkabau culture, rules that are satisfied by the Mandailaing in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung  is one one form of domination culture of the Minang. 

Newcomers in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung if you want to settle should bainduk to "mamak" in Minang people through the village headman, must be good at taking care "mamak" in Minang people to be accepted. When they fulfill conditions that prompted "mamak", the officials who attended the traditional Minangkabau as: "ninik-mamak", scholars, intellectuals, traditional leaders and Bundo "Kandung". When asked to "bainduak" readiness, the Mandailaing says ready, then asked to choose a tribe, tribal elections should not be not indigenous tribe in the village, and held the inaugural race, then announced to the attending that has officially become one here and have a tribe. 

Based on observation, Mandailaing people who live in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagai Tarung-Tarung this, indeed bainduak the Minangkabau people, because it is customary for the provision of the Minangkabau people who want to make a home in the vicinity, in order to gain recognition in the community, then the Mandailaing follow this rule. 

c) Religion 

Religion is an important institution or institutions that regulate human spiritual life. Confidence brings people to seek nearness to God by means slavishly. Mandailaing people in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagai Tarung-Tarung not Batak admit they are based on the state of the field that generally ethnic religious Mandailaing have different ethnic Batak. 

People Minang custom his philosophy basandi personality, "adat basandi syara’, syara’ basandi kitabullah, adaik jo agamo". It happens to Mandailaing people, was formerly the first Mandailaing not embraced Islam, but since the entry of Islam into the village from the Mandailaing, then they equate with religious custom, much has changed in the lives of indigenous Mandailaing after converted to Islam. 

Based on observation, the Mandailaing embraced Islam, the researchers did not find the non-Muslims living in these areas, people who live in Jorong Mandailaing is not to say the Batak, because they assume the Batak are non-Muslims, the Minangkabau culture Mandailaing following elements as common belief held. 

d) Amalgamation 

Mating between different ethnic groups (amalgamation) which is a result of the existence of social relations that occur in society consisting of diverse nationalities, can not be separated from the interaction between one tribe to another tribe. Such occurrences in social interaction adakala implies a positive, but there are also negative in the stated identity ethnicity (ethnic) of each individual who has made the bond of marriage. 

Through the amalgamation resulted in a change in the cultural elements that exist in each of the different ethnic, existence of marriage between people of two different races or ethnic intermarriage among the Minangkabau and Mandailaing ethnics, then touch with Mandailaing annd Minangkabau culture in the form of marriage among men Minangkabau tribe with tribe women Mandailaing also a process of cultural influences on tribes united by matrimony. 

To avoid conflicts in each culture resulted in a need to control the implementation of the marriage, then the marriage customs union sumando provide drought, marital implementation based owned two customs, so that both parties do not feel the difference. 

Based on interviews and observations, it can be seen mixed marriages will affect and change the cultural elements Mandailaing people in everyday life, in mixed marriages no sanctions of any customary, because this is not a mixed marriage is a marriage or a marriage of brotherhood that tribal citizens. 

Dominant culture proposed by Professor Edward M. Burner(9) is a true picture of inter-ethnic relations that exist in the Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung, the Minangkabau as the locals able to maintain cultural elements owned, the number of ethnic Minangkabau were little, did not result in fading elements of Minangkabau culture. 

The use of cultural elements by the Minangkabau in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung  Mandailing people is the condition of local social relationships intangible social forces that can be dominant, can affect the shape of the pattern of social relations between different ethnic identities are in the same area. 

Maintain the strength of the Minang culture elements, resulting in the Mandailaing must follow elements of Minangkabau culture. 

Cultural differences always remain despite inter-ethnic contact and interdependence among ethnic groups. The occurrence of several elements of culture change in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari Tarung-Tarung elements of Minangkabau culture based research in the field caused by the length settled in the same area, "bainduak" to be recognized as citizens and all the activities involved in the community, faith and marriage equality mixture. 

In general, the limits of inter-ethnic states is ascriptive ethnic identity, the identity of the person is classified on the identity of the most common and fundamental is based on the place or origin, people Mandailaing states derived from Mandailing Natal province of North Sumatra, they follow the elements of Minangkabau culture is due to two elements different cultures are in the border areas of mutual influence, Mandailing people as newcomers to follow the culture of the Minang people. 

D. Conclusion 

Based on the discussion that has been done can be concluded that the person who is sub-tribe Mandailaing nation does not recognize part of Batak or ethnic Batak. Mandailaing people are migrants from Mandailing Natal province of North Sumatra, as a newcomer in the Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari-Tarung-Tarung dominated by Minangkabau culture, affecting Mandailaing people so follow some of the elements such as the Minangkabau culture in the ceremony of marriage, death ceremonies, the use of language and art. 

Mandailaing people use most of the elements of Minangkabau culture, because it has long been settled in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari-Tarung-Tarung Found no entry of their family origin with certainty, because there is no definitive source of information, but they have admitted bainduak. This is social force which is owned by "mamak" in Minang people  determining the market position of immigrants in Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari-Tarung-Tarung  the Mandailaing undergo the applicable rules in order to be accepted by society and various ethnic groups living in the same context. 

Some aspects of culture Mandailaing people who follow some elements of Minangkabau culture as follows: religious influence on Jorong Pasar Rao Nagari-Tarung-TarungTarung follow some elements of Minang culture in their daily lives. Amalgamation influence and change people Mandailaing cultural elements in everyday life. [*]

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Foot notes

[1]   This article is written from the author of the thesis with the title of Rao Market Jorong Mandailaing in Nagari Tarung-fighting District of Rao Pasaman writer for graduation period in March 2013, with the supervisor I Adri Febrianto, S. Sos., M.Si and Erda Fitriany supervisor II, S .Sos., M.Si..

[2]    Bapeda Pasaman. Pasaman in angka.2010 p.6

[3]    Rois Leonard Arios. Ethnic identity Border Community, Center for the study of History and Traditional Values ​​Padang. In 2003.

[4]    Parsudi Suparlan. Inter-Ethnic Relations. Jakarta. Police Science Development Foundation Studies Indonesia.1999 p.115.

[5]    Barth, Frederik. Kelompok Etnik dan Batasannya. Jakarta: UI Press . 1988: p.11 

[6]    Prof.Dr.Emzir, M.Pd. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif Analisis Data. Jakarta: PT RajaGrafindo Persada. 2010 p.18.

[7]    Hasan Shadlly. Sosiologi untuk mengenal masyarakat Indonesia. Jakarta: Bina Aksara, 1989 p.56.

[8]    Parsudi Suparlan. Hubungan Antar-Suku bangsa. Jakarta. Yayasan Pengembangan Kajian Ilmu Kepolisian Indonesia.1999 p.115.

[9]    Parsudi Suparlan. Hubungan Antar-Suku bangsa. Jakarta. Yayasan Pengembangan Kajian Ilmu Kepolisian Indonesia.1999 p.115.

List of References 

Arios,Rois Leonard. 2003. Identitas Etnik Masyarakat Perbatasan. Padang: Balai kajian Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional.

Bapeda Kabupaten Pasaman. 2010. Pasaman dalam angka.

Lubis, Pengaduan dalam Mandailing Dalam Lintasan Sejarah.10/09/2005

Prof.Dr.Emzir, M.Pd. 2010. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif Analisis Data. Jakarta: PT RajaGrafindo Persada.

Shadlly, Hasan. 1989. Sosiologi untuk mengenal masyarakat Indonesia. Jakarta: Bina Aksara.

Suparlan, Parsudi. 1999. Hubungan Antar-Suku bangsa. Jakarta: Yayasan Pengembangan Kajian Ilmu Kepolisian Indonesia.

T.O. Ihromi. 2000. Pokok-pokok Antropologi Budaya. Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia.

Brief Biodata Author 

The name Dona Erviantina born in snag dated February 14, 1990 was educated at SDN 11 Tanjung Alai District of Lubuk Sikaping Pasaman, SMPN1 Lubuk Sikaping Pasaman, SMAN 1 Lubuk Sikaping Pasaman S1 and graduated at the Department of Sociology Faculty Social Sciences, State University of Padang which diwisudakan in the period 96 March 2013.

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al-Mandili

Sheikh Abdul Qadir bin Al Mandili Tholib, North Sumatra 

Biography Ulama Nusantara 

Mandaliling an issue where many great scholars and reliable, between the cleric is Sheikh Abdul Qadir binTolib famous great scholars in Makkah and in the Malay peninsula, There are among us who are not aware of the cleric named Abdul Qadir Mandailing, but the there are two well-known scholars, a more famous in Makkah and Indonesia, while another more famous in Malaysia. Which is very famous in Makkah Sheikh Abdul Qadir master teacher Sobir bin al-Mandili who has taught at Mecca Masjid haram, he is the teacher of all the great scholars of the archipelago, among his disciples Mustafa Sheikh Hussein al-Mandili (founder Musthafawiyah 1912 AD), Sheikh Abdul Halim bin Ahmad al-Mandili Khathib, Abdurrahim Silver Sheikh, Sheikh al-Habib Abdullah Syafi`iyyah Mufti of Perak Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar Sheikh Muhammad Ali, Shaikh Zainuddin When, Sheikh Zainuddin al-Palembani, Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Wahab Ja`far, Sheikh Hasan infallible Medan Deli, Sheikh Daud bin Mahmud al-Jawi, Sheikh Abdul-Latif Mantu, Sheikh Uthman Tegal, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein al-Palembani al-Makki, Sheikh al-Muhsin al-Palimbani Musawa al-Makki, Sheikh Mohammed bin Sleh Idris al-Kelantani al-Makki and others. 

While Sheikh Abdul Qadir very famous in Malaysia is the son of Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Mandili Tolib. Origin of his birth and I Buya Sheikh Ibrahim al Mandaili Zannun said: "Sheikh Abdul Qadir bin Tolib born in the village in affluent Penyabungan Sigalapang Christmas Mandailing North Sumatra Indonesia, while Sheikh Abdu al-Qadir bin Sobir Mandili was born in Huta Siantar Penyabungan Mandailaing North Sumatra. Sheikh Abdul Qadir bin Tolib was born in the year 1329 Hijri, childhood spent in his hometown, when he was just like the children Mandailaing busy with recitation of al-Qur`an and studied Islamic religion, Islam Mandailaing a strong base and abiding by the religion that affect psychiatric Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Mandili". 

The tradition migrated to Malaysia not only abundant in this day and age, even since ancient times many people of Sumatra who migrated and emigrated to the land of Malaysia, one of the reasons among many people of Sumatra who emigrated to Malaysia is because the population of the island of Sumatra inhabited Malay, from the royal Langkat until the kingdom of Palembang is Malay and Malay kingdoms, ancient Sumatra Malay people are very strong and close relationship with the Malay Malaysian displacement and emigrated because that happens a lot, even the marital relationship was a lot going on. 

Among the many inhabitants of the island of Sumatra which also berhijarah to the country of Malaysia is the Mandailaing, sebahagian meraka anyone wants to make a living, sebahagiannya longer want to seek religious knowledge, courage Mandailaing residents who fled their homes to seek knowledge to fruition is quite encouraging, so Mandaling spawned many great scholars and intellectuals reliable. 

When Sheikh Abdul Qadir age became an adult he emigrated to Malaysia, in Malaysia, he studied religion of the great scholars of Kedah state, he was so zealous search for knowledge, as well as diligence in worship. Emigrated to Mecca in 1355 hijriyah Sheikh Abdul Qadir left for Makkah al-Mukarramah to perform the rituals of Hajj, Hajj Fardhu after he intends to settle in Makkah al-Mukarramah in order to learn the great scholars who were in Mecca, during the first Makkah is the center of clerics recitation of the archipelago, so many of the youths in the archipelago who wants to spend his youth in Makkah to study, in study of religion is so developed at that time, halaqah-halaqah recitation filled by students. 

Sheikh Abdul Qadir do not want to miss to study well in Mecca, the more determined he attended the lectures of various kinds, from Tawheed, Tasauf, Fiqh, Hadith and others, but his attention to the science tasauf very big, so he tried to to learn and apply it in their everyday lives. Among his teachers was in Makkah Sheikh Mohammad Ali al-Maliki, Omar Sheikh Hamdan Mahrusi, Sheikh Hasan bin Muhammad Masyat, Sheikh Ismail al-Fathoni and Sheikh Mohammad Yasin al-Fadani. After his recitation in Makkah Makkah scholars and scholarly look at the ability of Sheikh Abdul Qadir, then he was given permission to teach in Mecca mosque haram, he berusa to provide easy-to-par understanding of his students, he almost disiflin science teaching in mosque al-Haram, from Nahu halted, Sorof, Hadith, Musthalah Hadith, Tafseer, Fiqh and other Syafi`i. His disciples were never silent, Halaqah he always fulfilled, never less than two hundred students, he was able to attract the attention of students with scientific ahliannya danke, the students are very pleased with the way he teaches, so it is easy to understand it, he one of the archipelago scholars who are not born in Makkah but teaching in Mecca Masjid al-Haram. 

Death of Sheikh Abdul Qadir on December 20 Rabi`ul Awwal 1385 Sheikh Abdul Qadir bin hijriyah Tholib breathed their last meeting with Allah, after suffering a disease which he suffered, the people of Mecca very kewafatan grieve with him, so lose the clerical students role models their sobs kewafatan envelops pious scholar, many mourners and pensolat show how great their love of Sheikh Abdul Qadir a-Manidili, he was buried in the cemetery at Makkah Mukarramah Ma`la. [*]

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Mahr

THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF MAHR IN UPPER MANDAILING, SUMATRA

DONALD J. TUGBY 

University of Qwcnsland 

IN ISLAMIC canon law the manner in which property is inherited is rigidly I defined. Furthermore, the Islamic system of ethics defines the social roles of members of the nuclear family. Therefore, there are certain features peculiar to Islamization as a process of social change. We should expect to find re peatedly a reversion to the model for the social structure which is implicit in Islamic canon law and ethics. This article reports a modest start on the testing of this hypothesis. The aim of the article is to analyze the social effects in the Islamized society of Upper Mandailing of the adoption of one provision of canon law, namely, that about a payment (mahr) made by a man to any woman he marries. No attempt is made to provide a diachronic analysis of the total process of Islamization; instead, a synchronic comparative analysis is made of alternative ways in which the introduced institution of mahr is currently dealt with in Upper Mandailing society.' 

Mandailing is the southernmost part of the Propinsi Sumatera Utara (Province of North Sumatra) in the Republic of Indonesia. The area may be divided into two parts: a northern part, Lower Mandailing (Mandailing Djai), and a southern part, Upper Mandailing (Mandailing Djulu). The population of Upper Mandailing is approximately 47,000, of which about eight percent are Ulu, about two percent belong to some group foreign to the area such as Javanese, Menangkabau, Northern Batak, Chinese, Indian or Pakistani and the remainder are the people we shall call Upper Mandailingers. 

The Upper Mandailingers are rice farmers who grow rubber, coffee, cinnamon, and cloves as cash crops. They live in villages of from 20 to 500 houses. Each household consists of a nuclear family with possible accretions such as an aged parent or a younger sibling of the male household head.

Each village has its own mosque and the Upper Mandailingers all regard themselves as Muslims. Some were forcibly converted to Islam about 1810 when the Paderis, a revivalist sect of Menangkabau, staged a military invasion of Mandailing. The Dutch, who had not previously entered Upper Mandailing, were called on by the indigenous leaders (radjas) for help. The Dutch drove the Paderi military forces from the area, occupied it with their own and appointed a civil administrator (Controleur) in Upper Mandailing in 1835, but the Paderis continued their teaching. Today, because of their adherence to religious formalism, the Upper Mandailingers are known as religious fanatics by their now easier-going neighbors. 

The pre-Islamic social structure and religion of Upper Mandailing was probably similar to that of the Bataks of northern Tapanuli. In spite of Islamization it has been assumed by scholars that it has remained the same. Thus the part of the social structure which concerns us here has been succinctly described by ter Haar (1948:65) as having as its characteristic unit a “localized, exogamous, patrilocal clan or subclan inhabiting its own territory.” Ter Haar goes on to say: “Running through the pattern of relationship of the ruling local clan to non-clan members living in the local community is the special relation of the clans supplying women to the clans which receive them. . . . Each clan has a fixed relation to another clan, which results in the principle that all the girls of a clan are married out to the men of another. The woman-supplying clan is called . . . moru2 in the south (i.e. in Mandailing). The woman-receiving clan is dubbed the boru or beru. It is important to note however that the relation is not mutual. This produces the complex known as asymmetrical marriage.” 

This is a statement of the ideal-typical pattern of a portion of Upper Mandailing social structure, but it does not accord with the social facts of today. The concepts of woman-giving and woman-receiving units are still an effective element in the Upper Mandailing conceptualization of the social structure, but the units in woman-giving and woman-receiving relations are very much smaller than clans; they are nuclear families or small lineages. The members of a group of siblings may marry women of different clans, their sons likewise. 

There are no large units in permanent woman-giving/woman-receiving relationships. The jural unity of the lineage is a function of the ownership of the land in common by members of the lineage. In the last two or three generations land has rarely remained undivided for more than one generation. A reduction in the size of the effective lineage has occurred, then, pari passu with the fragmentation of land.

The political and social significance of an asymmetrical marriage system is manifested in the nature and direction of the prestations from woman-giving and woman-receiving groups to their respective partners. In the indigenous adat system in Upper Mandailing there were and are two payments expressed in money terms, the great gold (sere na godang) and the little gold (sere na menek). The direction of payment is from a woman-receiving group to its woman-giving group. However, the great gold is never paid. It remains ideally as a debt in perpetuity; as the Mandailingers say, to one’s children and one’s children’s children. The existence of the debt and the relative subservience which is its corollary is symbolized by the personal services which a man will render for his father-in-law and by the relatively menial services which woman-receivers carry out for woman-givers on ceremonial occasions. The lit tie gold, on the other hand, is paid, usually in cash, by the father of the bridegroom to the father of the bride before the adat wedding. It is used mainly for buying finery for the bride. 

In the course of Islamization the institution of mahr, a payment which according to canon law a man must undertake to make to a woman whom he marries, had to be added to existing social practices or redefined in terms of existing social practices oriented to the same set of aims. The problem for the Upper Mandailingers was and is the maintenance of logical consistency in the social definition of mahr. This is a problem which can be solved in a number of ways. After outlining the conditions associated with the payment of mahr and with the indigenous adat payments we shall analyze the social consequences of the alternative definitions. 

MARRIAGE PAYMENTS 

In Islamic canon law, mahr3 is a compulsory settlement4 payable by the husband to the wife to whom it belongs absolutely. It is an inalienable and imprescriptible right forming part of the contract of marriage whether specified or not. The husband cannot resile from it once consummation has taken place. But the wife can make a gift of her mahr to her husband, and if she does so, he and his heirs are free from the debt. Rlahr may remain as a debt, but it becomes payable immediately on divorce. According to a strict interpretation of Sjafite law, all mahr is prompt, i.e., payable immediately on marriage. The Mandailingers, however, appear to believe that all mahr may be deferred, i.e., payable at any time after marriage and even inherited as a debt. In fact, prompt mahr is payable on demand by the wife, but this clause is frequently obscured in Upper Mandailing. 

Nevertheless, these general conditions associated with mahr are widely known. Mandailingers demonstrate their appreciation of the imprescriptible nature of mahr by saying that if mahr is not paid during the life of a man, it must be paid in the after life (Achirat). Women sometimes absolve their husbands from the debt immediately prior to the death of either party. But this is not always done and in some cases cannot be done for reasons beyond the control of the parties, e.g., accidental death. There are one or two cases of the payment of the mahr due to a widow by her son on behalf of his dead father; this accords with the nature of mahr as an unsecured debt which may be charged against the property of a dead husband. Since in normal Upper Mandailing practice sons inherit the property of their father, it is understandable that they should pay the mahr of their mother. 

There are no de facto wives in the area and marriage is always accompanied by the Islamic canon law wedding ceremony (nikah) which is to be distinguished from an adat wedding. The latter is a much longer ceremony in which the canon law ceremony may be incorporated as a minor part. Nevertheless, the canon law ceremony constitutes both a necessary and sufficient condition for marriage; moreover, the mahr is always specified during this ceremony. 

The payment of mahr is, then, universal. The adat payment of the great gold is always specified in terms of the measures for gold, fail and pa, and ideally varies according to the matrilineal ancestry of the bride. The little gold is also called fine gold (sere nu Zamol), a euphemism for cash. Outside the context of adat ceremonial it is known as the money which disappears (epeng na mago mago), or as cloud money (uang ombun), or vulgarly as heat money (uang angus). This money is paid to the bride’s father in cash. It is supposed to be used for the purchase of an outfit of clothes and ornaments for the bride, but in certain circumstances the bride’s father may make use of it for his own purposes. As far as the donor is concerned, then, this money “disappears.” Either the great gold or the money which disappears may be designated as mahr. 

There are therefore at least three possibilities: 

(1) The great gold is designated as mahr; the money which disappears is paid 

(2) The great gold remains as a debt in adat; the money which disappears is desig- 

(3) The great gold remains as a debt in adat; the money which disappears is paid 

The adoption of one or other of these alternatives affects the intergroup relationships of the wife-givers and wife-receivers and the social position of the wife.

DESIGNATION OF THE GREAT COLD AS MAHR 

The adoption of this first alternative emasculates the woman-giving/woman-receiving relationship insofar as this turns on the notion of the debt of wife-receiving to wife-giving group. Mahr is payable solely by the husband and solely to the wife. Hence the jural basis in adat of the group relationship of the wife-givers and wife-receivers has been removed and the interpersonal relationship of husband and wife which should unfold to reveal the group relationship of larger scale does not do so. The entailments of the marriage are confined jurally-and within the framework of canon law rather than adat-primarily to intranuclear family relationships. But although this right of re ceipt of mahr is a jus in personam, the claim may be made against the estate of the husband and insofar as the latter has rights in common in the property of his minimal lineage, the members of the latter are also involved. 

Hence the lien which a widow appears to exercise over the use of the property of her late husband-she is normally allowed the use of the property until her death-is not solely dependent on the ties of sentiment between mother and son. It is paralleled in canon law by the widow’s right of retention of the property of her late husband of which she is in legal occupation at the time of his death as a security against the payment of her mahr. This right does not confer any title to the property, which she cannot alienate, and the right expires should her mahr be paid; her position depends therefore upon the nature and amount of the mahr and the possibility or impossibility of its being paid. 

The lowest mahr which is specified in terms of the great gold is one tail plus one pa. At current gold values, this is worth about Rp. 1500,* quite beyond the reach of the average village farmer, since this normally represents about half the value of the wet rice fields of the lineage, of which no individual is the sole owner. A mahr of this kind will not normally be paid during the lifetime of the husband and, therefore, a widow who has not absolved her husband from the debt is in a strong position in canon law in relation to her right of retention of 

her late husband’s property after his death. 

During the lifetime of the husband, however, a high mahr does not in itself lead to stability of marriage, though it may conduce to difficulty of divorce. A husband can divorce his wife by a single pronouncement of repudiation (talak sada); divorce only becomes irrevocable after the expiration of a period of approximately three months following the pronouncement (iddat), during which cohabitation is not allowed. Pronouncements may be made on one occasion or singly on different occasions. But after three pronouncements the couple can not remarry until the woman has contracted a valid consummated marriage with a third party and been duly divorced. A single or double pronouncement or each of two successive single pronouncements may be cancelled by uttering a formula of reconciliation before the expiration of iddat. If there is a high mahr the husband tends to make no pronouncement of repudiation but effects a separation. The mahr is not now exigible, as it normally would be after the expiration of iddat, but the position is obscured by doubt as to whether the husband intends to utter the formula of repudiation or has already done so followed by a formula of reconciliation. He may take the latter course without reference to his wife or even in her absence. By maintaining uncertainty in this matter a husband may delay payment of the mahr for months, even for years. In the meantime the wife is not legally free to remarry, but the husband may legally marry another wife. Women in this situation are called hanging or dependent widow (djando margantung). Usually their only remedy is to forfeit their mahr.

DESIGNATION OF THE MONEY WHICH DISAPPEARS AS MAHR 

If the second alternative for the specification of mahr is adopted, the wornan-giving/woman-receiving relationship epitomized in the notion of debt of the great gold remains intact. The allotment of the money which disappears for different purposes is a matter for discussion between the bride and her father. There is a dissonance, however, between the ideal-typical pattern of father-daughter relations, the jural conditions associated with mahr and the tacit recognition that all parties endeavor to make the most of the situation for themselves. It is better, older informants say, if the girl’s father determines the amount of her mahr, it is fine, good (elok), if the matter of its payment is determined by discussion between the girl’s father and the father of her suitor. 

The mahr itself belongs absolutely to the girl-on this point all informants are adamant-but it can be used by her father with her permission. The divid ing line between determination of amount and retention therefore becomes a fine one. Fathers who can bring pressure to bear upon their daughters may well be able to retain a portion of the mahr and at least avoid paying the costs of the marriage ceremonies out of their own pocket. In some villages this is the normal practice. Nevertheless it is universally acknowledged that fathers who connive to obtain a portion of their daughter’s mahr deserve denigration and they are themselves ashamed should this be discovered. The contents of the bride’s marriage portion are in fact checked against the money given to the bride’s father by the members of the lineage of the groom when the marriage portion is brought to the groom’s father’s house for the adat wedding ceremony. Normally, it is a matter of pride for the bride’s father to augment the portion rather than otherwise. The designation of the money which disappears as mahr therefore acts as a check upon the avariciousness of the bride’s father. 

Where a suitor is pressing, a girl who wishes to make the most of the situation may demand large prewedding presents, usually a gold necklace and less valuable earrings and bracelets, which may or may not be counted against the payment of mahr. This is made clear and put in writing, a necessary precaution since, it is said, many girls want the clothes and ornaments but not the man. 

Having obtained the former they may well attempt to resile from the implied contract to marry by running away; this they may do after the wedding, but the mahr is recoverable if consummation has not taken place. 

Using the mahr to buy the marriage portion of the bride is seen as a good arrangement from the man’s point of view, since it frees him at least temporarily from the necessity of buying the clothes which his wife would be able to demand as a right of maintenance under the contract of marriage. 

A gold necklace worth about Rp.300.00 to Rp.500.00 normally forms part of a marriage portion. This acts as a permanent, tangible and readily exchangeable asset which provides a wife with a certain security in case of divorce. In the course of time the necklace comes to be regarded as a family asset which may be sold to tide the family over sickness or other emergency. If it is sold for this purpose, a man, being responsible for the support of his family, is deemed to be morally in debt to his wife since he has made use of her mahr. 

Occasionally, therefore, a mahr paid in this form may be said to be conducive to the stability of marriage. In case of divorce, since the mahr has already been paid, the question of its forfeit by the wife does not arise, nor is it recoverable by the husband once consummation has taken place. In this sense, designation of the money which disappears as mahr and payment of a large portion in the form of a necklace does not contribute towards the prevention of divorce.

When the mahr is paid as money which disappears, the whole of the mahr is prompt. This cancels the widow’s right of retention of her husband’s property after his death. But there is a persistent tendency for the payment of mahr to be regarded as deferable. This notion may be transferred to the money which disappears when the latter counts as mahr. There are, therefore, one or two cases of a man remaining in debt to his father-in-law on this account. 

Since this is in accordance with the adat notion of woman-giving/woman-receiving relationships, if such a debt is not compounded by the members of a man’s lineage at the time of the wedding, it tends to persist. Where a debt exists, a social tie is strengthened. For example, the woman-giving/woman-receiving intergroup relationship only exists by virtue of the debt of the great gold and is broken off should the debt be paid; while a woman’s link with her brothers is strengthened if she does not take the share of her dead father’s property to which she is entitled in canon law. In the same way a deferred mahr strengthens the moral tie between husband and wife. 

SEPARATE SPECIFICATION OF THE MAHR 

If this third alternative is adopted, the great gold remains as a debt in adat, and the money which disappears is paid in cash or kind. Adat law payments and canon law payments are thus segregated. The mahr is usually specified in cash and if paid is used for the purchase of gold ornaments. The money which disappears goes to the bride’s father and he may use it either to set off his own ceremonial costs or for the purchase of clothes for the bride, or both. Under this system the mahr may remain as a debt since it is not involved in the necessarily prompt payment of the money which disappears. Since the mahr in question is deferred mahr, or partially so, it may be high. Both high and low mahr are found under this system, the former almost always when a true run away marriage to a market town outside the area takes place. In a “lovematch” of this kind, the girl sets her own mahr, often of the order of Rp.50.00. 

On the return to the village the negotiations with the bride’s father are only in terms of the money which disappears. On the other hand, if a suitor is eager and a girl does not consent to run away, she may specify a large mahr of the order of Rp.2000.00 which she uses to buy gold ornaments. In marriages contracted by wealthier merchants there is usually a mahr of this type. From the merchant’s point of view the designation of the mahr in this way avoids his presenting the ornaments merely as gifts. In other than merchant circles, the specification of a large prompt mahr and a small money which disappears has a different function-it differentiates clearly between the money which the bride’s father may put to his own use and that used to buy clothes and ornaments for the bride, thus making the whole matter certain (tonlu). Socially and psychologically this last is an important function. Socially, because according to canon law certainty and clarity in matters concerning payments are desirable, and psychologically because the Upper Mandailingers live in a world whose future is theologically defined as uncertain and they are themselves insecure. As a reaction against this feeling they make every effort to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity in interpersonal action. It is not a fault (salah) for the bride’s father to pocket the money which disappears, as its name suggests, but he cannot do the same with his daughter’s mahr. Hence certain persons, it is said, merely ask for money without specifying whether this is mahr or great gold or little gold. This is quite legitimate, in fact almost praiseworthy-if one can get the money-it is merely an aspect of seeking (djalaki). 

DISCUSSION 

The existence of these alternatives for the specification of mahr is indicative of the conflict between the accentuation of larger group relationships versus those of smaller scale. In the last 100 years there has been a trend towards the reduction in scale of the units conceived to be in woman-giving/woman-receiving relation, from clans to clan segments, from clan segments to minor and minimal lineages. There has been a concomitant loss of permanency. 

A man’s true tulang (a classificatory kinship term used for both mother’s brother and father-in-law) is not his true mother’s brother, but his true father-in-law. It is with the latter that woman-giving/woman-receiving relationships are activated. The specification of the great gold as mahr provides the ultimate stage in this process of jural re-ordering in reducing the woman-giving/woman-receiving relationship to the level of the nuclear family. 

The social position of married women appears to have been enhanced by the introduction of the institution of mahr. The ability to move from adat to canon law and vice versa in defining social positions and responsibilities which is characteristic of Upper Mandailing has its counterpart within Islam generally in the normal practice of shifting from one school of law to another as convenient. The result, as far as women are concerned, is that the conditions associated with the payment of deferred mahr provide a jural basis for accretion of women to the lineages of their husbands. That is to say a woman becomes a quasi-member of her husband’s lineage by virtue of the debt which is owed to her. In terms of a social tie to the lineage of her husband, which is founded upon economic considerations, she is placed in a similar position to the women who are members of that lineage by birth. The continuity of the social membership of the latter in their lineage is conditional upon their foregoing their right of inheriting a share in the lineage property. The institution of mahr does not stabilize marriage, but it provides assurance of security in widowhood; where the mahr is paid the assurance is thereby weakened. 

The designation of the money which disappears as mahr defeats the true intention of the institution of mahr which is usually defined as being to enhance the security of married women. The money which disappears is essentially a consideration for the bride’s father; its designation as mahr reduces the latter to its original pre-Islamic status as a bride-price.’ The payment of all the mahr promptly probably accounts for the fact that some widows are turned out of their late husband’s houses by their sons.

The stability of the marriage itself, given the necessary condition of the birth of children, depends on the capacity for adjustment of the two parties, but mainly on that of the wife. In spite of the provision of mahr which is intended, and is seen by Mandailingers to be intended, as a method of enhancing the status and security of the wife, her position depends upon forebearance, both in relations with her lineage of origin (and the activation of her rights of inheritance in the property of that lineage) and her lineage of accretion (i.e. the lineage of her husband). A woman-giving group exercises a greater controlling interest over the female as against the male children of the women which it gives. On the other hand, a woman-receiving group ideally exercises an option over the nubile women of its woman-giving group. Thus women have an indeterminate social position; they are like counters in a social game. 

Since women also lack any significant control over resources, they capitalize on their cathectic relations with husbands and sons in order to maintain their influence and status. 

CONCLUSION 

When the institution of mahr is adopted in any society it is particularly likely to become an effective determinant of the form of parts of the social structure. The timing of the payment in relation to the duration of any particular marriage has a certain flexibility, by virtue of which alternative types of specification are possible. Deferment is structurally significant in a negative way in that it allows the social experimentation in which the Upper Mandailingers are clearly indulging. But the definition of the payment as being made from a specific man to a specific woman is unalterable. This dyadic pattern becomes the prototype of the jural definition of marriage and obscures group relationships of larger scale which also turn upon marriage. 

Although it is recognized nowadays that functional disequilibrium of the parts may exist in any social system, it is also asserted that logical consistency in the definition of the parts occurs throughout the system. When a new social practice is introduced into a society, then, it is usually redefined in terms of the existing social practices which are related to the same set of aims as the introduced practice. But such a spurious logical consistency does not neces- 

sarily induce functional harmony. The respective social entailments of the old and new practices may differ sharply (if they do not so differ then the new practice probably constitutes only a cultural embellishment). Social changes take place, often, but not necessarily, in a direction which reestablishes functional harmony.

Three of the more obvious ways in which a social group can treat newly introduced practices are to add them to, adapt them to, or integrate them with existing practices. The first alternative is unusual (the independent specification of mahr is relatively rare). The other two alternatives may appear superficially to avoid any gross social change. But the structural concomitants of the institution of mahr are so rigidly determined that they will prevail in the 

long run. They are tending to do so today in Upper Mandailing as knowledge about modern Islam increases. The social roles of the members of the nuclear family are being redefined in a manner consonant with a structural concomitant to the payment of mahr, namely, the concept of marriage as primarily a dyadic social relationship. At the same time the concept of lineages in woman giving/woman-receiving relationships is becoming socially more and more unreal. Finally we may note that, as a further consequence of this separation of the ideal and actual in social behavior, the social rituals which reaffirmed the tegroup relationship are either dying out or changing their function. 

NOTES 

1. The fieldwork upon which this article is based was carried out in Upper Mandailing for almost two years during 1955 and 1956. The author wishes to acknowledge the financial support from the Australian National University which made this fieldwork possible. 

2. All the terms first presented in italic in this article are terms used in the current, spoken 

Upper Mandailing language. 

3. We shall not reiterate all the conditions associated with the payment of mahr which are 

as valid in Upper Mandailing as elsewhere in the Islamic world where Sjafite law is predominant, but confine attention to those conditions which are significantly expressed in Upper Mandailing eocial practice. 

4. Mahr is usually described as dower. It is incidental to the definition of mahr that should it 

not be paid to a woman during the lifetime of her husband she may claim it from his estate. 

Moreover, if the mahr is paid from her deceased husband’s estate it is not returnable; it belongs to the woman absolutely. It is a compulsory settlement which is presumed in the contract of marriage. 

5. At the official rate of exchange about $132.00, at the blackmarket rate (1956) $48.00. 

6. In Arabia, prior to Islam, on marriage the husband made a gift to the wife, sadaq, and a gift to her parents, mahr. See, for example, Fyzee (1955:llO). 

REFERENCES CITED 

FYZEE, ASAP A. A. 

            1955 Outlines of Muhammadan law. London, Oxford University Press. 

HAAR, B. TEB 

           1948 Adat law in Indonesia. New York, Institute of Pacific Relations. 

source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1959.61.4.02a00080/pdf

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