Falsafah sua (suloh): obor ilmu yang tak dibawa pulangThe philosophy of sua (suloh): a torch of learning never brought home
Sua adalah obor dari ikatan daun kelapa kering yang dipakai orang kampung Aceh untuk berjalan malam, lalu dipadamkan dan ditinggalkan setelah sampai tujuan. Benda sederhana ini dijadikan metafora bagi peran ilmuwan dan ulama Aceh yang menerangi dunia Melayu, Jawa, dan Indonesia, tetapi tidak ‘dibawa pulang’ ke tanah asalnya. Banyak tokoh Aceh dimakamkan di luar Aceh. Studi Aceh diarahkan untuk menemukan kembali para pembawa sua ini.
A sua is a torch of bundled dry coconut leaves that Acehnese villagers carried on night journeys and then extinguished and left behind on arrival. This humble object becomes a metaphor for Acehnese scholars and ulama who lit the way for the Malay world, Java and Indonesia but were never ‘brought home’. Many Acehnese figures lie buried outside Aceh. Aceh studies is directed towards recovering these torch-bearers.
Ukuran sua disesuaikan dengan jauhnya perjalanan. Setelah tiba, obor itu dipadamkan dan diletakkan di luar pekarangan; ia juga dipakai untuk membakar perapian kandang agar nyamuk menjauh atau untuk membakar sampah sebelum minyak dikenal luas. Ciri pentingnya: sua hanya bertugas menerangi, dan orang tidak membawanya kembali ke rumah. Untuk pulang, mereka membuat sua baru.
Metafora ini dipakai untuk menjelaskan pola persebaran intelektual Aceh. Pemikiran dari Aceh disebut telah mengantar orang Melayu mengenal Islam dan budayanya, menerangi pusat keislaman di Jawa, dan memberi obor bagi semangat kebangsaan Indonesia. Para pembawanya sering wafat dan dimakamkan jauh dari Aceh: P. Ramlee di Kuala Lumpur, Syamsuddin al-Sumatrani di Melaka, Seyyed Hussain al-Aidid di Pulau Pinang, Hasbi Ash-Shiddieqy di Jawa, dan sebagian keturunan awal Wali Songo di Jawa. Karya ulama Aceh juga tersimpan hingga Haramayn.
Akibatnya, warisan mereka lebih sering dikaitkan dengan tempat lain: Hamzah Fansuri dengan sastra Melayu, al-Aidid dengan sejarah kota Pulau Pinang, dan P. Ramlee dengan seni Malaysia. Tanpa locus sejarah untuk menyimpan sua tersebut, spirit mereka sulit ‘dibawa pulang ke tanah endatu’. Usulannya adalah memberi ‘laci-laci pemikiran’ di sekolah dan perguruan tinggi Aceh agar generasi muda mempelajari sinar keilmuan mereka, lalu mengembangkannya menjadi sub-disiplin ilmu.
The size of a sua was matched to the length of the journey. On arrival it was put out and laid outside the yard; it also served to light fires by animal pens to keep mosquitoes away or to burn rubbish before lamp oil was common. Its defining trait is that it only lights the way and is never carried back home. For the return journey a new torch is made.
The metaphor is used to explain the pattern of Acehnese intellectual dispersal. Ideas from Aceh are said to have brought the Malays to Islam and to their own culture, to have illuminated the heart of Islam in Java and to have fuelled Indonesian national spirit. Those who carried them often died and were buried far from Aceh: P. Ramlee in Kuala Lumpur, Syamsuddin al-Sumatrani in Melaka, Seyyed Hussain al-Aidid in Penang, Hasbi Ash-Shiddieqy in Java, and some early forebears of the Wali Songo in Java. Works by Acehnese ulama also found their way to the Haramayn.
As a result their legacy is usually tied to other places: Hamzah Fansuri to Malay literature, al-Aidid to the history of Penang, P. Ramlee to Malaysian arts. Without a historical locus in which to keep these torches, their spirit is hard to ‘bring home to the land of the ancestors’. The proposal is to create ‘drawers of thought’ in Acehnese schools and universities so that young people study these lights of learning and develop them into sub-disciplines.
Gagasan kunciKey ideas
Menerangi lalu ditinggalkanLights the way, then left behind
Sua hanya bertugas menerangi; ia tidak disimpan setelah perjalanan selesai.A sua exists only to light the way; it is not kept once the journey ends.
Diaspora intelektualIntellectual diaspora
Makam dan karya tokoh Aceh tersebar dari Melaka dan Pulau Pinang hingga Jawa dan Haramayn.The graves and works of Acehnese figures are scattered from Melaka and Penang to Java and the Haramayn.
Membawa pulang spiritBringing the spirit home
Pendidikan diminta menyediakan ruang untuk mempelajari kembali para pembawa sua.Education is asked to make room for studying these torch-bearers again.
Posisi dalam kerangkaPlace in the framework
Tokoh, lembaga, dan konsep yang paling dekat dengan entri ini, beserta sifat hubungannya.The figures, institutions and concepts closest to this entry, and how they relate to it.
Pertanyaan reflektifReflective question
Bagaimana sebuah masyarakat mengklaim kembali tokoh-tokohnya yang telah menjadi milik bangsa lain?How can a society reclaim figures who have come to belong to other nations?
Kutip entri ini:Cite this entry: “Falsafah sua (suloh): obor ilmu yang tak dibawa pulang”, Acehnologi — Gerbang Studi AcehAceh Studies Gateway, https://acehnologi.com/entri/falsafah-sua/