Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/194

 tion as a strict teacher of Mohammedan law. His knowledge of the kitabs is considerable, though he would not pass for a doctor of law in Arabia, but it amply sufficed in Acheh, when coupled with a devout life, to make him the head of the religious party. The greatest pandits at the capital soon acknowledged him their master. He took the lead of his disciples in the services of prayer, and often moved his whole congregation to tears. When he talked with his intimate friends their usual topic was the moral and religious depravity of the Achehnese. He soon acquired the title of "The Habib" par excellence.

It was not long before the Habib was able to rely fully on the support of all the ulamas and those who wished to gain a reputation for piety, and of a considerable portion of the credulous masses. From every side there poured in thousands of men and women eager were it only to kiss the Habib's hand. On such occasions each one brought as a gift a measure (gampét) of husked rice at the least, and sometimes money presents of considerable amount.

He thus won all the influence that an ambitious Achehnese ulama might attain, but rose superior to all such ulamas by virtue of the knowledge of the world, keen insight and political talent which distinguished him from the native Achehnese, and also from the fact of his being a sayyid.

So hopelessly divided are the people of Acheh that the greatest of ulamas would always find jealous rivals and thus have parties hostile to him; but the Habib as a foreigner stood outside parties, and as a sayyid was exalted above all the native Achehnese.

The important chiefs and satellites of the sultan with whom he came in contact supplied him with but few real friends and adherents, for these representatives of adat, unless they be unusually devout, see in an upholder of the hukōm a formidable rival. Looking at the circumstances, we at once see that this conservative party is right in this view. Whoever advances the pretension of "upholding religion" (peukōng agama) is their natural enemy, and the most serious part of the matter is that they actually lack the weapons wherewith to contend against such foes.

A reformation of the institutions of the country conducted in a religious spirit would rob the ulèëbalangs of everything. Even if the work were carried out with the utmost moderation in conformity with the national character of the Achehnese, still the whole administration