FROM MANDAILING LAND TO HARAMAYN: Mandailing Ulama and the Religious Sciences in the Early 20 th Century

: Mecca and Medina, also known as Haramayn, are the two holy cities of Muslims and serve as the intellectual and spiritual centers of the Islamic world. At the beginning of the 20th century, religious students from the archipelago visited these cities to perform the pilgrimage and continued their studies. While researchers have uncovered the role and network of Indonesian ulama, not all ulama groups have been successfully uncovered. This article examines the role of the Mandailing ulama, particularly those with the surname Nasution, in preserving religious sciences in the Tapanuli Residency in the early 20th century. The ulama discussed in this study include Sheikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Mandily (Nasution), Sheikh Muhammad Ja’far Nasution, and Sheikh Musthafa Husein Nasution. This is a literature study with a historical approach. Kuntowijoyo’s historical research model serves as a reference in writing this article, and al-Ghazâlî’s opinion about the classification of knowledge is the main theory used to analyze research topics. This article argues that the Mandailing ulama, particularly those with the surname Nasution, actively preserved religious sciences in the Tapanuli Residency after studying at Masjidilharam in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. They later became the primary agents of teaching religious sciences according to the Sunni Islamic tradition in their respective areas. The results of this study have implications for the strengthening of literature and theory on the role and network of Indonesian ulama.


INTRODUCTION
At the beginning of the 20th century, Mecca and Medina, or Haramayn in Saudi Arabia, remained the intellectual and spiritual centers of the Islamic world (Azra, 2002). Several ulama and students from various parts of the Islamic world came and settled in the two holy cities of Muslims with two main motivations, namely performing the pilgrimage and studying religious sciences (Burhanuddin & Baedowi, 2003: 74). Apart from the Masjidilharam, ulama and students held learning activities at two well-known madrasas there, namely the Madrasah Shaulatiyah and the Madrasah Dâr al-'Ulûm (Hayimasae, 2013: 110-128 Haramayn and Nusantara ulama in the 17th and 18th centuries (Azra, 2004), while Abdurrahman Ma'sud then examined the network in the following era (Mas'ud, 2006). Dzulkifli Amnan also researched a similar matter, but focused on the preaching of Nusantara ulama in Haramayn from the 17th to the 20th centuries (Amnan, 2018 Mandailing Land and has produced several important and interesting works (Pulungan, 2004(Pulungan, , 2008(Pulungan, , 2012(Pulungan, , 2018(Pulungan, , 2020b. In addition, Mhd. Syahnan, Asrul and Ja'far have researched the treasures of Mandailing ulama, and the results have been published in several reputable journals, including Scopus-indexed journals (Ja'far et al., 2022;. Erawadi has examined the network of Mandailing-Angkola ulama with Malay Peninsula ulama (Erawadi, 2015) while Sehat Sulthoni Dalimunthe has studied the network of ulama of Kedah and Southern Tapanuli from 1990-1950(Dalimunthe, 2019. Several Mandailing ulama from the Residency of East Sumatra, for example, Abdurrahman Sjihab Rangkuti, Ismail Banda Lubis, Yusuf Ahmad Lubis, M. Arsjad Th. Lubis, and Ismail Abdul Wahab Harahap have also been investigated (Ja'far, 2020c(Ja'far, , 2020b(Ja'far, , 2020a(Ja'far, , 2021 syarî'ah and 'ulûm al-'aqliyah (Bakar, 1998) is used as an analytical tool in analyzing research topics. This study argues that the Mandailing ulama with the surname Nasution constitute a group of ulama who provide exegesis of Islam according to the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamâ'ah and the Ja'far 189 Shâfi'iyah schools in Indonesia. By teaching various religious sciences, they have become agents of intellectual, social, and political change in the areas where they serve.

The Mandailing Ulama of Nasution Clan
Mandailing is one of the indigenous tribes in North Sumatra Province, and it consists of several clans, including Nasution, Siregar, Lubis, Hasibuan, Batubara, Daulay, and Harahap. According to Lubis, this ethnic group was slow to embrace Islam, and the religion only entered the Mandailing Land during the Padri War (1821-1838). The practice of Islam in Mandailing society prioritize adat (customary law) and 'urf (general practice) as a form of public benefit. One of the sayings of the Mandailing people is ombar do adat dohot ugamo (customs and religion) (Lubis, 2005).
What does the Mandailing ulama mean? The term "ulama' comes from the Arabic word ulamâ', which is the plural form of the term 'alim, meaning a person who knows. In general, the word "ulama" refers to scholars who know almost all branches of knowledge, although this word later means more for people who have deep knowledge in the field of Islamic religious sciences. Those who are experts in Islamic jurisprudence or fiqh are called faqih, experts in exegesis are called mufassir, experts in hadith are called muhaddits, and experts in Kalam are called mutakallim.
Azyumardi Azra revealed that, in simple terms, ulama means "a person who knows, or a person who has knowledge" (Azra, 2002). Broadly speaking, there is no specification of knowledge that must be known and owned by people who are considered to be ulama. Along with the development of Islamic sciences, Azra stated that the definition of ulama has been reduced to "people who know the field of fiqh" (Azra, 2002). According to Azra, the ulama are the inheritors of the Prophets and serve as a continuation, custodians, and guardians of religious teachings. The ulama, he said, are the guardians of the faith. Therefore, the role of the ulama is to prevent religion from deviating, distorting, and being misunderstood by both internal and external circles of Islam .
The Mandailing people, according to Abbas Pulungan, also have a specific definition of a distinguished ulama. In his research, Abbas revealed that within the Mandailing community, "ulama must have studied in the Middle East, have their own madrasas (schools), and teach and give recitations to the general public." This definition is different from the view of the Angkola people who interpret the ulama as "only a madrasa teacher, or religious leaders who teach to certain groups such as the parent group..." (Pulungan, 2008: 101-102).
However, from these two definitions, the Mandailing people interpret the ulama as individuals who have acquired qualified religious knowledge by studying under ulama (whether in the Middle East or in certain areas), teach religion to the people (students and the community), and have their own madrasas, or who also teach at madrasas and recite the Qur'an.
How many Mandailing ulama are there? In 1983, the Indonesian Ulama Council of North Sumatra Province published a book entitled Sejarah Ulama-ulama Terkemuka di Sumatera Utara, which mentioned as many as 46 prominent ulama from North Sumatra Province, with the majority of them being of Mandailing ethnicity (Utara, 1983 data about them were readily available. The article will examine their role in preserving religious sciences.

The Role of the Mandailing Ulama from Nasution Clan in Preserving the Religious Sciences
Imam al-Ghazâlî divides knowledge into two types: 'ulûm al-syarî'ah (religious sciences) and 'ulûm al-'aqliyah (rational sciences) (Bakar, 1998(Bakar, : 1998. The first type of knowledge is further divided into two categories: (a) knowledge of basic principles (al-ushûl), which includes knowledge of divine oneness, prophets and companions of the prophet, eschatology, and sources of religious sciences (Qur'an and hadith). This category is further divided into two subcategories: practical sciences (linguistics) and supplementary sciences (Qur'anic sciences, hadith sciences, jurisprudential sciences (ushûl al-fiqh), and biographies of the Prophet, companions, and famous people); and (b) knowledge of branches (furû'), which includes knowledge of human obligations to God ('ibâdah), human obligations to society (mu'âmalah and jinâyah), and human obligations to his soul (akhlâq). The second type of science, 'ulûm al-'aqliyah, is divided into four types: metaphysics, matematics, physics, and logic.
The first type of knowledge is usually referred to as religious sciences, while the second type of knowledge is typically known as general sciences (philosophy and science  (Ginting, 2009). His son, Muhammad Ja'far, was asked by the Muslims in Huta Siantar to serve in the Mandailing Land, to which he agreed. Muhammad Ja'far went on to become a highly influential ulama in the region.
There is not much information available about Sheikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Mandily, especially regarding his teachers.

However, it is important to distinguish him from Sheikh 'Abd al-Qadir bin 'Abd al-Muthalib al-Mandily (d. 1965), a
Mandailing ulama who was active in Malaysia. According to Muhammad Husni Ginting, Sheikh 'Abd al-Qadir bin Shabir was a student of Sheikh Sayyid Bakri Syatha' and Sheikh 'Abd al-Karim Daghistani, both of whom were prominent ulama in the Shâfi'i school of Haramayn (Ginting, 2009 (Mona, 1936).
Sheikh Muhammad Ja'far Nasution (d. 1958)   After moving to Huta Siantar in Panyabungan, Sheikh Muhammad Ja'far Nasution taught Islam and religious sciences ('ulûm al-syarî'ah) in both the scope of While in Mandailing Land, Sheikh Mustafa Husein Nasution began to actively teach religious sciences ('ulûm al-syarî'ah) both at home, in mosques, and in madrasas.