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Indonesian writer Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah (Hamka) –

Top 10 Sensational Facts about Hamka

Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, better known by his pen name Hamka was an Indonesian philosopher, writer, lecturer, politician, and journalist. First affiliated with the Masyumi Party, until it was disbanded due to connection to the PRRI rebellion. 

Hamka was jailed because he was close to other PRRI members. He also served as the inaugural chief cleric of the Indonesian Ulema Council and was active in Muhammadiyah until he died. Al-Azhar University and Malaysian National University both granted him honorary doctorates, while the Moestopo University of Jakarta appointed him a Distinguished Professor.

Here are 10 sensational facts about Hamka.

1. Hamka was raised in a family of devout Muslims

Hamka was born on 17 February 1908 in Agam, West Sumatra, the eldest of four siblings. Raised in a family of devout Muslims, his father was Abdul Karim Amrullah, a clerical reformer of Islam in Minangkabau, also known as “Haji Rasul”. His mother, Sitti Shafiyah, came from a lineage of Minangkabau artists.

When he was four years old, Hamka and his family moved to Padang Panjang, where he learned to read the Qur’an and recite prayers under the guidance of his half-sister Fatimah. At the age of seven, Malik entered the Village School. In 1916, Zainuddin Labay El Yunusy opened a religious school, Diniyah School, replacing the traditional surau-based education system. 

2. Hamka started reading at a young age

the 1975 version, under Jakarta-based Bulan Bintang Publishing. Taken at the Hamka Museum in Maninjau, West Sumatera by Annayu Maharani –

Hamka spent most of his time reading borrowed books. He read literary works published by Balai Pustaka, Chinese stories, and Arabic translations. After reading, Malik copied his own version. Running out of money to rent the books, Hamka offered to work for a printing house owned by Bagindo Sinaro, where the book collection was covered with protective cardboard. Hamka helped cut cardboard, make glue dough as glue for books, and make coffee, but as a reward, he asks to be allowed to read the collection of books that were to be rented out. Hamka arranged his time to have time to read. Because of his neat work, he was allowed to bring a new book that had not been cardboard to work on at home. 

3. Hamka started living alone when he was 14

Family problems caused Hamka to often travel long distances alone. He would leave his classes at Diniyah and Thawalib and travels to Maninjau to visit his mother. Hamka was conflicted about choosing to live with his mother or father. 

Hamka sought association with the young people of Maninjau. He studied silat and randai, and listening to Kaba, stories sung with traditional Minangkabau musical instruments. He walked further to Bukittinggi and Payakumbuh, briefly hanging out at cockfights and horse racing jockeys. 

He was neglected for almost a year until when he was 14 years old, his father felt restless and took him to go to recite the Koran to the cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Musa in Parabek, about five kilometers from Bukittinggi. In Parabek, for the first time, Hamka lived independently.

4. At 15, Hamka decided to leave for Java to learn advanced Islam

Museum Rumah Kelahiran Buya Hamka by Zhilal Darma –

He ran away from home, unnoticed by his father, and only said goodbye to his grandmother in Maninjau. From Maninjau, Malik started his journey with the money his grandmother gave him, In Bengkulu, he planned to meet a relative from his mother’s tribe to ask for additional fees. He departed to Java again in July 1924, after spending two months bedridden.

Subsequently, in 1925, he went to Pekalongan, Central Java to meet Sutan Mansur Ahmad Rashid, who was the chairman of Muhammadiyah’s Pekalongan branch, and learned more about Islam from him.

5. Hamka founded the East Indian Association while in Mecca

In February 1927, Hamka made the decision to go to Mecca to expand his religious knowledge, including learning the Arabic language and performing his first hajj pilgrimage.  His mastery of Arabic enabled him to read classic Islamic Kitab, books, and Islamic newsletters.

During the pilgrimage, Hamka and several other pilgrims’ candidates founded the East Indian Association, an organization giving lessons to Dutch Indies pilgrims-to-be. He lived in Mecca for some time after the pilgrimage, where he met Agus Salim and expressed his desire to settle in Mecca, but Agus Salim instead advised him to go home.  Hamka soon returned home after seven months of living in Mecca.

6. The Dutch colonial government confiscated Hamka’s writings

Signature of the Indonesian ulama Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah (better known as Hamka) by Prof. Dr. Haji Abdul –

Hamka worked as a correspondent for the daily paper Pelita Andalas and wrote trip reports, especially about his journey to Mecca in 1927. In 1928, he wrote the first story in Minangkabau titled Sabariyah.

In the same year, he was appointed as editor of the “Progress Era” (Kemajuan Zaman) magazine, which was based on the results of the Muhammadiyah conference in Padang Panjang. The next year, he wrote several books, however, some of his writings were confiscated because they were considered seditious by the Dutch colonial government.

7. Hamka was appointed as a religious adviser to the Japanese

During the Japanese occupation, Hamka was appointed as a religious adviser to the Japanese. He was also a member of a makeshift assembly that handled government and Islamic matters in 1944. 

He accepted this position believing the Japanese promise to grant independence to Indonesia. But after occupying this position, he was regarded as a collaborator with the Japanese by his friends. 

He was subjected to endless criticism as the Japanese were defeated and surrendered to the Allies, which drove him back to the Minangkabau after the Indonesian Revolution broke out in 1945, joining Indonesian guerrillas to fight against the return of the Dutch in the jungles of Medan.

8. Hamka was elected Chairman of the Assembly of West Sumatra Muhammadiyah leaders

Hamka –

Muhammadiyah increasingly uphill career when he moved to Medan. In 1942, along with the fall of the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese colonial power, Hamka was elected as leader of East Sumatra Muhammadiyah to replace H. Mohammad Said. But in December 1945, he decided to return to the Minangkabau and the release position. The following year, he was elected Chairman of the Assembly of West Sumatra Muhammadiyah leaders to replace SY Sutan Mangkuto. He held this position until 1949.

In 1953, he was elected as the leader of the center Muhammadyiah Muhammadiyah Congress to-32 at Purwokerto. Since then, he has always chosen the Muhammadiyah Congress further, until in 1971 he pleaded not elected because he was senile. However, he was still appointed as an adviser to the central leadership of Muhammadiyah until the end.

9. Hamka was jailed for two years in connection to the PRRI rebellion

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PRRI)) was a subversive government set up in Sumatra to oppose the central government of Indonesia in 1958. Hamka was jailed for two years because he refused to condemn his party members involvement in the rebellion against the state that was supported by a number of Masyumi leaders.

In 1973, he testified in support of Vivian Rubiyanti Iskandar’s petition before the West Jakarta District Court for legal recognition of her gender, saying that her desire to transition does not run contrary to Allah’s law but in keeping with the teachings of Islam, which holds goodwill to all in high esteem.

10. After his death, Hamsa was declared a National Hero of Indonesia

National Hero of Indonesia is posthumously given by the Government of Indonesia for actions that are deemed to be heroic, defined as actual deeds which can be remembered and exemplified for all time by other citizens or extraordinary service furthering the interests of the state and people.

The government awarded the Mahaputra Utama Star posthumously to Hamka. Since 2011, he has been declared a National Hero of Indonesia. In 2016, the Indonesian Ulema Council started production on a movie about Hamka’s life, titled Buya Hamka.