So with the subject of the present paper, a manuscript which clearly shows that the Islam of Indonesia is South Indian in its origin, and was introduced by Indian Moslems, who came from the Dekhan, especially from the Tamil country. The MS. I review, is an ancient looking folio, described in my recently published sup- plementary catalogue of the Malay manuscripts in the Leyden University Library sub No. 754.[1] It mentions neither the place where it was written nor the name of its original owner. Yet it speaks an eloquent language, as it is composed in two idioms, Tamil and Malay, and contains moreover passages in Persian. So here we find the three Islamic languages in question employed in one hook.
This manuscript, moreover, presents an example of Tamil written in Arabic characters and used for the rendering of an Arabic text. Tamil books, it is true, printed in Arabic characters are by no means unknown—(I was shown some specimens in the library of the India Office at London in 1907), but such manuscripts so far as I know, are very rare, and this one at least is unique both in Holland and Dutch India.
I will not tax the reader's patience by an exposition of the system followed in rendering Tamil sounds by Arabic characters; it will suffice to state that a copious use has been made of the so- called emphatic letters and dental letters with dots beneath them. Moreover the transliteration does not seem to be quite consistent. The very first page is typical of the nature of the whole book, Malay being mixed with Tamil without any apparent transition. This page is taken up by a niyyah-formula in Malay (the formulary for the inward intention to perform the ritual prostrations, sembahyang), ending in an Arabic prayer, which in its turn is followed by an ex- planation in Tamil, all by one and the same hand, and in one con- tinuous handwriting. So, after an Arabic prayer, at once the text continues with an explanation in Tamil,[2] and so on. Evidently the author or scribe wrote the three languages with equal case and understanding.
After some introductory matter a regular text begins, viz. an Arabic treatise styled: Izam al-fawā'id fi nizām al-'akā'id, on the tenets of the creed, accompanied by a Tamil version with fully vocalised Arabic transcription, many diacritical signs but not a single Tamil letter; so it is all in queer-looking Arabic writing. The Arabic dogmatical treatise, by Mahmud Ibn Muhammad Labai Kumaran begins, after the nsual eulogy in honour of Allah and the Prophet, as follows: "The poor slave, who needs the intervention of the Prophet, says: this is a short treatise which deals with what
