Arsyad Thawil al-Bantani

Thawil was born in Lempuyang village, Tanara, Serang Regency. His father was a Bantenese named Imam As'ad bin Mustafa bin As'ad, while his mother was Ayu Nazham.^[8] No one knows the exact of date and year of his birth,^[7] but on his tombstone it was written that he was born in 1851 AD.^[1]

Thawil was born under the name of Mas Mohammad Arsyad. The nickname "Mas" was an abbreviation of Permas, a Bantenese noble title that was a descendant of the sultanate.^[9] While, named Thawil (Arabic: ﻃﻮﻳﻞ, romanized: ṭawīl) which means long because there was a friend named Shaikh Arsyad Qashir al-Bantani, Qashir (Arabic: ﻗﺼﻴﺮ, romanized: qaṣīr) was mean short. Therefore, to distinguish him from Arsyad Qashir, his friends then pinned Thawil's name behind his name.^[8]

Thawil received basic Islamic religious education such as reading al-Quran from his father directly, Imam As'ad who was also a cleric at his pesantren at Tanara. In addition, he also studied other sciences such as nahwu (arabic grammar), sharaf (morphology), fiqh, and tawhid from his father.^[8]

In 1867 when Thawil was 16 years old, he went to Bima to study with Sheikh Abdul Gani. But only arrived in Surabaya he met his prospective teacher who will carry out hajj to Mecca, next he expressed his desire to learn from him. Then Sheikh Abdul Gani accepted Thawil as a disciple as well as invite him to go to Mecca together.^[10][7]

At Masjid al-Haram, Thawil followed the lesson given by Ahmad Zayni Dahlan, Mufti of Mecca, especially regarding nahwu, fiqh, and al-sīra al-Nabawiyya. In addition studying to Ahmad Zayni Dahlan, Thawil also studied with some cleric in Mecca, among them Sheikh Nawawi al-Bantani and Sayyid Abu Bakri Syatha (under the guidance of his two sons, Sayyid Umar Syatha and Sayyid Uthman Syatha).^[8]

Thawil deepens the science of hadith to Habib Muhammad ibn Husein al-Habsyi al-Makki under the guidance of his son, Mufti al-Muhaddits al-Habib Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Habsyi al-Makki. In addition, Thawil also obtained the study of the hadith from the Medina cleric, Sheikh Abdul Ghani bin Abi Sa'id al-Mujaddidi under the guidance of some of his disciples, Sayyid Ali bin Zhahir al-Watri, Sheikh Shalih bin Muhammad az-Zhahiri, and Sheikh Abdul Jalil Barradah. As for the science of fiqh, Thawil also deepens it to Sheikh Muhammad bin Sulaiman Hasbullah al-Makki.^[8]

Thawil married in his exile in Manado with a Minahasa girl of a local pastor named Magdalena Runtu (b. 1880; d. 1937),^[11] who after converting to Islam changed her name into Tarhimah Magdalena Runtu.^[10]

For five years (from 1868 to 1873), Thawil was a disciple of the Meccan cleric who also came from Banten, Sheikh Nawawi al-Bantani.^[4] One day, Sheikh Nawawi sent his work in the form of a manuscript (kitab) to Egyptian cleric, but the work was rejected and returned in code form. After the code was received, Sheikh Nawawi then replied it with the same code. Receiving a shipment of codes from Sheikh Nawawi, the Egyptian scholar was very surprised because only certain scholars of highly knowledgeable scholars could understand the code. To cure the curiosity, the Egyptian scholars agreed to invite Sheikh Nawawi for questioning. Sheikh Nawawi also fulfilled the invitation of the Egyptian scholars and invited Thawil as his pupil to play and swap places (Sheikh Nawawi became Thawil, as well as vice versa).^[5]

The arrival of the Banten cleric was welcomed by Egyptian scholars albeit without ceremony. In the presence of the Egyptian scholar, Thawil, who performed as Sheikh Nawawi sat on a chair, while Sheikh Nawawi sat down as a bodyguard. Many questions were asked by Egyptian scholars who were not easy to answer by any scholar. As Sheikh Nawawi, Thawil also ordered his bodyguard (who was none other than Sheikh Nawawi) to answer these questions, then all questions asked were answered satisfactorily by Syekh Nawawi who acted as bodyguard of Thawil. The Egyptian scholars were amazed to hear such a satisfactory answer, So they think that his bodyguard was so great, let alone who guarded, surely more great.^[5][12]

After the invitation, Indonesian clerics were increasingly respected. The work of Sheikh Nawawi who was rejected by Egyptian publishers began to be published. This also affected the good respect to the Indonesian clerics by Egyptian scholars at that time.^[4]

In 1893, Thawil returned to his homeland of Banten. At the time, Banten was facing a series of crises. The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa which claimed at least 36,417 deaths,^[13] followed by an outbreak of animal diseases in 1885 caused living standards to plummet and inadvertently made the people believe in superstition and shamanism.^[13] To add to the already difficult lives of the people, the Dutch colonial government imposed harsh and unfair regulations towards the population.^[8]

In response to the Dutch unfair treatment of the population, the ulama and the Muslim populace decided to launch a rebellion which was approved by Sheikh Nawawi al-Bantani in Mecca along with many other notable ulamas. The Muslims of Banten initiated a jihad with Arsyad Thawil playing a decisive role which made him a sought-after target by the colonial government.^[14][11]

When the rebellion was suppressed, the Dutch arrested and exiled many Bantenese ulama into far provinces of the East Indies where it was difficult for them to re-organize another rebellion. The exiled destinations for many notable ulama included the Banda Islands, Bukittingi, Buton, Flores, Manado and among others.^[14][15][16]