Essay
Mir'at al-mu'min
Not translated into English
Syamsuddin al-Sumatrani · 1610
Synopsis
A work of theology that proceeds by questions and answers on the beliefs of Islam: the attributes of God, the nature of the prophets, revelation and the day of resurrection. The author sets out what the believer must hold to be true before going further, and the doctrine of the unity of existence that he taught elsewhere remains in the background: it is in a neighbouring treatise, on the degrees of knowledge, that it is developed.
Context
The teaching of its author was widely received in his lifetime, to the point that his orthodox adversary preferred to leave the peninsula rather than confront him. After his death, this same adversary took over all his offices and had his books burned along with those of his master, so that his work is known only through what escaped the fire or through incomplete copies. None of his texts bears a date, and this one is placed only within the thirty years in which he taught and judged in Aceh. An Arabic treatise from his hand was edited by the Dutchman van Nieuwenhuijze.
Who it is for
A short book of doctrine, in the form of questions and answers, more accessible than the author's mystical treatises.
Prizes and reception
One of only two books by this master to have survived the burning of his works, and the one through which his thought can still be read.