Some Malay superstitions
Haji Abdul Majid (Abdul Majid bin Haji Zainuddin Haji), a Malay Muslim scholar who had performed the Hajj, published this descriptive compilation of fifty-five Malay folk beliefs and omens in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1928. The article presents a numbered catalogue of superstitions spanning dream interpretation, animal omens, bodily sensations, marriage customs, spirit beliefs, and practical folk magic, without extended analytical commentary. Its overarching value lies in recording a living body of popular belief that blends pre-Islamic animist traditions with Islamic theological reasoning, as understood and articulated by a Malay Muslim informant of the period.
Summary
The article is structured as a straightforward numbered list of fifty-five items, each a single folk belief or omen, with no introduction, conclusion, or sustained argument. The beliefs fall into several broad thematic clusters: dream divination (tooth loss, climbing hills, seeing white objects, catching birds), animal and natural omens (snake crossings, owl hooting, bee flight direction, butterfly visits, magpie-robin chattering), bodily signs (eyelid itching, palm itching, nostril breath, hair length, eyelid shape), and ritual precautions (nail-cutting days, eclipse responses, fishing taboos, meal-time etiquette).
A particularly striking feature is the way Islamic theology is woven into what are essentially animist or pre-Islamic beliefs. The tiger is said to consult a verse of the Quran through a hole in a broad-leafed tree before killing a human, and to refrain from attacking from the front because the forehead of every man bears the verse declaring man’s superiority over other creatures (items 30–31). Sleeping on the right side invites angels while the left invites Satan (item 32). This syncretic layering—where popular supernatural logic is rationalised through scriptural authority—is the article’s most significant ethnographic observation, even though the author does not explicitly comment on it.
The spirit and ghost beliefs occupy a substantial portion of the list. The langsoyor (childbirth ghost) is described in detail: she wanders on moonlight nights, tempts lonely travellers with giggles, has a hole in the back of her head that can be filled with her own hair to restore her to humanity, and walks without her feet touching the ground—discoverable only by looking between one’s legs (chelah kangkang) (items 25–26). The darah manis (sweet blood) of a first-time pregnant woman is said to be detectable by tigers and evil spirits from a distance of “seven hills and seven valleys” (item 24). The hantu tinggi (tall ghost) offers supernatural powers for the asking, but if wealth is requested, it merely grows papayas around the house (item 48).
Key Findings
- The article catalogues exactly 55 numbered superstitions across five pages (pp. 41–45), with no analytical framework, introduction, or conclusion.
- Islamic theological reasoning is explicitly embedded in folk beliefs: the tiger checks the Quran before killing (item 30), the forehead bears the verse of man’s superiority (item 31), and sleeping posture determines whether angels or Satan attend (item 32).
- The langsoyor (childbirth ghost) is described as having a hole in the back of her head; filling it with her trailing hair restores her to human form, but the rescuer must not leave an areca nut between the kachip or she will revert (item 25).
- The darah manis of a first-pregnant woman is said to be smellable by tigers and evil spirits (polong, pelesit) from a distance of “seven hills and seven valleys” (item 24).
- Sacred tigers (kramat) protect a community until an outrageous sin (e.g., incest) is committed; they first kill a cat (the tiger’s guru or master) as a warning before preying on people and livestock (item 49).
- The preliminary marriage enquiry deputation (buka chakap, distinguished from meminang) reads omens in the bride’s activity: bathing, carrying water, cooking, or combing hair are favourable; sleeping, sweeping, or sitting on the doorstep are unfavourable (item 7).
Conclusion
Abdul Majid’s article is best understood as a descriptive ethnographic record rather than an analytical study. Its principal historical contribution is the preservation of a syncretic belief system in which pre-Islamic animist categories (ghosts, spirits, animal omens, bodily divination) are actively reinterpreted through Islamic theological language, suggesting that popular Malay religion of the 1920s was not a simple replacement of one system by another but a layered negotiation between them.
Context
- The author holds the title Haji, indicating he had completed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and writes as a Malay Muslim documenting his own culture’s popular beliefs for a colonial-era academic readership.
- The article draws on no named archival collections; it is a first-person descriptive compilation, likely based on the author’s own knowledge and observation of Malay folk practice in the late 1920s.