It gives the genealogy of ar-Raniri and his arrival to Indonesia as well as the vital role he played in the documentation of important literatures in Malay and Islamic education. This paper further argues that Nuruddin ar-Raniri, serving as a Sufi scholar, great writer, theologian, historian has immense contribution.
Various cultures assimilated with Arabian culture brought by the soldiers. These acculturations and assimilations were the root of Islam civilization.
The next dynasty, the Abbasiyah, consolidated their power and in 750 AD, Islamic civilization had spread to the outer territory of the Abbasiyyah (Schimmel, 1986: 30). One of the biggest countries ruled by Islam was Persia. As one of the kingdoms with the oldest culture in the world and a much higher civilization than Arabia, Persian culture gave a tremendously deep influence in Islamic civilization, especially in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, spiritual, and material. Moreover, these Persian elements had perfectly been an integral part of Islam civilization. After spreading throughout the east to India, Islam spread its wings to Southeast Asia. Here it also penetrated almost every aspect of cultural life. In its journey exploring Indonesia, Islam also introduced the Persian culture which later gave permanent colors to local archipelago cultures (Liaw, 1991).
One of the important parts of Islamic culture in Indonesia with strong Persian influence is literature. Through India, which at that time was ruled by the Mughal dynasty, Malayan, Javanese, and Sundanese literature took the Persian elements as their own.