Investigating the Influence of Tafsir Works Using Parallel Method of Intertextuality theory in Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan by Umar, M. S

Vol. 11, No. 11, 2021, Pg. 708 Abstract Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is the second interpretation after Tarjuman al-Mustafid written in the Malay language in the 19th century AD by Umar, M. S. The main objective of this study is to identify the influence of the external source in the text of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan. This study employs intertextual reading based on dialogism in the process of analyzing Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan based on the parallel method. The research design used is documentation and fieldwork using the subjective approach that employs descriptive and qualitative data. The study reveals that there are 11 works which have influenced the essence of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan which are Tafsir al-Jalalyn by al-Mahalli, J. and al-Suyuti, J., Tafsir al-Jamal by al-Ujjaily, S., Tafsir al-Baydawi by Umar, A., Tafsir al-Khazin by Muhammad, A., Tafsir al- Baghawi by Mas’ud, H., Tafsir al-Tabari by Jarir, M., Tafsir al-Qurtubi by Abu Bakr, A., Tafsir al-Razi by al-Razi, M., Tafsir al-Nasafi by Ahmad, A., Tafsir Ibn Kathir by Umar, I., and Tafsir al- Tha’labi by al- Tha’labi, A. I . The finding analysis also reveals that Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is mostly influenced by Tafsir al-Jalalyn. This study suggests that thorough research be done by the next researcher on all the works referred to by Sheikh Muhammad Said when writing Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan. This is to completely remove the public's doubts about this work.


Introduction
The writings of Islamic works and translations into the Malay language have grown tremendously since the coming of Islam to Nusantara regions (Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, and Indonesia), which have covered various fields and branches of knowledge such as fiqh, aqidah, tafsir, hadith, and Sufism, among others. The writings and translations by previous Islamic scholars have remained important sources of reference and are still used by contemporary scholars for academic purposes. It shows the success of previous Islamic scholars who produced writings that have not only attracted the interest of the public but also have benefited them. One of the Islamic scholars was Umar, M. S. Qadi Jitra al-Qadhi who produced a book in the field of Tafsir in the Malay language entitled Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan.
Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan has been a reference in understanding Qur'anic verses not only by the public but also by contemporary scholars who have used it as teaching material. This invaluable piece of work has given a contribution to the knowledge of the public at large so much so that scholars are attracted to study and examine this work from various aspects such as history, language, the influence, and stature of the author.
Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is also one of the books on Tafsir al-Qur'an, which is still being used as teaching material and reference today especially at Pondok institutions, mosques, and musollas. Pondok institutions such as Yayasan Huffaz at Kedah, Malaysia, and Darul Fuqaha at Kedah, Malaysia have been using the book as the teaching material for their weekly teaching. However, there have been criticisms of the content of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan by certain sections of the public. Some of them opined that this book has its shortcomings because, in the writing of this book, the author does not mention any citation and uses many unjustified opinions in his tafsir (Zaim, 2010), so much so that the public should be careful when reading Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan (Taib, 2003).
Since Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan has been used as teaching material in the Tafsir al-Qur'an and a reference by the public at large in understanding verses of al-Qur'an, then efforts to refine this piece of work should be made. This study is one of the efforts which attempts to refine sources of reference and interconnections between the original text and other tafsir texts using intertextual reading. This will answer the aforementioned problem statement. The objective of this study is to examine Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan in order to examine whether there exists the influence of other texts on the text of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan using intertextual reading. This study focuses on the application of the parallel method on the text of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan as an early effort towards the refinement of the text which contributes to improving the invaluable work. Since the author of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan mentioned that he referred to works in the field of tafsir while writing (Umar, 1970), this study focuses only on tafsir works. From the perspective of methodology, this study employs library research and field study using the subjective approach to examine data descriptively and qualitatively.

Intertextuality Theory
The intertextuality theory was originally known as dialogic which was introduced by Bakhtin in the year 1926 because there was voluminous Russian art literature that was difficult to comprehend at that time. As a consequence, this theory was introduced by Bakhtin in order to facilitate readers to understand the difficult literature. This theory considered that all literature that was written was based on dialogues between one text and another. In other words, this theory states that any text is influenced by other texts. This is supported by Harari (1979), who mentioned that: "every text, being itself the intertext of another text, belong to the intertextual, which must not be confused with a text's origins". The basis of this dialogic theory is used to understand Dostoevsky's literature such as The Gambler, The Idiot, and The Brother's Karamazov which were considered as difficult to be understood by the public using theories of literature such as formalism which were dominant during that time (Dostoyevsky, 1967). The Russian formalism approach which was on the rise during that time did not help the public to understand the approach of Dostoevsky's literature. Bakhtin's dialogism emphasized external aspects which influenced reading or how an author approached art literature and in turn would flow naturally into his literature writing.
However, Bakhtin did not deny the importance of internal elements such as theme, thought, plot, characters, and other elements. In the theory of dialogism, an author would have a dialogue with the text itself, himself, and readers. This would create dialogues between a text and another text and as a consequence, it would trigger changes, conflicts, and expansion in the literature which was being written by the author in terms of theme and problems, plot or characters, and characterization. Therefore, the relationship between external and internal structures in literature is important in this approach. According to Schmitz (2007), sentences used by someone in speech or writing interconnects among them and if there is no dependency among them, then any sentence or speech becomes gloomy and inexpendable. Schmitz (2007) mentioned; "Language always works within certain situations, and utterances produce their significance within this context. The linguistic material alone is not enough to determine whether a word or a sound is enthusiastic, gloomy, ironical, threatening, or deferential; rather, this depends on many factors such as intonation, volume, the interlocutor, and prior utterances in the dialogue" (Schmitz, 2007).
This theory was later discussed by Kristeva (1980) in her Ph.D. thesis entitled La revolution du Langage Poetique in 1970. However, Kristeva did not name this theory as dialogic, instead, she termed it as intertextuality. Hawthorn (2000) mentioned that every text which was written was influenced by other texts and this influence was discussed in intertextual theory. Therefore, readers should not be confused with the original text which is the hipogram of a given text. Hawthorn (2000) stated that "Kristeva defines the text as a permutation of texts, an intertext in the space of a given text...".
The development of this theory not only has taken place in Europe but also in the whole world. In Southeast Asia, it has been discussed as one of the modern literary theories in which one scholar in the field of literature named Sardjono (1986) has developed this theory. He has not only stood on the principles of Kristeva but has also introduced another principle termed excerpts. This principle applies when a text is incarnated in another text in an abstract form. Subsequently, there was the birth of new names in Indonesia such as Teeuw and Umar. Meanwhile, in Malaysia and Singapore, it became known after Napiah, A. R. discussed it in several books, particularly in his Ph.D. thesis entitled "Tuah Jebat Dalam Drama Melayu: Satu Kajian Intertekstualiti", in 1989. In this thesis, he not only discussed this theory at length but also applied it to the book entitled Hikayat Hang Tuah.
Upon examination of the book entitled Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art by Kristeva (1980) and Kakawin Gajah Mada by Sardjono (1986), there are 10 intertextual principles that have often appeared in literature and manifestation reflected in a person's style of writing, namely transformation, modification, expansion, demitefication, haplology, excerpt, parallel, conversion, existence, and defamiliarization. Each of these principles does not have to appear separately in a certain work, which means that some of them could appear simultaneously. For example, when a particular text goes through a transformation process, it could also pass through a modification process, expansion, or any other intertextual principles at the same time (Yusuff, 2020).

Application of Parallel Method in Tafsir Nur Al-Ihsan
Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is a great work that has been produced by Umar, M. S. He began producing the work in the month of Zulhijjah, 1344 AH equivalent to January 1925 AD, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ibn al-Marhun Sultan Ahmad Taj al-Din Mukarram Shah , the 25th Sultan of Kedah. The writing of this work took two years and nine months to complete, and it was completed on Wednesday, one Rabiul Akhir 1346 AH equivalent to one October 1927 AD (Umar, 1970).
Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan was produced by Umar, M. S. in four volumes, and each volume is arranged according to the surahs of the Qur'an. The first volume includes Surah al-Fatihah to Surah al-Ma'idah, the second volume includes Surah al-An'am to Surah Hud, the third volume includes Surah al-Kahf to Surah al-Zumar, and the fourth volume includes Surah al-Mukmin to Surah al-Nas.
This article looks at only one angle from the aspect of applying the form of the intertextuality theory, namely the application of the parallel method. In Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan, there are five debates discussed by Umar (1970) including the contexts and occasions of the revelation of the Qur'an, hadiths, the stories of isra'iliyyat, the abrogating and abrogated verses in the Qur'an (Nasikh and Mansukh), and the text about advantages (Fadhilat). However, the discussion did not include the source of the intake. Such a thing causes the author's interpretation to be disputed by some scholars, especially on explanations that are contrary to reason and sharia. However, the results of the research that has been done found that the discussion is sourced from the works of muktabar such as Tafsir al-Quran al-Azim by Ibn Kathir, Anwar Tanzil wa Asrar Takwil by al-Baydawi, and al-Jami' al-Ahkam al-Quran by al-Qurtubi which is indeed certified in its interpretation value (al-Dhahabi, 2005).
The parallel is one of the methods listed in the intertextuality principles used to identify parallel sources of the original text. This method occurs when the author of a work writes a text that is similar to another text from a particular work into the text that is being written both in terms of the arrangement of the text and also the meaning. This is because the author has been influenced by his reading material and then also included in his text. This method is indeed beneficial to the reader where it is able to strengthen the reader's confidence in the facts stated by the author, as well as elevate Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan on par with other works muktabar. Through the parallel method, it can be understood that when the author transforms a text into his text changes will not occur either in terms of text arrangement, the addition of meaning, or deletion of the text.
In addition, as a result of the application of the parallel method, the external text contained in the text of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan has been identified and can trace the original source of the text. This can be seen through the writings of Umar, M. S. in Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan, namely: "this verse of the Quran was revealed when the Jews insulted the Muslims because they changed the direction of Qibla during prayers" (Umar, 1970).
While the text from Tafsir al-Jalalyn (1919) which is the original work also states: Both texts explain the reason for the decline of the 115th verse of surah al-Baqarah, which is the Jewish insult to Muslims for changing the direction of Qibla from Al-Aqsa Mosque to the Holy Mosque and sunnah prayers on vehicles that allow facing anywhere. They claim that Muslims are being played by the Prophet SAW for alleviating the matter which is indeed the most important thing in religion. Even so, their claims are based on common sense. Allah SWT answered their accusations with the explanation that all directions whether east or west belong to Him and Muslims should face anywhere following His command. Through this parallel method, the reader is able to detect connections and relationships between the two texts. Therefore, the application of parallel methods in conducting this research is important to identify the original source of a text in the text of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan used by Umar, M. S.  Table 1 explains the data which were analyzed based on the parallel method. This study finds that the Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan was influenced by Tafsir al-Jalalyn 157 times (60%), Tafsir al-Jamal 56 times (21%), Tafsir al-Baydawi 9 times (3.4%), Tafsir al-Khazin 13 times (5%), Tafsir al-Baghawi 4 times (1.5%), Tafsir al-Tabari 2 times (0.7%), Tafsir al-Qurtubi 12 times (4.5%), Tafsir al-Razi 5 times (2%), Tafsir al-Nasafi 1 times (0.3%), Tafsir Ibn Kathir 2 times (0.7%) and Tafsir al-Tha'labi 1 times (0.3%). Therefore, the text which has the most influence on Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan using parallel method is Tafsir al-Jalalyn.

Conclusion
Based on this study, it could be concluded that the intertextuality theory has its method. This method combines processing, construction, and digestion of the two aspects which are internal and external aspects of the construction of a piece of work. The internal aspect is observed when the authors set the style of interpretation (tafsir) according to their aspirations, while the external aspect is when there exist external works which affect the written text. Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is a tafsir which was written by Umar (1970). This work has received widespread acceptance not only in Malaysia but also in Egypt and Thailand on par with other contemporary tafsir. What is interesting about this work is its brief presentation style even understandable by the laymen and is also loaded with various knowledge. His easy style meets the needs of all levels of society and is suitable for use by modern civil society such as Malaysia.
Umar (1970)  Advantages (Fadhilat), which are very interesting for the people to learn and live by. Through this study, the sources of references for all referred texts and the information which was omitted from the original text are identified. Therefore, this study provides evidence that Umar (1970) neither uses unsupported facts nor uses his own opinion in producing the literature entitled Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan.
In conclusion, this study provides evidence that the main reference of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is Tafsir al-Jalalyn based on the percentage of frequency that Umar (1970) referred to it more than any other tafsir works. While the Tafsir al-Jamal, Tafsir al-Baydawi, Tafsir al-Khazin, Tafsir al-Baghawi, Tafsir al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Qurtubi, Tafsir al-Razi, Tafsir al-Nasafi, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, and Tafsir al-Tha'labi were the side works which were used by the author as references.