Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – In Surah Al-Insan verses 5 and 6, Allah says: “Indeed, those who do good deeds will drink from glasses (containing drinks) whose mixture is kafur water, namely spring water in heaven which is drunk by servants Allah and they can radiate it as well as possible.”
The meaning of kafur water is camphor water or camphor water. Interestingly, historical records show that the camphor mentioned in the Koran and several narrations of the Prophet Muhammad are related to Indonesia, which proves the size of our nation's trade network.
How could that be?
Please note, camphor trees cannot grow in the Middle East. Therefore, people have to import camphor from outside the region. In the import process, obtaining camphor is not difficult. This is because camphor has been traded in most parts of the world since the 4th century AD, three centuries before the Koran was revealed.
Regarding the camphor producing location, Arab sources mention the Fansur area. French researcher Nouha Stephan in “Camphor in Arabic and Persian Sources: Its Production & Use” analyzes traditional texts that mention Fansur. One of the things he studied was the description of the geographer Ibn Sa'id al Magribi. Ibn Sa'id, who died at the end of the 13th century, specifically detailed that the camphor producing Fansur came from the island of Sumatra.
Apart from that, another opinion was also expressed by archaeologist Edward Mc. Kinnon in Ancient Fansur, Aceh's Atlantis (2013). He said Fansur is located at the western tip of Aceh. This hypothesis is based on considerations of geographical location and trade data from written records which mention the name of Panchu as a producer of camphor.
Other valid evidence was also revealed by Claude Guillot in Just a Thousand Years Ago (2008). He concluded that there are three areas where camphor grows naturally that need attention, namely Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo (Kalimantan). However, the historian is more specific about the location, namely the Barus area in Sumatra.
“We can conclude that most or all of the camphor traded before approximately the 10th century AD and the discovery of camphor in Borneo came from northern Sumatra, namely Barus,” wrote Guillot.
If we refer to Guillot's claim, the camphor recorded in the Koran and the history of the Prophet Muhammad or used in preserving mummies in Egypt, comes from Barus, Sumatra.
Furthermore, historian Jajat Burhanudin in Islam in the Current of Indonesian History (2020) said that Barus has been known for a long time in the world of trade. In fact, the name Barus has been known as an ancient city since the 1st century AD based on the records of the Roman expert, Ptolemy. Usually, Arab traders visited the area via separate routes.
Jajat suspects that the Arabs and Persians arrived in Barus by traveling directly from the Persian Gulf, passing through Ceylon, then arriving on the West Coast of Sumatra. At this point, Barus was proven to be a camphor producing area and had developed into an important port in Sumatra.
Over time, Barus became a crucial port in the era of the Sriwijaya Kingdom in the 10th century. Denys Lombard in Nusa Java Cross Culture (1996) said that camphor has become a very popular item on the international market. Many Arab nomads visited there using large ships to transport camphor.
Recently, camphor has played an important role not only in the trade sector, but also in religion. Later, Indonesian history recorded that thanks to the camphor trade, the Islamization process occurred in the archipelago in the 7th century AD. Until now, camphor in Barus is still traded.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
(mfa/sef)