KEARIFAN TEMPATAN DALAM PENGGUNAAN AIR SEMBILAN KETIKA PROSES MEMANDIKAN JENAZAH MASYARAKAT MELAYU

Abstract

Death is a matter of great significance in Malay society. It depicts the final process of life in this world. Death marks the first step in traversing the afterlife. Therefore, Malay society places great emphasis on the perfection of funeral management to provide a final tribute to the deceased. Starting from the death throes until after the burial is carried out, various practices based on Sharia and local wisdom are implemented to ensure the perfection of funeral management. Among the practices rich in local wisdom is the use of nine waters in the process of bathing the deceased. The use of these nine waters is widespread among Malay Muslim corpse washers. This writing focuses on the function and reasons behind the implementation of this practice. The study only focuses on local wisdom in the use of nine waters during the bathing of the deceased in Malay society. This study describes the practice of the implemented rituals and explains the reasons and functions of each practice. To achieve this objective, the writing will focus on a literature review of existing literature from electronic journals, classical Arabic-language books, and two manuscripts that serve as basic references for the management of Malay Muslim corpses in the Nusantara, namely Sabil al-Muhtadin and Bughyah al-Thullab, as well as practices carried out in the field. To achieve this objective, the study will combine literature and field research based on interview methods. Qualitative data collected will be thematically analyzed to formulate local wisdom in the use of nine waters during the process of bathing the deceased. The findings of the study indicate variations in the way nine waters are used, but their usage has four functions of local wisdom, namely cleansing the body of the deceased, releasing spiritual and mystical practices, eliminating the effects of bathing water used for the beginning of magic in the Malay world, and healing some physical and spiritual ailments.