Trusting in God: Religious Inscriptions on Malay Seals

Malay seals – which can be defined as from Southeast Asia with inscriptions in Arabic script date the 16th to 20th centuries, and originate all parts of Nusantara. The on serve identify seal owner through his (or her) name or title, often accompanied by a pedigree, date, place name. About one-third also include religious legend, usually form pious expression, supplication God addressed His Beautiful Names (al-asmā’ al-ḥusná), quotation Qur’an. This article demonstrates striking degree uniformity expressions found over archipelago. Over half these characterized variations theme al-wāthiq billāh, ‘he who trusts God’, but at same time, there are distinctive regional associations different states archipelago certain preferred phrases.