Though a number of books have already been written about the life and times of Ustaz Yusof Rawa, a new book on the fifth president of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) has managed to shed more light on the personality of the man himself.

That 'Permata Dari Pulau Mutiara' does that is hardly a surprise: the book was written by none other than Mujahid Yusof Rawa, son of the man himself.

Though the book does not cover much of the intellectual development of Yusof Rawa over the years, it does provide many an interesting and important insight into the personal life of the man who was once described as the 'Giant Killer' of PAS.

Mujahid is, of course writing about a man he knows so well - his own father. As such, the author could be forgiven for his occasional lapse into sentimentality and emotionalism which would be unforgivable elsewhere. Nonetheless, it is in his account of the early childhood of Yusof Rawa and his father's entry into PAS that we gain the most interesting facts.

Yusof Abdullah al-Rawa, who was popularly known as 'Pak Yusof', was born in Penang on May 8, 1922. Like the third president of PAS Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy, Yusof Rawa's family also came from neighbouring Indonesia. His father, Abdullah Mohamad Noordin al-Rawa, was an immigrant from Rawa, (near Padang) who harboured a deep distrust of the British and Dutch colonial regimes in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Like many migrant families at the time, Yusof Rawa's parents decided to settle in the British crown colony of Penang where his father established his own printing and publishing business called the Maktabah Abdullah Nordin Arrawi. In Penang, Yusof Rawa's family finally settled in the Rawanese settlement known as Kampung Rawa (close to Masjid Melayu), and he was born in his family home at Lebuh Aceh.

Centre of Malay-Muslim universe

Penang was then a busy cosmopolitan metropole that was home to a number of indigenous and migrant communities. The Malay-Muslims in the colony were very much aware of the local and international developments in the Muslim world at the time: The Aceh war in neighbouring Sumatra was a major political event that was always a favourite subject for discussion. Other developments abroad such as the collapse of the Caliphate in Turkey and the development of the Caliphate movement in India were also brought to the attention of the Penangites.

Another important factor which shaped the worldview of Penangite Muslims was the fact that Georgetown was a port city of considerable importance then (as now). Penang was the final stop for thousands of Malayan and Indonesian Muslims who were travelling to Mecca on the yearly pilgrimage, and the area around Lebuh Aceh and Masjid Melayu was known as the 'mini Mecca' where pilgrims, religious teachers and traders would congregate. Yusof Rawa's family business was strategically located in the Malay settlement of Masjid Melayu - placing him at the centre of the Malay-Muslim universe at the time. (pg 7)

During his childhood, Yusof Rawa was first sent to study at the Sekolah Melayu Jalan Carnavon. From there he proceeded to the Sekolah Chaurausta. His secondary education was at the Government English School and then the Penang Free School (which had produced other prominent Malay nationalist leaders and politicians like Tunku Abdul Rahman, the country's first prime minister). By then Yusof Rawa had demonstrated his abilities in the English language and his prospects in the British educational stream were good.

The future president of PAS dreamt of becoming a lawyer and entering the Malayan legal service, but his father was unhappy with the kind of secular education that his son was receiving. His strict disciplinarian outlook and orthodox approach to religion convinced him that his son was being 'Westernised' by the colonial education he was receiving at school. On at least one occasion Yusof Rawa was whipped by his father for playing truant and neglecting his Quran class.

Abdullah's contempt for Western culture and education was something that bordered on the pathological. As Mujahid points out, for Abdullah, Western education was intended primarily to turn Muslim students into apostates and infidels instead.(pg 8) Finally, Yusof Rawa's father decided to send his son abroad to take up Islamic studies at the Ma'ahad Al-Fallah in Mecca, in the Arabian peninsula.

Worlds apart

In Mecca, Yusof Rawa found himself in an environment that was worlds apart from the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Penang. Having grown up in a society where social interaction (including interaction between the sexes) was more commonplace, Yusof Rawa was struck by the rigid and conservative atmosphere of Arabian society which had come under the sway of the Wahhabi school of thought.

Cut off from his friends and family, Yusof Rawa had little else to do but study. At the Ma'ahad he studied Arabic along with religious subjects like us'ul al-fiqh, tafsir, tauhid and Islamic history. He graduated with honours, receiving the Ijazah Thaqasur al-Deeni from the Ma'ahad.

Despite his academic achievements, Yusof Rawa was unhappy with the environment around Mecca. The only occasion where he and his friends could fool around was when Mecca experienced a flood due to freak weather conditions. Yusof and his friends took the opportunity to swim around the Ka'abah and use the main arch before the Ka'abah as a diving board - something which did not amuse the native Meccans (pg 21).

It was also in Mecca that he experienced, for the first time, the racism of the Arabs towards Malays and other non-Arab Muslims. On several occasions he found himself involved in petty conflicts and brawls with Arab youths who taunted the non-Arab students in Mecca. (pg 21)

By the early 1940s, he was ready to return to Malaya but his departure was interrupted due to the advent of the Second World War. The war had a tremendous impact on the life and trajectory of Yusof Rawa. The tragedy of the conflict was brought home to him when his father was killed during a Japanese bombing raid on Penang.

As a result of the conflict in Asia, Yusof Rawa was forced to remain in Mecca and continue his studies there. This turned out to be a stroke of luck, for it allowed him to make contacts with other Arabs and to develop further his own knowledge of Islam. He eventually made friends with an Egyptian merchant by the name of Hosni Gamal who hired him as a clerk in his company.

Impressed by Yusof Rawa's ability to read and write in English, Hosni Gamal then promoted him to the post of translator and trade representative to his company. It was through Hosni Gamal that Yusof Rawa managed to travel all over the Arab world, visiting countries like Egypt and Lebanon.

Through his business contacts, Yusof Rawa took his first tentative steps into the world of Arab-Muslim politics. He came to know of prominent Islamist intellectuals like Muhammad Abduh and Hassan al-Banna through his meetings with Egyptian and Lebanese traders and activists.

Though it remains unstated in Mujahid's text, it is interesting to see just how the exposure to external variables helped to shape Yusof Rawa's understanding of Islam and Islamist politics. Coming as it did at a time when the Muslim world was in a state of political crisis and when the Muslim ummah was divided along the lines of race and nationalism (something he experienced himself while living in the Arab states), Yusof Rawa was deeply concerned about the need to create a sense of common identity and belonging among Muslims that would allow them to transcend their political, cultural and racial differences.

Party re-orientated