Professor William R Roff
Honorary Professorial Fellow
Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
University of Edinburgh
19 George Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9LD
Email: william.roff@btinternet.com
Research interests
The social and intellectual history of Islam in Southeast Asia, 18th-20th centuries, and the comparative study of Muslim societies with special reference to Arabia, Egypt and South Asia and to such institutions as the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), education, Islamic economics, and legal systems.
Books
- Roff, W. R. 1982. "Sanitation and security: the imperial powers and the nineteenth century Hajj," in Arabian Studies, 6, pp. 143-160. Cambridge.
- Roff, W. R. 1984. "The Meccan pilgrimage: its meaning for Southeast Asian Islam," in Islam in Asia. Volume II: Southeast and East Asia. R. Israeli & A.H. Johns (eds.). Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
- Roff, W. R. 1985. "Pilgrimage and the history of religions: theoretical approaches to the Hajj," in Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies. R. C. Martin (ed.), pp. 78-86. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
- Roff, W. R. (ed.) 1987. Islam and the Political Economy of Meaning: Comparative Studies of Muslim Discourse. University of California Press.
- Roff W. R. 2009. Studies on Islam and Society in Southeast Asia. Singapore: NUS Press.
Papers
- "An argument about how to argue" in Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and their Fatwas. Harvard University Press, 1996.
- "Patterns of Islamisation in Malaysia, 1890s-1990s: exemplars, institutions and vectors" in Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford) 1998.
- "Social science approaches to understanding religious ritual: the special case of the Hajj” in Malaysia: Islam, Society and Politics, ISEAS, Singapore, 2001.
- "Murder as an aid to social history: the Arab community in Singapore in the early twentieth century” in Transcending Borders: Arabs, Politic, Trade and Islam in Southeast Asia. KITLV, Leiden, 2002.
- "Pondoks, madrasas and the production of ‘ulama in Malaysia” in Studia Islamika (Jakarta), 2004.
- "The Ins and Outs of Hadrami journalism in Malaya, 1900-1941: assimilation or identity maintenance?” in Proceedings, International Conference on Yemeni-Hadramis in Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur, 2005.
- “Functions of the Internet in a Sectarian Islamic Context,” in ISIM Review (Leiden), numéro 15, Spring 2005, pp. 50.
- “La présence belge en Égypte, 1891-1961,” in Chronos, n°9, July 2004, pp. 173-210.
- Roff, William, R. The Conduct of the Hajj from Malaya and The First Malay Pilgrimage Officer. Occasional Papers N1; Institute of Malay Language, Literature and Culture; National university of Malaysia, pp. 81-112.
Roff, William. R
- Roff, William. R (1982), Sanitation and Security: The Imperial Powers and Nineteenth Century Hajj, Arabian Studies, VI, pp.143-160.
- Dalam makalah “Sanitation and Security: the Imperial Powers and Nineteenth Century Hajj” terdapat maklumat tentang sanitasi dan keselamatan di Mekah pada masa haji serta tentang usaha-usaha pentadbiran penjajahan Eropah dalam bidang keselamatan dan sanitasi. Pengarang menegaskan bahawa pada tahun ke-1820an muncul dan tersebar di Eropah penyakit kolera yang konon (katanya) datang dari Asia bersama dengan para penziarah dari Asia. Pengarang menyatakan bahawa maklumat rasmi tentang penyakit kolera di Arabia terdapat pada tahun 1821 dan juga pada tahun 1828-1929. Pada tahun 1831 dimaklumkan mengenai 20 ribu orang haji yang mati kerana kolera tersebut.
- Historians, echoing colonial officials’ anxieties about cholera and pan-Islamism, have generally presented the hajj in the decades leading up to World War One as a source of “twin infection”.
- Dimaklumkan juga bahawa jumlah umum para jemaah haji dari alam Melayu pada tahun ke-1850an adalah sekitar 2000 orang dari Malaya dan 5-7000 orang setahun dari kawasan Benua Kecil Asia Tenggara.
- Terdapat juga jaswal jumlah umum haji dari negara-negara Timur pada tahun 1882 sehingga 1900 (ms. 150).
- Diketemui juga cerita mengenai sejarah misi-misi Ingerris di Jiddah dan Mekah pada masa yang sama.
- Makalah tersebut adalah amat menarik kerana mengandungi data-data yang nyata tentang pengendalian haj ke Mekah dan keadaan di dalam Mekah dan Madinah.
- Data tersebut membuktikan (mengesahkan) beberapa maklumat dari teks sejarah Tuhfat al-Nafis (1866) mengenai haji yang dilaksanakan oleh Raja Ahmad Bin Raja Haji dan anaknya Raja Ali Haji.
- Lawatan haji tersebut diadakan pada tahun 1828.
- Dimaklumkan bahawa Raja Ahmad jatuh sakit juga. Bila beliau sembuh beliau bersumpah supaya melaksanakan haji.
Hajj references by Roff, as provided by Dr Lubis (29 April 2013):
"The Conduct of Hajj From Malaya and The First Malay Pilgrimage Officer," SARI No. 1, 1975.
"Pilgrimage and the History of Religions: Theoretical Approaches to the Hajj", in Richard C. Martin (ed), Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies, Tuscon: The University of Arizona Press, 1985.
"Sanitation and Security: The Imperial Powers and the Nineteenth Century Hajj", Arabian Studies, Vol. VI, 1982.
"The Meccan Pilgrimage its Meaning for Southeast Asian Islam", in Raphael Israel and Anthony H. Johns (eds.) Islam in Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1984.
"Social Science Approaches to Understanding Religious Practice, The Special Case of the Hajj", in Virginia Hooker & Norani Othman (eds.), Malaysia: Islam, Society and Politics, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003.
William R. Roff, Studies on Islam and Society in Southeast Asia, Singapore: NUS Press, 2009.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress/subjects/history/978-9971-69-406-7.html
http://www.amazon.com/Studies-Islam-Society-Southeast-Asia/dp/9971694069
http://www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress/subjects/history/978-9971-69-406-7.html
http://www.amazon.com/Studies-Islam-Society-Southeast-Asia/dp/9971694069
- Peter Riddell's Book Review in IJAPS, Vol. 7, No. 2 (July 2011) published by Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2011: http://ijaps.usm.my/?page_id=548 http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/BookReview_StudiesOnIslamandSocietyinSoutheastAsia.pdf Part V concludes the volume with essays written in 2002, 1982 and 1975 (in order of volume presentation). The three essays all consider issues connected with the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj, such as the methodology of studying the pilgrimage ritual, as well as practical matters to do with sanitation and security and specific issues connected with Malays on pilgrimage.
- Clive S. Kessler's Keynote Address in Akademika 78 (Jan.-April) 2010; 103-108. Malay National Narrative and Malaysian Historiography: Before Postmodernity and Its Discontents, and After Too. http://www.ukm.my/penerbit/akademika/ACROBATAKADEMIKA78/akademika78[10]A4.pdf The final section of the book deals with the hajj rites and related health and sanitation problems - the "twin infections" of cholera and smallpox, health policies and regulations re the hajj procedures and monitoring the pilgrims' health. It also includes an essay on Abdul Majid bin Zainuddin, a former teacher and Malay Pilgrimage Officer (1924-39) prior to WWII, and whose autobiography is, The Wandering Thoughts of a Dying Man (Oxford U.P. Kuala Lumpur 1978), which Roff saw to its publication.
- Michael Laffan's Book Review: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7668564. Michael Laffan (2010). Review of William R. Roff 'Southeast Asia. Studies on Islam and society in Southeast Asia' Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 41, pp 350-351. doi:10.1017/S0022463410000135. The book is divided into 5 themes: Historiography and methodology, Malaya and Singapore, Arab world connections, Kelantan and the Meccan pilgrimage.
