Arabic? inscription on a sikin panjang - translation welcome
 

Can any kind and knowledgeable person please help with a transcript and translation of the inscription on this sikin panjang? I am told that it is Arabic, not Malay. I suspect from information already received that it may be a religious quotation, rather than an owner's name?? Two pictures of the inscription, in the hope that between them it will be clear enough to read. (No scabbard, by the way)

I think that this is Peudeueng Panjang.

I have seen these called Peudeueng panjang, and it seems to be an accepted alternative name, but I follow the admirable book by Van Zonneveld, Traditional weapons ...; but perhaps I should change my mind about what to call this type?

Salaams Loedjoe!

The Arabic inscription reads as follows:

اياك نعبد و اياك نستعين

Translation:

"It is you [Oh ALLAH!] whom we worship and whom we seek help from."

It is the 5th verse of Surat al-Fatihah; the first Surah of the Qur'an.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,

Ahmed Helal Hussein

PS: If there are any Arabic inscriptions that need to be read, could you please send me an alert via a private message, or even email me; and I'll give my reply in the open thread. I'm sorry, but sometimes I may miss a question that I know the answer of. Thanks a lot in advance.

Nice Sikin panjang !
I am a bit surprised that the inscription is a koran verse.
Uptill now translations on this forum turned out to be jawi/malay in arabic characters.

Please use the search function and check threads with " translation + aceh"

You will find various Aceh weapons with inscriptions + their translations.

Best regards,
Willem

Very many thanks, Ahmed Helal Hussein, I could not have asked for a better response - you have included everything I wanted to know. Thank you too for the offer to accept requests for translations through email - this may be very helpful (although this sikin, and one other sword, are the only two I have where the inscriptions are in Arabic rather than Jawi/Malay in Arabic characters).

Like you, Willem, I was surprised to find a religious inscription, in Arabic. I shall follow your advice for a search - thank you.