Abstract
The present
article investigates the identity, partial biography, and relations of Rukiye
Hanım. She is recognized as the grandmother of three significant families who
have been playing distinguished roles in politics and academics in Malaysia.
Rukiye Hanım with her sister Hatice Hanım are believed to have been presented
as concubines by Babussaade, the
Palace in Constantinople, to Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor in the closing decades
of the 19th century.
It is
significant here to pin down that this article grew out of some concerns upon
the discourse argued by circles around the relations of Rukiye Hanım. The
present writers urge that the established discourse creates an imagined memory, explicitly or
implicitly, borrowing the concept from Benedict Anderson, related to this lady.
This article will provide some details on the
concubine, Rukiye Hanım who seems to be the main actor to set aright imagined
misconceptions. This research relies on primary data particularly from oral
information of the living descendants of Rukiye Hanım. Besides, the present
writers conduct comparative understanding of the secondary sources to
re-examine the mainstream discourse upon Rukiye Hanım written in Turkish, Malay
and English languages.
This research
found that the concubines are not connected organically with the
Ottoman Palace family, they are instead commoners and members of other nations.
This sensational imagination has turned out to be a sort of historical fact
structured by certain groups, both in Turkey and Malaysia, and it has been
functionalized to establish historically the relations between modern Turkey
and Malaysia.
Key Words: Rukiye Hanım, Ottoman State, Johor Sultanate, concubine, historical
imagination.
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