The Hadiths as a Tool for Religious, Political and Social Teaching in the Malay Peninsula

The Hadiths as a Tool for Religious, Political and Social Teaching in the Malay Peninsula presents an investigation on al-Marbawi and Tuan Husayn in disseminating Hadith teaching in the Malay Peninsula. Special attention is given to their techniques of writing Hadith in order to facilitate a better understanding of the Hadith for the Malay readers and their connections with the chains of teachers including leading Islamic scholars in the Middle East.

This manuscript sets out to establish the specific Hadith texts, Bahr al-Madhi al-sharh mukhtasar sahih al-Tirmidhi of Shaykh Idris al-Marbawi and Tazkir al-qaba’il Jawahir al-Bukhari of Tuan Haji Husayn as the religious, social and political teachings for Malay Muslims during the twentieth century. This book is therefore based on the following premises: Al-Marbawi and Husayn’s translations and commentaries are held to have been serviced by the great Hadith scholars—al-Tirmidhi and al-Bukhari—and should, therefore, be esteemed accordingly.

In line with this, this book aims to demonstrate al-Marbawi and Husayn’s deep criticism at that time of the misconduct of Malay Muslims and of the ideology held by the Kaum Tua (the Traditionalist group) and Kaum Muda (the Reformist group) on political polemics for instance. As a critique of Malay Muslims, their teachings and condemnation are absolute. The two great scholars were independent authorities who would respond to key existing issues including disunity, unjust leadership, and conflicts between religious scholars as their mission to uphold the truth as guided by the Prophet SAW in the Hadith.

Apart from a study of the Hadith of Bahr al-Madhi and Jawahir al-Bukhari, The Hadiths as a Tool for Religious, Political and Social Teaching in the Malay Peninsula also presents a biographical account of the authors of the works of al-Marbawi and Husayn. Al-Marbawi remains one of the most distinguished Malay scholars, whose works are still being read and studied in schools, mosques, and in higher institutions. However, information on him and his work are largely unknown in the Malay Archipelago and the western academic world. Finally, the main objective of this book is to present the hadith study in the Malay Peninsula.

Also, the roles of Bahr al-Madhi and Jawahir al-Bukhari, based on available texts of the work and supported with explanations of the methods of writing have been applied to facilitate a better understanding of the Hadith to Malay readers as well as provide a detailed commentary on the Hadith as discussed by al-Marbawi and Husayn. The meeting of the objective thus formulated also requires a determination of the date and sources of the work, the purpose of its composition, and its significance within the domain of the lives of Malay Muslims.