Historical Review of Classical Hadith Literature in Malay Peninsula

Malay Peninsula had become one of the important Muslim education centers during 15 to 16 century in Malacca. It produced many classical Islamic manuscripts including hadith (tradition of the prophet) literature. This study provided the discussion and review about important hadith literature which were written in Malay Peninsula before the independence of Malaya in 1957. It revealed how the literature developed century by century, starting from 15 century until 20 century. The names of the literatures and the authors were identified from the original literature itself and various printed materials related. In addition, for some important literature, the content of it was also discussed. As a result of this study, it was found that the number of hadith literature in Malay Peninsula was very low compared to the other fields in Islam. As a consequence, Muslim scholars who were involved in this field became unknown and their contributions were not appreciated. Thus, it was recommended that the Malay classical hadith literature must be studied and introduced to the society by editing and reproducing it in a modern way. Index Term— Classical Malay Literature, Classical Hadith Literature, Hadith, Malay Manuscripts, Malay Hadith Scholars.