A more precise and formatted facts about Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir
1.0. Abdullah Bin Abdul Kadir
1.1. Biography
Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir or more widely known as Munshi Abdullah was born in 1796 AD in Kampung Masjid or Kampung Pali (Rosnani, 48). Touted as the father of modern Malay literature, Abdullah was the youngest of four siblings; of which he is the only one to survive to adulthood. He is the great-grandson of Shaykh Abdul Kadir, an Arab from Yemen and a teacher of religion and language (Rosnani, 48). His father grew up in Mecca and received proper education in Qur’anic studies, Arabic and Tamil Language, Arithmetic and ended up being a merchant trading sundry goods. His father settled in Lobok Kepong and later Sungai Besi; becoming a Khatib. Furthermore, in the later stages of Abdullah’s father’s life, he become an expert in Malay language and wrote petitions and compositions to the Malays Sultans (Rosnani, 49). Thus, it can be concluded that Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir came from a knowledgeable family.
His early childhood was plagued by him being sick most of the time and as such led to his parents taking great care of him. Furthermore, he was taken care of by various individuals besides his parents as it was customary in Malay society at that time to exert such practices with a child that is deemed to have low body immunity. Abdullah despises such acts though, later describing it as stupid in his work, Hikayat Abdullah.
Rosnani asserted that Abdullah had a keen ear for languages and was euphoric in learning them (51). He learned Malay, Tamil, Hindustani, Arabic and also learned English from the English Missionaries. When Raffles was in Malacca, Abdullah along with his uncles Ismail Lebai and Muhammad Latif was appointed Raffles’ copyist where their task was to copy stories, letters, idioms of the Malay Language (Rosnani, 52). As Raffles was an admirer of the Malay language, culture and history, Abdullah was tasked to gather old Malay manuscripts, books and texts despite his remorse.
At the age of twenty-seven, in 1822, he taught Malay to Mr Milne, an English missionary who came to Malacca. Milne later established the Anglo-Chinese College under instruction from the East-India Company and Abdullah became one of its first students (Rosnani, 53). Within seven years of study, Abdullah managed to translate a number of English books to Malay and became a teacher there.
Abdullah got married at the age of 34 and had a daughter named Leela. When Raffles opened Singapore as a trade centre, he recruited Abdullah to become his interpreter and copyist again. Abdullah played a significant part in drawing up the law in Singapore, especially related to gambling and drinking (Rosnani, 54). When he was forty-three, he travelled to Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan and this was recorded in his work, Kisah Pelyaran Abdullah. In 1840, tragedy struck as his wife died during childbirth while delivering their second child and Abdullah was so distraught that he sold his house and properties in Malacca and left to Singapore to become a Malay Language teacher and copyist (Rosnani, 54). He completed his autobiography, aptly titled Hikayat Abdullah in May 1843.
Abdullah died in Jeddah in 1854 whilst en route to perform the pilgrimage in Mecca. He wrote the story of his journey in Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Mekah that remained incomplete due to his demise.
1.2. Summary of Literary Works
1.2.1. Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Kelantan
Published in 1838 in Singapore, the work recounts Abdullah’s voyage from Singapore to Kelantan with his companions, Grandpre and Baba Ko An to submit a letter from Sir George Bonham, Governor of Straits Settlements to Sultan of Kelantan. His writing includes his experiences during his stops in Pahang and Terengganu as well as what he experienced in Kelantan. This work also contains his advises to Malay rulers and comparisons he made between the British system of governing with that of Malay rulers (Siti, 116).
The first edition of the story was written both in Latin and Jawi, while the second edition (1852) was printed only in Jawi script. In 1855 the Dutch scholar J. Pijnappel later published special editions for students of Malay language. All these editions became references to H.C. Klinkert for his own edition intended for students in Dutch East Indies.
In Malaysia, the story was re-published in 1960 by the editor Kassim Ahmad. In 2005, it was edited by Amin Sweeney and published as part of a collection of complete works of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir.
1.2.2. Hikayat Abdullah
Completed in 1845 and published in 1849, Hikayat Abdullah was the first Malay literary text to be published commercially (Brakel, 143). Unlike typical classical Malay literary works that contains fantasies and legendary stories, the Abdullah’s work dealt with realism (Ooi, 166).
The work has been described as Abdullah’s autobiography and contains his personal but perceptive view of Singapore and Malacca society at the beginning of 19th century (Andaya, 313). It recounts a glimpse of his early childhood in Malacca, his own experiences like an operation performed upon him by an English surgeon or his visit to an encampment of Tiandihui, a Chinese secret society in the interior of Singapore, and about events like the founding of Singapore Institution, the demolition of the old A Famosa fort in Malacca, and the visit of Lord Minto, the Governor-General of India to Malacca. Most of the work also contains his personal observations of the personalities of his time, the officials of the British East India Company like Sir Stamford Raffles, Colonel Farquhar and John Crawfurd, Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor Sultanate, European and American missionaries and traders, and the Chinese merchants of the early Singapore days. The book was published in Roman script in 1915 by William Shellabear.
1.2.3. Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Mekah
In this piece, Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir recounts his voyage from Singapore to Jeddah on his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The summarized three parts of the story was first published by the Cermin Mata magazine in Singapore in 1858-1859.
Abdullah set sail from Singapore by a ship named Subulus Salam in February 1854. Along his voyage, he sketched the images of places he saw from onboard and wrote his personal experiences meeting different groups of people in places he visited like Calicut. Abdullah died in Jeddah the following October 1854 at the age of 58 before he reaches Mecca (A. Wahab Ali, 82).
The version of Cermin Mata magazine that was published by the Protestant missionary agencies, only contains Abdullah’s voyage up to the coast of Jeddah. H.C. Klinkert, a Dutch scholar, published a Dutch translation which was more complete based on manuscript copies obtained from publishers in Singapore. He later published the Malay edition in 1889 with the title Kisah pelayaran Abdullah ke Judah (“The story of Abdullah’s voyage to Judah”), but this time based on the issue of Cermin Mata.
1.1. Biography
Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir or more widely known as Munshi Abdullah was born in 1796 AD in Kampung Masjid or Kampung Pali (Rosnani, 48). Touted as the father of modern Malay literature, Abdullah was the youngest of four siblings; of which he is the only one to survive to adulthood. He is the great-grandson of Shaykh Abdul Kadir, an Arab from Yemen and a teacher of religion and language (Rosnani, 48). His father grew up in Mecca and received proper education in Qur’anic studies, Arabic and Tamil Language, Arithmetic and ended up being a merchant trading sundry goods. His father settled in Lobok Kepong and later Sungai Besi; becoming a Khatib. Furthermore, in the later stages of Abdullah’s father’s life, he become an expert in Malay language and wrote petitions and compositions to the Malays Sultans (Rosnani, 49). Thus, it can be concluded that Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir came from a knowledgeable family.
His early childhood was plagued by him being sick most of the time and as such led to his parents taking great care of him. Furthermore, he was taken care of by various individuals besides his parents as it was customary in Malay society at that time to exert such practices with a child that is deemed to have low body immunity. Abdullah despises such acts though, later describing it as stupid in his work, Hikayat Abdullah.
Rosnani asserted that Abdullah had a keen ear for languages and was euphoric in learning them (51). He learned Malay, Tamil, Hindustani, Arabic and also learned English from the English Missionaries. When Raffles was in Malacca, Abdullah along with his uncles Ismail Lebai and Muhammad Latif was appointed Raffles’ copyist where their task was to copy stories, letters, idioms of the Malay Language (Rosnani, 52). As Raffles was an admirer of the Malay language, culture and history, Abdullah was tasked to gather old Malay manuscripts, books and texts despite his remorse.
At the age of twenty-seven, in 1822, he taught Malay to Mr Milne, an English missionary who came to Malacca. Milne later established the Anglo-Chinese College under instruction from the East-India Company and Abdullah became one of its first students (Rosnani, 53). Within seven years of study, Abdullah managed to translate a number of English books to Malay and became a teacher there.
Abdullah got married at the age of 34 and had a daughter named Leela. When Raffles opened Singapore as a trade centre, he recruited Abdullah to become his interpreter and copyist again. Abdullah played a significant part in drawing up the law in Singapore, especially related to gambling and drinking (Rosnani, 54). When he was forty-three, he travelled to Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan and this was recorded in his work, Kisah Pelyaran Abdullah. In 1840, tragedy struck as his wife died during childbirth while delivering their second child and Abdullah was so distraught that he sold his house and properties in Malacca and left to Singapore to become a Malay Language teacher and copyist (Rosnani, 54). He completed his autobiography, aptly titled Hikayat Abdullah in May 1843.
Abdullah died in Jeddah in 1854 whilst en route to perform the pilgrimage in Mecca. He wrote the story of his journey in Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Mekah that remained incomplete due to his demise.
1.2. Summary of Literary Works
1.2.1. Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Kelantan
Published in 1838 in Singapore, the work recounts Abdullah’s voyage from Singapore to Kelantan with his companions, Grandpre and Baba Ko An to submit a letter from Sir George Bonham, Governor of Straits Settlements to Sultan of Kelantan. His writing includes his experiences during his stops in Pahang and Terengganu as well as what he experienced in Kelantan. This work also contains his advises to Malay rulers and comparisons he made between the British system of governing with that of Malay rulers (Siti, 116).
The first edition of the story was written both in Latin and Jawi, while the second edition (1852) was printed only in Jawi script. In 1855 the Dutch scholar J. Pijnappel later published special editions for students of Malay language. All these editions became references to H.C. Klinkert for his own edition intended for students in Dutch East Indies.
In Malaysia, the story was re-published in 1960 by the editor Kassim Ahmad. In 2005, it was edited by Amin Sweeney and published as part of a collection of complete works of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir.
1.2.2. Hikayat Abdullah
Completed in 1845 and published in 1849, Hikayat Abdullah was the first Malay literary text to be published commercially (Brakel, 143). Unlike typical classical Malay literary works that contains fantasies and legendary stories, the Abdullah’s work dealt with realism (Ooi, 166).
The work has been described as Abdullah’s autobiography and contains his personal but perceptive view of Singapore and Malacca society at the beginning of 19th century (Andaya, 313). It recounts a glimpse of his early childhood in Malacca, his own experiences like an operation performed upon him by an English surgeon or his visit to an encampment of Tiandihui, a Chinese secret society in the interior of Singapore, and about events like the founding of Singapore Institution, the demolition of the old A Famosa fort in Malacca, and the visit of Lord Minto, the Governor-General of India to Malacca. Most of the work also contains his personal observations of the personalities of his time, the officials of the British East India Company like Sir Stamford Raffles, Colonel Farquhar and John Crawfurd, Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor Sultanate, European and American missionaries and traders, and the Chinese merchants of the early Singapore days. The book was published in Roman script in 1915 by William Shellabear.
1.2.3. Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Mekah
In this piece, Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir recounts his voyage from Singapore to Jeddah on his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The summarized three parts of the story was first published by the Cermin Mata magazine in Singapore in 1858-1859.
Abdullah set sail from Singapore by a ship named Subulus Salam in February 1854. Along his voyage, he sketched the images of places he saw from onboard and wrote his personal experiences meeting different groups of people in places he visited like Calicut. Abdullah died in Jeddah the following October 1854 at the age of 58 before he reaches Mecca (A. Wahab Ali, 82).
The version of Cermin Mata magazine that was published by the Protestant missionary agencies, only contains Abdullah’s voyage up to the coast of Jeddah. H.C. Klinkert, a Dutch scholar, published a Dutch translation which was more complete based on manuscript copies obtained from publishers in Singapore. He later published the Malay edition in 1889 with the title Kisah pelayaran Abdullah ke Judah (“The story of Abdullah’s voyage to Judah”), but this time based on the issue of Cermin Mata.
Works Cited:
A. Wahab Ali (2004). Tradisi Pembentukan Sastera Melayu Moden. Penerbit Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.
Andaya, B.W. and Andaya, L.Y. A History of Malaysia. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1984.
Brakel, L. F., M. Balfas, M. Taib Bin Osman, J. Gonda, B. Rangkuti, B. Lumbera and H. Kahler. Literaturen (Asian Studies). Brill Academic Publishers, 1997.
Ooi, K.G. Southeast Asia: a historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Santa Barbara, 2004.
Rosnani Hashim. Reclaiming the Conversation: Islamic International Tradition in the Malay Archipelago. The Other Press, 2010.
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