Historical Review of Classical Hadith Literature in Malay Peninsula

Malay Peninsula had become one of the important Muslim education centers during 15th to 16th 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 15th century
until 20th 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.