Browsing by Author "Akgun, Tayfun"

This study examines the emergence and evolution of the history discipline as a profession in Malaysia between the 1960s and 1990s. The study is concerned with the British colonial roots, the study and teaching of Malaysian history in the local universities, the writings of prominent local historians, local history journals, and contestations over Eurocentric versus Malay-centric writing of Malaysian history. It also aims to discuss and formulate autonomous history writing which is an alternative and critical part of colonial and postcolonial historical studies. The discipline of history is analysed through concepts and theories in the field of knowledge production such as intellectual imperialism, academic dependency, Eurocentrism, and Orientalism. The study employs various qualitative research techniques such as historiography, textual studies, and bibliometric analysis. It argues that the colonial histories of Malaysia were powerful until the 1980s. Historians and scholars like John R. Smail and Syed Hussein Alatas question the themes, perspectives, and concepts of colonial histories at the beginning of Malaysian decolonization. The proponents of autonomous history writing attempted to link their research and thinking to local problems and issues. They look at the history of the Malays from a local point of view. The discipline began to be professionalised and institutionalised in the 1950s. Modern historical studies focus on Malaysia’s socio-economic and political history in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They adopt a Peninsular Malaysia-centric approach to Malaysian history. The historiography of Sabah and Sarawak remained neglected and minimal from the 1960s to the 1990s. The empirical and case studies outnumber the theoretical and comparative studies in the discipline. The study finally highlights the significance of historiographical studies in solving the main problems and challenges in writing Malaysian history.

This study has three central purposes. Firstly, it compares the careers and educational activities of Sayyid Shaykh al-Hadi (1867-1934) and Haji Abdullah Ahmad (1878-1933), ardent representatives of the Islamic reformist movement in the Malay world in the early twentieth century. Secondly, it also examines the fundamental similarities and differences between the aim and content of their socio-religious reforms in addition to their methodological approach to the socio-religious problems in the Malay world. Finally, it explores the main social and religious contributions of these two reformists to the Islamic reformist movement in the Malay world. The historical-analytical method is employed in the thesis. The study is based on the examination of articles and books written by al-Hadi and Haji Abdullah. They were significant representatives of the urban-based intellectual and religious movement that emerged in the Malay world in the early twentieth century who came from the wealthy and intellectual families. While al-Hadi was a descendant of a Malay-Hadhrami family, Haji Abdullah was a member of a local Minangkabau family. They played a pivotal role in the introduction and modernization of the madrasahs in the Malay world. Whereas al-Hadi’s madrasahs were short-lived because of the financial constraints and the absence of the Malay parents’ interest in his madrasahs, Haji Abdullah’s madrasahs were long-lived owing to the Minangkabau parents’ positive attitudes towards his educational activities, and his associations like the Syarikat Usaha Adabiah supported the sustainable administration and maintenance of the educational institutions. As for the socio-religious reforms of both reformists, there are remarkable similarities between their methodological approach to the socio-religious problems in the Malay world. Impressed by the Cairo-centred reformist discourse led by Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī and Muḥammad ‘Abduh, they campaigned for a return to the pristine teachings of Islam, namely the Qur’ān and the Ḥadīth, because they considered that the main cause of the “backwardness” of the Malay world was due to “corrupted” religious rituals and practices. Therefore, they condemned the rooted religious ceremonies in society. In brief, the study focuses on the similarities and differences between the background, educational activities and socio-religious ideas of al-Hadi and Haji Abdullah.