The hukum kanun Pahang : a study of a sovereign Malay-Islamic constitution

Abstract

Regarded as one of the most important surviving manuscripts of the Malay world, the Hukum Kanun Pahang (HKP) has often been studied merely as an ancient legal manuscript rather than as a constitutional text. This study re-examines the HKP as a sovereign Malay Islamic constitution compiled, codified, and written during the reign of Sultan ʿAbdul Ghaffar Muḥyiddin Shah (r. 1592–1614). Representing both a continuation and constitutional refinement of the Hukum Kanun Melaka (HKM), the HKP preserved the legal and ethical foundations of the Melaka Sultanate while adapting them to the political, constitutional, and maritime realities of Pahang Dār al-Salām. Central to this research is Manuscript D (MS D), rediscovered and returned to Pahang in 1993, presently regarded as the oldest complete surviving manuscript of the HKP and among the most significant manuscripts of the Malay world. This study addresses the absence of constitutional readings within existing scholarship on the HKP and seeks to examine the manuscript as evidence of an indigenous Malay-Islamic constitutional order prior to colonial intervention. Using library research, manuscript research, and historiography, this study analyses the political, administrative, maritime, and ethical dimensions contained within the manuscript. The study finds that the HKP codified criminal, commercial, maritime, administrative, and judicial regulations while simultaneously articulating ethics of kingship rooted in Islamic principles, justice, amanah, and Malay adat. Sovereignty within the HKP was neither arbitrary nor secular in nature, but morally and legally bounded by Shariʿah and the ethical responsibilities of rulership. The findings further demonstrate that the HKP reflects a sophisticated Malay-Islamic civilisation and stands as a testament to Malay intellectualism expressed through the Malay language and Jawi tradition. Ultimately, this study repositions Pahang as a forgotten maritime constitutional kingdom and seeks to restore the HKP to its rightful place within the intellectual, constitutional, and civilisational history of the Malay world. The study further situates the HKP manuscript tradition within a broader continuum of constitutional transmission extending into the twentieth century.