This manuscript is widely regarded as the earliest writing on Islamic jurisprudence in Terengganu, which debated issues regarding beliefs and fiqh. It covers various topics on fundamental knowledge of Islam (fard al ayn) that includes 5 Pillars of Islam (arkān al-Islām), Pillars of Iman (arkān al-Imān), ablution, ṣalāh (prayers), fasting and zakat (tithe payment). This article is written to highlight the contemporary fiqh thoughts that were contained in this manuscript. This article will also shed light on the life of Shaykh Abdul Malik and the background of Kitab al-Kifāyah. To that end, methods such as documentation searches and interviews were being utilized. It was then analyzed by using inductive and deductive methods. Results from the analyses reveal that Shaykh Abdul Malik utilized contextualization approach on his fiqh rulings. His contemporary thoughts were evident in his arguments for the income level and the consequent zakat rate for the destitute and poor, the zakat rate on gold and silver as well as animals which are halal (permissible) and haram (impermissible) to be consumed. In conclusion, Shaykh Abdul Malik bin Abdullah was not a mere translator of Arabic manuscripts on fiqh rulings by Middle Eastern scholars, but he has managed to contextualize his writings to facilitate the understanding of the locals.
The proselytising of Islam in the Malay Peninsular depended on the earnestness of the classical Islamic scholars. The spreading of Islam was done through religious talks, Islamic studies classes, and through their writings. Syeikh Abdul Malik bin Abdullah, also known as Tok Pulau Manis is one of the classical Islamic scholars that was born in the state of Terengganu, which was active in producing religious books especially in the field of fiqh and taṣawwuf. However, most of the recent generations are not aware of his legacy and contributions in the spreading of Islam. Therefore, this article attempts to study his life and academic background, and highlights his contribution as one of the earliest classical Islamic scholars that produced fiqh writings in the Malay Peninsula. The result of this study finds that Tok Pulau Manis is an esteemed scholar, which was hold in high regard by the dignitaries including the Sultan Zainal Abidin I himself. His involvement in producing fiqh writings in Jāwī during the 17 and 18 th century had placed him as one of the pioneers of the fiqh writing in the Malay Peninsula.
The National Centre for Malay Manuscripts, under the National Library of Malaysia safeguards a large number of Islamic Malay Manuscripts whose contents have yet to be studied and explored. They cover numerous knowledge fields such as literature, history, religion, medicine, laws, constitutions, as well as amulets and tips. In terms of religious genre, Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) seems to dominate even though the manuscripts in this field have not been categorized yet, as in the case for others. A researcher must scan the title, table of contents or some of the descriptions provided in the catalogues before he could determine the field of a certain manuscript. This proves to be challenging especially for those who lack the basic knowledge in Islamic disciplines. Therefore, this paper will discuss the identification of Fiqh manuscripts that exist at the Centre, the sub-fields as well as some reviews on selected manuscripts related to the field. The research method used is document analysis while scanning and collecting data. Then it was analysed using content analysis and comparative method to separate it from other knowledge fields. This initial study found that there exist a large number of manuscripts related to Fiqh in various sub fields such as ibadah (worship), muamalah (commercial transaction), munakahah (marriage) and jinayah (crime and punishment). This proved that Islamic scholars in Malay Archipelago have significant contributions in Islamic Fiqh. Therefore, further studies on Fiqh can be carried out based on the classical works of the Islamic scholars in Malay Archipelago.
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