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The Origin of the Malay Sha'ir
64 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
39 books613 followersSyed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, born September 5, 1931 in Bogor, Java, is a prominent contemporary Muslim thinker. He is one of the few contemporary scholars who is thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences and who is equally competent in theology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, and literature. His thought is integrated, multifaceted and creative. Al-Attas’ philosophy and methodology of education have one goal: Islamization of the mind, body and soul and its effects on the personal and collective life on Muslims as well as others, including the spiritual and physical non-human environment. He is the author of twenty-seven authoritative works on various aspects of Islamic thought and civilization, particularly on Sufism, cosmology, metaphysics, philosophy and Malay language and literature.
Al-Attas was born into a family with a history of illustrious ancestors, saints, and scholars. He received a thorough education in Islamic sciences, Malay language, literature and culture. His formal primary education began at age 5 in Johor, Malaysia, but during the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, he went to school in Java, in Madrasah Al-`Urwatu’l-wuthqa, studying in Arabic. After World War II in 1946 he returned to Johor to complete his secondary education. He was exposed to Malay literature, history, religion, and western classics in English, and in a cultured social atmosphere developed a keen aesthetic sensitivity. This nurtured in al-Attas an exquisite style and precise vocabulary that were unique to his Malay writings and language. After al-Attas finished secondary school in 1951, he entered the Malay Regiment as cadet officer no. 6675. There he was selected to study at Eton Hall, Chester, Wales and later at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England (952 -55). This gave him insight into the spirit and style of British society. During this time he was drawn to the metaphysics of the Sufis, especially works of Jami, which he found in the library of the Academy. He traveled widely, drawn especially to Spain and North Africa where Islamic heritage had a profound influence on him. Al-Attas felt the need to study, and voluntarily resigned from the King’s Commission to serve in the Royal Malay Regiment, in order to pursue studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore 1957-59. While undergraduate at University of Malay, he wrote Rangkaian Ruba`iyat, a literary work, and Some Aspects of Sufism as Understood and Practised among the Malays. He was awarded the Canada Council Fellowship for three years of study at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal. He received the M.A. degree with distinction in Islamic philosophy in 1962, with his thesis “Raniri and the Wujudiyyah of 17th Century Acheh” . Al-Attas went on to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he worked with Professor A. J. Arberry of Cambridge and Dr. Martin Lings. His doctoral thesis (1962) was a two-volume work on the mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri.
In 1965, Dr. al-Attas returned to Malaysia and became Head of the Division of Literature in the Department of Malay Studies at the University of Malay, Kuala Lumpur. He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1968-70. Thereafter he moved to the new National University of Malaysia, as Head of the Department of Malay Language and Literature and then Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He strongly advocated the use of Malay as the language of instruction at the university level and proposed an integrated method of studying Malay language, literature and culture so that the role and influence of Islam and its relationship with other languages and cultures would be studied with clarity. He founded and directed the Institute of Malay Language, Literature, and Culture (IBKKM) at the National University of Malaysia in 1973 to carry out his vision.
In 1987, with al-Attas as founder and director, the International Institute of Islamic Thought a
Al-Attas was born into a family with a history of illustrious ancestors, saints, and scholars. He received a thorough education in Islamic sciences, Malay language, literature and culture. His formal primary education began at age 5 in Johor, Malaysia, but during the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, he went to school in Java, in Madrasah Al-`Urwatu’l-wuthqa, studying in Arabic. After World War II in 1946 he returned to Johor to complete his secondary education. He was exposed to Malay literature, history, religion, and western classics in English, and in a cultured social atmosphere developed a keen aesthetic sensitivity. This nurtured in al-Attas an exquisite style and precise vocabulary that were unique to his Malay writings and language. After al-Attas finished secondary school in 1951, he entered the Malay Regiment as cadet officer no. 6675. There he was selected to study at Eton Hall, Chester, Wales and later at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England (952 -55). This gave him insight into the spirit and style of British society. During this time he was drawn to the metaphysics of the Sufis, especially works of Jami, which he found in the library of the Academy. He traveled widely, drawn especially to Spain and North Africa where Islamic heritage had a profound influence on him. Al-Attas felt the need to study, and voluntarily resigned from the King’s Commission to serve in the Royal Malay Regiment, in order to pursue studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore 1957-59. While undergraduate at University of Malay, he wrote Rangkaian Ruba`iyat, a literary work, and Some Aspects of Sufism as Understood and Practised among the Malays. He was awarded the Canada Council Fellowship for three years of study at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal. He received the M.A. degree with distinction in Islamic philosophy in 1962, with his thesis “Raniri and the Wujudiyyah of 17th Century Acheh” . Al-Attas went on to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he worked with Professor A. J. Arberry of Cambridge and Dr. Martin Lings. His doctoral thesis (1962) was a two-volume work on the mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri.
In 1965, Dr. al-Attas returned to Malaysia and became Head of the Division of Literature in the Department of Malay Studies at the University of Malay, Kuala Lumpur. He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1968-70. Thereafter he moved to the new National University of Malaysia, as Head of the Department of Malay Language and Literature and then Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He strongly advocated the use of Malay as the language of instruction at the university level and proposed an integrated method of studying Malay language, literature and culture so that the role and influence of Islam and its relationship with other languages and cultures would be studied with clarity. He founded and directed the Institute of Malay Language, Literature, and Culture (IBKKM) at the National University of Malaysia in 1973 to carry out his vision.
In 1987, with al-Attas as founder and director, the International Institute of Islamic Thought a
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 4, 2021
Buku penting untuk dibaca khalayak terutama penyair dan pengkritik supaya dapat melihat kedudukan sebenar syair dalam kerangka tradisi dan ketamadunan yang mengandungi keilmuan serta keintelektualan Melayu khususnya serta dunia Islam amnya.
Karya malar segar Prof Tan Sri Dr Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas ini terbahagi kepada dua bahagian penting, pertama dalam memperbetulkan pandangan orientalis, Prof A Teeuw dalam artikelnya, The Malay Sha’ir, problems of origin and tradition dari semua sudut termasuk method yang digunakannya dan kejelasan terhadap tasawuf yang berkait rapat dengan karya Hamzah Fansuri hingga memberikan kesan terhadap kesimpulan diambil sarjana terbabit.
Bahagian kedua pula menegaskan dan membuktikan Hamzah Fansuri bukan sahaja sebagai pencipta dan originator kepada syair Melayu, bahkan kehebatan beliau dalam konteks keaslian dan kebijaksanaannya.
Karya malar segar Prof Tan Sri Dr Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas ini terbahagi kepada dua bahagian penting, pertama dalam memperbetulkan pandangan orientalis, Prof A Teeuw dalam artikelnya, The Malay Sha’ir, problems of origin and tradition dari semua sudut termasuk method yang digunakannya dan kejelasan terhadap tasawuf yang berkait rapat dengan karya Hamzah Fansuri hingga memberikan kesan terhadap kesimpulan diambil sarjana terbabit.
Bahagian kedua pula menegaskan dan membuktikan Hamzah Fansuri bukan sahaja sebagai pencipta dan originator kepada syair Melayu, bahkan kehebatan beliau dalam konteks keaslian dan kebijaksanaannya.
October 31, 2022
Prof. al-Attas is a gift to the Malay Archipelago. More than five years ago, during delivering his preliminary speech for WISE programme at IKIM hall, Prof. al-Attas reminds the audience to read and ponder meticulously on what has been written by him in his works since he has spent a deep research and contemplation and write it in a very meticulous way for every single work that he wrote.
Reading this book by Prof. al-Attas, reminds me on how true it is since al-Attas highlights the two main things to the readers; i) Refutes Teeuw by tackling the topic for Origin of Malay Sha‘ir in its ‘intensity’, not in its ‘extensivity’ and ii) Pointing the readers to ‘regenerate’ knowledge as what has been portrayed by the classical Islamic tradition (like ‘matn’/‘mutūn’, ‘syarh’/‘syurūh and ‘hāsyiah’/hawāsyī’) instead of ‘copying’ the existing knowledge (as what is prevailing in the current modern era).
If The Concluding Postcript to the Origin of the Malay Sha‘ir deals with refuting the fallacies of Voorhoeve in interpreting the Jawi text of Hamzah Fansuri’s ‘Syair Dagang Perahu’, in this work, al-Attas portrays the fallacies of Teeuw’s reading and interpretation on Hamzah Fansuri’s works (Syair Dagang Perahu and Syarāb al-Āsyiqīn). One of the most obvious fallacies is when Teeuw ends the rhyme for Malay Sha‘ir with AABB or AABA instead of AAAA without correlating the very basic message of the Sha‘ir itself which lead to a peculiar, unrelated and deviated meaning of the Sha‘ir itself.
Reading this book should be followed by The Concluding Postcript to the Origin of Malay Sha‘ir and The Mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri by the same author for the smoothness draining of the idea and the blossoming of the discourse.
Reading this book by Prof. al-Attas, reminds me on how true it is since al-Attas highlights the two main things to the readers; i) Refutes Teeuw by tackling the topic for Origin of Malay Sha‘ir in its ‘intensity’, not in its ‘extensivity’ and ii) Pointing the readers to ‘regenerate’ knowledge as what has been portrayed by the classical Islamic tradition (like ‘matn’/‘mutūn’, ‘syarh’/‘syurūh and ‘hāsyiah’/hawāsyī’) instead of ‘copying’ the existing knowledge (as what is prevailing in the current modern era).
If The Concluding Postcript to the Origin of the Malay Sha‘ir deals with refuting the fallacies of Voorhoeve in interpreting the Jawi text of Hamzah Fansuri’s ‘Syair Dagang Perahu’, in this work, al-Attas portrays the fallacies of Teeuw’s reading and interpretation on Hamzah Fansuri’s works (Syair Dagang Perahu and Syarāb al-Āsyiqīn). One of the most obvious fallacies is when Teeuw ends the rhyme for Malay Sha‘ir with AABB or AABA instead of AAAA without correlating the very basic message of the Sha‘ir itself which lead to a peculiar, unrelated and deviated meaning of the Sha‘ir itself.
Reading this book should be followed by The Concluding Postcript to the Origin of Malay Sha‘ir and The Mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri by the same author for the smoothness draining of the idea and the blossoming of the discourse.
April 25, 2019
Buku ini merupakan hujahan dan kritikan oleh penulis - Prof Syed Muhammad Naquib terhadap pandangan Prof. Teeuw tentang asal-usul syair Melayu. Penulis menyentuh faktor pengaruh dari Arab dan Parsi selain untuk menekankan Aceh sebagai pusat kesusasteraan Sufi di Nusantara. Dalam kajiannya, penulis memfokuskan bentuk penulisan syair oleh Hamzah Fansuri. Selain itu, buku-buku syair lain juga turut disentuh serba sedikit iaitu Syair Perang Makasar dan syair-syair yang ditulis oleh pujangga Melayu lampau seperti Raja Ali Haji.
September 20, 2025
Main Ideas of The Origin of the Malay Sha‘ir (Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas)
1. Tracing the Origins
The book explores the historical, linguistic, and cultural roots of the sha‘ir, a classical form of Malay poetry. Al-Attas argues that it did not arise in isolation but developed through interactions between Malay tradition and wider Islamic intellectual-literary influences.
2. Form & Structure
It examines the poetic forms—particularly rhyme schemes (AAAA, AABB, etc.), stanza arrangement, and rhythm—that distinguish the sha‘ir from earlier oral traditions like pantun. The work highlights how textual transmission sometimes introduced errors or variations in verse placement, as seen in the sample pages you shared.
3. Islamic & Arabic Influence
The sha‘ir embodies Malay adaptation of Arabic-Persian-Islamic poetic traditions, integrating metaphysical, ethical, and spiritual concepts. It shows how Malay literature absorbed and localized Islamic cosmology and philosophy.
4. Philosophical & Cultural Dimensions
Beyond technicalities, al-Attas frames sha‘ir as a vessel of wisdom (hikmah), a medium where metaphysical truths, moral reflections, and cultural identity of the Malays were encoded poetically.
5. Correcting Misconceptions
The book challenges colonial-era or Western misreadings that dismissed Malay literature as derivative or simplistic. Instead, it presents the sha‘ir as a sophisticated and meaningful contribution to world literature.
1. Tracing the Origins
The book explores the historical, linguistic, and cultural roots of the sha‘ir, a classical form of Malay poetry. Al-Attas argues that it did not arise in isolation but developed through interactions between Malay tradition and wider Islamic intellectual-literary influences.
2. Form & Structure
It examines the poetic forms—particularly rhyme schemes (AAAA, AABB, etc.), stanza arrangement, and rhythm—that distinguish the sha‘ir from earlier oral traditions like pantun. The work highlights how textual transmission sometimes introduced errors or variations in verse placement, as seen in the sample pages you shared.
3. Islamic & Arabic Influence
The sha‘ir embodies Malay adaptation of Arabic-Persian-Islamic poetic traditions, integrating metaphysical, ethical, and spiritual concepts. It shows how Malay literature absorbed and localized Islamic cosmology and philosophy.
4. Philosophical & Cultural Dimensions
Beyond technicalities, al-Attas frames sha‘ir as a vessel of wisdom (hikmah), a medium where metaphysical truths, moral reflections, and cultural identity of the Malays were encoded poetically.
5. Correcting Misconceptions
The book challenges colonial-era or Western misreadings that dismissed Malay literature as derivative or simplistic. Instead, it presents the sha‘ir as a sophisticated and meaningful contribution to world literature.
March 10, 2026
The Origin of The Malay Sha’ir is a short book that argued about, as the title tell, the origin of Malay Sha’ir. The writer essentially wrote a rebuttal statement against some of the orientalist conclusion regarding the topic. Although he agreed with them on the fundamental, who the originator, he disagreed on the reason they given for their deduction. The writer dispute some of the points the orientalist given. He even provides his own supporting facts base on the originator works and life.
The book is bought at 2025 Book Fair in Wisma Putra. The title of the book piques my interest into buying it. It is a short book with some heavy reading for me. It as a scholarly paper to prove a point. From reading, it can be gleaned that Malay Sha’ir started by Hamzah Fansuri. How Sha’ir come from Arab and Persia. How some of the work by Hamzah Fansuri was wrongly read causing this dispute. Overall, this is an educational book to be read and digest.
The book is bought at 2025 Book Fair in Wisma Putra. The title of the book piques my interest into buying it. It is a short book with some heavy reading for me. It as a scholarly paper to prove a point. From reading, it can be gleaned that Malay Sha’ir started by Hamzah Fansuri. How Sha’ir come from Arab and Persia. How some of the work by Hamzah Fansuri was wrongly read causing this dispute. Overall, this is an educational book to be read and digest.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews