Arabs' Concept Of Islamic Literature and Its Impact In The Writings Of Malay Writers

Abstract

The call for Islamic literature emerged in the 1950s among the Arab leading writers notably Sayyed Qutb, Abdul Rahman Ra'fat Al- Pasha and Najib Al- Kilany. In the 1960s, influenced by the Arabs, Malay scholars began to study the need of such literature. In the 1990s, they produced several works on Islamic literature including some researches by Baderuddin H. O., Yusuf Zaki Yakoob, Shafie Abu Bakar, Ismail Hamid, Osman Al- Muhammadi, Osman Kelantan and Muhammad Efendi Hassan as desperate attempts to formulate a new critical theory to help in the call for Islamic literature on one hand, and to evaluate the writings of Muslim writers on the other. This paper examines the rise of Islamic literature in the Arab world, and highlight its development in the Malay Archipelago. Furthermore, it traces the impact of Sayyed Qutb, Muhammad Qutb and Ismail Al Faruqi on Malysian writers such as Shahnon Ahmad, Muhammad Kamal Hassan and Muhammad Bukhari Lubis.