Sumber Historiografi Al-Attas dalam Pentafsiran Sejarah Kedatangan dan Penyebaran Islam di Alam Melayu (The Sources of Al-Attas’ Historiography In The Interpretation of History On The Coming and Spreading of Islam Into The Malay World)

Abstract

This article aimed to analyse the main historical sources and the issues discussed by Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas in his interpretation of history on the coming and spreading of Islam into the Malay World. According to Barton, the perspective and final conclusion of historian are based on the sources that he referred to. Thus, it is important to study and analyze al-Attas’s sources to understand his historical interpretation. Historical and text analysis methods were applied to gather data and examine al-Attas’s works, which contains historical data on the early part of Islam in the Malay World. The works are as follow, Preliminary Statement on a General Theory of the Islamization of the Malay - Indonesian Archipelago, Islam dalam Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Melayu, The Correct Date of Terengganu Inscription and particularly Historical Fact and Fiction. The study details the primer sources in his historical interpretation are the Holy Qur’an, hadis, artifacts, genealogy (silsilah, tarsila, shajarah) and classical Malay historical texts. The findings indicated that these main historical sources were selected by al-Attas due to its utmost authority in the interpretation of history on the coming and spreading of Islam to the Malay World.