Malaysian Student Uncovers Historic Malay Texts in Egypt

via The Star, 14 April 2024: Muhammad Nur Hadi Sallehuddin, a Malaysian student at Al-Azhar University in Egypt, has amassed a remarkable collection of nearly 200 Malay scholarly books, dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. These books, authored by prominent Malaysian and regional scholars and printed by Mustafa al-Halabi, cover various Islamic disciplines in Jawi and Acehnese script.

A Malaysian student in Egypt has collected nearly 200 books written by Malay scholars from the 1920s to the 1960s.Muhammad Nur Hadi Sallehuddin, a final year Usuluddin student at al-Azhar University, began the collection in 2020.

Most of the texts in his collection were printed by Mustafa al-Halabi, one of the oldest printing and bookselling companies in the country. Muhammad Nur Hadi said that these old books – indigenous Nusantara books (kitab turath) – were mostly written in Jawi and Acehnese script, covering various Islamic disciplines, including history and Arabic-Jawi dictionaries.

The said works were authored by renowned scholars from Malaysia, including the first National Tokoh Hijrah Maal recipient (1987) Dr Syeikh Idris al-Marbawi, Kelantan scholar Sheikh Jaafar Husein, and Kedah scholar Sheikh Abdullah Wan Ibrahim, apart from scholars from Indonesia and Pattani.

Source: Student digs up Malay texts in Egypt | The Star