Munshi Abdullah

Munshi Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (1797-deceased 1800s)
An Indian Muslim translator and chronicler who was born in Kg Pali, Malacca. 
Worked in British Malacca. Worked with Stamford Raffles in Singapore.

Full name: Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir
Call name: Munshi Abdullah, Abdullah Munshi
Born: 1797 Kg Pali, Melaka
Deceased: 1800s
Father: Abdul Kadir
Mother: Unknown
Sibs: All siblings before him died. Only he survived.
Education: Quran, Arabic, Malay and English
Occupation: Translator for the British colonial Government in Malacca and Singapore
Family: Unknown
Wife: Unknown
Children: Unknown


Munshi Abdullah is Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir. He was born in 1797 in Kampung Pali, Malacca. Kg Pali has been renamed Kg Masjid, and now Kg Ketek. His house is not far from Masjid Kampung Kling - about 5 minutes walk from the masjid. Masjid Kampung Kling is an ancient mosque in Malacca. People at the masjid can give the directions to Munshi Abdullah's house. 

Old version of Hikayat Abdullah printed in early 1960s

Two pages of his diary

A decorated page of Hikayat Abdullah

A decorated page of Hikayat Abdullah

Book cover of the modern version of Munshi Abdullah's book/diary/travelogue, as used in Malaysian schools for Malay literature class

Munshi Abdullah's house in Kg Pali, Malacca

- - - - -

Frank Athelstone Swettenham (British Malaya), a British officer;
his profile resembles that of Munshi Abdullah

There are at least three books on British Malaya and Singapore that discuss Munsyi Abdullah.

1. One book was written by Frank Swettenham and published in 1907. 
2. Another book was published in 1948. The contents include accounts of Munsyi Abdullah meeting with Lord Minto. Another account states Munsyi Abdullah with Stamford Raffles and wife Olivia. 
3. Kesah pĕlayaran Abdullah (Voyages of Munshi Abdullah), 1907 was written by Sir Richard James Wilkinson (1867-5 December 1941). He was a colonial administrator, a Malay scholar and historian.

There exists an ancient seaside Chinatown in Terengganu, which was visited by Admiral Cheng Ho, and was mentioned by Munshi Abdullah in his book.

External links:
http://www.emily2u.com/munshi-abdullah-house-kg-ketek-melaka/
http://seniwarisanterengganu.blogspot.com/2010/05/kampung-china.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_James_Wilkinson
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_503_2004-12-27.html
https://arjuna1182.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/abdullah-munsyi-penilaian-negatif-dan-positif/

Slave Trade

The slave trade was described in Hikayat Abdullah (Abdullah's autobiography)

http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellhpj/resources/abdullah15.HTM

Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir @ Munshi Abdullah @ Inchi Abdulla

• Born 1796 in Malacca; died 1854 in Jeddah
• An Indian Muslim writer and translator who worked with Colonel William Farquhar in Malacca and later, Stamford Raffles in Singapore
• Popular with the colonials but unpopular with the Malay and Arab communities
• Translated the Bible into Malay for the Christian missionaries
• Many of his life/work stories are studied in Malaysian schools and colleges
• Wrote Hikayat Abdullah (1843), an autobiography, in Jawi Malay script

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_bin_Abdul_Kadir
http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellhpj/resources/abdullah.HTM
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_503_2004-12-27.html

Definition of Munshi

• a Persian, Urdu or Hindi word that originated from the Arabic word, munshi which refers to a writer or author
• The word existed or was used circa 1770-80
• a native interpreter or language instructor
• a native secretary or assistant
• a secretary or language teacher in South Asia (eg, Malacca)
• highly loyal personal attendant
• usually young Indian men
• worked for the British colonial masters as interpreters
• mainly from northern India where the British had ruled till India's independence
• See Queen Victoria's 'Indian John Brown' in 1800s
• Munshi is also used as a male name and a surname
• See usage in the literature

Definition of Hikayat

• From The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979): (also hikâyet), a literary term of the peoples of the Near and Middle East and Southeast Asia. In the broad sense, a hikayat is any long narrative work in prose or sometimes in verse. In the narrow sense, it is an anonymous prose work in book form, such as the 17th-century Malay work The Tale of Hang Tuah. In Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literatures, the term is synonymous with “short story.” In Turkish literature it also refers to an anonymous folk story.
• literary work, eg Hikayat Hang Tuah

List of Malay stories (hikayat)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hikayat