Madrasah Al Mashoor

Syed Sheikh al-Hadi came to Penang in 1893. He then went for further studies at the University of al-Azhar, Egypt in 1897, and returned to Penang in 1899.

In 1919, Syed Sheikh al-Hadi shifted to Penang and established Madrasah Al-Mashoor. He became the first principle of the madrasah.

During his tenure, he played a crucial role in the consolidation of the school in the sense that he transferred it premises from Acheen to Tek Soon Street, where the school got a bigger compound and catered for a large number of students.

In its new premises, the school offered Islamic courses and a set of secular disciplines that were taught in English.

The Madrasah Al-Mashoor was also well known during the British colonial era as a place of radical movement. The madrasah was one of the first Malay-Muslim institutions to ‘pioneer of the modern printing press, publishing not only religious texts, but also journals and magazines that helped to create the fledging imagined community of a literate public in the Malay Peninsula.

The all-boys madrasah began in Masjid Melayu Acheh, near the old warehouses and pilgrimage jetty.
Madrasah Al Mashoor

Madrasah in Malaysia

The term madrasah derives from the Arabic root darasa, which means ‘to study’ and is related to the term for lessons, dars. Technically, a madrasah is an institution where lessons are imparted or, in other words, a school.

The earliest form of Islamic education ion the Malay Peninsula was Quranic instruction, conducted in mosque, prayer houses and the homes of learned Muslims since the arrival of Islam in the region.

As Quranic schools gained popularity and the number of students increased, permanent, although often underfunded, schools known as pondok or madrasah were established in villages through the region to provide additional training in the study of Islam for those who had already mastered the reading of the Quran.

While the schools were scattered throughout the Malay Peninsula, the majority were located in the northern states of Kelantan and Kedah.

In 1914 Habib Hassan al-Attas founded Madrasah al-Attas in Johor Bahru and 194 he founded Madrasah al-Attas Ketapang in Pekan, Pahang. The latter was the first Arabic religious school in Pahang.

The setting up of reformed madrasahs in urban centers of the Straits Settlements such as Madrasah al-Hadi in Malacca in 1917, Madrasah Al-Iqbal-Islamiyyah in Singapore in 1908 and Madrasah Al-Masyhor Al-Islamiyyah in Penang in 1919 offered new religious outlook towards education for the Muslims.

These madrasahs were also the first Malay-Muslim institutions to pioneer the methods of the modern printing press, publishing not only religious texts but also journals and magazines that helped to create the fledging imagined community of a literate public in the Malay Peninsula.

Madrasah Al-Masyhor Al-Islamiyyah in Penang initially a school teaching of Quran and other basic Islamic knowledge. It was set-up through the efforts of several Arabs, among them Sayyid Mahzar Aidid, Sayyid Ali Bawazir, Sayyid Umar al-Sagoff, Sayyid Umar Mahzar and Sayyid Hassan al-Baghdadi.

It was named Madrasah al-Mashhor in honor of a respected Sayyid on the island, Sayyid Ahmad al-Mashhor.
Madrasah in Malaysia

Hamzah Fansuri

Hamzah Fansuri is a famous Sufi proponent and poet. Hamzah Fansuri was born in Barus, a town on the west coast of North Sumatra between Singkel and Sibolga. Barus was an important and prosperous trading port in the early 16th century.

The name ‘Fansuri’ had been long used to seamen or traders who were associated with that town. Fansuri was fluent in Persian, Malay and Arabic. He traveled widely both east and west.

In addition to having studied in the Middle East, he also spent time in Ayutthaya; which was known to its sizable Persian population as ‘Shahr-i Nav’ Persian for ‘city of boats and canals’.

After his travels to Siam and Arabia, Hamzah returned to Aceh and taught in that location as well as in Barus.

Most of Hamzah Fansuri’s works were written in syair verse forms. In fact, his syairs were among those first written in Malay.

As is well-known Hamzah Fansuri was the first scholar writing in Malay to have articulated the monist doctrine of Wahdat al-wujud, associated with Ibn Arabi.

Though Hamzah’s greatest legacy rests in his poetry, he also wrote various prose works:
*Sharab al-'ashiqin ("The Lovers' Beverage")
*Asrar al-'arifin ("The Secrets of the Gnostics")
*Muntahi ("The Adept")
Hamzah Fansuri

History of pondok and madrasah

Madrasah, a Muslim religious school, and pesantren, loosely defined as a Muslim boarding school, are amongst the many Muslim educational institution that still exist today amidst the tides of challenges brought about the urbanization.

The earlier history of the pondok tradition has a link to the Islamic Middle Eastern learning tradition.

These pondoks were founded by individuals, mostly ulamak or religious scholar or by the local community. Some early pondok founder studied in the Middle East, particularly Mecca, which strengthens assertion about its interrelationship.

The pondok played a central role in Islamic and Malay educational networks where they began to appear in Pattani by the 15th and 16th centuries.

Before the Siamese government annexed the Pattani sultanate 1902, Pattani has been a regional center for Islamic learning, with students from across Southeast Asia spending time at a Pattani pondok before travelling to the Middle East for advanced Islamic education.

At that time the pondoks of Pattani were highly regarded in the Malay world and in the entire Southeast Asia archipelago.

The word pondok derived from the Arabic world funduq which means hotel or lodging place. The students live in dormitories, study religious subject for a full day, and also assist the teacher and his family in various household chores.

Pattani scholars and religious teacher in pondok had translated Islamic religious works from Arabic into both Malay and the local Jawi language.

In Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis, during late nineteenth century a system pondok evolved from a system of Qur’anic classes held in the homes of lebais, suraus and mosques.

In the early twentieth century, the system of pondok then evolved into madrasah.
History of pondok and madrasah