An Analysis of Hamka’s Selected Historical Works

Abstract

Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah was a prolific scholar who wrote more than one hundred books on various themes through various media. The existing literature has significantly covered various aspects of Hamka’s ideas. Though Hamka was learned in various spheres of knowledge, one of his favourite subjects was history. However, Hamka’s discourse on history is found wanting. Thus, this paper discusses Hamka’s contributions to history with special reference to Sejarah Umat Islam and Antara Fakta dan Khayal Tuanku Rao. Hamka’s most profound work on history is Sejarah Umat Islam. Hamka who had sharp eyes and a high degree of historical mindset was very critical of the so-called history books but departed from the true nature of historical inquiry. For Hamka, one such work was by M.O. Parlindungan, Tuanku Rao: Terror agama Islam Mazhab Hambali di Tanah Batak, 1816-1833, published in 1964. Hamka criticised this work due to several conspicuous factual inaccuracies. Among the important issues were M.O. Parlindungan’s claims about the Shiah influence in Minangkabau and some fantastic claims about the Padri movement. Therefore, in 1974, he wrote a book, Tuanku Rao: Antara fakta dan khayal, and took Parlindungan to task. This paper starts with a brief discussion of Hamka’s profile and education. Then, it examines Hamka’s role and contribution as a historian by discussing his two major works on history: Sejarah Umat Islam and Antara Fakta dan Khayal Tuanku Rao.