Majalah Al-Hikmah Edisi ke 17

MA JA L AH A L - H I KMAH 25 He dedicated his scholarly life to the Islamization of contemporary knowledge, ta’dib education, and the clarification of many key Islamic concepts. He has authored more than 30 books. Some of these books are Some Aspects of Sufism as Understood and Practiced Among the Malays (1963), The Mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri (1970), Islam and Secularism (1978), Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam (1995), Historical Fact and Fiction (2011), and Islam: The Covenants Fulfilled (2023). He died on 8 March 2026 in Kuala Lumpur and was buried at the Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery. In some aspects of sufism as understood and practised among the Malays, Al-Attas divided the book structure into three main parts. They are, Part 1: An Introduction to Sufism, Part 2: Sufism as Understood Among the Malays; and Part 3: Sufism as Practised Among the Malays. Among topics discussed in this book are the origin of sufism and its etymology, the phases of sufi development, some prominent Malay Mystics, sufi orders in Malaya, the ratibs (meditations) ceremony, the taslim counterfeit teaching and many more. It is interesting to note here the sayings of Al- Attas as follows: “...Sufism is not a later development that stands apart from Islam, for the seeds of sufism are sown without the Quran itself...It is the Quran that has been the wellspring of sufism” (2020: 4). Al-Attas’s view of the early scholars of Sufism is characterized by a focus on the tradition of piety (taqwa), asceticism (zuhd), and inward sincerity (Ikhlas), rather than complex metaphysical systems. The term Sufi itself gained prominence later, but the spiritual practices and emphasis on the inner life were present from the time of the al-Salaf al-Salih (pious predecessors). If the al-Salaf al-Salih is recognized as those great generations who lived in the early three centuries Hijrah of Islam, among names mentioned in his book are: the ahl al-Suffah (the people of verandah), Salman al-Farisi RA (d. 33H), Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 43H) rhm, Hasan al-Basri (21-110H) rhm, Ibrahim ibn Adham (100- 160H) rhm, Rabi’ah al-‘Adawiyyah (95- 185H) rhm, Dhu al-Nun al-Misri (155-245H) rhm, Abu Yazid al-Bistami (188-261H) rhm, Ahmad ibn ‘Isa al-Kharraz (d. 286H) rhm, and al-Junayd al-Baghdadi (210-298H) rhm.