1843

In 1843, Marshal Soult declared that 'Abd al-Qadir was one of the three great men then living; the two others, Imam Shamil and Muhammad 'Ali of Egypt also being Muslims.

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Completed in 1843, under the title Hikayat Abdullah (“Abdullah’s Story”), it was first published in 1849. Its chief distinction—beyond the vivid picture it gives of his life and times—was the radical departure it marked in Malay literary style. In contrast to the largely court literature of the past, the Hikayat Abdullah provided a lively and colloquial descriptive account of events and people with a freshness and immediacy hitherto unknown. 'Abdullah’s criticisms of his own society, and his eagerness to embrace standards set by the West (though he remained a staunch Muslim), have caused him to be treated with some caution by a more recent generation of nationalists, but he continues to be widely acknowledged as the father of modern Malay literature.