Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir

Who was Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir?

Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir also known as Munshi Abdullah, was a Malayan writer of Indian origin. He was a famous Malacca-born Indian munshi of Singapore and died in Jeddah, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Munshi Abdullah is regarded as the most cultured Malay who ever wrote, one of the greatest innovators in Malay letters and the father of modern Malay literature.

The term Munshi means "teacher" or "educator". Munshi Abdullah was a great-grandson of a Hadhrami Arab trader, and also had Tamil and to a smaller extent, Malay ancestry. Owing to his ethnic and religious background, the Malays would refer to him as a Jawi Peranakan or Jawi Pekan.

Munshi Abdullah followed his father's career path as a translator and teacher of colonial officials in the Malay Archipelago, mainly the British and the Dutch.