Prof Solehah in spotlight again for claiming Malays direct descendants of Prophet Abraham

 

YOU have to hand it to Prof Solehah Yaacob – she just has the knack for creating headlines. Whether those headlines are positive or otherwise will largely depend on one’s perspective regarding academic rigour and veracity of historical facts.

By now, a good number of Malaysians will already be familiar with this Arab linguistics expert’s moniker given that she has made several outlandish claims.

These include that the ancient Roman empire owed its maritime prowess to Malay shipbuilding knowledge.

Add to that tall tales of Malays teaching Chinese secret flying techniques and one begins to understand the sort of notoriety the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) academic has garnered in the local context.

This is when this controversial and outspoken academic’s views have put Malaysia in the world map for the wrong reasons among history buffs.

Her latest claim which sparked both curiosity as well as hilarity is that Malays are direct descendants of Prophet Abraham.

The latest bizarre finding that challenges established historical facts and commonly accepted realities was shared on SEA History & Heritage Facebook site which has generated 5.3K likes, 3.8K comments and 405 shares at time of publication.

Editor’s Note: Below is a TikTok video dated Dec 12, 2022 whereby one can hear from the horse’s own mouth her claim that “the Malay lineage is linked to the third wife of Prophet Abraham (Nabi Ibrahim). 

Citing her lecture in Pattani, South Thailand, the Jakarta-based regional educational site recently highlighted Prof Solehah’s claim that there were only three oldest nations in the world after the death of Prophet Abraham:

• The 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 (descendants of Isaac);
• The 𝗔𝗿𝗮𝗯𝘀 (descendants of Ishmael); and
• The 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘆𝘀 whom she links to Midian, a son of Keturah who is believed to be Abraham’s third wife from Champa.

According to her, this lineage places the Malays as direct descendants of Prophet Abraham, thus offering a unique perspective on historical and ancestral roots.

Ridicule and praise

At the very forefront were commenters ridiculing the notorious academic whose reputation seem to precede her with her many absurd findings.

It was surmised that if the connection was spiritual, it could be accepted but not a biological link as claimed as “Malaysians are Austroasiatic and Austronesian people aren’t Semitic”.

Some observers just responded with even more outlandish theories to highlight the extreme silliness of her extravagant claims, ie “the Garden of Eden is probably located in Malaysia’s Taman Negara” or “Malays were on the moon before Neil Armstrong”.

However, Prof Solehah would not be famous if she did not have a dedicated, enthusiastic audience who lapped up her theories with the backing that she has “conducted years of research”.

One commenter loudly objected to the scorn and ridicule being heaped on her idol historian as “whatever she claims comes with written proof with no objections from the Romans till today (with regard to ancient Malays lending their shipbuilding prowess to the Romans”.

As such, no scholars could deny the Malay supremacist’s findings.

The amount of racist tirades spewed in defence of Prof Solehah further reflected the demographic her brand of “history” appeals to.

One even argued that detractors need to listen to Prof Solehah’s “facts” to which there was plenty of pushback highlighting that her pronouncements were usually controversial opinions unsupported by research and has not been subject to academic scrutiny.

Despite the scores of detractors on the forum, there remained staunch defenders of Prof Solehah who are convinced her work is based on sound empirical evidence and research.

A few realities this post highlights.

First and foremost, just what do these hypotheses aim to achieve? Is it to create a perception that the Malays were once part of a mighty civilisation that has been wrongly erased from history.

Whatever the case is, it does appear that this learned academic is here to stay as there seems to be no one able to stop her from tarnishing the good name of her employers (IIUM).

Indeed, the image of the country itself is affected by these wild claims made in the name of academia side-by-side thinly disguised Malay supremacy propaganda. 

 - Focus Malaysia