Malay Thought on Knowledge and Propriety in Traditional Malay Literature

This article discusses the Malay thought, concerning its knowledge and culture which thoroughly explained through traditional Malay prose forms, including rhymes, proverbs and poetry. The aspect of thought have long been debated since the period of Plato and Aristotle who managed to reveal the secrets associated with human life, animals, and the entire universe. Malay thought based on the traditional Malay prose is perceptually an overall view or thoughts of an individual which encompasses aspects of knowledge, observation or principle underlying the knowledge or belief. In literary research, particularly poetry, thought encompasses all aspects of question or message which is explicitly and implicitly conveyed through the works, thus acting as a teaching guide to the life event of an individual or society in a country. Moreover, the thought is mentally stored in mind and expressed through a particular medium. In the context of this study, a medium used is traditional Malay prose forms. This medium expects to continuously become an avenue towards the development of critical and creative thinking, intellectuality, and at a time, being able to stand in line with the Islamic thought which is clearly developed based on Allah’s guidance to mankind