Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiah is a Malay

Malay people

Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...

 literary work that recounts the story of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah

Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah

Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah surnamed Abu'l-Qasim was an early Muslim leader. He was a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shi'ite Imam and the fourth Sunni Caliph.-Biography:...

, half-brother of the martyrs of Shiism, Hasan

Hasan ibn Ali

Al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib ‎ is an important figure in Islam, the son of Fatimah the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and of the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Hasan is a member of the Ahl al-Bayt and Ahl al-Kisa...

 and Husayn

Husayn ibn Ali

Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib ‎ was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...

. The story revolves around the aftermath of the battle of Karbala

Battle of Karbala

The Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 of the Islamic calendar in Karbala, in present day Iraq. On one side of the highly uneven battle were a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson Husain ibn Ali, and on the other was a large military detachment...

 and Muhammad’s role in an uprising against Yazid I

Yazid I

Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān , commonly known as Yazid I, was the second Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate . He ruled for three years from 680 CE until his death in 683 CE. Many Muslims condemn Yazid's rule as contentious and unjust...

, the caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

 of Umayyad Caliphate.

Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiah was one of the Hikayats mentioned in the Malay annals read by the Malay warriors to raise their fighting spirit during the siege of Malacca

Capture of Malacca (1511)

The Capture of Malacca in 1511 occurred when the Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque subdued the city of Malacca in 1511.The port city of Malacca controlled the narrow strategic strait of Malacca, through which all sea-going trade between China and India was concentrated...

 by the Portuguese Empire

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

 in 1511.

The following is an extract from the Malay Annals:

It was night and all the captains and young men were on guard in the palace. And the young men said, “Of what use is it for us to sit here in silence? It would be better for us to read some story of battle so that we might benefit from it.” “You are right,” said Tun Muhammad Unta. “Tun Indra Sagara had better go and ask for the story of Muhammad Hanafiah,saying that perhaps we may derive advantage from it, as the Feringgi (Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

) attack tomorrow.” Then Tun Indra Sagara went into the presence of Sultan and submitted their remark to his highness. And Sultan gave him the Hikayat Amir Hamzah

Hikayat Amir Hamzah

Hikayat Amir Hamzah is a Malay literary work that chronicles the hero by the name Amir Hamzah. This book is one of the two Hikayat mentioned in Sejarah Melayu as one of the Hikayat used to encourage Malay warriors in their fight against invading Portuguese in Malacca in 1511.The manuscripts were...

, saying, “Tell them, I’d give them the story of Muhammad Hanafiah but I fear they’ll not be as brave as he: if they are like Amir Hamzah it will do, so I give them the story of Hamzah.” Tun Indra Sagara came out carrying the story of Hamzah and told them all Sultan had said, and they were silent not answering a word. Then, Tun Isak said to Tun Indra Sagara, “Tell his highness that he is mistaken. His highness must be like Muhammad Hanafiah and we like the captains of Baniar”. Tun Indra Sagara submitted Tun Isak’s remark to Sultan Ahmad, who smiled and answered, “He is right”. And he gave him the story of Muhammad Hanafiah too.

The text is known through at least 30 manuscripts and a lithographed edition in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. Although the story is no longer popular today, but it is extremely interesting in that it attests to a Shiite presence in the Malay world at the very beginning of Islamization

Islamization

Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...

.