The greatest scholar of 18th century India better known as Shah Wali Allah al-Dihlawi who wrote a number of works, especially on the science of prophetic tradition (hadith). He was a scholar who contributed many ideas to express the unification of Muslims in terms of comprehension and appreciation. Undeniably, he has strived to establish Islam to the society by recognizing the Qur’an and Sunna as the basis of reformation. Therefore, this study attempts to analyse the intellectuality of al- Dihlawi as a famous hadith scholar and his contribution towards the appreciation of Sunna of the prophet. By applying content analysis method as the study design by focusing on his great work, Hujjat al-Baligha, the study found that the transformation carried out by al-Dihlawi then he was considered a moderate figure who tried to balance between demands worldly and hereafter goals to the community. His efforts toward the unity of umma were considered positively when succeed to quell internal dissent and ideology differences between the fiqhism and Sufism, and also between the rationalists (ahl al-Ra’y) and the traditionalists (ahl al-Hadith).

This study seeks to identify the perspective of respondents to the fundamentals of fardhu ain. The study involved a total of 32 student UiTM (muslim convert) and several officers at the Universiti Teknologi MARA. Results showed that, most respondents came from the natives of Sabah and Sarawak and they came from different races. Most of their original religion is Christianity and there are those who identified as no known religion or pagan. The average of the respondents were 18.6 years old when they began convert to Islam. A total of 76% of respondents were women. The study also shows that the knowledge of UiTM students (muslim convert) to the basics of fardhu ain is satisfactory overall because they are also among those who studied and learned about Islam before they became Muslims. Aspects that should be given more attention are continuation of religious education, skills trainers, and some aspects of the content of the religious lesson. The respondents were affected by the lack of support from their families or friends to learn about the basics of fardhu ain. Moreover, they faced with the problems of learning and the constraints of time with assignments and class timetable that contributed to their lack of knowledge in fardhu ain.

Shihab is a scholar who has produced a comprehensive 30-chapter exegesis entitled Tafsir Al-Mishbah. In interpreting the Qur’an, he had applied several rules that had driven him towards commenting the verses. This kind of rule is also adopted by the other exegetes to ensure their exegeses are in line with the Islamic law. Therefore, this study seeks to analyse the rules of interpretation applied by him which focuses on the discussions of al-‘ām (general) and al-khāş (specific). To get a proper conclusion, this study has adopted the document analysis method by making language scriptures and venerated exegeses as the main sources of reference. This is to ensure that the rules that he had employed can be analysed perfectly and also consistent with the conclusion made by the scholars. The study found that Shihab had applied seven rules related to general and specific in his methodology, and the rules have been affirmed by both scholars and exegetes.