Syed Sheikh Al Hadi's House
Jelutong, Penang

Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi

Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi's House is a bungalow along Jelutong Main Road. It is the house of the renowned Muslim novelist and journalist, whose full name is Syed Sheikh bin Syed Ahmad Al-Hadi. Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi was born in 1867 in Kampung Hulu, Malacca. He moved to Penang to further his career in literature and journalism, and to advance the field of Islamic education. He founded the Madrasah Al-Mashoor, a Muslim-based school, in 1919 and established the Al-Imam magazine in 1906 and the Al-Ikhwan magazine in 1926. Both are written in the Jawi script.

Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi also authored the novel Hikayat Faridah Hanom (1926) which became a bestseller among the Malay public. In 1919, Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi became the headmaster of the Islamic school Madrasatul Mashoor Al-Islamiyah, a leading Islamic education centre in Southeast Asia. He diead on 20 February, 1934, at the age of 67.

Syed Sheik Al-Hadi's house was bought over by vegetarian nuns who used it as a temple serving vegetarian meals to the public on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month.