I'd like to respond to Dr Farish A Noor's two-part article entitled 'How the Devil brought Islam to the Malay world' (Dec 1).

I am utterly amazed that Farish considers the acceptance of literature like the Hikayat and such as his sole reference in matters related to propagation of Islam in Malaysia.

This is because most of the books referred to by Farish is doubtful in terms of its authenticity, especially the identities of its writers. For all you know, these books could have been written by someone in the early 20th century and do not really give the true picture of how Islam was spread in Malaysia.

In contrast, the Batu Bersurat Terengganu shows that the Islamic syariah was in practice for hundreds of years before it was abolished by the British in early 20th century.

I am shocked how Farish could have missed such authentic sources and resort to doubtful unauthenticated literatures as his sole reference for his so-called historical studies.