William Shellabear

Who was William Shellabear?

William Girdlestone Shellabear was a "pioneer" scholar and missionary in Malaysia. He was known for both his appreciation of Muslim society and also his translation of the Bible into the Malay language

W. G. Shellabear, as he was generally known, first went to Malaysia as a British soldier, then returned as a Methodist missionary, where he worked from 1891-1948. “He introduced and guided changes in attitudes towards Malays and Islam, which made it possible for Methodist missionaries to relate positively to Malays while maintaining the integrity of their evangelistic outreach.” He helped Westerners appreciate “how Malay spirituality represented a genuine commitment to Islam, despite its failure to conform to the expectations of [Western] Orientalists”. His appreciation of Malay language and culture made him promote Malay language schools, which brought him into disagreement with many missionaries who preferred to organize and teach at English-language schools.

He produced a voluminous amount of writings, some of which were aimed at Christian Malays, some for Muslims Malays, some for missionaries coming to Malaysia, and some for scholars.