Taufik Ismail, on an occasion said that the contribution of Raja Ali Haji is the same as the other previous three National heroes from Riau, Tuanku Tambusai, Sultan Syarif Kasim II, and Raja Haji Fisabilillah. Tuhfat al-Nafis is the most precious work of a noble poet. It was not surprising if this book finally is finally used for the reference in the Malay history writing.

As a consequence, Tuhfat al-Nafis is noticed as the most complicated work explaining the Malay history work than all of the Malay history works no and before the 20 th century. Virginia‘s research shows that the point plus of this work it‘s the style which is easy to understand. Virginia saw that the advantages of this book were not only the wide concept and the accuracy of its narrative technique, but also the chronology of the history of the ordinary people life by using the local history for the references. The book of Matheson consists of the narration by Raja Ali Haji about the Riau-Lingga Kingdom which covered the south side of Setemenanjung Malay, included Singapore, Batam, Bintan, Karimun, Singkep, and Lingga Malacca Kingdom which covered Pahang, Selangor, and Johor the Kings of Bugis Malay and their descendents in those areas having the genealogical relationship from their marriage to people in Kedah, Perak, Terengganu, Siak, and Borneo. This manuscript was copied in 1896 from the collection of Yang Dipertuan Muda Riau while the long version consists of 126.000 words by Raja Ali Haji, then, this work was used for research and study that by Virginia Matheson Hooker.

The short version of the text consists of 88.000 words written by Raja Ahmad. The Manuscript of Tuhfat al-Nafis consists of two versions the short and the long versions. The Institute of Language and Literature, Publisher : Karyawan Foundation cooperating with Book Title : Tuhfat al-Nafis: Sejarah Melayu Islam

Tuhfat Al-Nafis by Raja Ali Haji