Islam, Culture And History In The Malay World

Islam, Culture and History in the Malay World trace the influence of Islam on the Malay world and contributes to our understanding of how Islam has transformed the culture, religion, politics, and education of the Malay society. The Malay world refers to the area dominated by Malay-speaking Muslims or the Muslim world within Southeast Asia. It is inhabited by some 230 million Malay speakers, who, in the majority are Muslims. Muslim population in the Malay world has outnumbered the “Middle East” and North Africa with the former constituting 25% and the latter 20% of the world’s Muslim population. Although the Malay world is the most populous Muslim region in the world, it has been neglected within Muslim studies. Further, Islam in the Malay world has been marginalized even within the field of Southeast Asian studies. This occurs partly because of the assumption of Islam being supposedly peripheral to Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia peripheral to Islam.

This book brings together eight chapters on various aspects of Muslim history in the Malay world. Whereas the first chapter provides an overview of the state of the literature on Islam in the Malay world; five chapters deal with Islam, history, and culture of the Malay Peninsula; and one chapter examines the development of Islam in Minangkabau/West Sumatra. Together, they add valuable knowledge to the understanding of Islam in the Malay world. It is pertinent to mention that before the advent of colonialism in the Malay world, there was no clear separation between the Malays in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra and other parts of the Archipelago. Indeed, for centuries, the Straits of Malacca did not form a dividing line or border between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra but served as a corridor linking the two areas.