Kerajaan Proselytism

Chapter 3 examines the role of kingdoms in transforming Islam into a force to be reckoned with in Malaysia. Be it through diplomacy, conquest, trade, or tribute, the rajas worked hand in hand with overseas Muslim and non-Muslim empires as well as local societies to infuse Islam in all corners of Malaysia. The states of Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Johor, and, most illustrious of all, Melaka positioned themselves as Islamizers and defenders of the faith akin to the Safavids and the Ottomans that these states hoped to emulate up until the eighteenth century. Muslim kings employed a range of subtle and hard strategies to widen their command over non-Muslim polities.

Sufis, Sufism, and Conversion Narratives

Chapter 2 bridges the gradualist with the populist phase of Islamization later in this book. It considers the emotive and mystical dimensions of the infusion and reception of Islam among the Malays. It explains how the Sufis gained Muslim converts through spiritual and cultural means. The Sufis employed wayang kulit (shadow puppet plays), dikir barat (lyrical verse debate), folk tales, religious stories, magic, and other forms of mystical arts as Islamizing tools. We then transition to what Tijana Krstić termed as “Islamic tradition of conversion narratives” found in Malay hikayat texts inspired by Sufi and mystical themes. These narratives are valuable in helping us understand how early Malay Muslims made sense of and sought to explain the significance of their conversion to Islam as a means to persuade the wider society to adopt the new faith. Sufi and mystical themes served another function: they masked underlying pragmatic and strategic motives that prompted Malay elites to accept Islam in the age of the expansion of Islamic empires.

Nationalizing Islam, Islamizing the Nation

This concluding chapter turns the reader’s attention to global Islamic resurgence as an alternative form of triumphalist Islamization. The state attempted, on many occasions, to tame this resurgent and equally Malay-triumphalist Islam through coercive and co-optation strategies. The effectiveness of these policies reached its zenith in 1998 on the eve of the Reformasi Movement. Islamic movements and Islamic opposition parties closed ranks and battled against the state’s hegemony. They derived their strength and inspiration from a globalized Islam. Amidst this struggle between the state and civil society actors, the notion of a total Islamization of society, of “halalization” and the implementation of the shari’a to cover all aspects of Muslim life bound the opposing groups together, causing much anxiety for non-Muslims and inspiring the development of counter-Islamization and liberal civil society groups. This book closes with brief reflections on recent developments in Malaysia. After a millennium’s journey analyzed through the lenses of entwined history, it is clear to me that Islamization in Malaysia is now in a state of flux. Debates over halal (permissible) food, the hudud, the prohibition of the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims, sectarianism among Sufis and Salafis, culture wars between liberals and conservatives, and regime change that saw the end of UMNO’s dominance in Malaysian politics, among many others, indicate that Islam in Malaysia is, without a doubt, a riveting case study that can shed light on the ways in which Islam in other parts of the world has developed over time. This book is an invitation to a deeper attentiveness to that past and to recognizing that the histories and destinies of Muslims, wherever they may be, have always been entwined.

Islam and Colonialism

Chapter 5 looks at institutions and other policies created by the British to address Muslim affairs. The Majlis Ugama Islam (Islamic Religious Councils) was one of these. Although modeled upon British experience in Egypt and India with the aim of bureaucratizing Islam in Malaysia, these institutions were also platforms for the propagation of Islam as local Muslims collaborated with the British in restructuring Muslim lives. Orientalism under the sponsorship of colonial states also helped to create deeper appreciation on the part of the Muslims about their own faith and history. Although regulated, the hajj continued as an avenue where reformist and modernist ideas flowed into and out of Malaysia. Colonialism was, in hindsight, Islamization by other means, or “colonial Islamization.” This chapter provides a counterargument against previously held beliefs that colonialism in Malaysia arrested the infusion of Islam. The reverse held true, though it must also be acknowledged that colonialism did result in fragmentation of the Muslim community into Anglophones and British-compliant elites. Divide and rule was the British way of keeping Muslims in check.

Introduction

This chapter orients the reader to the importance of studying Islam in Malaysia as a window into understanding the wider history of global Islam. I begin with a discussion of problems in the extant literature on Islam in Malaysia. This is followed by the book’s methodological contribution, that is, the approach of “entwined history,” which involves the long-term interrelationships, interplay, connections, exchanges, and nexus between four key forces of history: global currents and local realities, the conduct of states and the everyday life in Muslims in society, scholarly and popular pieties, and, more importantly, Muslims and non-Muslims. Upon explaining the methodology and how it can enrich our understanding of Islam in Malaysia, the chapter moves to discuss a new periodization that captures the course of Islamization in Malaysia from the eleventh to the twenty-first centuries.

Repertoires of Muslim Resistance

Chapter 6 is centered on various forms of resistance against colonial rule. It begins with the outbreaks of rebellions, which were stirred by a sense of disenfranchisement, and Muslim perceptions that the colonial powers were working against Islam. Although largely failed campaigns, these violent episodes awakened the Malay Muslims regarding the need to reform themselves. It examines, among others, the reform efforts of To’ Kenali and his modernized pondok (traditional Islamic schools) as well as the growth of Islamic modernist ideas championed by the Al-Imam group in Singapore and students returning from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Revivalists in the Arab World, Turkey, and South Asia influenced these local reformists. At the same time, they promulgated new ideas that laid bare the problems of taqlid (blind obedience) in Malaysia. Islamic modernism developed in conjunction with the revival of traditionalism, both of which had their own unique visions of how Muslims ought to reform themselves. The rapid growth of political movements and parties demonstrate the effervescence of anti-colonial Islamization in Malaysia that eventually led to the country’s independence.

Infusing Islam in Connected Societies

This chapter uncovers the connectedness of Malay societies that made it conducive for Muslim traders and travelers who crossed the Indian Ocean to live alongside non-Muslim Malays, thereby introducing Islam in an incidental fashion. These traders and travelers were, later on, joined by rulers, Sufi missionaries, and Islamic scholars hailing from the Arab world, South Asia, China, and Southeast Asia who gained new converts through direct preaching. Even though many Malays embraced Islam during this phase, their conversion did not radically change the outlook and governance of Malay states. Hindu-Buddhist-animist frames of reference were generally maintained by the masses as the common people slowly internalized the tenets of Islam. Islamic and pre-Islamic codes of law and ethics were fused together by Malay elites in the management of their societies so as to not disrupt the age-old cultures that the common people held on to.

Constructing a Malay-Triumphalist Islam

Chapter 7 examines the postcolonial state’s quest to construct a “Malay-triumphalist Islam.” This was achieved through legal measures as evinced in the enshrining of Islam in the constitution and through the construction of national mosques and other Islamic monuments. The state also created enforcement agencies, organized mass events, and promulgated slogans to generate a Malaysian-centric Islam colored with strong pro-Malay undertones. The racial riots that broke out on May 13, 1969, further accelerated the process of Islamization in the country in favor of the Malay Muslims. Such policies yielded contradictory outcomes. While uniting Malay Muslims under the banner of Islam, the state policies also brought about unhappiness on the non–Malay Muslims and the non-Muslims in the country who saw Malay-triumphalist Islam as an infringement of their status as equal citizens in the country.

Women and Other Islamizers

Chapter 4 uncovers the premiership of Siti Wan Kembang, the ruler of the state of Kelantan in the early seventeenth century. Her rise to power and successful reign provides an illustrative sample of the varied roles Muslim women played in the Islamization of the Malays. In addition to powerful women such as Siti Wan Kembang, this chapter also delves into the creative missionizing methods and links formed by Muslim scholars and emissaries. Networks of Islamic scholars in Malaysia who studied in Patani, the Hijaz, Cairo, and Hadramaut and the movement of Muslims along the hajj routes aided in the diffusion of Islam among the locals in mosques, suraus (prayer) places, and other religious institutions. Among the scholars prominent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was Tok Pulau Manis. Drawing from the flourishing literary world of kingdoms in Pasai and Perlak, these scholars introduced the Jawi script into Malaysia, which soon replaced the old Pallava script from India. Finally, the chapter highlights the part played by foreigners such as the Chinese Muslims in Malaysia, who acted as emissaries of non-Muslim kingdoms cum missionaries of Islam. The efforts of Admiral Cheng Ho will be analyzed here, most notably the impact of his diplomatic trips in furthering the preaching of Islam in Melaka and other Malay states.