Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia: A Contemporary Sourcebook

"This is the volume to turn to when you need facts and opinions about Islam in this geograpahical area, and ideas to feed critical thinking. It's not for those concrete minds that already know that their way to salvation is the one and only path. It's a book for those with a lust for learning, who want to hear all sides of an issue and who are fluent in English. It also has an excellent glossary, useful because so many terms are Arabic" (The Jakarta Post).

"Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia is partly the outcome of a trend in the scholarship on Southeast Asian Islam that has gained momentum from the mid-1980s onwards: namely, a corrective of the tendency to regard Islam as a 'thin veneer' (as the Dutch historian van Leur had described it) over much older and supposedly more profound cultural deposits from the Indian subcontinent. Producing a work like Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia is a Herculean undertaking. The team led by Fealy and Hooker has performed admirably. The editors have succeeded in avoiding a cacophonous amalgam that would leave the reader confused instead of informed. The compilers have taken care to include a variety of often contrasting viewpoints on these topics, thereby ensuring that a broad cross-section of opinions expressed by Muslim thinkers of successive generations are represented. The book contains excerpts from some of the most prominent intellectuals and political leaders in twentieth-century Muslim Southeast Asia, as well as budding young intellectuals who have just started making a name for themselves. Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia is a fine compendium of present-day Muslim Southeast Asia" (The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences).

"The key to the utility and credibility of this volume lies in the selection, translation, arrangement and interpretation of the 'sources' themselves, culled from a wide range of writings, statements, manifestos, of Muslim scholars, politicians, religious organizations, jurists, women's and youth groups, poets, activists and journalists, etc, all local voices... This is principally a reference work for researchers and teachers already familiar with the field, attempting to cover all of Muslim Southeast Asia, and offering a formidable array of materials, not widely available in English and in one location. It also offers a range of perspectives and details on the minutiae of Muslim life, thought to be of interest to the casual reader. As a resource it has no real precedent, and will surely become a required reference for scholars, at least in the English medium" (Pacific Affairs).

The Muslim communities of Southeast Asia are diverse, complex and increasingly influential in the broader Islamic world. However, the extraordinary breadth of practices and views across the Muslim world is not widely understood outside the region, often because of the difficulty of locating and putting in context the material produced by Muslims themselves.
          This is the first sourcebook to present a wide selection of contemporary materials on Islam in Southeast Asia, most of which have not previously been available in English. The material covers six broad themes: personal expressions of faith; Islamic law; state and governance; women and family; jihad; and interactions with non-Muslims and the wider Muslim world. The book looks at the ideological and doctrinal content of Islam in Southeast Asia in all its facets, while also exploring the motivations underlying different interpretations and viewpoints. This is an essential book for anyone seeking to understand the concerns, language and objectives of the main Muslim groups in Southeast Asia.