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Indonesian Islam is often portrayed as being intrinsically moderate by virtue of the role that mystical Sufism played in shaping its traditions. According to Western observers--from Dutch colonial administrators and orientalist scholars to modern anthropologists such as the late Clifford Geertz--Indonesia's peaceful interpretation of Islam has been perpetually under threat from outside by more violent, intolerant Islamic traditions that were originally imposed by conquering Arab armies.
The Makings of Indonesian Islam challenges this widely accepted narrative, offering a more balanced assessment of the intellectual and cultural history of the most populous Muslim nation on Earth. Michael Laffan traces how the popular image of Indonesian Islam was shaped by encounters between colonial Dutch scholars and reformist Islamic thinkers. He shows how Dutch religious preoccupations sometimes echoed Muslim concerns about the relationship between faith and the state, and how Dutch-Islamic discourse throughout the long centuries of European colonialism helped give rise to Indonesia's distinctive national and religious culture.
The Makings of Indonesian Islam presents Islamic and colonial history as an integrated whole, revealing the ways our understanding of Indonesian Islam, both past and present, came to be.
List of contents
List of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations and Archival Referents xvii Part One: Inspiration, Rememoration, Reform 1 Chapter One: Remembering Islamization, 1300-1750 3 Chapter Two: Embracing a New Curriculum, 1750-1800 25 Chapter Three: Reform and the Widening Muslim Sphere, 1800-1890 40 Part Two: Power in Quest of Knowledge 65 Chapter Four: Foundational Visions of Indies Islam, 1600-1800 67 Chapter Five: New Regimes of Knowledge, 1800-1865 85 Chapter Six: Seeking the Counterweight Church, 1837-1889 101 Part Three: Orientalism Engaged 123 Chapter Seven: Distant Musings on a Crucial Colony, 1882-1888 125 Chapter Eight: Collaborative Encounters, 1889-1892 147 Chapter Nine: Shadow Muftis, Christian Modern, 1892-1906 162 Part Four: Sufi Pasts, Modern Futures 175 Chapter Ten: From Sufism to Salafism, 1905-1911 177 Chapter Eleven: Advisors to Indonesie, 1906-1919 190 Chapter Twelve: Hardenings and Partings, 1919-1942 209 Conclusion 233 Glossary 237 Notes 243 Index 287
About the author
Michael Laffan
Summary
Indonesian Islam is often portrayed as being intrinsically moderate by virtue of the role that mystical Sufism played in shaping its traditions. According to Western observers--from Dutch colonial administrators and orientalist scholars to modern anthropologists such as the late Clifford Geertz--Indonesia's peaceful interpretation of Islam has been perpetually under threat from outside by more violent, intolerant Islamic traditions that were originally imposed by conquering Arab armies.
The Makings of Indonesian Islam challenges this widely accepted narrative, offering a more balanced assessment of the intellectual and cultural history of the most populous Muslim nation on Earth. Michael Laffan traces how the popular image of Indonesian Islam was shaped by encounters between colonial Dutch scholars and reformist Islamic thinkers. He shows how Dutch religious preoccupations sometimes echoed Muslim concerns about the relationship between faith and the state, and how Dutch-Islamic discourse throughout the long centuries of European colonialism helped give rise to Indonesia's distinctive national and religious culture.
The Makings of Indonesian Islam presents Islamic and colonial history as an integrated whole, revealing the ways our understanding of Indonesian Islam, both past and present, came to be.
Additional text
"This book should be mandatory reading for anyone committed to nuanced reconstruction of the social history of Islamic movements and Christianity in insular Southeast Asia."---Christopher M. Joll, Mission Studies
