This is the first single-volume study of the Islamisation of Indonesia from the first evidence of the acceptance of Islam by indigenous peoples until the present day. It offers an overview of the religion’s growing significance in the formation of what is now the largest and most populous Muslim country in the world, the greatest political power in Southeast Asia, and a growing player on the world scene. With close to a quarter of a billion Muslims, Indonesia is still overlooked by historians of Islam and other specialists in the Muslim world, while Southeast Asianists often underestimate the ... More

This is the first single-volume study of the Islamisation of Indonesia from the first evidence of the acceptance of Islam by indigenous peoples until the present day. It offers an overview of the religion’s growing significance in the formation of what is now the largest and most populous Muslim country in the world, the greatest political power in Southeast Asia, and a growing player on the world scene. With close to a quarter of a billion Muslims, Indonesia is still overlooked by historians of Islam and other specialists in the Muslim world, while Southeast Asianists often underestimate the importance of Islam in the shaping of Indonesia. This survey provides a comprehensive insight into the different roles played by Islam in Indonesia throughout history: From the earliest evidence of its presence in the late thirteenth century; the importance of Indian Ocean networks for connecting Indonesians with the wider Islamic world; the religion’s role as a means of resistance and tool for nation building; and postcolonial attempts to forge an ‘Indonesian Islam’.