ME101 Lecture 8: Religion and Political Islam in the Middle East and Its Impact on Southeast Asia

Are Islam and Malay culture in Southeast Asia becoming more Arabised? Several academics and policymakers reckon that Muslims in Southeast Asia, whom they once regarded as the “smiling face of Islam”, are now alienating their cultural practices by mimicking Middle Eastern fashion and lifestyle. They shun Malay words, dressing, and food, in favour of Middle Eastern lifestyles in the name of being better Muslims. This lecture examines critically dominant images of Southeast Asian Islam, focussing on three countries, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. It highlights the interaction between the region and the Middle East. Applying the socio-historical approach, the lecture makes three arguments: (1) while Islam originated from the Middle East, the type of Islam brought to Southeast Asia was predominantly the Sufi type; (2) the heterogeneity of Islam in the Middle East also shapes Southeast Asia differently, depending on which era is discussed, and the country of focus; and (3) Islam and politics take many forms in Southeast Asia, and they adopt and adapt to global and local dynamics, such as capitalism, feudalism, socialism, and revivalism. The impact of Middle East movements Sufism, Shiism, Muslim Brotherhood, Salafi-Wahhabism, Hizmet and reformism will also be discussed. It argues that evolving Muslim lifestyles in Southeast Asia intersect with changing socio-economic structures of Southeast Asian societies, the use of English in religious transmission throughout the Islamic worlds (rather than Arabic), and Southeast Asian religious elites themselves being the agents of cultural transformation.