A History of Islam in Indonesia: Unity in Diversity

The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys

by Carool Kersten

Located on the eastern periphery of the historical Muslim world, as a political entity Indonesia is barely a century old. Yet with close to a quarter of a billion followers of Islam it is now the largest and most populous Muslim country in the world. As the greatest political power in Southeast Asia, and a growing player on the world scene, Indonesia presents itself as a bridge country between Asia, the wider Muslim world and the West. In this survey Carool Kersten presents the Islamisation of Indonesia from the first evidence of the acceptance of Islam by indigenous peoples in the late thirteenth century until the present day. He provides comprehensive insight into the different roles played by Islam in Indonesia throughout history, including 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’.

Genres: Islam

216 pages, Paperback

Published January 19, 2017

Reviews

[Tomek Kobyliński · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rewelacja wg mnie.

[Anjar Priandoyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never get bored reading a history of Indonesia from various sources. This 2017 book written by Kersten, maybe the latest update book on this subject. It provides the latest geographical determinism (Annales School) trend that used many modern historians nowadays. It is a beautiful book. Islamization in Indonesia is an interesting subject as it is a multi-simultaneous process that is very complicated with various sources and various direction of adaptation. This book is super interesting, as in the latest conclusion it said that Indonesian identity is confusing and struggling both as Muslims and as Indonesian. I agree.