The Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah in Southeast Asia: The Literature of Malay-Indonesia ‘Ulama’ and Reforms

Abstract

Muslims in Southeast Asia are overwhelmingly dominant by group of <em>Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamaah (Aswaja)</em>, the so-called Sunni. They contributed a great deal to the formation of distinct Islamic tradition that can stillibe observed today. In Indonesia, the history of the <em>Aswaja</em> can be considered as the continuous consolidation of orthodoxy which appeared through some successive reforms and <em>santrinization</em>. This consolidation has, of course, played important role for strengthening Malay-Indonesian ulama relationship. This study focusses on the literature used by Malay-Indonesian ulama and reforms performing their idea to their society. This study argues that the Malay-Indonesian ulama were mostly responsible for earliest reforms of Islamic teaching an Muslim life in the archipelago.