Islam and Society in Southeast Asia
Authors: Ahmed Akbar S. 
Published: December 2020

Knowing One Another: Shaping an Islamic AnthropologyMerryl Wyn Davies, London and New York:Mansell Publishing Limited, 1988, 189 pp.Books by Muslim scholars which raise theoretical issues in society andpolitics also raise hopes of a welcome trend because they are so rare. Inthe books under review we hear authentic Muslim voices. The authors makean interesting counter-poise, Muslims in the West and Muslims in SoutheastAsia. A self-conscious, anti-West, combative posture is struck; although inthe case of Davies, a British Muslim, this may simply mean the zeal of aconvert. Both books suggest the breaking of new ground, indeed Davies promisesto “shape” the discipline of anthropology.Islam and Society in Southeast Asia attempts to fill an important gapin the study of Islam in an area which contains the world‘s most populouscountry-Indonesia. The 13 chapters have been contributed by distinguishedprofessors, mostly indigenous; and some are very distinguished, indeed, likeProfessor Kamal Hassan of Malaysia and Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia.The subjects, too, are topical and compelling: the modernization of womenand the problems of the Nahdhatul Ulama in Indonesia.We are told why the Muslim masses reject Westernization: “Thus, thelife-styles of Muslim elites, socialism, capitalism and Western civilizationare all interrelated. Of the three factors, it is perhaps the lik-styles of theelites that has had the greatest impact upon the Muslim mind. It provides“tangible proof“ to the masses of the “evil” of Western civilization and foreignideologies ... It is expressed at the level of the houses the elites own, thecars they drive, the clothes they wear, the food they eat, the parties theyattend. Whether it is true or not, tales about these elites are almost alwaysinter-woven with lurid lore about their decadent habits with the emphasisupon their sexual misdemeanors. That is why, if Islamic groups opposedto existing regimes ever succeed in mobilizing the people on behalf of theirpuritanical concept of Islam it would have been partly because of their condemnationof the alleged moral decadence, the materialistic life-style of theelites-since it is an issue that has so much potential mass appeal” (“IslamicResurgence: Global View” by Chandra Muzaffar, p. 15).The elements of Islamic revivalism as seen from Southeast Asia are summarizedthus: “Islamic resurgence has been inspired by the following factors:(a) disillusionment with Western civilization as a whole among a new Muslimgeneration (b) the failings of social systems based on capitalism or socialism(c) the life-style of secular elites in Muslim states (d) the desire for poweramong a segment of an expanding middle class that cannot be accommodatedpolitically (e) the search for psychological security among new urban migrants(f) the city environment (g) the economic strength of certain Muslim statesas a result of their new oil wealth; and (h) a sense of confidence about thefuture in the wake of the 1973 Egyptian victory, the 1979 Iranian revolutionand the dawn of the fifteenth century in the Muslim calendar” (ibid, p. 21-22).The role of the &ma is highlighted in Islamic revivalism and the checkingof Westernization in the concluding chapter: “The continuity of religioustraditions and their fortification against Western onslaught was largely thework of ‘ulama and other orthodox functionaries who ran Muslim educationalinstitutions- maktabs and mudmsahs (Muslim educational institute ...