The Timing of Islamization in Southeast Asia: Local Agency, and the Challenge of Analysing Religious Conversion

Abstract:Although much has been written on Islamization in Island Southeast Asia, scholars have puzzled about why conversion did not take place before the 13th century. Taking a history of ideas approach, this essay seeks to examine the process from the perspective of the local rulers—noting the centrality of monarchy in the socio-political configuration of the region. It argues that in early Islamic history, some doctrines influential in Muslim communities were hostile to monarchy and bound to be distasteful to Southeast Asian rulers. When monarchy began to be viewed more positively as an institution in the wider Muslim world—partly because of the impact of Persian ideas, and also influenced by the Sufi idea of the ‘Perfect Man’— significant obstacles to conversion were removed.Having argued why conversion did not take place earlier, the later part of the essay reviews the debate about why the rulers converted at all. After considering political and economic drivers, the question is asked why scholarly analysis has given relatively little attention to specifically religious motivations for conversion.