Making Modern Muslims : The Politics of Islamic Education in Southeast Asia

When students from a Muslim boarding school were convicted for the 2002 terrorist bombings in Bali, Islamic schools in Southeast Asia became the focus of intense international scrutiny. Some analysts have warned that these schools are being turned into platforms for violent jihadism. Making Modern Muslims is the first book to look comparatively at Islamic education and politics in Southeast Asia. Based on a two-year research project by leading scholars of Southeast Asian Islam, the book examines Islamic schooling in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and the southern Philippines. The studies demonstrate that the great majority of schools have nothing to do with violence but are undergoing changes that have far-reaching implications for democracy, gender relations, pluralism, and citizenship.Making Modern Muslims offers an important reassessment of Muslim culture and politics in Southeast Asia and provides insights into the changing nature of state-society relations from the late colonial period to the present. It allows us to better appreciate the astonishing dynamism of Islamization in Southeast Asia and the struggle for Muslim hearts and minds taking place today. Timely and readable, this volume will be of great interest to teachers and specialists of Islam and Southeast Asia as well as the general reader seeking to understand the great transformations at work in the Muslim world.Contributors: Esmael A. Abdula, Bjørn Atle Blengsli, Joseph Chinyong Liow, Robert W. Hefner, Richard G. Kraince, Thomas M. McKenna. When students from a Muslim boarding school were convicted for the 2002 terrorist bombings in Bali, Islamic schools in Southeast Asia became the focus of intense international scrutiny. Some analysts have warned that these schools are being turned into platforms for violent jihadism. Making Modern Muslims is the first book to look comparatively at Islamic education and politics in Southeast Asia. Based on a two-year research project by leading scholars of Southeast Asian Islam, the book examines Islamic schooling in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and the southern Philippines. The studies demonstrate that the great majority of schools have nothing to do with violence but are undergoing changes that have far-reaching implications for democracy, gender relations, pluralism, and citizenship. Making Modern Muslims offers an important reassessment of Muslim culture and politics in Southeast Asia and provides insights into the changing nature of state-society relations from the late colonial period to the present. It allows us to better appreciate the astonishing dynamism of Islamization in Southeast Asia and the struggle for Muslim hearts and minds taking place today. Timely and readable, this volume will be of great interest to teachers and specialists of Islam and Southeast Asia as well as the general reader seeking to understand the great transformations at work in the Muslim world. Esmael A. Abdula, Bjrn Atle Blengsli, Joseph Chinyong Liow, Robert W. Hefner, Richard G. Kraince, Thomas M. McKenna. Introduction : The Politics And Cultures Of Islamic Education In Southeast Asia / Robert W. Hefner -- Islamic Schools, Social Movements, And Democracy In Indonesia / Robert W. Hefner -- Reforming Islamic Education In Malaysia : Doctrine Or Dialogue? / Richard G. Kraince -- Islamic Education In Southern Thailand : Negotiating Islam, Identity, And Modernity / Joseph Chinyong Liow -- Muslim Metamorphosis : Islamic Education And Politics In Contemporary Cambodia / Bjorn Atle Blengsli -- Islamic Education In The Philippines : Political Separatism And Religious Pragmatism / Thomas M. Mckenna And Esmael A. Aabdula. Edited By Robert W. Hefner. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Mode Of Access: World Wide Web. CONTENTS......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 A Note on Spelling and Transliteration......Page 10 1 Introduction: The Politics and Culturesof Islamic Education in Southeast Asia......Page 12 2 Islamic Schools, Social Movements,and Democracy in Indonesia......Page 66 3 Reforming Islamic Education in Malaysia: Doctrine or Dialogue?......Page 117 4 Islamic Education in Southern Thailand: Negotiating Islam, Identity, and Modernity......Page 152 5 Muslim Metamorphosis: Islamic Education and Politics in Contemporary Cambodia......Page 183 6 Islamic Education in the Philippines: Political Separatism and Religious Pragmatism......Page 216 List of Contributors......Page 248 Index......Page 250 This work discusses Islamic education and politics in Southeast Asia. It examines Islamic schooling in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and the southern Philippines