Islam in Malaysia

An Entwined History

Abstract

Khairuddin Aljunied makes an unusual venture in retelling the story of Islam in Malaysia. The cosmopolitanism of Islam in Malaysia in its interactions with the world spells the leitmotif of his work. In so doing, Islam in Malaysia: An Entwined History reconsiders the problem and the accuracy of periodization in studying the history of the Islamic world. I am reminded of Marshall Hodgson’s Islamic history as world history. Hodgson’s spirit in the Venture of Islam is rich and complex. It is equally so in Aljunied’s rich tapestry of discourse. The author is consciously critical of his moral purpose. His erudite scholarship maps Islam in Malaysia. The book stretches Islam in the nation and the region back from the eleventh century – a Braudelian trajectory to the past and bringing lessons from the longue durée – to the evolution of the embeddedness of Islam in Malaysia to the present.