Shi‘ism in South East Asia

Abstract

Although Southeast Asian Muslims are overwhelmingly Sunni, alleged historical Shi‘i influences have been a recurring feature in academic debates on the region’s Islamization, the content of local traditional literatures, and certain contemporary manifestations of religiosity. Moreover, the emergence of local Shi‘i communities from the 1950s onward has been frequently noted but rarely studied. This collection of path-breaking research seeks to help fill this gap in the literature. Unfortunately, the book’s catchy title may initially obscure its outstanding theoretical and thematic depth, for most of the chapters are about Alid piety and devotion to the Prophet’s household as found in different Sunni traditions. By highlighting the pervasiveness of the latter in other regions of the Muslim world, the editors’ introduction represents a major reconsideration of such commonly found earlier notions as “Shi‘itic elements,” “crypto-Shi‘ism,” and “de-Shi‘itization.” Many of the papers show that it would be misleading to equate local literary and other traditions of Alid piety with Shi‘i influence. Those that deal with actual contemporary Shi‘i sectarian constructions in the region are highly suggestive of the different mechanisms behind Shi‘ism’s global expansion in the modern era, thereby contributing to a growing body of research on present-day Shi‘ism beyond the Arab-Iranian world.