Muslim scholars (culama) and Sufis have long been accustomed to undertaking extended trans-regional journeys in pursuit of Islamic knowledge. Historically, such peregrinatory culama have played a significant role in transplanting ideas and practices to Southeast Asia from the Middle East. Some returned home after spending years in the Middle East, while others who remained continued to influence the discourse at home by sending written fatwas (replies to questions on sharica issues) in response to questions sent to them from their originating communities. This chapter shows how the shift in intellectual influence away from Mecca and towards Cairo, and in particular towards al-Azhar, impacted upon the interpretation of sharica and the issuing of fatwas within Southeast Asian Muslim communities. The chapter focuses on the fatwas issued by Southeast Asian culama from the late nineteenth century to the end of the 1960s. Emphasis is placed on tracing the influence of factors such as the Shafici School, Salafi methodology and the isnād (genealogy of intellectual succession) of the Southeast Asian culama in the Middle East in order to present a clearer picture of the transformation in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) methodology and the networks of culama who used them.

The development of Islam in Southeast Asia has long been influenced by trends in the Middle East, and tracing isnād is thus essential for researching the exogenous influences upon Islam in Southeast Asia over time, as well as understanding the endogenous transitions that have also occurred. Although important texts have been written on this theme, there are not many studies of the intellectual networks connecting scholars within Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South Asia, especially as regards the field of fiqh. This chapter aims to illuminate these networks.

The period from the late nineteenth century through to the 1960s was a time of tremendous change in both Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It was during this period that modernisation swept through Muslim societies as a result of their encounter with European colonisation and intervention. In the case of Malaysia, which achieved independence in 1957, the institutionalisation of Islam in government administration and the establishment of Muslim associations of various sorts changed the relation between Islam and the state.