Introduction

Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world. According to estimation, Muslims make up more than 87 per cent out of the total Indonesian population. The rest of the populations are Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and smaller groups of adherents of local mystical cults and primal religions. Despite its large Muslim population, Indonesian Islam is still a neglected area of scholarly studies. Furthermore, when Indonesian Islam is studied, much attention have been paid by scholars mainly to the political and cultural aspects; while Islamic law has not yet received an equal treatment.

It has been recognized that the rapid spread of Islam in this archipelago, beginning in the twelfth century, takes a form of “penetration pacifique”. Thus by and large, as Arnold points out, no gun was fired, nor was any sword drawn for the propagation of Islam in Indonesian soil. Arnold concludes that, “the history of Malay Archipelago during the last six hundred years furnishes us with one of the most interesting chapters in the story of the spread of Islam by missionary efforts… In every instance, in the beginning, their works had to be carried on without any patronage or assistance from the rulers of the country, but solely by the force of persuasion, and in many cases in the face of severe opposition, especially on the part of the Spaniards”.

It is important to note that Islam arrived in Indonesia when the centers of Islamic political power in the Middle East were in the decline. In the middle of the thirteenth century when Islam gained a foothold in Sumatra, the Muslim all over Islamdom had fallen on evil days. The Abbasid were already torn apart; the Fatimids who ruled over the Arab countries, and North Africa were in the process of disintegration; Persia was the vantage ground for self-interested upstarts; while Spain, once the pride of Muslim culture and philosophy, had forgotten its traditions and was in the throes of death, surrounded as it was by the Christian hordes who were bent upon giving it short shrift.