Islam, Law and the State in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has the world's largest Muslim population - Indonesia alone is home to more Muslims than the entire Middle East - yet nowhere in the region has a theocratic government emerged. Instead, Southeast Asian Islam is characterized by heterodox local traditions. Muslim societies today are torn between radical Islamist reformers calling for Shari'ah law and secular governments using law to contain and co-opt it. The result is a tension between state laws and institutions and Islamic alternatives. These three volumes provide an up-to-date, expert account of this complex contest across contemporary Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei in a comprehensive form not attempted for decades, including coverage on a range of areas including legal doctrine, substantive laws, judicial decision-making, the administration of religion, intellectual debate, and state policy developments.