Trade, Politics, and Sufi Synthesis in the Formation of Southeast Asian Islamic Architecture

Abstract

This chapter explores the bases for claiming the formation of a Nusantara Islamic architecture and how the Nusantara case can be situated within larger discussions regarding the constitution of Islamic architecture in general. The exact processes behind the Islamization of such a large maritime region are complex, but they include changes in trade hegemony with the political decline of the pre-Islamic trading empires of Nusantara, the charismatic role of Arab proselytizers, including those based in Indian and southern Chinese ports, and the popular appeal of orthodox Sufi orders (tariqas). The vast archipelago region, or Nusantara, inevitably forms the focus of a survey of “Southeast Asian” Islamic architecture, in contradistinction to the predominantly Buddhist mainland. Ties of diplomacy and trade have linked the maritime communities of Nusantara and West Asia since the pre-Islamic period. One oft-quoted basis for synthesis in Southeast Asian Islam comes from metaphysical speculation and theological debates in orthodox Sufism.

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