Heading East from our last episode this podcast examines the entrance of Islam into Southeast Asia. Following the naval trade of the Indian Ocean we trace Islam to the port cities of Java, Sumatra, and the islands of Indonesia and Malaysia. We discuss the rise of the Malacca Sultanate and travel to Samudera Pasai as we relate the story of Islam through merchants, kings, mystics, and scholars. We explore how Islam was integrated into the administration of rulers, how Muslim scholars undertook conversion missions, and how the rural healers fused Islam with indigenous Javanese spirituality.

Book recommendations:

Chaudhuri, K. N. Trade and Civilization in Indian Ocean: An Economic History From the Rise of Islam to 1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Ricci, Ronit. Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.

Tagliacozza, Eric. Southeast Asia and the Middle East: Islam, Movement, and the Longue Duree. Palo Alto, Stanford University Press, 2009.