Introduction: Centering Islamic Studies in Asia

Abstract

This special issue explores historical and contemporary Asian Islamic traditions to offer an intentional grounding of Islamic studies in and as Asian Studies. Utilizing data from South, Southeast, and East Asian materials, the articles examine Islamic languages and literatures, socio-political institutions, legal practices, miracle workers and pilgrimage networks, and contemporary popular cultures. We build upon scholarship that represents global Islam as a civilizational process, a discursive tradition, a hermeneutic engagement, or as a cosmopolis. In drawing on Asian practices we reassess key categories, conclusions, and questions in the study of Islam such as the nature of Muslim centers and peripheries, the role of ambiguity in religious expression, the importance of the visual arts to identity formation, the gendered dimensions of legal authority and practice, the role of languages other than Arabic in constructing the Muslim community, and how modern Muslim welfare organizations and women’s pious fashion serve the aspirational goals of individuals and communities. Rectifying the legacies of colonialism and Orientalism in the marginalization of Asia in the study of Islam, we argue Islamic studies has much to learn from Asian perspectives and that Asia is an exceptional place from which the field can conceptualize Islamic traditions in broader terms.