Religion in Southeast Asia: An Encyclopedia of Faiths and Cultures

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AHMADIYYA

Ahmadiyya refers to two Islamic reformist and messianic movements based on the teachings conveyed by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in the Punjab region in the 1880s. The movements are amongst the most active and controversial movements in modern Islam. Their adherents are referred to as Ahmadis or Ahmadi Muslims. Most Ahmadis live in Pakistan, but there are also communities in other regions such as India, West Africa, Europe, and Indonesia. Their organizations are officially called Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i Islam Lahore (AAIIL) and Jamaat-i Ahmadiyya or Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ). The latter is sometimes referred to as Qadiani. The AAIIL today is significantly smaller than the AMJ. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad first announced his spiritual standing in 1882. In 1888–1889, the movement was formally established. After his death in 1908, the succession was handed to the first “Khalifat Al-Masih” (Successor of the Messiah). After “Khalifat Al-Masih’s” death in 1914, the community split. The reasons were personal frictions, disagreement on the nature of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s position, the future of the community’s leadership, and the attitude toward non-Ahmadi Muslims. The AMJ emphasized Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s claim to prophethood. They also saw the religious authority of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s successors as equivalent to that of the founder himself and considered all non-Ahmadi Muslims infidels. The followers of the AAIIL instead insisted that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had only proclaimed himself as a Mujaddid (divine reformer). They proposed a group leadership in the form of a council and held that only those who would excommunicate Ahmadis were infidels.

The main controversy, both between the two branches and between them and the mainstream Sunni Islam, has been on the interpretations of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s varying claims to being a Mujaddid, a Muhaddath (someone spoken to by God or an angel), the Mahdi (the redeemer who will rule before the Day of Judgment) and the promised Messiah. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s claim of having been called a prophet is the most controversial aspect, as it is said to clash with the Islamic dogma of the finality of Muhammad’s prophethood. For this reason, the AMJ is much more controversial than the AAIIL. Following anti-Ahmadi riots in the 1950s and in 1974, the National Assembly of Pakistan amended the constitution and declared the belief in the finality of Muhammad’s prophethood as central to qualify as a Muslim. In 1974, the Muslim World League declared the Ahmadiyya community to be outside Islam. Additionally to the attitude toward prophethood, the Ahmadis were accused of originally being fostered by British imperialism because of their rejection of violent jihad. As a consequence of the tensions and the legal criminalization of Ahmadi religious activities in Pakistan, the AMJ moved their headquarters to London in the early 1980s. The fifth caliph in the succession of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is Mirza Masroor Ahmad. He has been holding this position since 2003. From London, he runs the missionary activities of the organization and delivers a weekly Friday sermon that is transmitted via satellite and Internet. Additionally, through their text publications and the elaborate website, the AMJ runs a global television network.

Both factions have established themselves in Southeast Asia. The AMJ considered Sumatra and Java amongst their most successful missions. The first missionaries arrived in the 1920s. After initial bonding with the local Muhammadiyah organization, disagreement over theological questions led to mild tensions between the AMJ and the other Muslims. In the following decades, more centers were established. The AMJ is most active in West Java. The organization claims 400,000 Indonesian members. The government’s figures are much lower, at 50,000–80,000. In 1980, the Indonesian National Ulama Council issued a fatwa (Islamic legal opinion) declaring the AMJ deviant and its members apostates. The fatwa was renewed in 2005. Similar fatwas were issued in Malaysia and Brunei. In 2008, after violent attacks against Ahmadis and their supporters, the government issued a Joint Ministerial Decree, limiting Ahmadi religious practice. A similar ban was enforced in Malaysia, withdrawing from the Ahmadiyya communities the right to hold Friday prayers at their mosques. Violence against Ahmadis by opposing groups has increased in Indonesia. An attack in West Java in 2011 left several Ahmadis dead and the perpetrators received sentences that many found too lenient. Subsequently, Ahmadi activities were banned in several districts.

Saskia Louise Schäfer

See also: Indonesia; Islam; Malaysia; Messianic Movements; Missionary Movements; Muhammadiyah; Reform Movements; Religious Discrimination/Intolerance.

AISYIYAH AND NASYIATUL AISYIYAH

Founded in 1917 with the name Sapa Tresna and renamed in 1920 as “Aisyiyah” (the name inspired by Prophet Muhammad’s wife Aisha), it is the first major Islamic feminist organization in Indonesia. One of the largest women’s groups in the country, Aisyiyah is dedicated to the full engagement of women in religion, state, and society. Affiliated with the modernist Indonesian Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, Aisyiyah works closely with its parent organization in the areas of social, educational, and health care programs throughout Indonesia. Aisyiyah’s central offices are located in Yogyakarta and Jakarta.

According to the “Identity, Vision and Mission” of Aisyiyah, the organization is committed to facilitating the dignity of women in accordance with Islamic teachings. Along with the other women’s movements in Indonesia, this organization too strives to represent women’s interests not only through education, but also by struggles aimed at women’s empowerment. Aisyiyah’s identity has evolved in response to the challenges it faced within the mainstream patriarchal society of the country that was battered by democratization and waves of modernization during the twentieth century. A part of this process was the emergence of Nasyiatul Aisyiyah, the young women’s organization that was originally a section of Aisyiyah but secured autonomous status in 1965. Siti Syamsiyatun’s study describes how Nasyiatul Aisyiyah, even while respecting the image of traditional wife and mother in the society, could visualize an ideal of young womanhood that aimed to realize the full potential and full scope of women’s rights and duties (Syamsiyatun). In seeking to implement this vision, both Nasyiatul Aisyiyah and its parent organization Aisyiyah encountered difficulties and resistance from the established social, cultural, and religious institutions of the country. Despite such challenges at the operational and ideological levels, they could contribute richly to the enlargement of women in particular, and human rights and social justice in general, in Indonesian society.

Jesudas M. Athyal

See also: Indonesia; Islam; Muhammadiyah; Muslimat NU; Nahadlatul Ulama; Pesantren; Women.

ALATAS, SYED HUSSEIN

Syed Hussein Alatas was a Malaysian academician who contributed richly to the discourse on progressive religion, multiracialism, colonialism, and the postcolonial theory, especially in the Asian context. Born in Bogor in Indonesia in 1928, he also came to be known as a crusader against corruption. While doing postgraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam in the 1950s, he founded the journal Progressive Islam, in which many Islamic intellectuals wrote.

Syed Hussein’s commitment to progressive religion prompted him to get involved in political activities, even though he was primarily an academician. Disillusioned with the established political parties, he, along with several other intellectuals founded, in 1968, Gerakan (the Malaysian People’s Movement Party). Gerakan was successful in the following year’s general elections but Syed Hussein soon became disillusioned with this experiment and, along with others, formed Pekemas (the Social Justice Party of Malaysia) in 1972. Pekemas too was committed to the values of democracy, justice, and progressive religion, but in 1978, it collapsed as a political party.

Syed Hussein certainly made a deeper impact in the academic field than in party politics. His long association with the University of Malaya began in 1960 when he joined the institution as a part-time lecturer in philosophy. In the following years, he held several positions there and, in the 1980s, served as the vice chancellor of the university. He was also associated with the National University of Singapore and with several other institutions. Among his many books, The Myth of the Lazy Native made a valuable contribution to Malaysian historiography and postcolonial scholarship.

The journal Progressive Islam reflected the thinking of a young Syed Hussein as he sought, in the 1950s, a synthesis between religion and state for social transformation. In later life, however, he clarified that what he meant was a form of Islamic philosophy of the state and not the political instrumentalization of the Shari’a law. The devastating influence religious fundamentalism had in public life promoted the mature Syed Hussein to move closer toward a nationalist, secularist perspective. He died in 2007.

Jesudas M. Athyal

See also: Attas, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-; Colonialism, Fundamentalism; Islam; Nationalism; Orientalism; Postcolonial Theory; Shari’a; Study of Religion; Syncretism.

ANCESTOR WORSHIP

Ancestor worship is one of the oldest religious practices in Southeast Asia. It is based on the essential principles of family devotion and a sense of responsibility toward past, present, and future generations. Practices vary, but common beliefs include an understanding that spirits of deceased ancestors continue to affect the lives of their descendants, rewarding those who remember them with offerings and punishing those who fail to do so. On special days such as funerals and death anniversaries, paper money and other ritual offerings are burnt and special food is offered at the ancestral altar.

Doan Ngoc Tram, 80, places fruits on the family altar at her home in Hanoi. Above the altar are photographs of relatives who have passed away. (Hoang Dinh Nam/Getty Images)

Ancestor spirits take their place among different types of supernatural beings who are recognized but not actively included in ritual activities. At the same time, they may be the focus of organized cults of worship, such as for the Kachin of Upper Burma. The beliefs and practices related to an ancestor’s spirits are evident among Vietnamese and the Chinese living in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam

The religions of Vietnam include Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Catholicism, Cao Dai, and Hòa Ho. Despite their diverse beliefs, almost every Vietnamese household also maintains a family altar and practices some form of ancestor worship. Although urbanization has led to the breakdown of many traditions, family altars remain critically important. Practitioners include Communist Party members, ethnic minorities, and members of the diaspora. The practice is carried out overseas and also figures in return visits to Vietnam during the Tet New Year holidays.

Essential elements of a family altar include a cloth, preferably in red and gold; an incense burner; and incense. Red is considered a color of happiness, and incense is believed to make the spirits feel welcome to return home. Lighting it is an invitation to the ancestors. The altar will usually include a photo of ancestors or a tablet with the name of the deceased relatives carved on it. Offerings are made to the altars on a regular basis. After the ancestors have had their fill, offerings are consumed by living family members.

Upon the death of a family member, the rest of the family must follow rituals of veneration, lighting incense and offering food and fake paper money at graveside and at the family altar. It is thought that a failure to carry out these rites will preclude the spirit from finding its way home, forcing it to wander around aimlessly. Homeless spirits are believed to be a source of bad luck for their families.

Thailand

In Thailand, ancestor worship entails offerings to house spirits. The practice is particularly widespread in the country’s northern region. With the construction of a house, an offering is made to a house spirit (“phi ruan”), and when a family member dies, a procession takes place to lead the spirit of the dead back home after the funeral. In northeastern Thailand, ancestor spirits are remembered and commemorated on a regular basis. There are also rituals for placating spirits who are thought to have caused illness to a living descendant. Ancestral spirits become troublesome with a failure of the family to make merits or when quarrels over property inheritance exist.

Singapore

In Singapore, the names of deceased ancestors are inscribed upon pieces of red paper rather than wooden tablets. These kong-ma-pai are placed alongside the idols of family gods on a household altar. Offerings are made and incense sticks burned there on a regular basis. The practice is in decline in Singapore, in part because of the housing situation. Most families live in tiny apartments allotted by the Housing Development Board, and altars are not compatible with the designs of such buildings.

Ruchi Agarwal

See also: Buddhism; Cao Dai; Christianity; Communism; Confucianism; Daoism (Taoism); Diaspora; Hòa Ho Buddhism; Myanmar (Burma); Popular Religion; Singapore; Spirit Mediumship; Study of Religion; Thailand; Vietnam.

ANIMISM

Despite the pressures of modernization, animism continues to be a factor in the religious scenario of Southeast Asia. The meaning of the term animism has changed in recent years. In its earlier use, animism means the belief that all beings, including animals, plants, objects, and heavenly bodies or weather phenomena, are endowed with souls and personalities. This also entails the possibility that soul and body may separate, or the existence of beings without permanent bodies, like spirits. In more recent understandings in anthropology, animism denotes the notion that the relations between human beings and nonhumans are essentially social. It contrasts with a naturalist stance in which these relations are essentially natural and thus can be described in terms of the natural sciences. Both understandings of animism more or less cover the same cultural phenomena, but their emphasis is different. While the earlier concept considers animism as a religious belief and thus scientifically false, the current definition sees animism as practices and relationships that constitute an alternative to a natural scientific approach to the world.

Danong, an indigenous Moken man, performs an animistic ritual in his village in the Ko Surin National Park, Thailand. Animistic rituals are performed with a variety of end results in mind, including increased fertility and personal protection from evil. (Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

Animism belongs to the oldest analytical terms in social anthropology, going back to Edward Burnett Tylor’s “Primitive Religion.” Tylor envisaged animism as a “primitive” philosophical concept that underlies all religion, distinguishing it from materialism. However, anthropologists used the term in the sense of a type of religion that is different from, say, monotheism or polytheism. Since the mid-twentieth century, anthropologists increasingly hesitated to employ the term, for two reasons. First, Tylor’s concept was laden with evolutionist and colonialist notions of the superiority of modern science. Second, the term covered too many diverse phenomena. It thus suggested similarities between traits that are actually quite different, ranging from ancestor worship to the notion of animated rocks or thunder.

It is only since the mid-1990s that animism once again became subject of an inspiring and serious debate in scholarly inquiry, led by anthropologists such as Philippe Descola or Tim Ingold. It is now being seen as an alternative perspective on nonhumans and the environment, different from the mechanistic and objectifying approach of modern natural science. In this view, relations between humans and nonhumans are based on communication and the assumption that the nonhuman sphere consists of persons, not objects.

Animist practices are unlike most world religions, in that they are not based on doctrinal texts or established hierarchies of priests and experts. Rather, animist ideas allow engaging with natural species and spirits in ways that are partially tried and tested by tradition, but might just as well be contextual, experimental, and improvised. Animist forces and spirits are often not moral agents, but, like human beings, can be benevolent or dangerous according to context. Relations with them need to be negotiated. For the same reason, animism is not necessarily restricted to non-modern societies. Animist relations and practices might coexist with naturalist ones.

Animist relationships with nonhumans appear in two contexts in Southeast Asia: in peripheries and beside world religions. In particular, upland regions in between China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, the interior of Borneo, and some areas in Indonesia and the Philippines are home to groups that do not identify with any world religion and are therefore often called animist. On the other hand, animist relations coexist with world religions, sometimes in stable and sometimes in tense relationships. In particular, Buddhism usually goes along with the veneration of ancestral, territorial, or other spirits. Similar observations were made in Muslim and Christian societies. However, dogmatic and rationalist movements within these religions attempt to curb animist relationships. Such attempts at reform and purification have recurred in various guises over many centuries, but overall had only limited success. As many animist relations are constitutive of places and communities in Southeast Asia, they have proven to be highly resilient.

A number of factors characterize Southeast Asian animisms, although neither of them is universal: ancestor veneration, territorial spirits, communication via offerings and sacrifice, and invisibility. There is also a characteristic contrast. On the one hand, there is a widespread notion of spirits with benevolent or malevolent intentions, some being former human beings, others being bodiless spirits of places. They are like persons; that is, they are able to communicate and act socially. On the other hand, there are concepts of impersonal life-forces that need to be channeled by ritual in order to promote the fertility of human beings, plants, and animals. In some cases, a single concept used in a particular society—like semangat among Malays until the mid-twentieth century—might cover a broad range of meanings, from personal beings to impersonal beings. Often, the degree of personhood ascribed to a particular being depends on context and the intensity of the relationship with it. The more intense the communication, the more personal the respective being might appear.

Many Southeast Asian societies, in particular those of farmers and city dwellers, have relations with ancestral spirits and those of territories. Ancestors are often seen as the dead members of society, caring for but sometimes also intimidating their living descendants. Elaborate mortuary rituals transform the dead into various components, some of whom remain close to the living and might endanger or protect them. Invisible aspects of the person, like “souls,” might become part of the houses in which their descendants live. In such cases, the organization of kinship groups is a crucial factor in determining to whom such an ancestral spirit belongs.

In societies converted to Islam or Christianity, relationships with ancestors are a crucial point of debate. While Muslim or Christian doctrine often insists on the removal of the dead to a transcendent sphere like heaven or hell, local social structures are built on their continued presence among the living.

Spirits of territories are particularly important where communal spaces—like villages, cities, and rice fields—are conceptually separate from domains beyond human society, like forest and open sea. While settlements are associated with protective spirits, places beyond them are dangerous and ambiguous. In some cases, human beings are conceived as moving between these places in various phases of their existence. They are alive and embodied in settlements, but become disembodied, or embodied in animals, in the wilderness after death. Social spaces thus often define a difference between internal and external spiritual forces. Such external forces are sometimes seen as detrimental to internal forces, which need to be protected. But often enough, local communities need to appropriate external spirits and life-forces in order to reproduce themselves. In some areas, an important means to this end, now defunct, was headhunting, by which dead outsiders were turned into local protective spirits.

Many Southeast Asians communicate with the spirits, as with the living, by offering gifts and sacrifices. In many rural areas of Southeast Asia, domestic animals are hardly ever killed outside ritual contexts, and in predominantly animist societies, this often happens in order to regulate relations with spirits. Food is thus shared between humans and spirits, sometimes in smaller offerings of cooked food, drink, tobacco, or alcohol. This way, relationships with spirits are established in terms of human sociality, thus obliging the spirits to accord to the social rules of the living. The ritual hunt or the letting of human blood without killing are less common forms of such communication by exchange.

Spirits in Southeast Asia are only partially accessible to the senses, and this, once again, depends on communication. Many Southeast Asians distinguish humans and spirits by claiming that the latter are invisible. Yet, spirits continually make themselves known to the senses, sometimes in dreams or trances, but even in sight, touch, or hearing in everyday situations. These appearances are judged as—often unwanted—attempts of spirits to enter into closer relationships with human beings. People might respond to this by temporarily intensifying these relationships and giving them a sensual form in the controlled situation of rituals. In the latter, spirits receive gifts or are sometimes even given shape in figurines or animated objects. The sensual appearances of spirits are thereby subordinated to human sociality, rendering them more accessible to communication and control.

In present-day Southeast Asia, relationships with spirits and invisible life-forces are neither a matter of the past nor an indicator of backwardness. Reformist and modernist versions of world religions, and to a lesser degree naturalist modernities, challenge these relations and attempt to dismiss them as superstitious or irrational. Yet, for many people, including educated city dwellers, these relations remain of crucial importance for the social world they live in.

Guido Sprenger

See also: Christianity; Indonesia; Interreligious Relations and Dialogue; Islam; Laos; Myanmar (Burma); Philippines; Religious Conversions; Spirit Mediumship; Thailand; Vietnam.

ARMENIANS

Armenians, a predominantly Christian ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland in the Middle East, had a long association with Southeast Asia. Their skills as a mercantile community were widely acknowledged. While there are few authentic records available to prove the details with regard to the coming of the Armenians to the region, several historians have noted that as far back as the early sixteenth century, there were Armenians in Southeast Asia. There are also indications that the Armenian merchants from India traded with ports on the Malay peninsula, especially Malacca and Penang, from the early seventeenth century onward. There was a resident Armenian community in Malacca, and this was followed by resident communities in Penang, Kedah, Johare/Riau, and other places.

The Armenian presence in Indonesia too goes back several centuries. It is generally accepted that there was an Armenian community in Indonesia from as far back as the middle of the seventeenth century. The original Armenian immigrants to the country could have come from the Netherlands. It is also believed that from the beginning, there was large-scale Armenian migration from Iran to Indonesia as well. The Armenians also traded on the north coast of Bali, and it is possible that there was a small Armenian community there in the nineteenth century. The details are, again, not available. According to historian E. H. Ellis, the pioneer Armenian settlers in Indonesia were so seriously and deeply absorbed in their commercial pursuits that they did not leave any written records of either their commercial activities or the important events of the group’s religious, social, or cultural life, which could have been of historical value.

The Armenians also played an important role in the trade and commerce of the Philippines. Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit historian, had noted that the Armenians, among the other Orthodox Christians, were present in the Philippine capital city of Manila as early as 1618. According to Ellis, during the first half of the eighteenth century, some Armenians reached Manila from Madras, where at that time there was a rich and flourishing Armenian community. They facilitated commercial links between the Philippines and India in the eighteenth century. These arrivals at different periods strengthened the Armenian community in the Philippines and enabled them to emerge as a key player, especially in the area of local trade.

The Armenians are believed to have been present in Myanmar (Burma) as well, from at least the middle of the sixteenth century, but in comparison to the rest of Southeast Asia, they played a unique role in that country. While the Armenians elsewhere in the region kept a low profile by confining themselves to the realm of trade, in Myanmar they were actively involved in the political process and functioned as middlemen between the Burmese court and the Europeans. The Armenians, who from the beginning were a small community, however, soon began to decline in their few pockets of influence in the region. By the nineteenth century, there was only one church in the whole of Myanmar, the Armenian Apostolic Church of St. John the Baptist in Yangon.

By the nineteenth century, the Armenians had spread to Singapore as well. They consolidated themselves in Singapore by establishing a church with a congregation and a resident priest. The architectural skills of the Armenians have added richly to the cultural landscape of that region. The Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator is the oldest Christian church in that nation. George Drumgoole Coleman, the architect of many of Singapore’s finest historical buildings, built that church, a building acclaimed as perhaps the finest landscape in the early architectural development of that nation, even though, from the beginning, the Armenians in Singapore too were a very small community.

A number of reasons can be cited for the enormous success of the Armenians as a trading community in Southeast Asia. As they came from a Christian nation that was surrounded by Muslims, they were experts at interacting with diverse religious groups. They were also skillful negotiators and served as middlemen, often between the Asians and the Europeans. Besides, as an itinerant community, the Armenians did not have a country to call their own, and therefore, they harbored no colonial interests. Family networks and kinship connections played an important role in their trade. As they did not pose any serious threat to others, they were acceptable to the wider public. All these factors contributed to the long and rich association of the Armenian community in Southeast Asia.

By the nineteenth century, however, the number of Armenians in Southeast Asia had dwindled to a tiny fraction of the total population. They were to be found primarily in Myanmar, the Malay peninsula (particularly Penang and Malacca), and Java in Indonesia alone. Soon their number declined substantially in those places as well. Despite their success in trade and commerce, for a number of reasons, the Armenians declined, as a community, in most of Asia. As largely an ethnic group, their socializing was confined to their own people, further restricting their mingling with the local people and limiting their chances of taking local roots. Also, in the predominantly non-Christian sociocultural climate of Southeast Asia, the Armenians as a Christian community were generally treated as outsiders, welcomed only as visitors and traders. Their own lack of interest outside trade and commerce, especially in recording and preserving their heritage and history, also contributed to the eventual decline of the Armenians as a distinct community in Southeast Asia.

Jesudas M. Athyal

See also: Christianity; Colonialism; Diaspora; Ethnicity; Indonesia; Islam; Jesuits; Malaysia; Myanmar (Burma); Philippines; Singapore.

ATHEISM/AGNOSTICISM

Since atheism in general rejects belief in the existence of God or deities and agnosticism is indifferent to any such belief, it would seem as if the Southeast Asian context that is steeped in religiosity is alien to atheistic and agnostic trends. Yet, for a number of reasons, these are not only present but also vibrant in the Asian societies. For historic, cultural, and ideological reasons, the Asian societies define religion, and consequently atheism, differently from the West, especially as belief in God is not the central aspect of several Asian worldviews. In particular, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Daoism are seen by many of their practitioners as cultures, traditions, and ways of life and not as religions in a technical sense. Since these worldviews do not adhere to any prescribed format of religion, atheism too is accommodated within their fold. This phenomenon is seen throughout Asia. In Vietnam, for instance, as many as 81 percent of the population call themselves atheists, agnostics, or nonbelievers even as many of them also consider themselves as followers of indigenous religions or Buddhism.

In modern times, there are growing atheistic or rationalist movements in Asia. Several countries in East Asia are among the most irreligious societies in the world. In Southeast Asia too, from the Muslim majority countries of Indonesia and Malaysia, to Buddhist-majority Thailand, secular Singapore, and Christian-majority Philippines, atheism is on the rise. A growing number of Singaporeans identify themselves as nonbelievers, and these are present in all ethnic traditions and religious backgrounds. The Humanist Society of Singapore serves as an umbrella organization for the atheists, agnostics, humanists, and freethinkers of the country. Functioning under the motto “offending religious feelings since 2009,” the “Filipino Freethinkers” is the largest and most active organization for rational thought in the Philippines. Since religion and state are clearly and permanently separated in the Philippines, there is a fertile ground for the work of atheistic groups. The atheistic movement is also active in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

While there is a great deal of accommodation for atheism within the worldviews of Southeast Asia, atheists also face discrimination and marginalization in some contexts. Thailand does not accord any legal status to atheists, and they are forced to declare themselves as belonging to one of the mainline religions. The generally negative attitude towards atheists leads to their stigmatization and ostracization in Thai society.

Jesudas M. Athyal

See also: Buddhism; Christianity; Confucianism; Daoism (Taoism); Hinduism; Humanism; Indonesia; Islam; Malaysia; Philippines; Religious Discrimination/Intolerance; Secularism; Singapore; Syncretism; Thailand; Vietnam.

ATTAS, SYED MUHAMMAD NAQUIB AL-

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas is a Malaysian philosopher and litterateur who has made significant contributions in the areas of traditional Islamic studies, Malay language and literature, history, and philosophy. Born in 1931 in Bogor, Java, in a Muslim family with a long lineage of saints and scholars, his primary education in Johor, Malaysia, was interrupted by the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, during which he had to move to Java. In 1946, after the Second World War, he returned to Johor to complete his studies. As a keen student, he developed an interest in Islamic studies, Malay language, Western classics, and history. His thorough grounding in these and related areas soon elevated him to the status of a scholar firmly rooted in the Malay nationalist context and yet an internationalist.

While al-Attas contributed richly in several sectors, his pioneering work is considered to be in a revival of studies in Sufism and Malay literature. His PhD thesis on the mysticism of the seventeenth-century Sumatran Sufi scholar Hamzah Fansuri is considered the most comprehensive work in this area. As Malaysia emerged independent in 1957 from colonial rule and was poised to begin a process of nation building, al-Attas’s contributions toward conceptualizing and consolidating Malay as the national and academic language was important. He played an important role in kindling a nonsectarian form of nationalism that focused on the renaissance of the indigenous language, literature, history, and identity.

Al-Attas’s contributions also embraced the broad area of civilization in relation to contemporary realities. In his book Islam and Secularism, he discussed how Christianity fought in vain against the secular tide. Instead of converting the world to Christianity, he affirmed, it converted Christianity to the world. As a scholar, al-Attas acknowledged the contributions of modern science, rationalism, and secularism; but he warned, especially the youth, that the pursuit of knowledge without a firm spiritual basis will be catastrophic to humankind.

In 1987, with al-Attas as the founder and director, the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) was established in Kuala Lumpur for the study and promotion of Islamic and other civilizations, philosophy, and contemporary issues. He has authored 27 authoritative works on various aspects of Islamic thought and civilization, particularly in the areas of Sufism, the Malay language, and literature and philosophy. He has also lectured in universities and other academic centers around the globe. In recognition of his contributions, numerous awards and honors have been conferred on him. In 1994, King Hussein of Jordan honored him with membership at the Royal Academy of Jordan, and in 1995, the University of Khartoum conferred upon him the Degree of Honorary Doctorate of Arts.

Jesudas M. Athyal

See also: Alatas, Syed Hussein; Colonialism; Islam; Malaysia; Nationalism; Secularism; Study of Religion; Sufism.

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AHMADIYYA

Further Reading

AISYIYAH AND NASYIATUL AISYIYAH

Further Reading

ALATAS, SYED HUSSEIN

Further Reading

ANCESTOR WORSHIP

Vietnam

Thailand

Singapore

Further Reading

ANIMISM

Further Reading

ARMENIANS

Further Reading

ATHEISM/AGNOSTICISM

Further Reading

ATTAS, SYED MUHAMMAD NAQUIB AL-

Further Reading