ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Badlihisham Mohd Nasir is currently an associate professor at University

Kebangsaan Malaysia. He gained his Ph.D in Islamic Studies (Dakwah & Islamic
Movement) at University of Birmingham in the 1998.His area of expertise are social
sciences and Islamic studies. Throughout his career, he had produced many publication
related to dawah and Islamic development.

INTRODUCTION
This book challenges this misleading assumption of that Islam is not initially a
world-religion and the concept of dawah is developed later by its followers by
emphasizing that the current phenomenon of dawah has connection with the past
Islamic movements though it may contain new elements of methodology. It also
stresses that the main objective of many Islamic movements particularly in Malaysia is
upholding the holy task of dawah in the modern times.
SYNOPSIS
The author explained briefly about the concept of dawah or preaching in Islam in
the first chapter of the book. Literally, word dawah is derived from the verb da a-yad
u and it means to desire, to request or to draw. Meanwhile in nouns, word dawah is
defined as a call or invitation. In other word, the word dawah which has been used
widely nowadays is defined as a call to obey Allah and His teaching since this is its main
meaning stated in both Quran and the Sunnah.Chapter Two and Chapter Three also
focused deeper in the understanding of dawah in Islam by attempting to elaborate it
based on the historical context of Islam and the methodology of dawah in Islam
respectively.
The main topic of the book begins in Chapter 4, Dr.Badlihisham explained three
phases of Islam that happened in Malaysia since the very beginning Islam arrived. First,
he begins with a review of the early historical development of Islam in the Malay
Archipelago. Before the advent of Islam, Malay Archipelago was ruled by Malay-Hindu
and Malay-Buddhist Kingdoms. However, the arrival of Islam changed the people
gradually from time to time. Islam influenced the people in many aspects of their lives.
There are lots of scholars claimed and some also argued when the exact century is and
how Islam is spread to the Malay world. The spread of Islam in Malacca and Kedah is
largely linked to the role of Muslim traders. There was also a missionary movement of
spreading Islam already in operation in the coast of Java being led by the Sufi. Then,
the task was continued by the nine great Sufis which also venerated by Javanese as the
Wali Songo.Meanwhile, Islam penetrated the Malay world through the Malay ruler

because the acceptance of Islam would be easier by the palace helped. Plus, the
adoption of Islam by the Malay rulers meant that in the course of time all races became
Muslim. Malacca had spread Islamic teachings widely and successfully at that time until
Syed Naquib al-Attas claims that Islam has set in motion the process of revolutionizing
the Malays outlook, turning it away from a crumbling world of mythology into the world
of intelligence, reason and order, making it the most momentous event in the f history of
Malay Archipelago.
Second, he wrote about how Islam was affected due to the administration of
Western colonialism and particularly it was the British. The Malay Peninsula has
continuously experience several phases of Western colonialism starting from the year
1511. The widespread intervention of the British in the affairs of the Malay states took
place after the agreement of the Pangkor Treaty in 1874. Since then, the establishment
led to the process of British involvement in the affairs of peninsula state and started to
introduce a secular concept in Malay religion and custom. The arrangement made by
the British stressed some of the Malay rulers until acted against the British. But, the
British kept on instilling numerous of their secular policy in administration, Malay
customs and economic activities and also in education until succeeded in spreading
Christianity in the urban areas of Malaya. In contrast, the religious education system
was left behind compared to the British because the British were merely to maintain
their power over the Malay states. This dualism in education created boundaries
between two different perspectives among Malay intellectuals. The implement of
capitalist system and the development of the Christian missions in the country would
have created a great challenge and competition to Islam.
Last but not least, the position of Islam changed after Tanah Melayu won its
independence after a short period of negotiation between the British and the Pati
Perikatan. The constitutions include that Islam was regarded as the official religion of
the state. However, Islam was not granted an outstanding role in the government
because of two aspects: the Malaysian constitution perpetuated the former British
secular system and the Malaysia cabinet was known for their non-Islamic inclination
since they were impressed above all by Western traditions of secular state.
The last chapter presents the historical development of the major Islamic
movements occurred in Malaysia chronologically. Islamic movements or resurgence
began in Malaysia since the Pre-Independence era in mid-1900s. Syed Naquib al-Attas
recorded that there are nine popular Sufi sects in Malaysia which were engaged in
these mystical approaches. In Singapore also can be further seen the influence of Sufis
movement in the development of dawah by All-Malaya Muslim Missionary Society.
However, different thoughts between the Sufis slowly separate Islam. Since then, there
are lots of institutions and societies are organized according to their wisdoms and goals
such as Kesatuan Melayu Muda, Kaum Tua, Kaum Muda, United Malay National

Organization(UMNO), Parti Se-Islam Malaysia(PAS), PERKIM, Al-Arqam, AlRahmaniah, ABIM and many others. Sadly, there were several of them also had
deviated from the true teaching of Islam because of obsession.
In the era of the 1960s witnessed the resurgence of early government bodies and
independent movements which were involved with such notions and activities called
dawah. These bodies are divided into three categories : the semi-government agencies
like PERKIM and USIA that focused on the missionary activity, the independent Islamic
movements which introduced new modes of understanding and practicing such as AlRahmaniah and the last is the new Sufi movements like Jamaat Tabligh and Al-Arqam
which mainly encourage people to be involved with ritual aspects of Islam. Even though
the further development of Islam was hindered by the intervention of the secular system
of British, in the period of the 1970s witnessed the emergence of some new Islamic
organizations. A serious effort on the part of the government to establish more Islamic
institutions can be clearly seen under the premiership of Tun Dr.Mahathir Mohamed.
Fortunate to be the ruling government, UMNO since the independence, the party has
managed to change its attitude towards Islam. The party has attempted to promote its
gradual Islamisation policy in order to be recognized as the leader of moderate dawah
in Malaysia.
Finally, we may accept the fact that dawah has become the main goal and
struggle for all Islamic movements in Malaysia.Dawah has emerged as the important
factor in determining the objective and direction of the Islamic movements although their
approaches may vary from each other. The divergence of dawah methodologies may
not be great problems for those who are working in the path of God of they clearly
understand the concept of dawah.
Appraisal
I found that this book is really interesting and I would like to recommend people
to read it because this book explains briefly about the development of Islam in Malaysia.
I understand that it would be very difficult for youths to read this kind of material but I
pushed myself to finish the reading the very last pages and I am glad that I found the
values implemented by Dr. Badlihishams in his writing. He managed to increase my
understanding and knowledge about my own country to another level. Plus his writing
also realized me that there are thousands of matters relates to Malaysia which I dont
even know before. Last but not least, this book also inculcates the spirit of patriotism in
my heart.