1 - Islamic Resurgence and the Question of Development in Malaysia

Summary

The Background

There are 6.9 million Muslims in a population of 13.07 million in Malaysia. The rest are made up of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, followers of Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions, various folk religions, and others. Nearly all Malays are Muslims. This means that the majority of the indigenous people are Muslims. The overwhelming majority of non-Malays are non-Muslims. Since 1957, when the country achieved independence, Islam has been the official religion of the Federation.

The position of Islam as the official religion is essentially a recognition of its premier status in the evolution of the Malaysian polity – a status which for a long time expressed itself mainly through the performance of Muslim prayers at official functions, the construction of mosques by the State, the holding of Qur'an-reading competitions, the organizing of the Haj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca) through the agency of the government, and the like. It is against this backdrop that Islamic resurgence is taking place. Islamic resurgence – or the rising again of Islam – is a description of the endeavour to re-establish Islamic values, Islamic practices, Islamic institutions, Islamic laws, indeed Islam in its entirety, in the lives of Muslims everywhere. It is an attempt to re-create an Islamic social order guided by the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the Way of the Prophet).

Manifestations

The signs of Islamic resurgence are everywhere. The rapid diffusion of what is regarded as Islamic attire among a significant segment of the Muslim female population in urban areas, in particular, is but the most obvious of these signs. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that a good 60 to 70 per cent of all Muslim females above adolescence wear such apparel. A number of Muslim males, too, put on what they perceive to be religiously sanctioned attire. Many of them also grow beards as their way of emulating the Prophet and his companions.