Abstract
G.W.J Drewes, the famous Dutch orientalist and Islamic scholar who specialized in Indonesia, in his ‘New Light on the Coming of Islam to Indonesia’ has critically evaluated various theories of the first coming and spread of Islam in this region. 1 He has based his research on Western scholarship without mentioning a single source of Islamic history written in Arabic by a renowned Muslim historian except for al-Tabari in one place, and that too without authentication of his report. According to the statement of Drewes mentioned on the authority of Moquette, the earliest Muslim inscription of Java on the renowned "stone of Léran", which is written in late Kufic script dates back to the year A.H. 496/A.D.1102. The name on the stone was read as Fatimah bint Maymun, a lady of whom nothing more is known. Drews and others however have indicated no incident of forceful conversion to Islam. The present article also examines the same point, but it has based its investigation mainly on original Arabic sources. The article argues that it is not clear whether Arab, Persian or Indian Muslims/traders were the main disseminators of Islam in the Indonesian archipelago, yet all sources are unanimous on the points that Arabs were having trade relations with the Indonesian counterparts before the advent of Islam and that no use of force was involved in adoption of Muslim faith, culture and civilization by people of the region.
Keyword(s)
Indonesia, Spread of Islam, Arab Traders, al Mas‘udi, Ibn Battutah, Qalaqshandi, Mahmud Shakir, Means of Trade