Islamic Connections: Muslim Societies in South and Southeast Asia

Acknowledgements

ACknowLEDgEmEntS The Islamic Connections project was formally launched in Singapore in June 2007 with a conference entitled “Re-centering Islam: Islamic Linkages between South and Southeast Asia”, featuring international scholars of South and Southeast Asian Islam and Muslim linkages.The conference was made possible by the generous funding provided by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), the Department of Malay Studies and the Religion Research Cluster at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapore (MUIS). We are grateful to the Director of ISEAS, K. Kesavapany, for his support and interest in the project, and ISEAS staff, who managed a complex programme of activities with remarkable efficiency. We were also fortunate to attain the help of Shabbir Hussain Mustafa throughout various aspects of organizing this conference. Particular thanks are due to Falak Sufi who was one of the first to conceive of this project in 2007, but passed on before its completion. She also played a significant intellectual and editorial role in shaping the final text. We are indebted to the following participants in the “Re-centering Islam” conference for their contributions (in order of presentations): Daud Ali (Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies); Syed Farid Alatas (Department of Malay Studies, NUS); Sebastian Prange (Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies); Ronit Ricci (Asia Research Institute, NUS); Torsten Tschacher (Department of Modern South Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Heidelberg); Farish Noor (S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University); Kees van Dijk (KITLV, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies); Clive Kessler (School of Sociology and Anthropology, University of New South Wales); Iqbal Singh Sevea (S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University); Asghar Ali Engineer (Centre for Study of Society and Secularism); Jan van der Putten (Department of Malay Studies, NUS); Peter Riddell (Centre for Islamic Studies, London School of Theology). Other colleagues who participated in the conference discussions include Anthony Reid (Asia Research Institute, NUS); Merle Ricklefs (Department of History, NUS); Sharon Siddique (Sreekumar Siddique and Co.); and Noorhaidi Hasan (Asia Research Institute, NUS). John Sidel (Department of Government, vii London School of Economics and Political Science), and Michael Laffan (Department of History, Princeton University) also provided valuable advice in the preliminary stages of organizing this conference. viii Acknowledgements ...