Studies On Contemporary Islamic Relations Between Southeast Asia And The Middle East

Southeast Asia is a region with religious diversities and multiple cultural characteristics in the world. Under the premise of religious pluralism, the most prominent religion is Islam and Muslims constitute the largest part of the overall population in Southeast Asia. Located on the geographic edge of the global Islamic system, Islam in Southeast Asia has been receiving influences from the Middle East, which is generally considered as the centre of Islamic world. The history of communication and interaction between the two regions has been closely linked with religion and Islam has been playing a vital role during the process.Based on the ethnographic research methods of history, the studies on Contemporary Islamic Relations between Southeast Asia and the Middle East attempt to break the internal limit of the regions and attempts to investigate and analyze the links between the two regions in terms of politics, economics and cultures. Further efforts are made to study the possible links of extremism and terrorism between Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The research aims to make a contribution by producing a comprehensive and in-depth perception of Islam a better understanding of the interactions of Islam and an interactive structure of international religious system, domestic politics and internal society of countries.This paper consists of seven chapters:the preliminary chapter is the introduction, the main part consists of five chapters and the final chapter is the conclusion. The introductory part describes the significance of the topic of this article. On this basis, a brief literature view of the researches of Islam in Southeast Asia and the Middle East both in China and abroad is provided and the relevant concepts are defined from the perspective of the research. The first chapter shows the brief history of Islam in Southeast Asia from the aspects of the origin of Islam, the spread of Islam, and the characteristics of Islam. Under the background, the arrival and the early spread of Islam in Southeast Asia are introduced. Then the relationship between Islam in Southeast Asia and the Middle East during the period of Western colonization is discussed. With the flourishing of the Western Christian civilization and the declining of Islamic civilization, Southeast Asia was widely influenced by the trends in Islamic thoughts from the Middle East, which were considered as a part of the responses of the Islamic world to the Western colonization. The second chapter focuses on the interrelations of Islam between Southeast Asia and the Middle East after World War II. The Islamic factors in the processes of gaining national independence of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunel are analyzed. With different roles and function, Islam couldn’t be isolated from the politics in these countries. Then the characteristics and influences of the Islamic Revival Movement in Southeast Asia under the influence of Islamic revivalism are analyzed. The third chapter mainly illustrates the relation between Southeast Asia and the Middle East from the 1970s to the 1990s with the focus on Islamic Revitalization (al-Nahdah al-Islamiyyah). Having been influenced by Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Revivalism in the Middle East, the Islamic societies in Southeast Asia responded differently during the processes of modernization and thus had various outcomes. The fourth chapter is on the relationship between Islamic extremism in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. By employing the method of case study, this chapter focuses on the issues of terrorism in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar. The fifth chapter is on the influence of "Arab Spring" on the Islamic societies in Southeast Asia. The reasons for the weak influences are analyzed. Then the impact of "Islamic State" on Southeast Asia is researched. The last part is the conclusion. It concludes the features of the Islamic relations between Southeast Asia and the Middle East, forecasts the trend of the relations in the future and explores the impact and implications of such religious relations on the international community.