Islamic Da'wa in a Multi Religious Society: The Malaysian Experience

Author: Ghazali Basri
Publisher: Akademi Kajian Ketamadunan
ISBN: 9789834187293
Weight: 0.090
Pages: 51
Year: 2016
Price: RM10

Islamic Da'wa in a Multi Religious Society: The Malaysian Experience portrays the nature of Islamic da'wa movements prevailing in the country. Today (2016), Malaysia with an approximate total population of 30.8 million has about 60% Muslims with the rest being Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Bahais, Animists and others. Islam is made the official religion of the State, the other religions are allowed to flourish. Generally each religion is closely knit to ethnicity for example Malays are predominantly Muslims, Indians are Hindus and Chinese are Buddhists, Sikhs embrace Sikhism and Animists are the indigenes of Malaysia. In this respect, Islam has been a part of the Malay identity ever since, shaping the Malay psyche, outlook, culture and institutions, and it continues to influence the socio-political and economic development of the country. Thus, the issue of religion or religiosity in Malaysia is very much linked with ethnicity, racial identity and politics. It is in this context that the Islamic da'wa movement in Malaysia is examined. This monograph comprises of four parts, namely: the role of Islam and Islamic da'wa in the struggle for independence in 1957; the role of Islam in realising a progressive, modern multi-racial Malaysia through a series of new socio-economic policy; the strategic approach of da'wa after the 9/11, 2001 incident; and an assessment on the present and aspiring for a better peaceful co-existence amongst multi religious Malaysians in the future. In this connection the role of ABIM and her sister organisation, WADAH will be given due appraisal.