Islam in South-east Asia (Indonesia)

                Introduced piecemeal by various traders and wandering mystics from India, Islam first gained a foothold between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries in coastal regions of Sumatra, northern Java, and Kalimantan.

                The Islamic experience in colonial and modern Indonesia is a mass of internal contradictions. in java, on the other hand, islam has been absorbed into a wider javanese cultural setting and has thus acquired its own, peculiarly javanese flavours. As different as Sumatra, Islam has never succeeded in displacing indigenous customary law, or adat. In both areas, islam was important in development and muslim political parties. moreover, the religion is entrenched in institutions of state to a considerable extent.

                Islam in Indonesia was represented by two big group, which rarely come to agreement amongst themselves, not only on religious matters but also in political matters. There are the modernist ( represented by the Muhammadiyah and Masumi Party) dan the traditionalist (represented by the Nahdatul Ulama).