Repertoires of Muslim Resistance

Abstract

Chapter 6 is centered on various forms of resistance against colonial rule. It begins with the outbreaks of rebellions, which were stirred by a sense of disenfranchisement, and Muslim perceptions that the colonial powers were working against Islam. Although largely failed campaigns, these violent episodes awakened the Malay Muslims regarding the need to reform themselves. It examines, among others, the reform efforts of To’ Kenali and his modernized pondok (traditional Islamic schools) as well as the growth of Islamic modernist ideas championed by the Al-Imam group in Singapore and students returning from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Revivalists in the Arab World, Turkey, and South Asia influenced these local reformists. At the same time, they promulgated new ideas that laid bare the problems of taqlid (blind obedience) in Malaysia. Islamic modernism developed in conjunction with the revival of traditionalism, both of which had their own unique visions of how Muslims ought to reform themselves. The rapid growth of political movements and parties demonstrate the effervescence of anti-colonial Islamization in Malaysia that eventually led to the country’s independence.