Carool Kersten is Research Professor in Islamic studies at the University of Leuven in Belgium and Emeritus Reader at King’s College London. He is also a senior research associate of the Institute for Philosophical and Religious Studies at the Science and Research Centre Koper in Slovenia. Carool Kersten is the author or editor of thirteen books, including Islam and Contemporary European Literature (EUP 2025), Contemporary Thought in the Muslim World: Trends Themes, and Issues (Routledge 2019), and multi-volume anthologies on Islamic statehood and law. His research interests include the intellectual and political history of the modern Muslim world, the history of Islam in Southeast Asia, contemporary literature and travel writing.

Elegantly written, carefully crafted, and solidly grounded in scholarly sources and debates, this book provides an excellent synthetic account of the history of Islam in Indonesia. Carool Kersten’s erudition, astute and judicious readings of the specialist literature, and his skills as a writer are all in ample evidence in this magisterial survey.

• Acknowledgements A note on translation and transliteration Glossary Introduction 1. The arrival of Islam 2. Network Islam 3. Islam as resistance 4. Islam and nation-building 5. An Indonesian Islam? Conclusion Endnotes Bibliography Index

Carool Kersten is Research Professor in Islamic studies at the University of Leuven in Belgium and Emeritus Reader at King’s College London. He is also a senior research associate of the Institute for Philosophical and Religious Studies at the Science and Research Centre Koper in Slovenia. Carool Kersten is the author or editor of thirteen books, including Islam and Contemporary European Literature (EUP 2025), Contemporary Thought in the Muslim World: Trends Themes, and Issues (Routledge 2019), and multi-volume anthologies on Islamic statehood and law. His research interests include the intellectual and political history of the modern Muslim world, the history of Islam in Southeast Asia, contemporary literature and travel writing.

Elegantly written, carefully crafted, and solidly grounded in scholarly sources and debates, this book provides an excellent synthetic account of the history of Islam in Indonesia. Carool Kersten’s erudition, astute and judicious readings of the specialist literature, and his skills as a writer are all in ample evidence in this magisterial survey.

• Acknowledgements A note on translation and transliteration Glossary Introduction 1. The arrival of Islam 2. Network Islam 3. Islam as resistance 4. Islam and nation-building 5. An Indonesian Islam? Conclusion Endnotes Bibliography Index

Carool Kersten is Research Professor in Islamic studies at the University of Leuven in Belgium and Emeritus Reader at King’s College London. He is also a senior research associate of the Institute for Philosophical and Religious Studies at the Science and Research Centre Koper in Slovenia. Carool Kersten is the author or editor of thirteen books, including Islam and Contemporary European Literature (EUP 2025), Contemporary Thought in the Muslim World: Trends Themes, and Issues (Routledge 2019), and multi-volume anthologies on Islamic statehood and law. His research interests include the intellectual and political history of the modern Muslim world, the history of Islam in Southeast Asia, contemporary literature and travel writing.

Elegantly written, carefully crafted, and solidly grounded in scholarly sources and debates, this book provides an excellent synthetic account of the history of Islam in Indonesia. Carool Kersten’s erudition, astute and judicious readings of the specialist literature, and his skills as a writer are all in ample evidence in this magisterial survey.

• Acknowledgements A note on translation and transliteration Glossary Introduction 1. The arrival of Islam 2. Network Islam 3. Islam as resistance 4. Islam and nation-building 5. An Indonesian Islam? Conclusion Endnotes Bibliography Index