State, Ulama and Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia

Dr Norshahril Saat is Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. He received his PhD in International, Political and Strategic Studies from the Australian National University (ANU). He has published extensively on Islamic authority in Southeast Asia.|0

"This book is a welcome addition to the comparative study of political Islam in two Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia. Not many books have been written that compare these two countries in an equal, empathetic, and substantive manner, and Saat’s book is one of the very few that strive to fill this knowledge lacuna." - Azmil Tayeb, newbooks.asia, Summer 2020 "The State, Ulama and Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia is a welcome addition to the fold of scholarly works comparing the two largest Muslim-majority countries of Southeast Asia ... offering novel insights into the inter-linkages between politics and religion, especially Islam." - Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, Pacific Affairs: Volume 93, No. 1, March 2020 "Norshaharil Saat has delivered a piece of scholarly work that is both empirically and analytically outstanding and authoritative in its points of comparison." - Zawawi Ibrahim (Universiti Brunei Darussalam), Situations 11.2, 2018 "Norshahril's empirically rich and theoretically informed study is a welcome addition to the comparative study of political Islam in two Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia." - Azmil Mohd Tayeb, Kajian Malaysia, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2018

• About the Author, Preface, Abbreviations and acronyms, A note on translation, spelling, and other conventions, 1. Introduction, 2. Official ulama in Indonesia and Malaysia: Emergence, perception and authority, 3. The rise in piety and the roots of state co-optation, 4. MUI in the post-New Order: A capture in progress, 5. Malaysian muftis and official ulama: The state captured?, 6. Conclusion: The future of official ulama and state capture