Cornell University Press Hamka and Islam: Cosmopolitan Reform in the Malay World

Since the early twentieth century, Muslim reformers have been campaigning for a total transformation of the ways in which Islam is imagined in the Malay world. One of the most influential is the author Haji Abdul Malik bin Abdul Karim Amrullah, commonly known as Hamka. In Hamka and Islam, Khairudin Aljunied employs the term "cosmopolitan reform" to describe Hamka's attempt to harmonize the many streams of Islamic and Western thought while posing solutions to the various challenges facing Muslims. Among the major themes Aljunied explores are reason and revelation, moderation and extremism, social justice, the state of women in society, and Sufism in the modern age, as well as the importance of history in reforming the minds of modern Muslims.Aljunied argues that Hamka demonstrated intellectual openness and inclusiveness toward a whole range of thoughts and philosophies to develop his own vocabulary of reform, attesting to Hamka's unique ability to function as a conduit for competing Islamic and secular groups. Hamka and Islam pushes the boundaries of the expanding literature on Muslim reformism and reformist thinkers by grounding its analysis within the Malay experience and by using the concept of cosmopolitan reform in a new context. Review "Hamka was among the greatest Muslim public intellectuals in Southeast Asia. This book's unique and original take on his cosmopolitan reform offers a fresh perspective and contributes significantly to our understanding of the dynamics of Islamic reformism in the modern world." Author: Azyumardi Azra, Professor of Islamic History and Culture, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta "Hamka’s writings led Indonesian Muslims and Southeast Asian Muslims in Malaysia, Singapore, and beyond to understand Sufism, the role of women, social justice, and God’s revelation in a new light, enabling them to embrace their new lives while remaining moored in faith. In this heartfelt study, Khairudin Aljunied explicates this convincingly and brilliantly." Author: James R. Rush, Professor of History, Arizona State University About the Author Khairudin Aljunied is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore. He was Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia (2017–2018) and is Senior Fellow at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University.