Convergence of Interest and Sharing a Future: Deepening the Understanding of Islam in Asia and EuropeShamsul A.B.

ASIEN – Nr. 100 (2006) pp. 62–69

Since the advent of the 21st century, we notice that there is a global convergence, indeed consensus, in the need to deepen our understanding of Islam and Muslims, not only globally but also in Asia, because outside the Arab-speaking world of the Middle East, the next largest population of Muslims is to be found in Asia – Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. The urgency became obvious in the aftermath of the September 11th event. Conventionally, Asia has been seen, economically, as the fastest growing region in the world, with Japan, China, India, Taiwan and some countries in Southeast Asia as spearheading this development. The competitiveness of these countries have been seen by those in the developed countries as a threat of sorts. Apparently, the ‚economic talk‘ on Asia is not enough to grasp what is going on in the region. Suddenly, ‚Islam in Asia,‘ as a theme, has to be addressed too, not only in the realm of international and regional politics but also its impact on everyday social life in the Occident, especially, the USA, Europe and Australasia…