what is the country with the largest
Muslim population in the entire world
Saudi Arabia Pakistan Egypt or Nigeria
well none of them the correct answer is
Indonesia Islam is the religion in
Indonesia with most adherents with
eighty seven point two percent of
Indonesian population identifying
themselves as Muslim and a 2010 survey
Indonesia has the largest Muslim
population in the world with
approximately 220 million Muslims but
looking at the world map and knowing
that Islam started in Arabia in the
seventh century from where it expanded
to more people especially in continental
North Africa and southwestern Asia a
question just popped up
how did Islam reach this archipelago how
did these away islands become Muslim we
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[Music]
Muslim conquests following Mohammed's
death led to the creation of the
caliphates these empires expanded
quickly and occupied enormous
geographical areas occupying more and
more land the conversion to Islam was
boosted by missionary activities
particularly those of Imams they told
the religious teachings to the local
people due to the rapid military
expansion the new religion expanded too
and the new conquered territories these
early dynasties focused on spreading the
new religion but also they focused on
research economics and trading during
the Islamic Golden Age more and more
people converted to this religion
including crowned heads Nobles but also
trades and merchants this resulted in
rapid spreading towards the Indian and
Atlantic oceans Islam influence first
came to be felt in the Indian
subcontinent
during the early 7th century with the
advent of Arab traders Arab traders used
to visit the Malabar region which was a
link between them and the ports of
Southeast Asia to trade even before
Islam had been established in Arabia the
Arab merchants and traders became the
carriers of the new religion and they
propagated it wherever they went it was
however the subsequent expansion of the
Muslim conquest in the Indian
subcontinent
over the next millennia that established
Islam in the region Muslim missionaries
played a key role in the spread of Islam
in Asia some missionaries even assuming
roles as merchants they were sent across
Asia in all directions under various
titles often as traders the missionaries
were instructed to speak to their
potential converts in their own language
even before Islam was established
amongst Indonesian communities Muslims
sailors and traders had often visited
the shores of modern Indonesia most of
these early sailors and merchants
arrived from the Abbasid caliphs its
newly established ports of Basra and
de-ball
the territory was rich in spices exotic
fruits and other goods there is evidence
of Arab Muslim traders entering
Indonesia as early as the 8th century
but it was not until the 12th or 13th
century then the spread of Islam started
then expanded even more due to the
adoption by the local rulers and elites
the missionaries came from many
territories and regions some came here
from India and later from the southern
Arabian Peninsula it is believed that
around the 13th century the religion
began to emerge on the northern coast of
Sumatra after this Islam was further
spread by Sufi orders and finally
consolidated by the expansion of the
territories of converted rulers and
their communities not knowing a certain
date when the conversion started and
having no clear indication of when Islam
first came to the region we may consider
the start around eleventh or twelfth
centuries the first Muslim gravestone
markings date to 1080 - also when Marco
Polo visited the area in 1292 he noted
that the urban port state of perlac was
Muslim the first evidence of a Muslim
dynasty in the grave stone dated 1297 of
Sultan Malik al Saleh the first Muslim
ruler of the semaj opossite Sultanate
Chinese sources record the presence of a
Muslim delegation to the Emperor from
the kingdom of Samudra in 1282 the
spread of Islam generally followed the
trade routes east through the primarily
Buddhist region and half a century later
in the malakas we see the first dynasty
arise in the form of the Sultanate of
Malacca
at the far end of the archipelago formed
by the conversion of one Shah into a
Muslim and the adoption of the name
Mohammed Iskandar Shah the spread of
Islam among the ruling class was
precipitated as Muslim traders married
the local women with some of the
wealthier traders marrying into the
families of the ruling elite Indonesian
people as local rulers and royalty began
to adopt it and subsequently their
subjects mirrored their conversion the
expansion accelerated in the 15th
century as the military power of Malacca
Sultanate in the Malay Peninsula and
other Islamic salt
it's dominated the region aided by
episodes of Muslim coup Wars and
superior control of maritime trading and
ultimate markets by the 14th century
Islam had been established in Northeast
Malaya Brunei the southwestern
Philippines and among some quarts of
coastal East and Central Java the 15th
century saw the decline of Hindu
Javanese Majapahit Empire as Muslim
traders from Arabia India Samara and the
Malay Peninsula and also China began to
dominate the regional trade that once
controlled the Javanese Majapahit
traders Chinese Ming Dynasty provided
systematic support to Malacca Ming
Chinese Zhang's voyages is credited for
creating Chinese Muslim settlement in
Palembang
and north coast of Java Malacca actively
encouraged the conversion to Islam in
the region while Ming fleet activity
established Chinese Malay Muslim
community in North East coastal Java
thus created a permanent opposition to
the Hindus of Java the expedition's had
established Muslim Chinese Arab and
Malay communities in northern ports of
Java dominant Muslim kingdoms were more
and more present in the archipelago
Hindus historical inhabitants were
Animists Hindus and Buddhists and in
time many of them accepted the new
religion because Muslim merchants and
traders disseminated Islamic teachings
while trading with local population and
their teachings encouraged proselytizing
religion Hindus and Buddhists don't
generally proselytize and Islam is a
monotheistic belief system and it
doesn't allow its followers to believe
in another god
being a Muslim created more privileges
benefits and favourable terms for the
local people than being a non-muslim
some people needed safety and certainty
so they chose to declare themselves as
Muslims because Islam made an appearance
in Southeast Asia through trade with
people of South Arabia and Indian Sufis
the transition was made more peacefully
than in the Middle East or North Africa
where existed conflicts in Indonesia the
process was slower but was created
differently through merchants elites and
Nobles
the presence of monarchy made it easier
for the religion to spread among the
commoners just as the presence of
Christianity in the monarchy made it
easier for the religion to spread in
European kingdoms meanwhile in Java
Island the great Hindu Majah pocket
Empire was collapsing some of these new
kingdoms were supported by Ming China
through assimilation related to trade
royal conversions and conquest Islam had
supplanted Hinduism and Buddhism as the
dominant religion of Java and Sumatra by
the end of the sixteenth century but
many cultural and religious habits from
the Hindu Buddhist era were mostly
tolerated and even incorporated into
Islamic rituals Aslam didn't obliterate
the pre-existing culture rather it
incorporated and embedded the local
customs and non Islamic elements among
rules in part the strong presence of
Sufism has been considered a major
enabler of the syncretism between Islam
and other religions when Europeans came
they brought Christianity to the Muslim
majority but not so many converted
probably due to the fact that in that
time already the accent wasn't put on
religion as much as in the 12th or 13th
centuries but this is another discussion
Indonesia is a big country with more
than 250 million people from different
cultures and ethnicities across
thousands of islands from a religious
point of view Indonesia is not ruled by
a single law because more than 80
percent of the population are Muslims
Indonesia can be called as one of the
Muslim countries in the world but
Indonesia is not a traditional Islamic
one their constitution does not
specifically base on their religion and
also it contains many values Universal
ones which are also available in Islam
as well as in other religions formulated
into what is known as pang Casilla the
five philosophical pillars of the
country
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