The medieval Muslim Sufi scholars and their roles to the spread of Islam: a special reference to Southeast Asia

Abstract

The religion of Islam has been introduced in Mecca by the Prophet Muhammad (Sal) in the 7th century AD. Islam has begun to spread too many countries during his lifetime due to his continue enormous efforts. Even after the death of the Prophet, a sequence of Islamic propaganda work was carried out by his Companions and Islamic preachers, paving the way for his spread throughout the world. Thus, many pioneers were responsible for the spread of Islam and its influence among the people worldwide. It is noteworthy, that the work of the pioneers of Islamic propaganda is behind the large numbers of people in Southeast Asia who can still follow Islam today. The contributions of the so-called Sufi saints, especially in these countries, are considered to be very important. The Islamic religion began to gain influence among the people through their honest actions, social interactions, unselfish social services, moral values, and cultural role models. Although some research efforts have been made on their works, services, and contributions to social change, there is less clarity and influence on the Islamic propaganda work and services of Sufi scholars in Southeast Asia than on the influence of Indian and Sri Lankan Sufi pioneers among the Tamil-speaking population. The reason for this is the lack of clarity among the people about those occult scholars. Therefore, the study treats on to explain how Islam was spread by Muslim Sufi scholars in Southeast Asian countries and how much Sufi scholars contributed to spread of Islam and development of Arabic Language, as well as their propaganda strategies and methods. This study is a social descriptive research that based entirely on secondary data. The researchers have used text books; scholarly research articles, journals, university theses and websites from Arabic, English and other languages in secondary data collection and those data are analyzed. This research briefly explains how Islam spread in Southeast Asian countries, highlighting the achievements of Muslim Sufi scholars in spreading Islam and their propaganda approaches. Exemplary attitudes and presentation style should be important for the success of a religious campaign and its influence among the people. It is important to note here that in order for a campaigner's success to move fully towards the goal, social approaches and mechanisms must be put in place.