ABSTRACT
Before Dutch colonial administration managed to impose its rule over the vast archipelago called the East Indies, the area that is at present known as Indonesia consisted of several kingdoms. Within these kingdoms, from the Sultanate of Aceh in the west to the Sultanate of Ternate and Tidore in the east, Islam had already established itself as a dominant belief system of both the ruling elite and their subjects. In these kingdoms, Islam played a crucial role in rulers’ claims to political legitimacy and authority. In some areas, such as in the Sultanate of Aceh in Sumatra and Banten in West Java, Islam even served as the official framework by which social and political order was structured. The nature of Islam in Indonesia, however, differs significantly from that in the Middle East, especially in terms of the degree of internal pluralism that existed within Islam itself. And, that degree of Islamic pluralism played an important role in the process of state-identity formation.
