ABSTRACT
After an introduction to colonial and post-colonial scholarly approaches to the study of Islam in Indonesia, this chapter explores the historical trajectory of Islamic practices and understandings in the archipelago. I begin by showing how Islam interacted with pre-existing practices in an active process of identity negotiation. I then move on to examine the role that Islam played in politics during the late colonial period, its importance during the struggle for independence in the 1940s, and its ever-expanding influence in the following seven decades of Indonesia’s history until the 2010s.
