How did Malaysia become a Muslim country?

Question

I've got some conflicting answers about these. I do know Malaysia is not a Muslim country but the majority(more than 60%) are Muslims.

1. How did Malaysia become a "Muslim dominant" country while most of its neighbor countries(Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, Laos) are not?

2. When did Malaysia become a "Muslim dominant" country?

3. Who introduced/missionized Islam religion to Malaysia? Where were they from?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

1. Malaysia becomes "Muslim dominant" the same way Xinjiang became Muslim dominant back in the 7th century, but other Chinese states are not.

2. Present-day Malaysia becomes a Muslim dominant territory since the 14th to 15th century.

3. The missionaries came from other kingdoms in South-East Asia such as Champa (Cambodia) and Acheh, Sumatra or from India (Delhi Sultanate) and Arab countries.

Source(s):

http://www.etourz.com/batu_bersurat.htm

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Well done, thanks =)

Answer 2

Malaysia have the Muslim as the largest Religion here. and, Muslim came in Malaysia earlier than other religion.
but although it is like that, Malaysians have the freedom to choose their own religion.

Answer 3

The recognition of Islam in this part of the world has been a fact since C.E. 674 (forty-two years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, pbuh) when the Umayyad ruler Muawiyah was in power at Damascus. Two hundred years later in C.E. 878 Islam was embraced by people along the coast of Peninsular Malaysia including the port of Kelang which was a well-known trading centre.


Before the coming of Islam, the indigenous Malays embraced an ancient religion with various forms of belief with some of the population belonging to the Hindu/Buddha religion. Life was structured and arranged in ways that showed the influence of more than one religion. This can be seen not only in the Malay's cultural patterns but is also part of the 'power' structure of state dignitaries and princes.


At the political level, the royal ruler and the head of state in most communities in the Malay world embraced the Islamic religion. The people were impressed and attracted by the provision in the Qur'an and the Hadith that mankind should be ranked on a basis of interpersonal equality. Those who for so long had been considered of low caste saw how the different strata of Islamic society were laid before them. They were no longer imprisoned within a religious caste system and the notion of living in "classes". In Islam there was no discrimination, or division on the basis of colour, class tribal affiliation, race, homeland and birthplace, all of which gave rise to problems. Equal rights seemed the right human solution, which in practice meant the acceptance of rights and obligation as a member of the Islamic Community. The pious person achieved sublimity and nearness to God.


The local population saw that Islam could extricate them from this bondage and provide the means for the extirpation of social evils. The new religion gave the small man a sense of this individual worth - the dignity of man - as a member of an Islamic community.
The efforts of the ulama' in implementing Islamic teachings gradually reached rulers, officials, community leaders and the ordinary people. Their efforts left its mark in such places as Banten (formerly Bantam), East Java, Macassar, Kalimantan, the Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand, Malacca, Trengganu and elsewhere. The ulama' also played a part in the administration, and some of the powerful sultans held firmly to the teachings of Islam.

Source(s):

http://members.tripod.com/worldupdates/i…

Answer 4

Naughty little girl has the perfect answer for you, but did you know that in east Malaysia (Sarawak) Muslims are a minority making up only 21% of the population?

-Iban 30%
- Chinese 26%
- Malay 21%

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarawak

Answer 5

The neighbor country- Indonesia is also predominantly Muslim.
I'd also long wanted to ask but I perceive this as a sensitive issue. How do the Muslims and Christians interact socially in Malaysia? Is there a latent discrimination like, for ex, they mostly go to different schools, recreation places, restaurants and the like? Are the Christians barely tolerated or do they have an equal standing as citizens of the country? Is there really zero case of a Christian -Muslim marriage there? And is a Muslim free to change religion if he/ she so wishes? Are there members of the government top echelon who are Christians?

And lastly, how do the average Muslim citizen of Malaysia perceive the Al-Qaeda, Abu-Sayyaf terrorists of Southern Philippines, Osama Bin-Laden, and some other noted terrorist groups? What can you say about their terroristic acts?

I do hope some answerer here would care to answer.

ADD: Thanks so much hushpup:). That was a very exhaustive and informative answer you gave. So u feel deep down that u are a 2nd class citizen. Well I guess it goes w/ the territory, lol! In my country, muslims are the minority and I know they are "barely tolerated" too, a pity really. But you can't blame Christians here. Muslim extremists here create so much havoc, kidnapping for ransom, bombings..But as u say, it is not sanctioned by the greater islam community. still -they are islams. *shrug*
ADD: Yes, i agree w/ u regarding some Catholic priests hushpup. That is the reason that I do believe it is not one's religion that matters in the end. It is my personal relationship w/ our God that would count, and whatever that means is between me and my God :). Religion sucks, actually. It causes discord.

Answer 6

malaysia ends up becoming a muslim dominant country because (among others)
1. islam in malaysia is a religion of only plus and no minus.
2. government's policy to encourage its people to breed breed breed hoping to reach 70 million population. only muslims can legally practise polygamy. imagine each wife 2 kids... you do the calculation. recently i have seen a news on thestar apparently a family with four wives live harmoniously - the father said he wants to father 40 children :) dont be surprised it is in the news. dont know about other minority groups but chinese who mostly arent muslims have other priorities in life than to just breed. lack of sex protection due to lack of education is a different story.
3. government corrupted immigration systems that grant bumiputra status to muslim immigrants like water flowing from the tap... non stop but on the other hand gives nothing to more deserving people.
4. illegal immigrants from neigbouring country well you know


when - well i only started breathing when mahathir was in office. so only fair to say it is thaaaaaat era...

who? dont know. how? dont really know. as far as i am concerned my sejarah textbooks are nothing but a bunch of stories made up to show how glorious malaya had been in the past. blah blah...


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bean - do you also know that sarawak can maintain the status quo because umno was and is unable to step its foot into sarawak. the figures you gave i dare you it applied to sabah many years ago, at least prior to me leaving the state sabah was still home. as we speak we dont know how many of muslims are moving across the sea to settle in sabah. sabah doesnt feel homey anymore. but that's because we have lousy leadership who doesnt seem to know how to protect ourself. our priorty, unfortunately which the local government failed to see and wake up to is THIS. status quo - racial composition and wealth distribution rather than JUST the 20% royalties.

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yuanyuan - muslims and christians (lol contrary to what you perceive me as, i still think i am a christian :P) basically dont interact on the spiritual level. no interfaith discussions are "allowed" and government refused to let this go ahead when some people obviously see this as a chance to foster better social relationships among people. tell me about the government (nothing in their brain - just politics and money in their own pockets). when i was young still at school i hang around quite a few muslim friends and those were the good times. we were too young to understand "differences" between people. alas i went to predominantly chinese high school and lost contact with all. last year though i caught up with a dear muslim friend of mind and it was awesome - the only thing is we dont talk about religion. my close friend in uni was also a muslim dude. we talk, discuss debate (about race/politics but not religion) and we'd agreed if he'd become the malaysian PM one day i will marry him (and he "promised" wouldnt take a second wife... and we can show the whole nation no one religion is meant to be selfish.

we have different streams for schools. but none of this really is indicated by "religion" per se but rather indentified by race. some national schools have mixed composition (like my primary school) but you will see probably ten malay-muslim kids in an entire chinese school. as for restaurants, i dont know about others, i go to whereever i want, with or without halal sign. me and family used to visit our muslim friends during hari raya and they served us nice but that was yearssss ago.

yes on the book we have equal standing as citizens. but no deep down really i am just a second class citizen. tell my government to stop demolishing existing churches/temples and approve building of more spiritual places like this OR stop building more mosque.

there are cases of other faith - muslim marriage in the country. convert and you should be fine. i have been told however that this is not encouraged in muslim families due to differences in everyday lifestyles and beliefs. anyhow, that person wont be me :)

generally no, apostasy is a sin (and you will be asked to attend counseling aka brainwash) if you so intend. but i have heard recently in one particular state laws have been passed to allow converting out of islam.

yes there are top people who are non-muslims, not necessarily christians. ling liong sik, ong ka ting, lingam, samy vellu i believe are non-muslims.

me not muslim- but- i dont believe all these terrorist acts are sanctioned in islam. these are extremist people carrying their own agenda behind fighting for islam.

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yuanyuan - some catholic priests and what not have done ugly things too but doesnt mean child sex abuse is sanctioned in catholism (or christianity??). people around the world especially the christian-dominated western countries fail to see this in their own backyard because "islam" tends to be associated and badly publicised with "terror" thanks to bush. but islam does not equal to terrorism.

BUT i despise those who still believe "honour killings" is a great honourable thing to do. regardless of what is in your teachings. they are hopeless but nonetheless a great majority of them still exist.

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sunny d - whoever says all muslims are polygamists? an european muslim - have you ever been to MALAYSIA? do you know anything about MALAYSIA? or do you not read THIS question properly? TELL ME WHAT DID I SAY IS SO UNTRUE??

true i am not a muslim, but take your own advice. are you malaysian? you can disagree with everything i say but it is when people like you who starts taking everything personally that i find hopeless.

Answer 7

Don't know how to answer this question.
I agree what puppy had said.

Answer 8

maybe because they liked thoughts of Islam better then other religions i disagree with PUPPY as being a European Muslim not all of us are polygamistes or have 40 kids it's so insulting specially by this times presenting Muslim nation in such light while you're not even Muslim and do you watch news did you see this Mormon sect in the heart of USA

Answer 9

There are more advanced academic answers, but the brief simple answer is that Islam spread to Malaysia via Arab traders long ago. Other religions too, e.g. Buddhism, ...Chirstianity...but Islam became dominant because the Malays, the majority of the races, do not have the freedom to choose their religion. By constitution laws, they are born Muslims, as otherwise, they are not reconized as Malays. While other religions must make an effort to spread, in Malaysia, Islam is already upon the dominant race...And Malaysians of other races converted to Islam, because, being a Moslem, you have special privileges..., so there is a tendency for Islam to dominate....

Answer 10

Because they understand the Islam's policy very well, 1 religion for life. i admire their loyalty to their religion. we christians/buddhist or whatsoever should practice that too.

Answer 11

as far as i know malaysia is free of religion where they can live together 4 so many centuries peacefully.but i have one question,which religion is peace of mind to the ppl at large?

Answer 12

Not Malaysia but Malaya. It was brought by the Arab traders. And the Malays are not given a chance to choose their own religion they are force to beleive something that they do not beleive it at all. Many of them only know how to recite it but couldn't comprehend the verse. When you ask them about the verse their typical answer is i have no idea or the book say so, so i just followed. And they funny thing is that their are imitating the Arab way of life. What is so superior about the Arab race.

While in Sabah and Sarawak Christianity is the main religion but a party called UMNO trying so hard to make this two state into a Muslim state with so many dirty tactic. One of it is the infamous Project M way, millions and millions of Filipino and Indonesian Muslim are given Malaysian Identity card so that Muslim become a majority people in Sabah.

Answer 13

the arab came to malaysia for business trading and brought in islam they religion.

Answer 14

Ehem.. interesting question to be ask..ok

1. under Federal Constitution Act, article number 3(1), Islam is the religion of the federation, but other religion may be practice in peace and harmony in any part of the federation.

2. Islam came to Eastern Asia on the 17th century.

3. Since Melaka became an enterport and strategic business place,they are lots traders from the Arab, Chinese and Indian Muslim came here. FYI Islam came earlier to India and China before our region.

4. Before the existence of the Federal Constitution, there are several Islamic law constituted, Hukum Kanun Melaka and Undang-undang Laut.

Answer 15

Whatever has happened is history,

Why not respect other faiths, rather than destroying other faith places just like Taliban did to Bamayan Buddhas?

Answer 16

Because of the Arab Traderbs influence during Sultanate of Melaka

Answer 17

Hahaha! yeah, that's right hushpuppy!
Or more like too true!

Its actually hard for Christians to get permission for churches in this country. And the same can be said for Hindu temples and Buddist temples.

As for the terrorists...maybe it is that they have their own agenda. Or maybe its because in trying to protect their religion that their lost the fundamentals of religion, LOVE and UNDERSTANDING. It happens, even in jobs, martials arts, in life...the basics matters as the basics give way to the rest of teachings, skills, family, friends and strength. Alot of people tend to forget about basics or simply ignore it. And thats where trouble comes in.

Thx for asking this question and the people who answered so far. Because now I finally have the words as to why when we try to uphold religion that it can turn ourselves into cruel beings. I always have the idea in my heart but I couldn't find the right words to it. Now I do! Again, Thank you all.

Answer 18

Actually, being a Muslim country means that the country's population is dominantly Muslim. So yeah, we're a Muslim country. Its not the same as being an Islamic country, which means you follow the Syariah.

If I'm not mistaken, it was the Indian Muslim traders who taught the Malays about Islam.