This highly original book originated in a workshop that was held in the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore in January 2010. This workshop departed from the idea to study expressions of devotion towards `Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, without regarding this devotion routinely as a manifestation of Shi`ism in Southeast Asia. It thus ties in with the debate of whether “Shi`ite” traces within Islam in Southeast Asia originated from a disappeared Shi`ite past, which in the course of time had been de-Shi`itised (to use the well-known expression of the late specialist in traditional Malay literature Lode Brakel), or whether these traces formed part and parcel of a more general Islamic devotion. For piety towards `Ali and his family, like his wife Fatima, daughter of the Prophet, and their sons Hasan and Husayn, is not only a typical characteristic of Shi`ite devotion, but the love and respect for the Family of the Prophet (ahl al-bayt), as these descendants are collectively called, is also to be found among other Muslims, regardless of their doctrinal affiliations.

Shi`ism in South East Asia consists of fifteen chapters in four parts. Part one, called “Historical Foundations,” outlines the debate on “Shi`ism” at stake (by the book's editors, R. Michael Feener and Chiara Formichi); another piece giving a historical overview of the Shi`ite devotion towards the ahl al-bayt (by Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti), and a chapter about Shi`ism in Thailand (by Christoph Marcinkowski). Part two is entitled “Literary Legacies” and contains five contributions that deal with manifestations of `Alid piety in Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Acehnese, and Buginese historical religious texts (by Ronit Ricci, Wendy Mukherjee, Mulaika Hijjas, Faried F. Saenong, and Teren Sevea). An intriguing question arising from these chapters is the degree of influence of the Persianate world of Iran and India on Southeast Asian literatures, while it is also made evident that this impact cannot be equated automatically with Shi`ite influence. Part three, called “Modalities of `Alid Piety and Cultural Expressions in the Modern Period,” contains five contributions (by Ismail Fajrie Alatas, Daniel Andrew Birchok, Feener, Jan ven der Putten, and E. P. Wieringa) that highlight particular cultural and folkloristic practices with a Shi`ite ring, like `Ashura’ celebrations in which the death of Husayn is commemorated. These and other practices were brought to various parts of Southeast Asia by South Indian Muslims who had migrated to this part of the world. The two contributions (by Umar Faruk Assegaf and Formichi) in part four, “Contemporary Developments,” deal with Indonesia in the period from the 1960s onwards. Political, social, and philosophical ideas from Iranian Shi`ite thinkers were introduced and accepted by Indonesians, who sometimes formally converted to Shi`ism, while after the 1979 Iranian Revolution Shi`ite organizations were established.

In reading this book, it is clear that there are hardly any institutional manifestations of Shi`ism to be found in Southeast Asia before the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Only one example is provided in the book, namely the fact that the formal head of Islam in Thailand, the chularajmontri, was before 1945 always a Shi`ite (see the chapter by Marcinkowski). In line with this, the editors and all but one of the contributors reject the idea of a Shi`ite past in Southeast Asia and understand the data in their respective contributions as manifestations of a general Muslim `Alid piety, and not as a testimony to a disappeared Shi`ite past. Such an understanding transcends the current sectarian and polemical antagonism between Shi`ism and Sunnism, which gained momentum during the last decades due to developments in the Middle East following the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

This is a richly documented and well-researched collection of articles, and the only critical remark that can be made is that the main title of the book is rather misleading, because the major part of the book is not about Shi`ism in Southeast Asia. Bearing this in mind, I can wholeheartedly recommend this fine book to anyone who is interested in Islamic devotion, in particular in Southeast Asia.