Islam Translated

Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia

Ronit Ricci

The spread of Islam eastward into South and Southeast Asia was one of the most significant cultural shifts in world history. As it expanded into these regions, Islam was received by cultures vastly different from those in the Middle East, incorporating them into a diverse global community that stretched from India to the Philippines.

In "Islam Translated", Ronit Ricci uses the "Book of One Thousand Questions" – from its Arabic original to its adaptations into the Javanese, Malay, and Tamil languages between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries – as a means to consider connections that linked Muslims across divides of distance and culture. Examining the circulation of this Islamic text and its varied literary forms, Ricci explores how processes of literary translation and religious conversion were historically interconnected forms of globalization, mutually dependent, and creatively reformulated within societies making the transition to Islam".Islam Translated" will contribute to our knowledge of this region of the Muslim world that remains crucially important to world affairs.

About the Author

Ronit Ricci is associate professor in the School of Culture, History, and Language at the Australian National University.

Reviews

"Ronit Ricci has succeeded in writing a book that combines scrupulous examination of textual shifts, concepts, imagery, and genre with a tremendously persuasive argument and a stimulating reading of the differences in translation process between languages and cultures. This book helps us to understand the differing ways in which Arabic and Arabic writings moved into other literatures and takes readers through a rich and detailed journey of imagery and language. This is a fascinating book that will appeal widely to anyone concerned with translation in its historical and cultural contexts" – Michael C. Gilsenan, New York University

"This is a trail-blazing study about the dynamics of writing within the Arabic cosmopolis around the Indian Ocean, a topic that awaits further explorations. Ronit Ricci's tantalizing close readings of particular versions of the 'Book of One Thousand Questions' show an impressive knowledge and again and again open up to new views. Islam Translated breathes enthusiasm and pleasure" – Hendrik Maier, University of California, Riverside

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