Abbas's Whose Islam? is a welcome contribution, analyzing Indonesian intellectuals’ attempts to reform Islam by applying new lenses to understand society's problems. The focus is refreshing, as it highlights North American universities’ role in positively shaping religious discourse in Indonesia, particularly from the 1960s up to the 1990s. Numerous works written by conservative Muslim scholars portray the West's dealings with Islam in Southeast Asia as corrupting it through promoting secularism, liberalism, and Westernization.
Whose Islam? begins by discussing several Indonesians who pursued their postgraduate degrees at McGill University and then at Chicago University, and how they placed themselves in key decision-making positions in the government and institutes of higher learning upon their return. The crux of Abbas's work underscores the role of “fusionist thinking” to reform Islam that amalgamates Western academic approaches, often regarded as scientific and objective, with Islamic studies, linked as subjective. The book analyses how some Western...
