Malay people: Encyclopedia II - Malay people - Religion

Malay people - Religion

In terms of religion, most Malays had converted from Hinduism, Buddhism and animism to Islam in the early 15th century; influenced surprisingly, by Chinese seafarers from China who already had more than 700 years of interaction with Muslims from Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age. Today, Muslim Malays form the dominant religious group in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Their conversion to Islam from Hinduism and Theravada Buddhism began in the 1400s, largely influenced by the decision of the royal court of Malacca. Most Malays in Singapore, Thailand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Surinam are also Muslims.

Golden images of Garuda, the phoenix who is the mount of Vishnu have been found in the Philippine island of Palawan. A 4 lb., 1 foot-high, gold Hindu-Malayan idol of a goddess, now resting in the Field Museum, was discovered in the Philippine island of Mindanao, in 1917. However Islam forbids images and idols, which indicates clearly that this idol existed in Mindanao before the arrival of Islam. Many Malays in Mindanao were also Muslim, but are recounted to have been the 23rd and last group in the waves of migration, to have arrived in the Philippines from the south.

In the Philippines, as a result of Spanish colonization spanning just over three centuries, Islam is not predominant, and most contemporary Filipinos (regardless of which Malay sub-group they belong to) are Christians, primarily Roman Catholics. However, a majority of Filipinos in the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu chain - that had resisted Spanish colonial encroachment, and still continue struggle against modern Filipino government assimilation policies - are to this day mostly Muslim.

Like most Malays of the Philippines, those of East Timor are also Christian, though this time as a result of Portuguese colonial rule. These two countries, along with South Korea, whose largest religious group is Presbyterian Protestantism, represent the only Christian-majority nations in Far East Asia.

Hinduism is the dominant religion in the island of Bali. Smaller groups scattered throughout the entire Malay archipelago, who managed to avoid first the spread of Islam then the rise of Christianity through European colonization, practice animism. Buddhism is also present.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Religion", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki