Publication

This paper focuses on the networks of the Tablighi Jama'at Muslim missionary movement in western, central and eastern Java, excluding Madura and Bali. It begins with a historical overview of the arrival of the Tabligh to Java in the early 1950s. It then looks at the early modes of dissemination and network building, focusing in particular on the pivotal role played by the Indonesian-Indian-Muslim communities of the major trading cities of Java. The paper analyzes how the Tabligh spread across the vast island by working with and through the network of Indian-Muslim merchants who were already rooted there.