Hamka and Islam: Cosmopolitan Reform in the Malay World

This work analyzes the ideas of a prominent twentieth century reformer, Haji Abdullah Malik Abdul Karim Amrullah, more commonly known as Hamka. It employs the term 'cosmopolitan reform' to describe Hamka's attempts at harmonizing the many streams of Islamic and Western thought and his diagnoses as well as solutions to the various challenges facing Muslims in the Malay world. Among the major themes explored in this text are questions concerning reason and revelation, moderation and extremism, social justice, the state of women in society, Sufism in the modern age as well as the importance of history in reforming the minds of modern Muslims. This text shows that Hamka demonstrated intellectual openness and inclusiveness towards a whole range of thoughts and philosophies to develop his own imaginary and vocabulary of reform.