Buddhist-Muslim Relations in a Theravada World

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

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2. An Introduction: Buddhist–Muslim Relations in a Theravada World

   • Iselin Frydenlund, Michael Jerryson

   Pages 1-21

3. Historical Country Overviews

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23

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   2. Historical Threads of Buddhist–Muslim Relations in Sri Lanka

      • Rohan Bastin, Premakumara de Silva

      Pages 25-62

   3. Buddhist–Muslim Interactions in Burma/Myanmar

      • Matthew J. Walton

      Pages 63-99

   4. Buddhist–Muslim Dynamics in Siam/Thailand

      • Raymond Scupin, Christopher M. Joll

      Pages 101-135

4. Case Studies: Particular Moments of Interaction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 137-137

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   2. Sri Lanka’s Anti-Muslim Movement and Muslim Responses: How Were They Gendered?

      • Farzana Haniffa

      Pages 139-167

   3. A Corpse Necessitates Disentangled Relationships: Boundary Transgression and Boundary-Making in a Buddhist-Muslim Village in Southern Thailand

      • Ryoko Nishii

      Pages 169-195

   4. The Role of Myth in Anti-Muslim Buddhist Nationalism in Myanmar

      • Nyi Nyi Kyaw

      Pages 197-226

   5. Arakanese Chittagong Became Mughal Islamabad: Buddhist–Muslim Relationship in Chittagong (Chottrogram), Bangladesh

      • D. Mitra Barua

      Pages 227-260

5. Concluding Thoughts

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 261-261

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   2. Buddhists, Muslims and the Construction of Difference

      • Michael Jerryson, Iselin Frydenlund

      Pages 263-297

6. Back Matter

   Pages 299-311

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This book is the first to critically analyze Buddhist-Muslim relations in Theravada Buddhist majority states in South and Southeast Asia. Asia is home to the largest population of Buddhists and Muslims. In recent years, this interfaith communal living has incurred conflicts, such as the ethnic-religious conflicts in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Experts from around the world collaborate to provide a comprehensive look into religious pluralism and religious violence. 
 
The book is divided into two sections. The first section provides historical  background to the three countries with the largest Buddhist-Muslim relations. The second section has chapters that focus on specific encounters between Buddhists and Muslims, which includes anti-Buddhist sentiments in Bangladesh, the role of gender in Muslim-Buddhist relations and the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya sentiments in Myanmar.
 
By exploring historical fluctuations over time—paying particular attention to how state-formations condition Muslim-Buddhist entanglements—the book shows the processual and relational aspects of religious identity constructions and Buddhist-Muslim interactions in Theravada Buddhist majority states. 

• Buddhist-Muslim relations in Thailand
• Buddhist-Muslim relations in Sri Lanka
• Buddhist-Muslim relations in Myanmar
• Buddhist-Muslim relations in Bangladesh
• Pre-modern and pre-colonial policies of religion
• Colonial classification of religion
• Buddhist constitutionalism
• Buddhism and politics
• Buddhism and violence
• Buddhist nationalisms
• Buddhist majorities and non-Buddhist minorities
• Muslim minorities in Asia
• Buddhist-Muslim relations and trade relations
• Buddhist-Muslim relations and economic relations
• Inter-religious encounters in Asia
• The insurgency in Southern Thailand
• The Rohingya crisis
• Religion, transnationalism and social media
• Anti-Muslim sentiments and practices
• Islamophobia in Asia

“Iselin Frydenlund and Michael Jerryson’s edited volume is an important contribution to the scholarship on Buddhist-Muslim relations in South and Southeast Asia. … this volume is an excellent collection of scholarly studies of Buddhist-Muslim encounters collectively providing a regional perspective as well as historical and ethnographic perspectives exhibiting the complexities in these relations, and depicting periods of peaceful co-existence and those of conflict. … This book constitutes an important and timely contribution.” (Niklas Foxeus, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 89 (2), June, 2021)

• MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo, Norway

  Iselin Frydenlund

• Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, USA

  Michael Jerryson

Iselin Frydenlund is Professor of Religious Studies and Director of MF CASR at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society. She is a specialist of religion and conflict in South and Southeast Asia and has published extensively on issues relating to Buddhism, politics, nationalism and violence in the contemporary period. 


Michael Jerryson is a Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at Youngstown State University, USA. He is the Director of the James Dale Ethics Center. Jerryson has authored or edited numerous books and articles. His recent monograph is If You Meet the Buddha: Buddhism, Politics, and Violence (2018). 

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