Vivid and disturbing images of women and children dying in Syria, Yemen and Palestine were flashing across the digital media as this book was being written. The popular press around the world condemned such atrocities as acts of war against humanity. As all eyes are riveted to the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, questions are now being asked about the possibility that other parts of the Muslim World, including Southeast Asia, might soon descend into chaos. Tales of fanatical Muslims inspired by their Arab brethren and bent upon overthrowing secular regimes abound in journals and books. The image of religion trying to tear the region apart seems more real than ever before. Seeming to lend credence, yet again, to Samuel Huntington's thesis on the imminent ‘clash of civilizations’, such prognoses paint a dark picture of the future of Muslim Southeast Asia. Predictions about religious groups losing control over their own kind are used by states to justify interference in all aspects of the religious and cultural lives of Muslims.

However, the experiences on the ground are different from the imaginations of promoters of the ‘terrorism industry’. As I have shown in this book, Muslim cosmopolitanism has provided Southeast Asians with the vision and vocabulary to come together, rather than to become increasingly divided, in the age of the networked society. Muslim cosmopolitanism has thrived in numerous places. In markets across Muslim Southeast Asia, people have traded with one another regardless of their backgrounds. The organization of these markets, coupled with the presence of multicultural populations that have resulted from a long history of travel and migration, made contact between locals and foreigners, men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims all possible without inhibition.

If markets planted the seeds of Muslim cosmopolitanism, mosques further enlivened it. Incorporating styles and forms drawn from different traditions and influences, mosques in Muslim Southeast Asia mirrored the cosmopolitan outlook and temperaments of society at large. Many of these mosques were built close to temples and churches. Mosques have, therefore, functioned not just as sanctuaries for the devoted, but also as bridges for believers from diverse faiths to share their unique worldviews, and as platforms where women can pursue their religious goals.