Alexander Wain

University of Edinburgh, School of Divinity, Religious Studies, Faculty Member

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Alexander Wain is a specialist in the history, archaeology and literature of the Malay World. He obtained his DPhil/PhD from the University of Oxford in 2015 with a thesis focused on the possible role Sino-Muslims played in the conversion of the Nusantara (Maritime Southeast Asia) to Islam between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. He is currently engaged in a major research project exploring and re-evaluating Melaka’s early Islamic history, including the circumstances surrounding the kingdom’s conversion.
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Alexander Wain merupakan seorang pakar sejarah, arkaeologi dan sastera Alam Melayu. Beliau menerima ijazah Doktor Falsafahnya dari Universiti Oxford pada tahun 2015. Tesis kajian beliau berfokus ke atas peranan orang Islam Cina dalam penyebaran agama Islam di Nusantara antara abad tiga-belas dan enam-belas. Pada masa ini, beliau sedang menjalankan projek penyelidikan dalam meneliti dan menilai semula sejarah Islam awal Melaka, termasuk bagaimana dan bila kerajaan tersebut memeluk Islam.

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Books by Alexander Wain

The Architects of Islamic Civilisation

Petaling Jaya: Pelanduk Publications, 2018

Over nearly 1,500 years of history, Islam has produced extraordinary intellectual innovation, cha... more Over nearly 1,500 years of history, Islam has produced extraordinary intellectual innovation, characterised by limitless curiosity and creativity. It has inspired profound theological and philosophical debate, a rich artistic legacy, and great scientific discoveries. 'The Architects of Islamic Civilisation' provides readers with a concise yet detailed range of essays sketching the life, thought and significance of forty-three prominent Muslim thinkers responsible for producing this rich tradition, individuals from as far afield as North Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and China. Stretching from the time of the Prophet down to the late twentieth century, this book outlines the intellectual foundations of Islam, its multifaceted development through its classical period and, finally, its modern quest for reform and revival. Presenting a broad and inclusive range of Muslim thinkers, 'The Architects of Islamic Civilisation' will be of interest to both general readers and students alike.

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Papers by Alexander Wain

Traditional Malay Conversion Narratives, Sufi Hagiography and Persian Historiography: Crafting Political Legitimacy while 'centring the Periphery' in the Malay world

In Iran and Persianate Culture in the Indian Ocean World, ed. A. C. S. Peacock, 207-237. London: I. B. Tauris, 2025

Elaborate, semi-legendary conversion narratives prefaced by dynastic foundation myths constitute ... more Elaborate, semi-legendary conversion narratives prefaced by dynastic foundation myths constitute a central leitmotif within early Malay court chronicles, archetypically involving liminal dreams (usually of the Prophet Muhammad), miraculous occurrences, the arrival of (often Arab) holy men from the west, the adoption of Arabic titulature, and the rapid conversion of a kingdom’s entire population. While modern scholarship generally reads such narratives as mythologised history, as distorted factual accounts whose historicity must be reconstructed via the removal of pious accretions, this chapter argues that such religious embellishments are, in fact, essential to a correct understanding of those narratives. Rather than straightforward history, Malay conversion narratives represent pre-modern attempts at political legitimation and identity construction, being designed to craft an Islamised sense of self within communities situated at the edge of the Islamic world. In particular, this chapter argues that dreams and visions represent pivotal ‘revelatory’ moments that, while embodying a complex oneirology drawn from Sufi hagiography, act to convey a uniquely compelling form of religious authority akin to prophecy, transforming individual Malay rajas into Ibn al-ʿArabi’s Perfect Man, the embodiment of spiritual perfection, as a means of imparting political legitimacy. Prefacing foundation myths, on the other hand, constitute Islamised retellings of traditional narratives designed to project localised, sacral forms of identity. Such retellings imitate comparable legitimising strategies found within early Persian Muslim dynastic histories that, like their Malay counterparts, re-purposed pre-Islamic mythologies as innovative, carefully negotiated statements of non-Arab Muslim selfhood. The figure of the wandering ‘Alid holy man frequently encountered within Malay conversion narratives similarly finds parallel within early Persian dynastic histories, being used across both settings to ‘centre’ local communities relative to a perceived Arab heartland.

format_quoteMalay conversion narratives share common literary 'topoi', such as dreams and miraculous events, shaping ruler conversions.format_quote

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Dua Kronik Tionghoa dari Semarang dan Cirebon: Suatu Catatan tentang Asal Usul dan Kehandalan

Jurnal Identitas 5, no. 1 (2025): 1-27

Artikel ini merupakan evaluasi komprehensif pertama mengenai asal-usul dan reliabilitas dua teks ... more Artikel ini merupakan evaluasi komprehensif pertama mengenai asal-usul dan reliabilitas dua teks enigmatis Kronik Tionghua dari Semarang dan Cirebon (dikenal sebagai “Sejarah Melayu Semarang dan Cerbon”). Kedua teks ini awalnya diterbitkan oleh M.O. Parlindungan pada tahun 1964, dan dalam beberapa dekade terakhir sejarawan semakin sering menggunakannya untuk merekonstruksi sejarah awal Islam di Jawa. Artikel ini merupakan upaya yang telah lama ditunggutunggu untuk secara positif mengidentifikasi pejabat kolonial Belanda (Cornelis Poortman) yang diklaim oleh Parlindungan sebagai orang yang menyerahkan teksteks tersebut kepadanya. Meskipun artikel ini menunjukkan bahwa Parlindungan hampir pasti mengenal individu tersebut, sejumlah perbedaan antara versi riwayat karier Poortman menurut Parlindungan dan catatan resmi pemerintah kolonial Belanda menimbulkan pertanyaan mengenai apakah Poortman benar-benar menemukan kedua Kronik Tionghoa, setidaknya dengan cara yang digambarkan. Artikel ini kemudian diakhiri dengan analisis tekstual mendalam terhadap kedua Kronik Tionghua, yang menunjukkan kemungkinan bahwa kedua teks tersebut
ditulis oleh seorang penulis modern berpendidikan Belanda. Dengan demikian, artikel ini menyimpulkan bahwa kedua teks tersebut kemungkinan besar merupakan fabrikasi, meskipun tampaknya didasarkan pada sumber-sumber otentik.

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Adat Perpatih in Malaysia: Nature, History, Practice, and Contemporary Issues

by Alexander Wain and Norliza Saleh

In Matrilineal, Matriarchal, and Matrifocal Islam, ed. A. Panakkal and N. M. Arif, 43-75. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024

This chapter explores the evolution of adat perpatih, the traditional matrilineal system found pr... more This chapter explores the evolution of adat perpatih, the traditional matrilineal system found primarily across Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. A complex social and legal system with its origins in the Minangkabau highlands of Sumatra, Indonesia, adat perpatih first began to evolve over the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, combining with pre-existing customs and recently introduced Islamic practices to form a unique Muslim matrilineal tradition. This chapter begins by briefly outlining the nature and history of adat perpatih, before proceeding to consider how that system approaches issues of community leadership, marriage, and property ownership (including inheritance). Drawing particular attention to how adat perpatih both converges and diverges with Islamic orthopraxis, the chapter argues that, regardless of any superficial differences, the core of each tradition shares the same desire to protect the status of women as mothers of society. Finally, the chapter considers adat perpatih’s decline from the mid-nineteenth century onwards as societal changes linked to colonialism began to manifest across Southeast Asia.

format_quoteIn adat perpatih, exogamy is mandated to prevent inter-clan marriages, contrasting with Islamic practices that allow such unions.format_quote

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Malevolent Spirits, Noxious Vapours, and the Will of God: Islamic Theology and the Explanation for Disease Transmission, from North Africa to Southeast Asia

Islamic Studies 64, no. 4 (2022): 367-383

This article describes Islam's theological approach towards disease transmission. Modern commenta... more This article describes Islam's theological approach towards disease transmission. Modern commentators, including many conservative Muslims, argue that Islam is theologically predisposed to deny disease transmission, particularly in the context of the plague, instead framing illness as non-communicable. Whether an individual contracts a disease, they claim, is a consequence of Divine Will, as the originator of that disease in the first place. No room exists for lesser causative factors, like contagion. However, a review of Islamic scripture and the pre-and early modern Muslim responses to it across regions as diverse as North Africa and Southeast Asia reveals a far richer and more complex understanding. While several hadiths do ostensibly deny contagion, Muslim jurists and medical practitioners have, far from reading these as denials of disease transmission in all its forms, positioned such statements alongside other ad ths acknowledging the reality of that phenomenon. Utilizing the theological principle of secondary causation, they have imparted congruence to these statements, creating a theological space in which disease can be passed from one host to another without compromising the integrity of the Divine Will. The recent COVID-19 pandemic foregrounds the importance of rediscovering and re-emphasizing these interpretations, especially as small yet persistent groups of Muslims refuse vaccination in the belief that God alone can protect them from illness. Such views arguably misunderstand Islamic teachings.

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The Word "Lebai" and Its Ethnic Origins: Reassessing an Early Designation for Muslim Religious Officials in the Malay World

Studia Islamika 28, no. 2 (2021): 253-281

This article proposes a new etymon for the Malay word lebai (minor religious official/scholar), n... more This article proposes a new etymon for the Malay word lebai (minor religious official/scholar), namely the Sino-Muslim term libai (禮拜, worship or religious service conducted in a mosque). Scholars have traditionally argued that lebai, a loanword introduced during the early stages of Islamization, derives from the Tamil leppai (or lebbai), likewise signifying (amongst other things) a minor religious official/scholar. On this basis, it has been argued that Tamil Muslims acted as Southeast Asia’s earliest Islamic officials. This article critically re-assesses the evidence underlying this attribution. By tracing the earliest known Malay usage of lebai to Java - where it emerged alongside Sino-Muslim influences associated with Cirebon, Gresik and Demak - the etymon libai is proposed: since the Song dynasty (960-1279), Sino-Muslims have used the noun libai as a designate for religious affairs (particularly prayers) conducted in a mosque. We suggest that lebai originates with this term, making it indicative of Sino-Muslim influence during Java’s Islamization.

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