This study aims to examine the history of religious imagination and contestation
in Nusantara. It will trace the issue of transformation of Islamic thought as
religious imagination from Middle East to the region by looking at the network of
Muslim scholars, the development of institution, and the distribution of religious
ideas in kitabs. I will utilize socio-historical approach as means to understanding
the early development of Islamic intellectual. It is said that Aceh as the first place
of Islamization process in Nusantara. It can be seen from the early historical facts
such as Kingdoms of Peureulak, role of „ulama of Pasai, and institution of dayah
as place of reproduction of „ulama in the region. It is argued that there have been
many of anthropological and archaeological evidences that had influenced the
early reproduction of Islamic thought in Southeast Asia. In addition, this study
will also examine the current potrait of contestation among Muslim in political
landscape in the country. It indicates that the identity of Muslim has to do with
the roots of historical narrative in the Nusantara.