Dr Alexander Wain
Academic Editor (Islam)
Biography
Alexander (Amin) Wain joined the School of Divinity in 2021. A specialist in the eastern Islamic world, his interests lie primarily in the theological, historical, and literary traditions of the Malay Muslim world (modern-day Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore), with an ancillary focus on China’s hui-hui Muslim ethnic grouping. After obtaining his DPhil in Theology from the University of Oxford in 2015 with a thesis focused on the role Sino-Muslims played in the conversion of Maritime Southeast Asia to Islam between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, Alexander joined the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) in Kuala Lumpur, where he stayed as a Research Fellow for six years. In addition to his work on the St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology, he is currently engaged in a major research project exploring and re-evaluating the early history and Muslim culture of Melaka, Southeast Asia’s first great sultanate. A practicing Muslim, he has been involved in numerous community outreach programmes, both in the UK and Malaysia.
Selected publications
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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
Wain, A., 31 Dec 2022, In: Islamic Studies. 61, 4, p. 367-383 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Southeast Asia
Wain, A., 12 Jan 2021, Oxford handbook of Islamic archaeology. Walker, B., Insoll, T. & Fenwick, C. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 595-627 33 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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The Kubrawī and early Javanese Islam: re-assessing the significance of a sixteenth-century Kubrawī Silsila in the Sejarah Banten Ranté-Ranté
Wain, A., 3 Feb 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Indonesia and the Malay World. 49, 143, p. 42-62 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
The politicisation of Islam in Malaysia and its opponents
Wain, A., 30 Jun 2021, In: Islam and Civilisational Renewal. 12, 1, p. 27-52 25 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
The word ‘lebai’ and its ethnic origins: reassessing an early designation for Muslim religious officials in the Malay world
Wain, A., 19 Aug 2021, In: Studia Islamika. 28, 2, p. 253-281 28 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
The civilisational and cultural heritage of Iran and the Malay World: a cultural discourse
Wain, A., 30 Dec 2020, In: Islam and Civilisational Renewal. 11, 2, p. 363-367 4 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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The conversion of the Kingdom of Pasai, Indonesia
Wain, A., 2020, Conversion to Islam in the premodern age: a sourcebook. Hurvitz, N., Sahner, C. C., Simonsohn, U. & Yarbrough, L. (eds.). Oakland: University of California Press, p. 306-312 6 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Review of Hamka and Islam: Cosmopolitan Reform in the Malay World, by Khairudin Aljunied, Cornell University Press
Wain, A., 2019, In: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 92, 1, p. 129-132 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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Review of A History of Islam in Indonesia: Unity in Diversity, by Carool Kersten, Edinburgh University Press
Wain, A., 2018, In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde . 174, 4, p. 498-501 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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Review of Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab, by Kristian Petersen, Oxford University Press
Wain, A., 2018, In: ReOrient: Journal of Critical Muslim Studies. 4, 1, p. 107-111 4 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review