How did Islam spread to Southeast Asia?

Islam was first introduced to Southeast Asia between the 7th and 8th centuries. Starting from the Ottoman era, the third orthodox caliph, through the Umayyad era and the Abbasid era, successive caliphate countries have established trade relations with China. The Strait of Malacca is a place where merchant ships from the east and west pass, and ships stop at various ports along the coast in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. It is common to dock at the shore, replenish food and fresh water, and wait for the arrival of the monsoon. Later, for the convenience of commerce, some Muslims settled in coastal ports, married local women, and built small-scale mosques, gradually forming early Muslim communities.

By the beginning of the 13th century, Islam had spread widely in the northwest and northern coastal areas of Sumatra.

With the development of commerce and the increasing prosperity of coastal commercial cities, Islamic countries with a wider territory began to appear. Since then, through business, intermarriage, immigration, missionary work, etc., Islam has gradually penetrated into the central and southern regions, and eventually became the main religion in the region.

Beginning in the 14th century, Islam spread on a large scale in the Malay Peninsula. Soon, the maritime power of Malacca emerged and controlled the trade in the Strait of Malacca. In the mid-15th century, the Kingdom of Malacca conquered areas on both sides of the strait. By 1480, it controlled all densely populated areas in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula and the coastal areas of Sumatra. The feudal upper classes of Buddhism and Hinduism that originally ruled Malacca saw that the development of Islam was a major trend, so they converted to Islam one after another. At this point, the Malay Peninsula has basically achieved Islamization.

At the same time, Islam also spread to Java.

Today, residents of the Philippines and East Timor in Southeast Asian countries mainly believe in Catholicism. Since the Chinese are the majority in Singapore, they mainly believe in Buddhism and Christianity. Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand all use Buddhism as the main religion, and others They are all predominantly Muslim countries.

So it is not very accurate to say that Southeast Asia has been Islamized. The only Muslim countries in the region are Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. But because they are representatives of Southeast Asian countries, it is easy to give people an illusion.