Robert Rozehnal is Associate Professor in the Department of Religion Studies and the founding director of the Center for Global Islamic Studies at Lehigh University, USA. He is the co-chair of the Islamic Mysticism program unit at the American Academy of Religion, and author of Islamic Sufism Unbound: Politics and Piety in 21st Century Pakistan (2007) and Cyber Sufis: Virtual Expressions of the American Muslim Experience (forthcoming).

• ContributorsList of figuresIntroduction, Beautiful Behavior in Practice: Expressions of Adab in Southeast Asian Islam, Robert Rozehnal (Lehigh University, USA)Part One: Texts and Contexts1. The Interplay Between Adab and Local Ethics and Etiquette in Indonesian and Malaysian Literature, Muhammad Ali (University of California, Riverside, USA)2. "Young People are Seeking their Blessings": Islamic Life Courses, Explorative Authority, and the Possibilities of Worldly Adab in Rural Aceh, Daniel Andrew Birchok (University of Michigan-Flint, USA)Part Two: Politics and Law3. Adab and the Culture of Political Culture, Thomas Pepinsky (Cornell University, USA)4. Sharia, Adab and the Malaysian State, Timothy P. Daniels (Hofstra University, USA)Part Three: Piety and Authority5. Women's Adab in the Pesantren: Gendering Virtues and Contesting Normative Behaviors, Nelly van Doorn-Harder (Wake Forest University, USA)6. Politicians, Pop Preachers, and Public Scandal: A Personal Politics of Adab, James B. Hoesterey (Emory University, USA)Part Four: Performance and Experience7. Adab and Embodiment in the Process of Performance: Islamic Musical Arts in Indonesia, Anne K. Rasmussen (College of William and Mary, USA)8. Smoke, Fire and Rain in Muslim Southeast Asia: Environmental Ethics in the Time of Burning, Anna M. Gade (University of Wisconsin, USA)Index

The importance of this book is twofold: it is both a scholarly and a moral endeavor. The contributors assert an important interpretation of the Islamic world of Southeast Asia, yet also suggest the possibility for a shift in the Western perspective of Islam more generally. This book creatively lays the groundwork for what must become a fresh beginning in Islamic studies