Encyclopedia of Islam

Dara Shikoh

  

183  J

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Further reading: Muhammad Dara Shikuh, Majmaa 

al-bahrayn, or The Mingling of the Two Oceans. Edited 

and translated by M. Mahfouz ul-Haq (Calcutta: Asiatic 

Society, 1929); John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire

(New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 1993); Saiyid 

Athar Abbas Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India, 2 vols. 

(Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1983).

Dar ul-Arqam

 

(Arabic: House of Arqam)

The Dar ul-Arqam is the most influential and 

popular Islamic renewal movement to have 

originated in Southeast Asia. It was founded in 

m

alaysia

 in 1968 by Shaykh Ashaari Muhammad 

at-Tamimi (b. 1938), a member of the Awrad 

Muhammadiyya Sufi Order based in m

ecca

. Dar 

ul-Arqam took its name from al-Arqam ibn Abi 

al-Arqam, one of the c

ompanions

 

oF

 

the

 p

rophet

who gave refuge to m

Uhammad

 in his home. A 

number of early conversions to Islam took place 

there. The Dar ul-Arqam movement began in the 

Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, where mem-

bers used a home to conduct grassroot religious 

education classes. Shaykh Ashaari encouraged 

his followers to study the q

Uran

 and Islamic 

teaching to make religion part of their everyday 

lives. The focus of his movement was on individ-

ual self-improvement in conformity with Islamic 

values, not on trying to seize political power 

and impose Islamic religious law. The movement 

grew to a membership of about 10,000 in the 

1980s, with up to 100,000 supporters. This was 

the outcome of an effective missionary (

daawa

) 

program involving public lectures, print and 

visual media, and even concerts. Dar ul-Arqam 

opened villages and schools throughout Malay-

sia, as well as branches elsewhere in Southeast 

Asia and in countries as far away as China, Aus-

tralia, and the United States. It also had branches 

in the Middle East. Aside from its active outreach 

program, it successfully invested its resources 

in agricultural and commercial projects geared 

toward the emerging capitalist economy. The 

creation of the Al Arqam Group of Companies, 

composed of more than 400 businesses, was 

announced in 1993.

Dar ul-Arqam’s extraordinary successes in the 

worlds of religion and business had serious politi-

cal repercussions. Its increased influence among 

wealthy and powerful members of Malaysian society 

caused the government of Prime Minister Mahatir 

(r. 1981–98) to take measures against it. In 1994, it 

was deemed to be a “deviant cult” by the National 

Fatwa Council, the Islamic arm of the state. Shaykh 

Ashaari, who was accused of claiming to have 

had direct contact with God and the Prophet, was 

arrested and held without trial. After a televised 

confession broadcast from the National Mosque, he 

was released from prison and placed under house 

arrest for 10 years. The movement was officially 

disbanded in 1994, but it was allowed to reconsti-

tute itself as a multinational business called Rufaqa 

Corporation, for which an ailing Shaykh Ashaari 

has served as the chief executive officer. Early in 

2005, he published a book, Civilizational Islam, in 

which he expressed his support for Malaysia’s new 

prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

See also 

FatWa

; 

reneWal

 

and

 

reForm

 

move

-

ments

; s

UFism

.