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
malaysia in 1968 by Shaykh Ashaari Muhammad
at-Tamimi (b. 1938), a member of the Awrad
Muhammadiyya Sufi Order based in mecca. Dar
ul-Arqam took its name from al-Arqam ibn Abi
al-Arqam, one of the companions oF the prophet
who gave refuge to mUhammad 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 qUran 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 (d a awa)
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; sUFism.Further reading: Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, “Sufi
Undercurrents in Islamic Revivalism: Traditional, Post-
Traditional and Modern Images of Islamic Activism
in Malaysia.” Islamic Quarterly 45 (2001): 177–198;
25 Years of Darul Arqam: The Struggle of Abuya Syeikh
Imam Ashaari Muhammad at-Tamimi (Kuala Lumpur:
Penerbitan Abuya Dengan Izin Asoib International
Limited, 1993).darwish See dervish.
David (Arabic: Dawud, Daud) biblical king
of Israel and Judah who is revered by Muslims as a
prophet of God
David is known to the followers of all three Abra-
hamic religions. Modern scholars of the Bible esti-K 184 Dar ul-Arqam