After more than a decade of grappling with the idea of the clash of civilizations, many scholars have sought to stress the more peaceful relationships between people of different cultural backgrounds. Culture contacts did not always lead to conflict. On the contrary, most cultural exchanges have taken place away from political ambitions and jealousies. Most bearers of a culture carried their values with them to support their way of life in a foreign land and so that they could demonstrate why they deserved to be treated with respect even though they came from elsewhere. Occasionally, they were given the opportunity to teach the native people about their culture and sometimes their culture was found so appealing to the native people that they were ready to accept it as their own. Where there was active interest, the cultural ambassadors became missionaries and very likely some of their values would take root. The values could then blossom in fresh ways among those who came to admire them. This was especially true with the spread of a religion. The act of conversion may or may not occur with the help of missionary effort but, when it happens, it would have a transformative effect on the converted and even the community around them.

The spread of Buddhism and Islam eastwards, inland across Inner Asia to China and by sea (together with Hinduism) to Southeast Asia, reflects this phenomenon of cultural contact particularly well. Innumerable studies have shown how much of the impetus of this spread had come from traders, the exchange of diplomatic gifts as well as wars that stemmed from ambition and avarice. But the culture bearers preserved and transmitted what they brought with them despite the buying and selling, and the political and military games that the rich and powerful chose to play. That is not to say that conflicts did not produce opportunities for cultures to expand in influence. But the manifold ways that culture contact could lead to major changes in societies, and ultimately even in states and empires, deserve closer study to help us get away from any obsession with the efficacy of force and aggression. It is in that context that Tan Ta Sen has chosen to study Islam in Southeast Asia with reference to Yuan and Ming China.