"Translation is, in itself, a form of conversion." The coming of Islam to South Asia and Southeast Asia has long held the interest of scholars of religion, history and culture around the world. There is an impressive body of work on the Islamisation of these regions, studying its routes and the roles played by traders, missionaries, Sufi brotherhoods and diplomatic emissaries. Lesser known, perhaps, is the role of literary activity such as composing, translating and the public reading of texts, in the spread of Islam in these regions. The award-winning1 Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia by Ronit Ricci sets out to investigate how literary texts, their production and translation contributed to Islamisation in South India, Java and the Malay world. The writing of literature and their translation into vernacular languages, Ricci proposes, are intertwined with the conversion to Islam of people and cultures in these regions. The text at the centre of Ricci's study is the Book of One Thousand Questions, which was translated into multiple languages from the original Arabic, including Tamil, Javanese and Malay. To understand the significance of this text and its correlation with the themes explored in Ricci's book, it is necessary to provide a brief summary of the Book of One Thousand Questions and how it came to South and Southeast Asia.

“Penerjemahan itu sendiri merupakan suatu bentuk pertobatan.” Masuknya Islam ke Asia Selatan dan Asia Tenggara telah lama menarik perhatian para sarjana agama, sejarah dan budaya di seluruh dunia. Ada banyak penelitian yang dilakukan mengenai Islamisasi di wilayah ini, mempelajari rute-rutenya dan peran yang dimainkan oleh para pedagang, misionaris, persaudaraan sufi, dan utusan diplomatik. Mungkin yang kurang diketahui adalah peran aktivitas sastra seperti mengarang, menerjemahkan, dan membacakan teks di depan umum, dalam penyebaran Islam di wilayah ini. Buku yang meraih penghargaan1 Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arab Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia karya Ronit Ricci berupaya menyelidiki bagaimana teks-teks sastra, produksi dan terjemahannya berkontribusi terhadap Islamisasi di India Selatan, Jawa, dan dunia Melayu. Penulisan karya sastra dan penerjemahannya ke dalam bahasa daerah, menurut Ricci, berkaitan dengan masuknya masyarakat dan budaya ke Islam di wilayah tersebut. Teks yang menjadi pusat kajian Ricci adalah Buku Seribu Pertanyaan, yang diterjemahkan ke berbagai bahasa dari bahasa Arab asli, termasuk Tamil, Jawa, dan Melayu. Untuk memahami pentingnya teks ini dan korelasinya dengan tema-tema yang dieksplorasi dalam buku Ricci, perlu diberikan ringkasan singkat tentang Buku Seribu Pertanyaan dan bagaimana buku itu sampai ke Asia Selatan dan Tenggara.