The history of Islam in Indonesia is complex and reflects the diversity of Indonesian cultures.[21] There is evidence of Arab Muslim traders entering Indonesia as early as the 8th century.[22] By the 15th century, the spread of the religion accelerated via the missionary work of Maulana Malik Ibrahim (also known as Sunan Gresik, originally from Samarkand) in Sumatra and Java as well as Admiral Zheng He (also known as Cheng Ho, from China) in north Java. Islam in Indonesia is in many cases less meticulously practised in comparison to Islam in the Middle East region.[23] Majority of Indonesian Muslims practice Sunni Islam of Shafi school of jurisprudence.[10]
After the resignation of Suharto, political parties were again permitted to declare an ideology other than Pancasila. Several Muslim parties formed with Shariah as their ideology and the Crescent Star Party came in 6th place in the Indonesian legislative election, 1999. However, in the Indonesian legislative election, 2009, the Crescent Star Party ranked only 10th, while parties characterised by moderate and tolerant Islamic interpretations had more significant success, such as the Prosperous Justice Party coming in 4th with nearly 8% of total votes cast.