Acknowledgements
Many people have contributed to this study, and all of them would deserve to be mentioned here. Firstly, I would like to thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to study and for providing me with âscholarshipsâ during those periods of writing and researching when no others were to be had. Secondly, I want to thank my wife Christina and my children Jan, Ida, Mathilda and Alva, who accompanied me on some of my field trips, for their support, their patience and for just being there. Thirdly, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Rüdiger Lohlker as well as Prof. Stephan Procházka for their enduring support in academic affairs. Both Prof. Lohlker and Dr. Monika Fatima Mühlböck were instrumental in broadening my view of the Muslim world beyond the Middle East early on.
Apart from the Institute of Oriental Studies in Vienna, I benefitted greatly from my stays at other institutions, particularly the International Research Center Cultural Studies (IFK) in Vienna. Therefore, I want to express my gratitude to Prof. Helmut Lethen and the IFK, Prof. Rüdiger Korff and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Passau, and Prof. Shamsul A.B. and Prof. Ong Puay Liu at the Institute of Ethnic Studies of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Dr. Christian Cwik (Univ. of the West Indies) has probably been the single most important person in fostering my desire to engage in serious historical research resting on both archival and field work. As far as my entry into the Cambodian Muslim community is concerned, I profited immensely from the kindness and extensive contacts of Jay Willoughby (VirÂginia).
Needless to say, I am deeply thankful for the openness and support of all colleagues and especially all informants and interviewees in Cambodia, Malaysia and the usa: it is you who made much of this study possible. Likewise, the many invitations to family homes and to share food and roof together were greatly appreciated. During my last fieldtrip to Cambodia, Abdul Halim Ahmad and Tuon Him and their families were most forthcoming in this regard.