A 60-year-old former leader of Islamic organisation Jamaat-e-Islami has been arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly promoting extremism in the country, police announced on Saturday.

Ex-Jamaat-e-Islami leader held in Sri Lanka for promoting Islamic extremism 

Sri Lankan authorities have arrested a Saudi-educated scholar for what they claim are links with Zahran Hashim, the suspected ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings, throwing a spotlight on the rising influence of Salafi-Wahhabi Islam on the island's Muslims.

Latest Sri Lanka arrest throws spotlight on Wahhabism in eastern hotbed

Nahdlatul Ulama, with 94 million members the world’s largest Sunni Muslim movement, is bent on reforming Islam. The powerful Indonesian conservative and nationalist group that operates madrassahs or religious seminaries across the archipelago has taken on the ambitious task of reintroducing ijtihad or legal interpretation to Islam as it stands to enhance its political clout with its spiritual leader, Maruf Amin, slated to become vice president as the running mate of incumbent President Joko Widodo in elections scheduled for next April.

Reforming the faith: Indonesia’s battle for the soul of Islam

Certain reports place their number at 200, making the Maldives the largest per capita contributor of foreign fighters to the Syrian jihad

Exclusive: From the white sand beaches to the arid Syrian desert, young Maldivians swell the ranks of Islamist terrorists

The Kingdom has increased its investments and is trying to turn the islands into a Wahhabi archipelago

Analysis: Religion and money fuel Saudi Arabia's influence in Maldives

His sincere and heartening political messaging can be meaningful, but it doesn't stand up to military contracts or Big Business

Canada's Justin Trudeau: Liberal signs and symbols

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