Nurcholish Madjid (March 17, 1939 – August 29, 2005), in Indonesia affectionately known as Cak Nur, was a prominent

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

intellectual. Early in his academic career, Nurcholish was a leader in various student organizations. He soon became well known as a proponent for modernization within

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. Throughout his career he continued to argue that for Islam to be victorious in the global struggle of ideas, it needs to embrace the concepts of tolerance,

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

and pluralism.

Biography

Born in Jombang,

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

, Madjid received his early education in religious institutions in Indonesia, so called '' pesantren''. He later received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

Islamic Studies Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he studied under the noted Pakistani-American scholar, Fazlur Rahman. In 2003 he participated in Indonesia's national elections as a candidate for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. He served as Rector of Paramadina University in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

from 1998 up until his death. Madjid was married and had two children. In the 1970s, Cak Nur coined the slogan: ' Islam Yes, Islamic Party No', which became very popular. The slogan helped combat the view that it was sinful for Muslims to vote against Islamic parties.Inter Press Service "POLITICS-INDONESIA: Islamic Parties Woo Votes, But Chances Poor" 30 March 2004
/ref> The two most successful Muslim parties in Indonesia's 2004 general elections, the moderate National Awakening and United Development Parties, received 10.6% and 8.1% of the vote, respectively.

Publications

*“The Issue of Modernization among Muslims in Indonesia: A Participant’s Point of View”, in: Gloria Davies, ed. ''What is Modern in Indonesian Culture'', Athens, Ohio, Ohio University, 1978 *Islam in Indonesia: Challenges and Opportunities, in: Cyriac K. Pullapilly, ed., ''Islam in the Modern World'', Bloomington, Indiana: Crossroads, 1982 *“The Necessity of Renewing Islamic Thought and Reinvigorating Religious Understanding”, in:

Charles Kurzman Charles Kurzman is a Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in Middle East and Islamic studies. Education and employment After completing his B.A. at Harvard University in 1986, he completed his M.A. ...

, ed. ''Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1988 *“In Search of Islamic Roots for Modern Pluralism: The Indonesian Experiences” in: Mark Woodward ed, ''Towards a New Paradigm, Recent Developments in Indonesian Islamic Thought'', Tempe, Arizona, Arizona State University, 1996

References

* Abdullah Saeed (1997) “Ijtihād and Innovation in Neo-Modernist Islamic Thought in Indonesia”, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1997, p. 279-295 * Greg Barton (1997) ''Indonesia's Nurcholish Madjid and Abdurrahman Wahid as intellectual Ulama: The meeting of Islamic traditionalism and modernism in neo‐modernist thought'', Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1997, p. 323-350. * Ensiklopedia Nurcholis Madjid,

Budhy Munawar-Rachman Budhy Munawar-Rachman (born 1963) is an Indonesian progressive Islamic scholar. He is a lecturer of Islamic studies at Paramadina University and an editor of Islamic journal ''Ulummul Qur'an''.Kersten, Carool. ''Islam in Indonesia the Contest f ...

, Feb 2007.

Notes

External links

Nurcholis Madjid and the Paramadina Foundation
pdf-file)
Universitas Paramadina

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madjid, Nurcholish 1939 births 2005 deaths People from Jombang Regency Javanese people University of Chicago alumni Indonesian Muslims 20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Indonesian Muslim scholars of Islam Muslim reformers fr:Madjid