Indonesia’s foremost liberal Islamic thinker

JAKARTA – Nurcholis Madjid, Indonesia’s foremost liberal Muslim thinker, died last week Monday from liver cancer.

He was 66. Madjid, better known as Cak Nur, was a tireless advocate of pluralism and tolerance in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, which in recent years has struggled against an increasingly vocal hardline fringe.He was born in east Java to a preacher’s family in 1939 and spent most of his early years at Islamic boarding schools.In 1984, he received a doctorate from Chicago University in Islamic studies before returning home to teach at Indonesia’s Islamic Institute.Madjid taught a pluralistic and inclusive brand of Islam, emphasising its oneness with other faiths and its traditions of tolerance and diversity.”Cak Nur was the man that brought enlightenment to Islamic thought in Indonesia,” said Ulil Abshor Abdala, chairman of the Islamic Liberal Network, a non-governmental organisation in Indonesia that supports religious moderation.”He created a solid base” for religious harmony.While his liberal views were criticised by hardline Muslims, he was well respected by ordinary Indonesians, as well as members of the country’s intellectual, political and religious elite.Several political parties tried to court him as their presidential candidate in the 2004 elections.He initially said yes to Golkar, the former political vehicle of General Suharto, but pulled out after concluding that party remained as corrupt as was under the former dictator.He was diagnosed with liver cancer last year, and travelled to China and Singapore for treatment.He had been in intensive care in a Jakarta hospital for the past two weeks.- Nampa-APMadjid, better known as Cak Nur, was a tireless advocate of pluralism and tolerance in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, which in recent years has struggled against an increasingly vocal hardline fringe.He was born in east Java to a preacher’s family in 1939 and spent most of his early years at Islamic boarding schools.In 1984, he received a doctorate from Chicago University in Islamic studies before returning home to teach at Indonesia’s Islamic Institute.Madjid taught a pluralistic and inclusive brand of Islam, emphasising its oneness with other faiths and its traditions of tolerance and diversity.”Cak Nur was the man that brought enlightenment to Islamic thought in Indonesia,” said Ulil Abshor Abdala, chairman of the Islamic Liberal Network, a non-governmental organisation in Indonesia that supports religious moderation.”He created a solid base” for religious harmony.While his liberal views were criticised by hardline Muslims, he was well respected by ordinary Indonesians, as well as members of the country’s intellectual, political and religious elite.Several political parties tried to court him as their presidential candidate in the 2004 elections.He initially said yes to Golkar, the former political vehicle of General Suharto, but pulled out after concluding that party remained as corrupt as was under the former dictator.He was diagnosed with liver cancer last year, and travelled to China and Singapore for treatment.He had been in intensive care in a Jakarta hospital for the past two weeks.- Nampa-AP