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 Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

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

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 is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. 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 , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

and

pluralism Pluralism in general denotes a diversity of views or stands, rather than a single approach or method. Pluralism or pluralist may refer more specifically to: Politics and law * Pluralism (political philosophy), the acknowledgement of a diversi ...

Biography

Born in Jombang,

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third 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 border its northern ...

, Madjid received his early education in religious institutions in Indonesia, so called ''

pesantren ''Pesantren'' is a traditional Islamic boarding school in Indonesia. It is taught either in private houses, a ''wiktionary:pondok, pondok'' or a mosque, the teaching includes classical Islamic texts and ''santri'' thought, taught by Kyai, ''kya ...

''. He later received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

Islamic Studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

where he studied under the noted

Pakistani-American Pakistani Americans () are citizens of the United States who have full or partial ancestry from Pakistan, or more simply, Pakistanis in America. They can be from different ethnic groups in Pakistan like Punjabis, Punjabi or Muhajir people, Muhaj ...

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 Paramadina University () is an Islamic university in Indonesia. It was established by Nurcholish Madjid in 1998. Paramadina University has three campuses on Java: Cipayung, Kuningan, and Cikarang. It has a particular emphasis on science and techn ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

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 (born 1963) 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 com ...

, 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 for ...

, 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 Paramadina University rectors fr:Madjid