Hasyim Muzadi

Hasyim was born on 8 August 1944 in Tuban, East Java.[2] His father's name was Muzadi and his mother's Rumyati.[2] He attended various Islamic schools, including Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor, the pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Gontor.[3] He obtained a college degree in tarbiyah (Islamic education) at the State Islamic Institute of Malang in 1969.[2][4]

Hasyim started his political career as a member of the city-level parliament of Malang for the United Development Party (PPP, an Islamist party that had begun as a coalition of four parties in opposition to the Suharto government).[2] In 1986, he was elected a member of East Java's Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD), a provincial-level parliament.[10]

In 2004, he was the running mate of the incumbent president Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia's first direct presidential election.[5] The ticket won 26.2% of the votes in the first round of elections, which was a second-place finish, and forced a runoff election, but Hasyim and the incumbent president lost to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla in the runoff.[11]

In the 2014 presidential election, he joined the campaign team of Joko Widodo who was later elected president.[12] From 2015 until his death, he was appointed a member of President Widodo's Presidential Advisory Board, holding the portfolio of People's Welfare.[13]

Hasyim was a proponent of moderate Islam, which he defined as being neither radical nor liberal.[14] Fighting Islamic fundamentalism was one of his goals in founding Al-Hikam.[15] The organization has identified students who harbor "strong religious sentiments but who have yet to receive solid religious training" as being "particularly susceptible to fundamentalism".[15] It views the traditional teaching of pesantren and historical interpretations of the great Islamic scholars as tempering factors to combat extremism.[15][16]

On the other hand, Hasyim disagreed with liberal Islam because of its tendency to "permit (make halal) all things",[14] and criticized the youth of NU for being "more like Westerners in viewing Islam and tradition" because of their Western funding and training.[17] Despite the disagreement, he did not call for liberal thought to be banned, and said that proper forums must be had to debate controversial issues in the community.[18]

During the US invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks, Hasyim rejected calls in Indonesia to recruit members of NU for a jihad in Afghanistan.[19] According to him, "jihad does not always mean holy war; efforts to develop Islam and the Muslim ummah are also called jihad".[19] He said that the September 11 attacks were a "tragedy of humanity, not a tragedy of religion" and should not be turned into a religious conflict.[19]

In January 2017, the 72-year old Hasyim suffered from exhaustion after he had traveled to several places in Indonesia, directly after his return from a trip to Australia.[12] He was treated at the Lavalette Hospital in Malang 6–17 from January, and then discharged in a stable condition.[1] On 11 March, he was readmitted to the hospital. He was discharged on 13 March because he had chosen to recover at his house, against the recommendation of the hospital.[20] The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo flew to Malang to visit him on 15 March.[20] Hasyim died on 16 March on 06.15 Western Indonesian Time at his residence in the compound of the Al-Hikam Islamic boarding school.[5][10]

He was buried on that same day at the second campus of Al-Hikam in Depok, West Java.[10][21] Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla led the funeral procession.[10] Hasyim's body was escorted by military and police personnel, members of Islamic organisations, and students of Al-Ihram in a military-style funeral starting at 16.15, local time.[21]