Nurcholish Madjid Indonesian Muslim Intellectual

Bruinessen, M. van (2006)

Article / Letter to editor

Nurcholish Madjid, Indonesia’s best known Muslim intellectual, died in August last year after a prolonged and painful illness. At the time of his death, the country appeared to be drifting away into increasing religious intolerance: physical attacks by radical Muslims on makeshift churches and assaults on the main centre of the Ahmaddiyah movement, death threats against liberal Muslim thinkers, fatwas of Indonesia’s Ulama Council, once a paragon of moderation, against “liberal Islam,” secularism and religious pluralism. The days in which Nurcholish’ voice of moderation and inter-religious understanding was almost hegemonic, at least in the media, are rapidly fading away, and memories of Nurcholish resonate with nostalgia for times of greater harmony.

• Indonesia

• All authors: Bruinessen, M. van
• Date: 2006
• Journal: ISIM Review
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 22 - 23
• Publisher: ISIM, Leiden