Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 2, 2014

Fakih Usman, 1952

Fakih Usman (1904–68) was an Indonesian Islamic leader and politician with the Masyumi Party. Born to a merchant and his wife in Gresik, Dutch East Indies, Fakih studied with his father and at a series of pesantren until the 1920s. In 1925 he became involved with the modernist Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah, rising quickly until he became the head of the Surabaya branch in 1938. When a group of Islamic organisations formed the Indonesian Islamic Assembly in 1937, Fakih became treasurer. He continued to be involved in politics and Islamic groups during the Japanese occupation and ensuing national revolution. In post-Revolution Indonesia, Fakih twice served as the Minister of Religious Affairs: under the Halim Cabinet in the State of the Republic of Indonesia in 1950, and in the national government during the Wilopo Cabinet from 1952 to 1953. While serving as minister of religious affairs, he oversaw educational and institutional reform. Growing in prominence within the Muhammadiyah, he was chosen as its chairman in late 1968, several days before his death. (Full article...)

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