Fakih Usman

Fakih Usman

Kyai Hajji Fakih Usman (2 March 1904 – 3 October 1968) was an Indonesian Islamic leader and politician with the Masyumi Party. He 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. In his early years he was criticised by conservative Muslims for his involvement with the modernist Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah.

About Fakih Usman in brief

Summary Fakih UsmanKyai Hajji Fakih Usman (2 March 1904 – 3 October 1968) was an Indonesian Islamic leader and politician with the Masyumi Party. He 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. In his early years he was criticised by conservative Muslims for his involvement with the modernist Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah, though that group remembers him warmly. His father was a wood merchant and his mother, a housewife, was the daughter of an ulama. He studied Islam with his father and at a series of pesantren until the 1920s. In 1925 he became involved with the Muhammadiyah and rose quickly through the leadership until he became the head of the Surabaya branch in 1938. He continued to be involved in politics and Islamic groups during the Japanese occupation and ensuing national revolution. While serving as minister of religious affairs, he oversaw educational and institutional reform, growing in prominence within Muhammadiyah. He served as deputy chairman of the organisation under several different leaders before being chosen as its chairman in late 1968, several days before his death. He was one of the first to join Muhammadiyah in 1922, and became the Gresik branch’s leader within three years, and under his leadership the group was formally recognised by the central Muhammadiyah administration.

In 1938 he began working full-time with the Indonesian Islamic Assembly, replacing the treasurer Maso Manso as its head of its secretariat. Two years later he resigned as head of MIAI, having been selected to take this position by the secretariat in mid-September 1940. As a result of the Japanese invasion of the Indies, all forms of Islamic organisations were banned and reformed in May 1942. It was reformed on 5 May 1942 and was reformed into the MIAI in May 1945, when it became a member member of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army General Hein ter Poorten. The MIAI was disbanded on May 5, 1942, and General Stouweren vanachborghen was appointed Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. He remained in this position until the end of the war, when he was replaced by General Tjarda Stachoon vanachoon Stachou. He died of a heart attack in August 1945, aged 67, and was buried in a local cemetery. He is survived by his wife and four children. He had a son, Usman Iskandar, and a daughter,  Fakih, who were of modest means and had four other children.