Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid, born Abdurrahman ad-Dakhilahb-doo-RAH-mahn wah-HEED; 7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), colloquially known as Gus Dur , was an Indonesian Muslim religious and political leader who served as the President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. The long-time president of the Nahdlatul Ulama and the founder of the National Awakening Party, Wahid was the first elected president of Indonesia after the resignation of Suharto in 1998...
NationalityIndonesian
ProfessionStatesman
Date of Birth7 September 1940
CountryIndonesia
I do not like violence.
I told the students that we can exert pressure without resorting to violence, and that we can move towards democracy without violence; that way, God will allow it.
I am a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Democracy can be sustained and developed only by people who understand its essence.
If we cling to the institution of Islam, then we tend to defend it against whatever we see as a danger to it, so because of this we see now that many people are defending states, defending territories, defending everything institutional in the belief that they defend Islam.
All too many Muslims fail to grasp Islam, which teaches one to be lenient towards others and to understand their value systems, knowing that these are tolerated by Islam as a religion.
Well, the most important thing about Islam is that we have to differentiate between two kinds of Islam. The first one is the institution of Islam... second, the culture of Islam.