The passing of Abdurrahman Wahid on December 30, 2009 sparked a wave of grief across Indonesia that rippled around the world. Even many of those who had been deeply critical of the former president during his time in office felt an acute sense of loss in his passing. Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, as he was known to all, was a polarizing figure both in politics and in the broader realms of Islamic thought and social activism. But he was also a figure who evoked deep affection from literally millions of Indonesians and tens of thousands of admirers around the world. Whether or not they understood or agreed with his political actions, they could not help but feel a sense of loss at the passing of a Muslim leader who was much loved for his humanitarian vision and his earthy humanism mixed with a spirituality that transcended conventional religious boundaries.
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For the time being, his name will be remembered for his contribution to Indonesia's successful democratic transition. Building on the remarkably reformist interim presidency of the previously underrated Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, Gus Dur helped raise aspirations and expectations of what democracy meant and how a democratic president should act.
....A prolific essay writer, Gus Dur turned his attention over four decades to a wide variety of topics in rich, discursive, humorous narratives. His writing was typically marked by a love of life and of humanity–warts and all, a desire for justice, and confidence that God is on the side of the weak and the downtrodden, and he wrote in the conviction that the message of God's prophets affirmed these things above all else.
His near photographic memory and his lively intellect meant that he found it easy to draw on the works of classical Islamic commentators and scholars in order to argue his often very bold and innovative responses to modern dilemmas in a manner that could convince even the most conservative of readers and could persuade the most scholarly of ulama to consider his position.
This is what he will be remembered for in the decades to come. As his many volumes of collected writings are translated, a new generation of readers around the world will enjoy his confident assertion that Islam, including its classical scholarship, has answers for the modern world, answers that affirm the dignity of humanity and the primacy of love and compassion both for the community of Islam and for the community of humanity.
http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/focus/essay0910_legacy_of_gus_dur.html. Accessed May 3, 2011.
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