Nasaruddin Umar

Nasaruddin Umar (born 23 June 1959) is an Indonesian Islamic scholar and politician who is currently serving as Minister for Religious Affairs, the grand Imam of the Istiqlal Mosque, founder of the Indonesian interfaith organization Masyarakat Dialog antar Umat Beragama and was vice minister (2011–2014) in the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs. He is also a member of the UK-Indonesia Advisory Team, founded by UK prime minister Tony Blair.^[2]

Nasaruddin Umar
Official portrait, 2024
25th Minister of Religious Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 October 2024
President	Prabowo Subianto
Deputy	Muhammad Syafi'i
Preceded by	Yaqut Cholil Qoumas
5th Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 January 2016
Preceded by	Ali Mustafa Yaqub
1st Vice Minister of Religious Affairs
In office 2011–2014
President	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Vice President	Boediono
Succeeded by	Zainut Tauhid Sa'adi
Personal details
Born	(1959-06-23) 23 June 1959 (age 65) Bone, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Spouse	Dra. Helmi Halimatul Udhma ​ ​ (m. 1996)​
Alma mater	Alauddin Islamic State University Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta McGill University Sorbonne University Leiden University
Profession	Islamic scholar
Awards	Star of Mahaputera (2014)[1]

He is the author of 12 books, among them: Argumen Kesetaraan Gender Perspektif Al-Quran (Paramadina, 1999), which examines gender bias in the Quran.^[3]

Education

Nasaruddin Umar did his postgraduate studies at Syarif Hidayatullah University, Jakarta resulting is a Magister degree (1992), and a doctorate (1998).

During his doctorate studies, he was a visiting student for a PhD Program at McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1993–1994), and a visiting student for a PhD Program at Leiden University, Netherlands (1994–1995).

After achieving his doctorate, he was a visiting scholar at Sopia University, Tokyo (2001), a visiting scholar at SOAS University of London (2001–2002), and a visiting Scholar at Georgetown University, Washington DC (2003–2004).