Muhammad Quraish Shihab (; ; 16 February 1944) is an Indonesian Arab-Bugis Muslim scholar in the sciences of the Qur'an, an author, an Academic Scholar, and former Minister of Religious Affairs in the Fourth Development Cabinet (1998). He is the older brother of the former Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Alwi Shihab.
Biography
Quraish was born in Lotassalo, Rappang, on 16 February 1944. His father was Abdurrahman Shihab, an Islamic scholar and professor at State Institute of Islamic Sciences and his mother was Asma Aburisyi. Quraish is the fourth son of twelve siblings. His three older siblings, Nur, Ali (d) and Umar, and two younger siblings, Wardah and Alwi Shihab, were also born in Rappang. Seven other siblings namely Nina, Sida, Nizar, Abdul Muthalib, Salwa and twin sister Ulfa and Latifah, were born in the village of Buton.
Quraish Shihab, called Bang Odes by his younger siblings, is an Arab Indonesian of Ba 'Alawi sada family, where his family lineage traces back to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. In addition to Arab, he is also of Bugis descent.
Personal life
Quraish married Fatmawaty Assegaf on 2 February 1975 in Surakarta. From the marriage, they have four daughters (Najelaa, Najwa, Nasywa, Nahla) and one son, Ahmad.
Education
After completing his early education in Ujung Pandang, Quraish continued his secondary education in Malang, which he did while at the Dar al-Hadith Al-Faqihiyyah boarding school under guidance of Habib Abdul Qadir Bilfaqih.
In 1958 he went to Cairo, Egypt, and Admitted to 2nd grade in Al-Thanawiya (middle school level) at Al-Azhar. In 1967, he earned an LC (Bachelor's degree) from the Department of Tafsir and Hadith, the faculty of Islamic Theology in Al-Azhar University. He continued his education at the same faculty in 1969 and earned master's degree in Tafseer of the Qur'an with the thesis entitled Al-I'jaz Tashri'i li Al-Qur-an Al-Karim.
Upon returning to Makassar, Quraish served as the Vice Rector for Academic and Student Affairs at IAIN Alauddin, Ujung Pandang. In addition, he was also entrusted with other positions, both for academic positions such as the Coordinator of Private Higher Education Region VII in Eastern Indonesia, and non-academic positions such as the Assistant Police Chief of Eastern Indonesia in the field of mental development. While in Makassar, he also had time to do some researches. Some of his papers were "Implementation Harmony Religious Life in Eastern Indonesia" (1975) and "Problems Endowments South Sulawesi" (1978).
In 1980, Quraish Shihab returned to Cairo and continued his education at his old alma mater. In 1982 he earned his doctorate in the sciences of the Qur'an with the dissertation studying the method of al-Biqa'i (al-Biqa'i is a scholar of exegesis from Damascus in the 15th century) entitled The Research and Study of The Pearls System of al-Biqa'i ( ), where he graduated summa cum laude with first class honors ().
Career
In 1984 Quraish was assigned as a lecturer in the Ushuluddin faculty and postgraduate faculty at IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. He was entrusted to positions at various departments: among others; the co-chairman of Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) (since 1984); member of Lajnah Pentashih Qur'an at the Department of Religious Affairs (since 1989) and member of the Advisory Board of National Education (since 1989).
Quraish Shihab is also heavily involved in several professional organizations; he is a member of the Shari'ah Science Society; member of the Consortium of the Religions at the Ministry of Education and Culture, and is the Assistant Chief of the General Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI).
Quraish was appointed as Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs in 1998 for about two months, and later appointed as The Indonesian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Egypt and accredited to Djibouti in Cairo from 1999 to 2002.