Abdurrahman Wahid (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil b. ʿAbd al-Wāḥid b. Hāshim b. Ashʿarī, 1940-2009), popularly known as Gus Dur, was arguably Indonesia's most influential Muslim religious leader of the late twentieth century and its most controversial. He led the traditionalist Muslim association Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) from 1984 to 1999 and was Indonesia's fourth (and first democratically elected) president (1999-2001). 1. Education and intellectual development Abdurrahman came from a family with important religious and political connections. His two grandfathers, Hasyim Asy'ari (1871-1947) and