Hazairin (d. 1975) was a Sumatran-born, Dutch-trained scholar of adat (customary law). He worked in the colonial courts of South Tapanuli (Sumatra) before beginning his long and distinguished career in the government, judiciary, and academic institutions of independent Indonesia. Hazairin was concerned with the relationship between religion and custom in law, in ways framed by a commitment to Islamic personal piety, and a strong sense of Indonesian nationalism. Towards this end, he worked to promote the reform and reinterpretation of Islamic law in line with the needs of