KH. (Kiai Haji) Kholil (Muḥammad Khalīl b. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, d. 1925) of Bangkalan in Madura, affectionately known among the Madurese as Syaikhona ("our shaykh") Kholil, was, in his day and long after his death, the most highly respected religious authority of Madura and a dominant figure among Javanese Muslims as well. Most of the prominent kiai ( ʿulamāʾ , Muslim religious scholars) of the early twentieth century had spent at least a brief period in his pesantren (Islamic religious boarding school). He had a reputation as a scholar of scriptural Islam