Abdurrahman Wahid or better known as Gus Dur was born in Denanyar Jombang, East Java, on August 4, 1940. He was a prominent Indonesian intellectual and highly respected. Since childhood, Abdurrahman was educated and raised in a pesantren family and under the auspices of the ulama's family. His grandfather was Hadratus Sheikh Hasyim Asy'ari, one of the founders of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and the pioneer of the Pesantren Tebuireng Jombang, while his father KH Wahid Hasyim besides the Ulama was also a national figure who had served as Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia in 1950. from his mother's lineage Abdurrahman also inherited the blood of scholars, namely KH Bisri Syamsuri was his grandfather.
Based on his mother's confession, Mrs. Wahid Hasyim, "Since he was five years old, he has been fluent in reading. His teacher, at that time, was his own father ". Gus Dur's penchant reads all kinds of books such as philosophy, history, religion, silat stories to literary fiction, as well as reading magazines and newspapers.
One aspect that is very easy to understand from Gus Dur's figure is his thoughts on pluralism and tolerance, advocates of minority groups, especially China-Confucianism-Indonesia, even he also did not hesitate to defend minority religious groups, beliefs, and other groups that are considered discriminated and violated rights his humanity. In other languages, Gus Dur can be understood as a figure that fights for the acceptance of social reality that Indonesia is diverse, he loves his traditional Islamic culture and also the main message of Islam itself. more than that, Abdurrahman was a spiritual figure and moderate figure who was able to balance worldly and ukhrawi interests. Gus Dur's thoughts often make many interpretations about his figure, the confusion comes from the fact that on one side Gus Dur is seen and known by many as a religious figure and on the other hand is interpreted by many as a secular politician and also as a liberal intellectual.