Nasaruddin Umar is an Indonesian islamic scholar who is currently serving as Minister for Religious Affairs and the grand Imam of the Istiqlal Mosque and the founder of the Indonesian interfaith organization Masyarakat Dialog antar Umat Beragama and was vice minister (2011–2014) in the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs. He is also a member of the UK-Indonesia Advisory Team, founded by UK prime minister Tony Blair. He is the author of 12 books, among them: Argumen Kesetaraan Gender Perspektif Al-Quran (Paramadina, 1999), which examines gender bias in the Quran.

Education

Nasaruddin Umar did his postgraduate studies at Syarif Hidayatullah University, Jakarta resulting is a Magister degree (1992), and a doctorate (1998). During his doctorate studies, he was a visiting student for a PhD Program at McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1993–1994), and a visiting student for a PhD Program at Leiden University, Netherlands (1994–1995). After achieving his doctorate, he was a visiting scholar at Sopia University, Tokyo (2001), a visiting scholar at SOAS University of London (2001–2002), and a visiting Scholar at Georgetown University, Washington DC (2003–2004).