Syukron Ma'mun

Syukron Ma'mun was born on 21 December 1941 in Sampang, Madura, East Java. He was the second of nine children of KH Ma'mun Nawawi and Hj Masturah (also written Masturoh). According to the Daarul Rahman school profile and NU Online Jatim, his grandfather and father were kiai who also worked as traders, and his mother, besides running the home, taught the Qur'an and classical texts such as Safinatun Najah.

His parents gave him extra lessons in fiqh, ethics and religion outside school hours, and biographers trace his strict, disciplined and responsible character to that upbringing. While still in junior secondary school he was appointed a civil service primary teacher, but he went to the pesantren instead and never took up the post.

He attended a Sekolah Rakyat (primary school) for six years, with afternoon classes at the Madrasah Miftahul Ulum. After junior secondary school he studied at the traditional Pesantren Sidogiri in Pasuruan, East Java, reading the kitab kuning (classical Islamic texts).

He then spent about six years at the Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor in Ponorogo, completing the Kulliyatul Mu'allimin. Around 1966 he continued at Gontor's Institut Pendidikan Darussalam (later the Institut Studi Islam Darussalam, ISID), where he was among the first cohort to earn the sarjana muda (BA) degree. Sources differ slightly on the exact years of his Gontor studies.

After moving to Jakarta he continued learning from the ulama of Betawi, including Habib Ali bin Husein in Bungur and Habib Abdurrahman Al-Habsyi in Kwitang, with whom he read Sahih Bukhari.

He started preaching while in the fifth year at Gontor. By early 1967, aged about 26, he was preaching across Madiun, Ponorogo, Pacitan, Ngawi, Magetan and surrounding areas. NU Online Jatim notes that his weekly gatherings in those years faced opposition from young communist activists. His forceful, argumentative and passionate delivery earned him the nickname "Singa Podium" (Lion of the Podium), also reported by ANTARA as "Singa Mimbar".

In Jakarta, from 1971 he taught at several universities and led regular study circles at the Islamic Centre, later leaving university teaching because of his preaching commitments. His preaching took him to almost every part of Indonesia, including Sumatra, Kalimantan and Maluku, and abroad to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, where he held annual gatherings. He was consistently identified with the Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah tradition of Nahdlatul Ulama.

From 1967 to 1975 he lived in the household of KH Idham Chalid, the NU chairman and senior minister, as his assistant, and he was later appointed director of Pesantren Daarul Ma'arif.

Together with KH Antung Ghozali BA, KH Masyhuri Baedlowi and KH Abdul Kadir Rahman he founded Pondok Pesantren Daarul Rahman, which formally began operating on 11 January 1975. It started at Tulodong Atas in Kebayoran Baru, beside what is now Jakarta's SCBD business district, and later moved to about 7,800 square metres of waqf land in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta. Branches followed at Leuwiliang in Bogor and at Sawangan/Parung (Daarul Rahman III).

The pesantren is fully independent of any organisation or political party and is recognised by the Ministry of Religious Affairs as a mu'adalah pesantren, meaning its Tsanawiyah and Aliyah diplomas are treated as equivalent to state secondary schools. Its alumni are counted in the many thousands, and MUI deputy chairman KH M Cholil Nafis said that more than 250 pesantren had been founded by Daarul Rahman graduates.

His organisational career began in 1956 as a branch chairman of IPNU, the NU student association. He later served as chairman of the Lembaga Dakwah Nahdlatul Ulama (LDNU) and as a vice chairman of Rabithah Ma'ahid Islamiyah, NU's pesantren association.

On 16 August 1998 he was among NU ulama, including KH Idham Chalid, who founded the Partai Nahdlatul Ummat (PNU) in opposition to KH Abdurrahman Wahid's political line. PNU won five seats in the 1999 election. On 5 March 2003 it was relaunched as the Partai Persatuan Nahdlatul Ummah Indonesia (PPNUI) to pass verification for the 2004 election, with Syukron Ma'mun as chairman and Achmad Sjatari as secretary general. PPNUI later contested the 2009 election as party number 42.

On 23 January 2009 the United Development Party (PPP) announced that he had joined it as a vice chairman of its Sharia Council. M Romahurmuziy said he served as vice chairman of the PPP Sharia Council for 2011 to 2014 and 2014 to 2019, and the Daarul Rahman profile also lists him as a PPP adviser.

He chaired the Forum Ulama dan Habaib (FUHAB), the school profile citing a 2016 to 2021 term, and sat on the advisory council (Dewan Syuro) of the Majelis Ilmu dan Dakwah Ahlussunnah Waljamaah (MAIDAH).

His son KH Faiz Syukron Makmun, known as Gus Faiz, served as Katib Syuriyah of the NU central board (PBNU) and later as chairman of the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI DKI Jakarta). KH M Cholil Nafis, a deputy chairman of MUI, described him as his uncle through their shared descent from the Bani Ahmad family. The name of his wife and the full list of his children were not given in the reports reviewed for this page.

In November 2023 a fake death notice about him circulated on WhatsApp. The pesantren's official Instagram account and Gus Faiz denied it, posting a new video in which Gus Faiz, standing beside him, said he was in good health.

He preached within the Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah tradition and was remembered for firmness of principle. Cholil Nafis said he was known for his steadfastness in struggle and his decisiveness. He combined preaching with politics, which supporters saw as an attempt to bring dakwah and party politics into one vehicle, and he regularly addressed political leadership, corruption and Islamic politics in his sermons, many of which circulated on YouTube.

As FUHAB chairman in 2017 he said Muslims were obliged to choose leaders who loved God and were loved by God, meaning fellow believers, while also calling for mutual respect between religious communities in their political choices.

On 23 February 2017, at a closed meeting with Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, he announced FUHAB's support for the pair in the second round of the Jakarta governor election against the incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok). CNN Indonesia reported him saying that Muslims were obliged to choose a believing leader and that it was haram to choose a leader other than a believer. The statement, made during one of the most religiously polarised elections in Indonesian history, was widely reported and criticised by those who saw it as using religion against a non-Muslim candidate, while he framed it as a matter of each community following its own faith. No allegation of personal wrongdoing against him was found in the sources reviewed.

Syukron Ma'mun is remembered as one of the senior ulama of Jakarta, described by Republika as an ulama senior of Tanah Betawi and by Kompas as a firm scholar whose pesantren gave rise to more than 250 others. Mahfud MD called him a charismatic scholar who always fought for the good of the ummah and the Indonesian nation. Daarul Rahman, which he led for more than 50 years, remains his principal legacy, alongside his decades of preaching and his role in NU and Islamic party politics. Cholil Nafis expressed the hope that Gus Faiz and the family would continue his work.

Recordings of his sermons, often titled with his nickname Singa Podium, were widely shared on YouTube and social media. The pesantren's official channel published a profile, "Lebih Dekat dengan KH. Syukron Ma'mun" (Closer to KH Syukron Ma'mun). His death was reported on 18 October 2026 by CNN Indonesia, ANTARA, Kompas, Republika, Liputan6, Tirto and NU Online, and his funeral procession was streamed and shared by the pesantren and others.

He died on the morning of Sunday 18 October 2026 (7 Jumadil Ula 1448 H), aged 84. ANTARA and NU Online reported that he died at Pondok Indah Hospital (RSPI) in South Jakarta after being treated for heart problems since the previous week. M Romahurmuziy, who said he received the news from the family, stated that he died at about 9 a.m. on the way from his home to the hospital. A specific formal cause beyond the reported heart trouble was not made public.

The death was first confirmed through the pesantren's official Instagram account and announced by PBNU through NU Online. Funeral prayers were held after the midday prayer and he was buried the same day in the grounds of Pondok Pesantren Daarul Rahman in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta. Tributes came from Mahfud MD, MUI, PBNU, the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Directorate of Islamic Information and the Jakarta Islamic Centre, among many others.