Ahmad Syafii Maarif (Buya Syafii) was born in Calau, Sijunjung, West Sumatra, on 31 May 1935 and died in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on 27 May 2022. He studied at Universitas Cokroaminoto in Surakarta and IKIP Yogyakarta, earned an MA in history at Ohio University (1976) and a PhD at the University of Chicago (1983) with a dissertation on Islamic political ideas in the Constituent Assembly debates. He chaired the central board of Muhammadiyah in 1998–2005, then founded the Maarif Institute and became known as a moral voice for nationhood, pluralism and anti-corruption. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (2008); his thought has been studied by, among others, the Acehnese scholar M. Alkaf.