Habiburrahman El Shirazy

Habiburrahman El Shirazy (born 30 September 1976), popularly known as Kang Abik, is an Indonesian author and da'i. Having attended Islamic schools from childhood, he studied hadiths at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, where he became involved with the Indonesian literary community Forum Lingkar Pena. Returning to Indonesia in 2002, El Shirazy was injured in a motorcycle accident the following year. While recuperating, he wrote his debut novel Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love, 2004), a commercial success that was soon adapted to film. While continuing to write fiction, El Shirazy used the proceeds from the novel to expand his dakwah (proselytization) activities. Several of El Shirazy's novels have been adapted to film, with Dalam Mihrab Cinta (In the Chamber of Love, 2010) being directed by the author.

El Shirazy was born on the outskirts of Semarang, Central Java, on 30 September 1976, the eldest of five children^[1] born to Saerozi Noor and Siti Rodhiyah. His father was a civil servant who also acted as a mubaligh (Qur'an reciter), while his mother operated a kindergarten.^[2] The family supplemented their income through farming and animal husbandry,^[1] with Siti Rodhiyah selling their vegetables.^[3]

Saerozi Noor emphasized the importance of Islamic obligations,^[3] and thus El Shirazy and his brothers Anif and Mujib studied Islam from their youth.^[1] El Shirazy's junior high school studies were conducted at the Tsanawiyah Futuhiyyah 1 madrasa in Demak, Central Java.^[4] After graduating in 1992, he continued his studies at a madrasa in Surakarta designed for gifted children. There, he began writing, producing the poem "Dzikir Dajjal" ("Dajjal's Dzikir") and heading a theatre group.^[2]

In 1995, after completing his studies in Surakarta, El Shirazy travelled to Cairo, Egypt, to enrol at Al-Azhar University.^[2] His family were unable to afford the entirety of the programme, and provided him only enough to cover his travel and first year of study. El Shirazy thus supported his studies by selling food.^[1] He completed a four-year programme in hadith studies at the Faculty of Theology. He continued this with a two-year postgraduate programme.^[2]

While in Cairo, El Shirazy became engaged with the Forum Lingkar Pena (FLP), an Indonesia-based writers' collective. Finding an advertisement for the collective in the magazine Annida, he submitted an application and received welcoming emails from the organization's founders Helvy Tiana Rosa and Asma Nadia some weeks later.^[5] In turn, El Shirazy helped establish the FLP's Cairo branch. He was also involved with a writers group known as the Indonesian Literary Community.^[2] He was also involved with the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals' Cairo branch, which he headed from 1998 to 2002. During his leadership, he edited and published several poetry anthologies produced by members of the association.^[2]

El Shirazy's literary output in Cairo included short stories and poems. His stage plays included the original works Wa Islam (1999) and Darah Syuhada (Blood of the Martyrs, 2000), as well as Sang Kyai dan Sang Durjana (The Islamic Scholar and the Wicket, 2000), an adaptation of a work by Yusuf al-Qaradawi. His short stories, meanwhile, were published in the magazine Annida and in the newspaper Republika.^[2]

El Shirazy returned to Indonesia in 2002,^[2] becoming at teacher at State Madrasa 1 in Yogyakarta;^[6] he also began working on Pesantren Basmala, a religious and business education programme.^[7] In 2003, El Shirazy he was injured in a motorcycle accident, leaving him unable to work.^[8] While recuperating, he began work on his debut novel, Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love),^[9] a story about a pious young Indonesian student in Cairo named Fahri who weds another Indonesian, Aisha, and guides a Coptic Christian named Maria to Islam.^[10] El Shirazy cited his inspiration for the novel as Verse 67 of Surah Az-Zukhruf, which he understood to mean that only love based in taqwa (piety and fear of God) will remain eternal even beyond Judgement Day.^[9] The title has also been read as a challenge to Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (1988),^[11] something that El Shirazy rejects.^[12]

Ayat-Ayat Cinta, published in by Republika in December 2004, was an immediate success. It was voted by the women's magazine Muslimah as Indonesia's favourite novel of 2005, outperforming the Harry Potter series, and within four years it had sold 400,000 copies and been reprinted 30 times.^[13] Commercial success was also reported in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.^[14] A film adaptation, directed by Hanung Bramantyo, known for his romantic comedies,^[15] was released in 2008. This film and its soundtrack were likewise successful,^[14] The dual successes of this film and Syahadat Cinta (Love's Shahadah, 2008), adapted from a novel by Taufiqurrahman Al-Azizy, have been credited with stimulating the rise of a genre of Islamic Indonesian films.^[16] El Shirazy also gained increased recognition, though he was not incorporated into the Indonesian literary canon.^[14]

The popularity of Ayat-Ayat Cinta made El Shirazy famous in Indonesia,^[17] where he became popularly known as Kang Abik.^[18] He became a lecturer at the Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, leaving in 2006.^[6] He also served on the central council of FLP, and later as a member of its advisory board. He was regularly invited to speak at events.^[6] With the proceeds from Ayat-Ayat Cinta, he also purchased property for Pesantren Basmala near the State University of Semarang. The programme expanded rapidly, and by 2011 it handled 1,000 students in 70 boarding houses.^[7]

Two more of El Shirazy's novels, Ketika Cinta Bertasbih (When Love Prays, 2007) and its sequel, were adapted to film by Chaerul Umam in 2009.^[19] Displeased with the adaptation of Ayat-Ayat Cinta, in which he was little involved, El Shirazy cast the film through open auditions involving some 7,000 candidates.^[20] These auditions had a dual focus: identifying new talent, and ensuring that cast members embodied Islamic values.^[21] El Shirazy appeared in the film as Ustad Mujab.^[22] In 2010, El Shirazy directed an adaptation of his 2007 novel Dalam Mihrab Cinta (In the Chamber of Love).^[23] Starring Dude Harlino and Asmirandah, the film followed a young santri (student of Islam) who falls into crime after he is wrongfully ejected from his school before repenting and becoming a famed Islamic scholar.^[24] These films were produced by SinemArt.^[25]

Another novel, Cinta Suci Zahrana (Zahrana's Pure Love) was launched in 2011 through a roadshow on Indonesian university campuses. Narrating the story of a young woman whose parents worry about spinsterhood after she focuses on her education, the novel was intended to highlight the difficulties faced by educated Muslim women in finding a husband.^[26] Cinta Suci Zahrana was adapted to film by Chaerul Umam the following year.^[27] In 2015, El Shirazy published Ayat-Ayat Cinta 2. The novel continues the story of its predecessor, with Fahri having moved to Scotland to teach and run a business; Aisha, meanwhile, has disappeared during a trip to Palestine.^[28] Speaking with Antara, he described the sequel as difficult to write due to the high expectations of readers and viewers as well as the strong demand for a sequel.^[18] The film adaptation of this novel, directed by Guntur Soeharjanto, was released on 21 December 2017.^[29] Within three weeks it had sold 2.5 million tickets.^[30]

The streaming service Viu acquired the rights to El Shirazy's novel Bidadari Bermata Bening (Angel with Clear Eyes, 2017), to be adapted for Ramadan 2023.^[31] In 2025, El Shirazy's novel Setetes Embun Cinta Niyala (A Dewdrop of Niyala's Love, 2005) was adapted to film^[32] with the English-language title Promised Hearts.^[33] Directed by Anggy Umbara,^[32] the film starred Beby Tsabina as a young doctor who is forced into an arranged marriage to resolve her family's debts. It was released on Netflix.^[33]

El Shirazy has become known for dakwah (proselytization), an activity he has undertaken based on a belief that Muslims have a duty to teach other Muslims to become better adherents of their religion.^[8] Consequently, his novels frequently include references to the Qur'an and the hadiths, as well as particular interpretations of these references, in exploring the moral foundation of protagonists' decisions.^[11] Amrih Widodo of Inside Indonesia characterizes Ayat-Ayat Cinta as containing Islamic teachings translated into "ordinary language applicable to real cases encountered in everyday life."^[13] In his novels, El Shirazy generally portrays young Muslim students. They are presented as finding success in academia or in entrepreneurship. Love is frequently presented in his novels. Protagonists find their spouses not through dating, but rather through limited interactions, with physical intimacy coming only after marriage.^[8]

• Habiburrahman El Shirazy at IMDb