Mas Mansoer

Kyai Hajji Mas Mansoer (Perfected Spelling: Mas Mansur; 25 June 1896 – 25 April 1946) was an Indonesian Islamic scholar and a national hero.

Biography

Mas Mansoer was born on 25 June 1896 in Kampung Sawahan, north of Surabaya. His father was Kyai Hajji Mas Ahmad Marzuki, a descendant of the Sumenep royal family and a friend of Kyai Hajji Ahmad Dahlan. His mother was a woman from Surabaya who was of mixed Buginese and Minang descent.

At the age of 12, Mansoer went to Mecca to study Islam. He then enrolled at Al-Azhar University in Egypt. During his studies, he read several Western literary works about freedom, humanism, and democracy. He also observed how Egyptian people fought against British colonists to obtain their independence, which influenced his later views.