Rahmah el Yunusiyah

Rahmah el Yunusiyah was a pioneer of Islamic education and women's emancipation in Indonesia. She was born in 1900 in a village in West Sumatra, where she learned to read and write in Arabic, Jawi, and Latin scripts from her father, who was a prominent Islamic scholar and a member of the Naqshbandi order. She was married off to a scholar named Bahauddin Lathif in 1916, but she obtained a divorce in 1922 and resumed her education. She married Ahmad Dahlan, the founder of Muhammadiyah, in 1924, who supported her efforts in education and journalism. She founded Diniyah Putri, the first Islamic school for girls in Indonesia, in 1923. She served as the principal and teacher of the school until her death in 1969. She also wrote for various publications, such as Poetri Indonesia and Soenting Melajoe, and advocated for girls' schooling, women's rights, and social justice. She was a member of the Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence, and later became a member of the People's Representative Council from 1956 to 1959 as a representative of the Masyumi Party. She was recognized as a national hero by President Joko Widodo in 2013. She died in 1969 due to illness and was buried at the Great Mosque of Kauman.