Prof. Dr. Phil. Sahiron Syamsuddin, M.A. is Director of Islamic Higher Education at the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. He earned his Ph.D. from Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, Germany, and is a Professor at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta. Author of numerous books and articles, he lectures at Gadjah Mada University and directs the Centre for Pesantren Studies; he is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Pesantren Studies.