Abdul Wahab Hasbullah


Kyai Hajj Abdul Wahab Hasbullah was one of the founders of the Indonesian Nahdlatul Ulama movement. He also initiated the usage of newspaper for dakwah, with the establishment of the newspaper of Nahdlatul Ulama, Soeara Nahdlatul Oelama. He also created the lyrics for the anthem of Nahdlatul Ulama, Ya Lal Wathon, in 1934. He was declared a national hero on 7 November 2014 by President Joko Widodo.
He was the father of Mundijah Wahab, the current Mayor of Jombang.

Early life

Abdul Wahab Hasbullah was born on Gedang Village, in the Jombang region. According to correspondence with Hasbullah, he didn't knew the exact date of his birth. In the parliamentary almanac, his birth date was 31 March 1888, he approved his birth year as 1887.
He was born as the first son of the eight brothers from his father Chasbullah and mother Nyai Latifah. Chasbullah was the head of the Tambakberas Jombang pesantren. Hasbullah's genealogy can be traced to Joko Tingkir and Brawijaya VI.

Education

His childhood wast mostly spent in Pesantrens. Before he was seven year old, his father taught him about religion. After his father decided that he was mature enough to study in pesantren, he was sent to the Langitan Pesantren under Kyai Ahmad Sholeh. Then, at the age of thirteen, his father decided that Wahab should study at several different pesantrens, in order to experience the uniqueness of each pesantrens, especially in the Islamic studies, such as Al-Quran study tafsir, hadith, Arabic, and tasawuf.
For seven years, Wahab