South Sulawesi" (1978). In 1980, Quraish Shihab returned to Cairo and continued his education at his old alma mater. In 1982 he earned his doctorate in the sciences of the Qur'an with the dissertation studying the method of al-Biqa'i (al-Biqa'i is a scholar of exegesis from Damascus in the 15th century) entitled The Research and Study of The Pearls System of al-Biqa'i ( ), where he graduated summa cum laude with first class honors (). Career In 1984 Quraish was assigned as a lecturer in the Ushuluddin faculty and postgraduate faculty at IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. He was entrusted to positions at various departments: among others; the co-chairman of Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) (since 1984); member of Lajnah Pentashih Qur'an at the Department of Religious Affairs (since 1989) and member of the Advisory Board of National Education (since 1989). Quraish Shihab is also heavily involved in several professional organizations; he is a member of the Shari'ah Science Society; member of the Consortium of the Religions at the Ministry of Education and Culture, and is the Assistant Chief of the General Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI). Quraish was appointed as Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs in 1998 for about two months, and later appointed as The Indonesian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Egypt and accredited to Djibouti in Cairo from 1999 to 2002. Publications Quraish has written since he was twenty two years old, with his first book was 60-pages book written in Arabic titled Al- Khawathir published in Egypt. He has written more than 30 books. Among them are: Tafsir Al-Manar: privileges and disadvantages (Ujung Pandang: IAIN Alauddin, 1984) Filsafat Hukum Islam (The Philosophy of Islamic Laws) (Jakarta: Department of Religion, 1987); Mahkota Tuntunan Ilahi (The Crown of Divine Guidance; a book on The Exegesis of Surah Al-Fatihah) (Jakarta: Untagma, 1988) Membumikan al-Qur'an (Earthing the Quran) (Bandung: Mizan, 1992). This book is one of the Best Seller that has sold for more than 75 thousand copies. Lentera Hati: Kisah dan Hikmah Kehidupan (Lantern of Heart: The Story and Lessons of Life) in 1994 (with multiple reprinted editions) Tafsir Al-Mishbah, a 15-volumes complete (30 juz) exegesis of the Qur'an (Jakarta: Lentera Hati) Wawasan Al-Qur'an: Tafsir Tematik Atas Pelbagai Persoalan Ummat (The insights of Koran: The thematic interpretation of various questions) Kaidah Tafsir (The Principles of Exegesis) (Lentera Hati, 2013), a book about methodologies and principles of Qur'anic interpretation. M. Quraish