a lecturer on adat and Islamic law at the University of Indonesia. In early 1953 he served as the head of the Civil / Criminal Law Division at the Ministry of Justice. He later was selected as Minister of Internal Affairs for the First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet, serving from 30 July 1953 to 18 November 1954. During his term, he helped pass a law guaranteeing inheritance rights to children born out of wedlock and unmarried live-together partners. He later served in the Ministry of Justice, retiring in 1959. After retiring from politics, Hazairin founded the Wakaf Foundation of Islamic Higher Learning (Yayasan Wakaf Perguruan Tinggi Islam, later the Islamic University of Jakarta Foundation) in Jakarta, later serving as the rector of its university. Beginning in 1960 until his death on 11 December 1975, he served as president of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. He also taught at the Jakarta School of Policing (Perguruan Tinggi Ilmu Kepolisian). Views Hazairin wrote extensively on marriage law in relation to Islam, and is considered a moderate. He saw Islam as having a bilateral marriage system; in other words, not matrilineal and not patrilineal. He based this opinion on three things. Firstly, he read Sura An-Nisa verses 23 and 24 as allowing cousin marriages, which in his opinion showed support for the bilateral system. Secondly, he noted that verse 11 of Sura An-Nisa allowed inheritances to both sons and daughters; he believed that a patrilineal society would only allow sons to inherit wealth. Finally, verses 12 and 176 of Sura An-Nisa allowed all siblings to share equally in the inheritance. Legacy For his work in South Tapanuli, Hazairin was given the title Gelar Pangeran Alamsyah Harahap. The government awarded him several medals, including the Bintang Satya Lencana Widya Satia, the Bintang Gerilya, the Bhayangkara Kelas III, and the Bintang Kartika Eka Paksi Kelas III. Hazairin University in Bengkulu is named after him. Personal life Hazairin was a polyglot, fluent in Dutch, Indonesian, English, and French, with a passive comprehension of Arabic, Latin, and German. Selected works Hazairin published 17 works regarding adat and Islamic law, with those about adat noting the diversity found in Indonesia, and those on Islamic law pushing for an amalgamation of Islamic and secular law. Among his works are: References Footnotes Bibliography 1906 births 1975 deaths Academic staff of the University of Indonesia Indonesian people of Iranian descent Interior ministers of