the traditionalists had also contributed to its decline. This created a vacuum within the Muslim community for the leadership role, filled by civil society organizations such as Muhammadiyah, NU, more puritanical PERSIS, and Al-Irshad Al-Islamiya. These organizations upheld non-political position and concentrated on the social reforms and proselytization. This trend persisted during the Japanese occupation as well, whose occupational administration took the ambivalent stance toward Islam. Islam was considered both as a potential friend against the Western imperialism and a potential foe against their vision of Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Post-independence (since 1945) Indonesia became the world's second-largest Muslim-majority country after its independence in 1945. The separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 made it the world's most populous Muslim-majority country. Post-independence had seen the most significant upheaval of the Muslim society on various aspects of society. This owes to the independence, increased literacy and educational attainment among Muslims, funding from the Middle East, and all the more accelerated exchange between other Muslim countries. The subsequent development of the Muslim society had brought Indonesia even closer to the center of Islamic intellectual activity. A number of scholars and writers have contributed to the development of Islamic interpretations within the Indonesian context, often through the intellectual exchange between the foreign contemporaries. Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah (Hamka) was a modernist writer and religious leader who is credited for Tafsir al-Azhar. It was the first comprehensive Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) written in the Indonesian, which attempted to construe Islamic principles within the Malay-Minangkabau culture. Harun Nasution was a pioneering scholar adhered to the humanist and rationalist perspectives in Indonesian intellectual landscape, advocating for a position described as neo-Mutazilite. Nurcholish Madjid (Cak Nur) was a highly influential scholar who is credited for cultivating the modernist and reformist discourse, primarily influenced by Pakistani Islamic philosopher Fazlur Rahman. Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), later president of Indonesia, went through the Islamic education at the University of Baghdad, and later became the central figure of Indonesia's liberal Islamic trend. Quraish Shihab compiled Tafsir Al-Mishbah, which is considered a standard of Indonesian Islamic interpretation among mainstream Indonesian Islamic intellectuals. Post-independence had also seen an expansion in the activity of Islamic organizations, especially regarding missionary activities (dawah) and Islamization of lifestyles. The Ministry of Religion reported that as late as the 1960s, only a minority of Muslims were practicing daily prayers and almsgiving. This status had drastically changed through the