Prof. Dr. Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio M.Ec. was born in Sukabumi on May 12, 1965. His real name is Nio Gwan Chung, a son of Liem Soen Nio (Hj. Suniah Badrahalim) and Nio Sem Nyau. He grew up in a Confucian family, but his family also gave him freedom of religion and he began to try to study Islam comparatively with other religions using three approaches: history, nature and reason. He did not use the scriptural approach to find out the results objectively.
According to him, Islam as a religion that is easy to understand, also has a very complete and comprehensive value system, covering the system of belief, belief, and no need for intermediaries in worship. When he was 17 years old, Syafi'i Antonio decided to embrace Islam after contemplating and saying the shahada under the guidance of KH. Abdullah bin Nuh al-Ghazali in 1984. Syafi'i Antonio attended the an-Nidzom Islamic Boarding School in Sukabumi, led by K.H. Abdullah Muchtar. In addition, he also actively helped Chinese Muslim brothers and participated in the Haji Karim Oei Foundation.
Syafi'i Antonio completed his Bachelor's degree at the University of Jordan in 1990. He then continued his Master's degree at the International Islamic University Malaysia, and received his Doctorate in Banking and Microfinance from the University of Melbourne in 2004. Syafi'i Antonio's career, apart from being a preacher, has been involved in the Islamic economic ecosystem, starting from the Expert Committee for Islamic Banking Development at Bank Indonesia, the Board of Commissioners and the Sharia Board at the Islamic Bank Financial Institution and the Rector who leads the Tazkia Institute.
Syafi'i Antonio has many proud achievements during his career in Islamic banking. He supported the development of 14 Islamic banking business units and 7 Islamic insurance companies through Batasa Tazkia Consulting. In addition, he provided training to more than 6000 financial practitioners. As a result, Syafi'i Antonio received several awards such as Syariah Award by the central Bank of Indonesia, Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI), and Bank Muamalat (2003), Arab Asia Finance recognition Award by Arab Asia Finance Forum (2008), Australian Alumni Award (in Business Leadership category) from the Government of Australia (2009), IDB Prize Nominee from Indonesia (by the Ministry of Finance) and others.
The focus of Syafi'i Antonio's thinking is to revitalize muamalah fiqh in relation to the Islamic economic system and other financial institution subsystems in Indonesia. Disagreements between scholars and economists who were busy in their respective fields caused the progress of Islamic economics in Indonesia to be slow. The scholars only concentrate on issues of creed, worship, munakahat, and jinayah. Meanwhile, economists are adept at financial management, monetary and other financial issues, but they do not study sharia much.
Talking about bank interest, Syafi'i Antonio calls it a source of danger and evil, it can also torment and destroy. According to him, the banking system based on sharia is an alternative system that is mutually beneficial for the community and the bank, and emphasizes aspects of justice in transactions, ethical investment, prioritizes the values of togetherness and brotherhood in production, and avoids speculative activities in financial transactions.
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