Ulema's biography published soon

SURABAYA, East Java: A biography of As'ad Syamsul Arifin, a prominent figure in the largest Moslem socio-religious organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), will be launched Sunday.

The book's author, Choirul Anam, told Antara yesterday that the biography would settle the controversy surrounding the late ulema, the founder of the Salafiyah Syafi'iyah Islamic Boarding School in Situbondo, East Java.

Born in Mecca in 1897, Arifin became popular in his struggle to bring back NU to its original mission as a socio-religious organization by leaving the political arena. (sim)