UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta originated from Academy of the Service Academy of Religious Sciences (ADIA) established on June 1, 1957. ADIA itself was an official academy under the management of Ministry of Religious Affairs. ADIA was established by the Decree of the Minister of Religious Affairs, No. 1 of 1957. This institution was intended to educate and prepare civil servants to be expert in teaching Islamic courses in Secondary Schools, Vocational Schools and Religious Schools.

At its inception, ADIA occupied the location of Islamic University Jakarta (UIJ) in Madura Street, before moving to Limo Street (UHAMKA now) in the following year. In the third year, ADIA moved to Culture Centrum (KS) Campus in Ciputat (UIN now). At that time, ADIA had only 43 students divided into two departments, namely: Department of Shari’a (Religious Education) and Department of Lughat al Arabiyah (Department of Arabic Language) and the Special Department for Army’s Religious Leaders as Arabic was the instructional language. Indonesian Languagewas only used as an instructional language for general courses.

History

Looking through the history of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta actually means to reveal the story of Indonesian Muslim’s struggle in order to have a higher education institution attributed with ‘Islamic value, modernity, and “Indonesian-ness”. Therefore, the establishment of UIN is essentially a product of the Muslim’s aspiration to establish and develop an institution to educate students and become a reliable person in response to any community needs and changing times.

As a higher education institution, the establishment of UIN Jakarta cannot be separated from the historical development of Islamic universities in Indonesia. The embryos of UIN Jakarta can be traced back from the establishment of Pesantren Luhur (before Indonesia’s independence), then the Islamic High School in Padang and Jakarta In 1946, followed by the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) in Yogyakarta, the establishment of the Service Academy of Religious Sciences (ADIA) in 1957 in Jakarta, until finally became UIN Syarif Hidayatullah as we see it now.