Miftah Maulana Habiburrahman

Miftah Maulana Habiburrahman, known as Gus Miftah, is an Indonesian preacher born on 5 August 1981 in Adilihur, Jabung, East Lampung¹. He leads the Ora Aji Islamic boarding school in Sleman and became known for preaching to marginalised communities, in nightclubs and in red-light districts¹. In October 2024 he was appointed President Prabowo Subianto's Special Envoy for Religious Harmony and the Development of Religious Facilities, and he resigned in December of the same year¹.

Miftah descends from Kyai Muhammad Ageng Besari, founder of the Tegalsari pesantren in Ponorogo¹. He studied at UIN Sunan Kalijaga in Yogyakarta without completing the degree, was active in the Nahdlatul Ulama-affiliated student movement PMII, and completed a bachelor's degree in Islamic Religious Education in 2023 at Sultan Agung Islamic University in Semarang¹.

Miftah built his fame on a preaching style that goes to those the pulpits do not usually reach: nightclub audiences, red-light districts and the socially marginalised¹; a recording of a sermon he gave in a Bali nightclub spread widely in 2019¹. He preaches in colloquial Javanese and Indonesian with direct dialogue, and runs his Ora Aji school in Sleman near Yogyakarta¹.

Positions are reported here as the sources give them; they are their holders' statements, not the museum's verdict. On 20 November 2024, at a mass preaching gathering in Mungkid, Miftah addressed an iced-tea vendor with an insulting word; the clip spread and a petition of more than 215,000 signatures demanded his resignation¹. Miftah apologised to the vendor in person on 4 December, then tendered his resignation as special envoy on 6 December 2024¹.

Miftah is among Indonesia's most followed digital preachers, with about 2.2 million Instagram followers and 1.14 million YouTube subscribers in platform figures of November 2026 — platform figures that change constantly and are not presented by the museum as fixed facts¹.

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