Irfan is a notable educator, writer, and ustaz (Islamic clerics) focused on enriching the contextualization of Islamic thinking and campaigning the use of reflective thinking in Indonesia’s Islamic education. His works can be found online and offline, from short-course program to book publication; from podcast to content creation. His works are instrumental given the domination of ultra-conservative narratives in the internet, Islamic books, and some Islamic school’s textbooks; as well as the lack of critical thinking among young Indonesian Muslims which make them the vulnerable target of radicalization. The spectrum of his works is considered thorough and wide, from research to content creation; from curriculum development to influencing policy making. Given his network and collaboration with various social actors, the impact of his works is nationwide and cross aged groups and occupations, such as children aged 5 to 15 (through Salamul Falah), youth and adult aged 18 to 35 (through Podcastren, Milenial Islami, Toleransi.id), as well as teachers (through Chatbot Bineka and social-emotional skills training) and young inter-religious leaders. His podcast program has been streamed/viewed more than 30,000 times.
Irfan understands that studying at the world’s best university on education in the UK has become a high jump and a turning point of his life. The experience helped him regain his self confidence and self-worth. It helped him gain credibility, network widening, career boost, and national recognition as an inspiring young Muslim scholar. The university has provided a safe and supportive learning environment where help was easily to be reached out, the lecturers were encouraging, and individual academic growth was facilitated.
After the UK experience, he became a lecturer in Universitas Putra Indonesia in which he was assigned as the chief of management program before being appointed as the dean of the Faculty of Humanities this year. During 2017-2019, he has written more than 200 essays published on various online media. The writing was part of his job as an affiliate researcher of Akar Rumput Strategic Consulting. In terms of community services, he continued running Salamul Falah, his Islamic short-course program; he was appointed as lead facilitator for some programs organized by Milenial Islami and Toleransi.id during 2017-2019. In 2020, he was appointed as an aide for Presidential Special Staff. In 2021, he enacted Yayasan Literasi Naratif Islami to integrate his educational activism from podcast to book publication to the preparation of school enactment.