Bahtiar Effendy, a prominent Muslim scholar whose body of work elucidated and helped shape the complex relations between Islam and the state in Indonesia, died in a Jakarta hospital early on Thursday. He was 60. His death triggered an outpouring of grief from his closest colleagues who believed that, as a public intellectual, the late scholar had left an important legacy for the country, in which Islam — how it is interpreted and practiced by its followers — has long been a dominant political force. His seminal book, Islam and the State in Indonesia, published by Ohio University Press, is now considered a classic among scholars of Indonesian Islam. "Without reading the book, it is impossible for anyone to understand properly the position of Muslims in the country," said Center for the Study of Religion and Democracy (PUSAD) director Ihsan Ali Fauz...