The State Islamic Institute (IAIN) Raden Fatah Palembang was inaugurated on November 13, 1964 at the House of Representatives Building of South Sumatra Province. Based on the Decree of the Minister of Religious Affairs Number 7 of 1964 dated October 22, 1964. The origins of the establishment of IAIN Raden Fatah are closely related to the existence of Islamic higher education institutions in South Sumatra with IAIN Sunan Kalijaga in Yogyakarta and IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah in Jakarta. The forerunner of IAIN was initially initiated by three scholars, namely K.H.A. Rasyid sidik, K.H. Husin Abdul Mu’in and K.H. Siddik Adim during the Indonesian Ulema conference in Palembang in 1957. The idea received wide acceptance from both the government and conference participants. On the last day of the conference, September 11, 1957, the establishment of the Faculty of Islamic Law and Community Knowledge was inaugurated chaired by K.H. A. Gani Sindang Muchtar Effendi as Secretary. A year later the South Sumatra Islamic College Foundation was formed (Notarial Deed No. 49 dated July 16, 1958) whose management consisted of Government Officials, scholars and community leaders.
From 1975 to 1995 IAIN Raden Fatah had 5 faculties, three faculties in Palembang, namely the Faculty of Sharia, the Faculty of Tarbiyah and the Faculty of Ushuluddin; and two Faculties in Bengkulu., namely the Faculty of Ushuluddin in Curup and the Faculty of Sharia in Bengkulu. In line with government policy in efforts to develop Islamic universities, on June 30, 1997, each of the two faculties was upgraded to the status of State Islamic High Schools (STAIN), namely STAIN Curup and STAIN Bengkulu. In the next development, IAIN Raden Fatah opened two new faculties, namely the Faculty of Adab and the Faculty of Da’wah based on the Decree of the Minister of Religious Affairs R.I Number 103 of 1998 dated February 27, 1998. The forerunner of the Faculty of Adab began with the opening and acceptance of students of the Arabic Language and Literature Study Program and Islamic Cultural History in the 1995/1996 academic year. The establishment of the Postgraduate Program in 2000 confirmed IAIN Raden Fatah as an educational institution that has a commitment to the enlightenment of the academic community who are always eager to continue to gain and develop multidisciplinary Islamic sciences.
Finally, through a long struggle from the entire UIN academic community and South Sumatran community leaders, in 2014 through Presidential Decree No. 129 of 2014 concerning the Change of IAIN Raden Fatah Palembang to UIN Raden Fatah Palembang became the history of the transformation of institutions from IAIN to UIN. This change is certainly a compass and direction and a strategic agenda for the development of UIN Raden Fatah Palembang in the future.
