Jassin was born in
Gorontalo,
Gorontalo on 31 July 1917 to a Bague Mantu Jassin, a Muslim
bibliophilic Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij employee, and his wife Habibah Jau. He had five brothers and sisters. He attended at a hollandsch-inlandsche school, a Dutch-language school for
native Indonesians, in Gorontalo, where he began to read extensively. His family later moved to
Medan,
North Sumatra, where he attended a hogere burger school, or five-year secondary education program for native Indonesians. During this period, he began to write literary reviews, which were published in local magazines. He also read numerous works of Western literature. After finishing his studies in Medan, Jassin returned to Gorontalo, where he worked at the local
resident's office without pay. In 1940, he was offered a position at
Balai Pustaka, the Dutch-owned state publishing house, by then-executive director
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana. He started in short story and poetry writing, but was later moved to reviews and documentation. During the
Japanese occupation, he published several works, both poems and short stories, in the Japanese-sponsored daily
Asia Raja. In 1953, Jassin enrolled in the literature program of the
University of Indonesia (UI), doubling as a lecturer for courses related to modern
Indonesian literature. After graduating in 1957, he spent two years at
Yale in the United States studying
comparative literature. Upon returning to Jakarta, Jassin continued to work as a lecturer at the UI. Jassin was fired from his position at UI in 1964, after he was one of the main signatories of the 1963
Manifesto Kebudayaan (Cultural Manifesto), a response to the continued leftist pressures in literature ( notably from the
Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat, amongst other organisations). The manifesto was banned on 8 May 1964, resulting in action against all of its signatories. In 1971, Jassin was put on trial for blasphemy for refusing to divulge the true name of the author of the short story "
Langit Makin Mendung" ("The Sky is Increasingly Cloudy"), which was published in
Sastra, which he edited. The story, written under the pen name Ki Pandji Kusmin, depicted
Allah as being similar to a human. Jassin was sentenced to a year's suspended sentence; he spent two years arguing against the verdict. After his probation, Jassin returned to the UI as a permanent lecturer. Two years later, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree. In 1976, he founded the
HB Jassin Literary Documentation Center (HBJLDC), located in
Taman Ismail Marzuki, with books from his own collection, which was begun in 1940. In 1978, Jassin produced a translation of the
Quran, titled ''Al Qur'an Bacaan Mulia
(The Quran, The Noble Book
), which was in verse rather than the traditional prose. It was controversial due to public perception that Jassin lacked an understanding of Islam and knowledge of Arabic. Jassin later made another translation, Al-Qur'an Berwajah Puisi
(The Quran in Poetry''), which also proved to be controversial. Jassin started using a wheelchair in 1996 due to a stroke. As a result of the stroke, his associates took over work on the four translations he had been working on. Jassin himself attempted to continue his work with the assistance of his niece, but was unable to keep his previous pace. Jassin died at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Jakarta after suffering a stroke (his sixth) on the morning of 11 March 2000. Approximately 200 people attended a prayer service for him at the HBJLDC, including noted writers
Taufiq Ismail,
Ajip Rosidi, and
Goenawan Mohamad. He was then buried in a state funeral at the
Kalibata Heroes' Cemetery in South Jakarta. ==Personal life==