
1972, Pondok Pesantren Al-Mukmin didirikan oleh Abu Bakar Ba'asyir bersama Abdullah Sungkar, Yoyo Roswadi, Abdul Qohar H. Daeng Matase dan Abdllah Baraja. Pondok Pesantren ini berlokasi di Jalan Gading Kidul 72 A, Desa Ngruki, Kabupaten Sukoharjo, Jawa Tengah. Menempati areal seluas 8.000 meter persegi persisnya 2,5 kilometer dari Solo. Keberadaan pondok ini semula adalah kegiatan pengajian kuliah zuhur di Masjid Agung Surakarta. Membajirnya jumlah jamaah membuat para mubalig dan ustadz kemudian bermaksud mengembangkan pengajian itu menjadi Madrasah Diniyah.
Perjalanan kariernya dimulai dengan menjadi aktivis Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam Solo. Selanjutnya ia menjabat Sekretaris Pemuda Al-Irsyad Solo, kemudian terpilih menjadi Ketua Gerakan Pemuda Islam Indonesia (1961), Ketua Lembaga Dakwah Mahasiswa Islam, memimpin Pondok Pesantren Al Mu'min (1972) dan Ketua Organisasi Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI), 2002. Ba'asyir mendirikan Pesantren Al-Mu'min di Ngruki, Sukoharjo, Jawa Tengah, bersama dengan Abdullah Sungkar pada 10 Maret 1972. Pada masa Orde Baru, Ba'asyir melarikan diri dan tinggal di Malaysia selama 17 tahun atas penolakannya terhadap asas tunggal Pancasila. 16 Juni 2011, Ba'asyir dijatuhi hukuman penjara 15 tahun oleh majelis hakim Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Selatan setelah dinyatakan terlibat dalam pendanaan latihan teroris di Aceh dan mendukung terorisme di Indonesia, walaupun banyak kontroversi yang terjadi selama masa persidangan.
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir (ABB) dikabarkan meninggal dunia. Kabar meninggalnya pimpinan Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) itu beredar di sejumlah media sosial, Minggu (27/11/2016) malam. Saat ini ABB ditahan di Lembaga Permasyarakatan (Lapas) Gunung Sindur, Kabupaten Bogor. Dimintai konfirmasi mengenai kebenaran kabar tersebut, Kapolres Bogor AKBP Andi M Dicky langsung menyampaikan klarifikasi. "Kabar itu enggak benar. Sudah dicek dan beliau masih sehat wal afiat sampai saat ini," ujar AKBP Dicky saat ditanya TribunnewsBogor.com, Minggu malam. Menurutnya, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir masih berada di dalam lapas Gunung Sindur. Kapolres mengimbau agar masyarakat cerdas menyerap informasi yang beredar di media sosial dan tidak menyebarkan informasi yang belum jelas kebenarannya. "Jangan langsung diserap informasi yang disebarkan oleh sumber yang tidak bisa dipertanggungjawabkan kerbenarannya. Lebih baik percaya dengan media yang sudah jelas kredibilitasnya sebagai sumber informasi dan sudah berizin," katanya.

Bashir was born in Jombang, East Java, on 17 August 1938, to a family of Hadhrami Arab and Javanese descent. He was a student of Gontor Islamic boarding school in Ponorogo, graduating in 1959, before entering Al-Irsyad University, in Solo, Central Java, and graduating in 1963. After time as an activist for the Islamic Student Association (Indonesian: Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam) in Solo, he was elected secretary of Al-Irsyad Youth Organization, and then president of Indonesian Islamic Youth Movement (GPII) (1961), and Indonesian Student Da'wah Organization (LDMI). In 1972, Bashir founded Al-Mukmin boarding school with friends Abdullah Sungkar, Yoyo Roswadi, Abdul Qohar H. Daeng Matase and Abdllah Baraja. Al-Mukmin is located in Ngruki, near Solo, Central Java. Initially, Al-Mukmin's activities were limited to religious discussion after dhuhr (mid-day prayer).
Following increasing interest, the founders expanded Al-Mukmin into Madrasah (Islamic school) and then to Pesantren (Islamic boarding school). During Indonesian President Suharto's New Order, Bashir and Sungkar were arrested for a number of reasons, firstly for actively supporting Sharia, the non-recognition of the Indonesian national ideology Pancasila which in part promotes religious pluralism. Secondly, the refusal of their school to salute the Indonesian flag which signified Bashir's continual refusal to recognise the authority of a secular Indonesian state. Bashir appealed but was subsequently imprisoned without trial from 1978 to 1982.
Soon after his release, Bashir was convicted on similar charges; he was also linked to the bomb attack on the Buddhist monument Borobudur in 1985 but fled to Malaysia. During his years in exile Bashir undertook religious teachings in both Malaysia and Singapore. The United States government alleged that during this period he became involved with Jamaah Islamiyah, an alleged militant Islamist group. Bashir remained in exile until Indonesian President Suharto's fall in 1998. Bashir returned to Indonesia in 1999 and became a cleric, renewing his call for Sharia law. Ba'asyir has two sons—Abdul Roshid Ridyo Ba'asyir, born 31 January 1974 in Sukarjo, Java, Indonesia; and Abdul Rahim Ba'asyir, born 16 November 1977 in Surakarta, Java, Indonesia— and a daughter, Zulfur.