Baginda Dahlan Abdullah (15 June 1895 – 12 May 1950) was an Indonesian educator, politician, and diplomat of Minangkabau descent who served as the first ambassador of the United States of Indonesia to the Kingdom of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Dahlan Abdullah was born in Pariaman, West Sumatra, in the former Dutch East Indies on 15 June 1895,[a] the eldest son of Abdoellah, a local judge (kadi) of Islamic law, and Siti Alidjah, who is also known as Uniang.

[6][7] The following year, his father enrolled him in a prestigious auxiliary teacher training school (Hollandsch Inlandsche Kweekschool) in Fort de Kock (now Bukittinggi), entering in the same class as the future Marxist revolutionary figure Tan Malaka.

[6] It is unknown how Abdoellah was able to enroll his son in the European-style school, but Dutch colonial officials during that period were known to have sympathized with indigenous families whose children demonstrated academic prowess.

[17] In 1919, he was accepted as a member of the Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, a prestigious academic journal with special emphasis on Southeast Asia and the East Indies.

Dahlan's funeral procession on 19 May was attended by thousands of Baghdad residents, and the Iraqi government granted permission for his body to be interred at the complex of the Mausoleum of Abdul-Qadir Gilani.