Wednesday, March 16, 2011

18 Ahmadiyah Members in West Java Renounced Their Faith

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18 Ahmadiyah Members in West Java Renounced Their Faith
March 16, 2011

A former Ahmadiyah follower in Bogor reciting an affirmation of mainstream Islamic beliefs on Tuesday. On Wednesday, 18 more Ahmadis renounced their faith in Sukabumi. (Antara Photo)
A former Ahmadiyah follower in Bogor reciting an affirmation of mainstream Islamic beliefs on Tuesday. On Wednesday, 18 more Ahmadis renounced their faith in Sukabumi. (Antara Photo)
Sukabumi. Eighteen more members of the Ahmadiyah sect, this time from four subdistricts in Sukabumi, West Java, renounced their faith on Wednesday.

Witnessed by the chairman of the Sukabumi branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), they recited the Islamic syahadat, an affirmation of mainstream Islamic beliefs that there is only one god and that Muhammad was his last prophet, at Sukabumi’s Islamic Center.

They also signed a statement saying that they renounced their faith of their own free will.

One of them, Wawan Irwansyah, 47, said he had followed Ahmadiyah’s teachings for 19 years before giving up on them.

“I became an Ahmadi because a relative asked me to, but for all 19 years, I had never felt comfortable with it. Today, I decided to renounce it without any pressure from anyone,” Wawan said.

Another convert, Sukaria, 78, said he became an Ahmadi by ‘accident’ two years ago. He said the nearest mosque near his home was the Ahmadiyah mosque so he always carried out his Friday prayers there.

“I doubted Ahmadiyah teaching because they said there was another prophet after Muhammad,” Sukaria said.

On Tuesday, 13 members of the beleaguered Ahmadiyah sect in Bogor underwent a public ceremony to renounce their faith.

The ceremony, at a mosque in the village of Ciaruteun Udik, in Cibumbulang subdistrict, was organized by local officials and supported by the police and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

Antara

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