Indonesian Religion Minister Wants Ahmadiyah Sect Disbanded

ASIA

Indonesian Religion Minister Wants Ahmadiyah Sect Disbanded

Brian Padden | Jakarta31 August 2010

Photo: AP

Members of Indonesian hard-line Islamic groups shout slogans during a rally in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, demanding the government disband Ahmadiyah, 5 Mar 2009 (file photo)

The Indonesian minister of Religious Affairs wants the Jamaah Ahmadiyah religious group to be disbanded in the country. Human rights groups and some religious organizations said such action would be a violation of both human rights and the constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.

Suryadharma Ali, the Religious Affairs minister, has said that the Jamaah Ahmadiyah sect should to be broken up because its followers violated regulations and are not Muslim.

The Ahmadiyah sect, which has 200,000 followers across the country, breaks with mainstream Islam because its followers do not believe the Prophet Muhammad was the final prophet. In 2008, the Indonesian government banned the group from propagating the faith. The Religious Affairs minister says Ahmadiyah has defied this restriction and should now be banned.

Syafi’i Anwar with the International Center for Islam and Pluralism said the minister’s call to restrict the religion contradicts the values and laws he should be upholding. “This is definitely against human rights, against religious freedom, against our constitution and against our Islamic principles.”

He said Ahmadiyah has been a sanctioned religion by the government since 1954 and its members should enjoy the same protection under the law as other religions.

Some Muslims, however, contend Ahmadiyah is not a separate religion, but a deviate sect of Islam, and therefore does not enjoy the same constitutional protection.

In the past few months there have been attacks on Ahmadiyah mosques by fundamentalist Islamic groups. At a hearing in the House of Representatives on Monday, the Religious Affairs minister said Ahmadiyah should be disbanded to prevent further problems.

Anwar said the attacks happened because the government, particularly President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, refuses to speak out against the violence and for religious freedom.

“President SBY makes a serious mistake,” said Anwar. “Why? Because he doesn’t take any firm position. If he just say that, you know, order the police (to arrest) those who attack Ahmadiyah or any other non-Muslim groups, I think the police will follow.”

The president thus far has refused to comment, so the minister of Religious Affairs’ statement is the clearest indication of where the government stands on this issue.

While Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, the government is secular and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The country has seen sporadic violence, though, between different religious groups over the past decade.

URL: www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Indonesi...banded--101918633.html

Followers of Ahmadiyah Face Pressure in Indonesia

ASIA

Followers of Ahmadiyah Face Pressure in Indonesia

Angela Dewan | Jakarta11 August 2010

Photo: AP

Ahmadiyah followers coming out from a mosque after Friday prayers in Kuningan, West Java, Indonesia, 30 Jul 2010

A mosque belonging to the Islamic sect Ahmadiyah in Indonesia has been allowed to stay open following weeks of threats of closure by some Islamic groups and authorities. Followers of Ahmadiyah, considered a deviant sect in Indonesia, continue to face pressure from some mainstream Muslim groups.

It is midday in Jakarta and mosques all over the city are calling millions of Muslims to prayer.

The Al Hidayah mosque in northern Jakarta looks much like any other in Indonesia. Its dome and minaret are unmistakably Islamic and people who come to pray wash their hands and feet, kneel on prayer mats and bow their heads to the ground, as Muslims do all over the world.

Background

What makes this mosque different, however, is that it is a house of worship for the Ahmadiyah sect. In 2008, the Indonesian government banned the group from propagating their faith, because its followers believe that founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of India was Islam’s last prophet. [**] This differs from mainstream Islam, which considers Muhammad the last prophet.

The head of the Al Hidayah mosque, Zafrullah Pontoh, says he and his congregation have practiced their religion as usual since the ministerial decree.

He says that Ahmadis are Muslims. Their principles are in harmony with Islam. Their calls to prayer are the same. Their rituals are the same. There is no big difference.

Followers under attack

But in many areas in Indonesia, Ahmadis find themselves under attack. In Manis Lor in West Java, about 160 kilometers from Jakarta, two-thirds of the district’s 4,500 residents are Ahmadiyah Muslims.

Police officers guarded Manis Lor this week after attacks and threats on an Ahmadiyah mosque there ahead of Islam’s holiest observances, the fasting month of Ramadan.

Attempt to close the mosque

Late last month, violence broke out there when police and hundreds of supporters from strict Islamist groups attempted to close down the mosque before Ramadan began on Wednesday.

The district head had ordered the mosque closed after a recommendation in June from the National Ulema Council that all eight Ahmadiyah mosques in Manis Lor be shut.

But district officials backed off on the effort to close the mosque this week.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos is from the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, an Indonesian research group that tracks human rights. He says the mosque was not closed because local authorities lacked support from the central government. Although the district has some autonomy, the national government can overrule local decrees.

He says Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono invited the district head to Jakarta to discuss the situation, and it has calmed down since then.

He says that religious affairs are dealt with by the central government, and that closing the mosque would not have been legal. He says the 2008 ministerial decree was against Ahmadis propagating their religion, not against them practicing it.

The situation in Manis Lor echoes a string of attacks on Christian churches in recent months, carried out mostly by a group known as the Islamic Defenders Front. Their attacks are in part a response to allegations that Christians have been proselytizing in Muslim neighborhoods.

Government standing on the issue

The attacks have raised concerns that Islamic hard-liners are gaining a firmer grip on the government and that freedom of religion is under threat.

Andreas Harsono is from Human Rights Watch. He says the government should revoke the 2008 decree and that attempts to close the Manis Lor mosque are illegal.

“Restricting Ahmadiyah … is against international human rights law,” Harsono said. “In this case, the Indonesian government does not obey the international treaty it has signed.”

While Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population – more than 200 million people – the government is secular. The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but only for six major faiths.

The Religious Affairs Ministry last month defended the decree against Ahmadiyah, describing its teachings as “heretic”.

The ministry’s director for Islamic guidance, Nasarudin Umar, says Indonesians still have religious freedom.

He says that everyone in Indonesia has the right to follow different religions, as long as they do not agitate people of other religions. If one religion violates the religion of the majority and uses the same name, he says, then that is a problem. If Ahmadiyah says it is Islamic, it must follow Islamic principles.

The pressure on the Ahmadis is expected to ease during Ramadan, but there are concerns it could resume after the month of fasting and prayer ends.

The statement is erroneous. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian did not make any such claim of being last prophet. Please visit Alislam.org/messiah for further info.

URL: www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Followe...sia-100451979.html

Ten Ahmadi Muslims arrested on false charges in Pakistan

-- Persecution Report - Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

11 November 2008

PERSECUTION REPORT

TEN AHMADI MUSLIMS ARRESTED ON FALSE CHARGES IN PAKISTAN

In September 2008 ten members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat were falsely arrested under sections 298B and 298C of the Pakistani Penal Code. Although temporary bail had been assured, at a confirmation hearing the presiding Judge cancelled the right to bail of all but one of the accused. Thus on 6th October 2008 the accused were sent to Jhang Prison, at a great distance from their homes in Rabwah (Chenab Nagar).

Police dealing with this case in Rabwah originally registered First Information Report (FIR) No. 443/08 on the grounds that the ten men who are traders published Ramadan Calendars in which the terms ‘Khilafat’ and ‘Imam’ were allegedly used. However the anti-Ahmadiyya specific laws used to charge the ten men do not include either of these two words on its list of ‘Islamic terms’.

The incompetence of the Police is illustrated by the fact that one of the accused, Mian Latif Ahmad, is actually deceased. The ruthless nature of the Police is illustrated by the fact that one of the accused, Shah Zeb Asim, is a young boy who is not yet a teenager.

The International Community is urged to take action against the continued persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Pakistan.