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Indonesia Says It Will Dissolve Deviant Muslim Sect

By Howard Friedman

Last week the government of Indonesia announced it would issue a joint decree to outlaw Ahmadiyah sect. The move followed a recommendation by the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem). It said Ahmadiyah had not committed to a declaration it signed in January acknowledging mainstream Islamic teachings and renouncing the sect's "deviant" beliefs. Particularly at issue in the Ahmadiyah belief that Mirza Gulam Ahmad, not Muhammad, is the last prophet in Islam. The Jakarta Post reported that on Sunday several thousand Muslim hard-liners staged a rally urging the government to move ahead with its ban. One rally leader told the crowd: "Ahmadiyah members have violated our human rights by disturbing our practice of Islam! They are trying to poison our minds with this new prophet nonsense." A number of moderate clerics, however, oppose the government's plan. Also the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Canada has issued a statement strongly condemning of the Indonesian government's plans. The statement said: "History has shown that where religious extremists are appeased, eventually, the erosion of constitutional freedoms inevitably results."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on April 21, 2008 (boomark / email).