Marginalized Islamic sects find wider room for development<\/p>\n
By Rikza Abdullah<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The current era of reformation has given broader
\nroom for marginalized Islamic sects to expand their activities
\nwithout having to fear being banned by the government.<\/p>\n
Followers of the Malaysian-affiliated Darul Arqam, whose
\nactivities were banned in 1994, for example, are now improving
\nbusiness activities in various sectors under the name of
\nHawariyun groups of companies.<\/p>\n
Preachers of Ahmadiyah, who claim that their leader Mirza
\nGhulam Ahmad of India was a prophet, also find no obstacles in
\ndelivering their teachings throughout the country.<\/p>\n
Lia Aminuddin, whose claim to having received a revelation
\nfrom the Angel Gabriel was denounced by the Indonesian Ulemas
\nCouncil (MUI) as being a violation the principles of Islam, also
\nsustains her preaching forum at her house in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Agency for
\nResearch and Development, religious sects in various provinces
\nstill continue their activities even though the government,
\nthrough local prosecutors' offices, has banned their movements on
\nthe grounds that their activities have caused uneasiness for
\nother local society members.<\/p>\n
\"Pressures for a speedier democratization process have
\napparently caused the government to restrain itself from
\nprohibiting people from practicing their beliefs as long as they
\ndo not disturb the interests of others,\" Mursyid Ali of the
\nministry said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The pressures started to intensify in 1997 when Indonesia was
\nhard hit by an economic crisis and peaked in the following year,
\nwhen authoritarian president Soeharto abdicated his office.<\/p>\n
In 1996 former leaders of Indonesia's Darul Arqam established
\nHawariyun groups of businesses, according to its deputy managing
\ndirector, Abdurrahman Umar. He told The Jakarta Post Friday that
\nthe businesses were established to continue promoting the Islamic
\nway of life, as formulated by Darul Arqam founder Asy'ari
\nMuhammad Attamimi of Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Hawariyun currently operate businesses in five major groups
\nbased in Pakan Baru, Riau, Bandung, Jakarta and overseas. They
\noperate in various fields, from construction, healthcare
\nservices, agriculture, tourism, technology, restaurants,
\nmanufacturing and general trading. Overseas trading has offices
\nin Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Jordan, France and
\nGermany.<\/p>\n
Not all Hawariyun's businesses are profit-oriented. Some are
\noperated to meet Islamic compulsory principles -- that members of
\nsociety will be regarded as having committed a sin if none of
\nthem has carried out a service or produced something badly needed
\nby society.<\/p>\n
The consolidated income of the business groups can be used to
\nfinance all social activities of Hawariyun, such as education for
\nthe children of its followers and sending preachers to various
\ngroups of Islamic studies.<\/p>\n
\"We finance all the costs for the education of followers'
\nchildren,\" said Umar, while working on a computer presentation at
\nhis office on the first floor of Wisma Pondok Indah in South
\nJakarta. \"We are now sponsoring the education of about 40
\nuniversity students in Jordan and five others in Egypt.\"<\/p>\n
To operate its businesses, Hawariyun employs some 250 full
\ntime activists domestically and another 250 overseas. They are
\npaid on the basis of their daily needs, not on the basis of their
\nprofessional positions. A manager who has no wife and children,
\ntherefore, may earn less than his driver with a wife and eight
\nchildren.<\/p>\n
According to Umar, Hawariyun finds no societal or legal
\nobstacles in carrying out its social and business activities.
\nHowever, he acknowledged that women members had forgone the
\ntradition of wearing veils and most of the men no longer wore
\nlong flowing robes, even though they continued to wear turbans.<\/p>\n
He explained that Hawariyun's religious beliefs and practices
\nwere actually no different from those of most Indonesian Muslims.
\nThey have no policy of forcing others to follow their ideas.
\n\"Thus, you will never find Hawariyun members holding public
\ndemonstrations proclaiming their aspirations or criticizing the
\nbeliefs of others,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Lius Maala, chairman of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah
\nCommunity, said on Wednesday that his organization was now no
\nlonger required to obtain permits from local authorities before
\nparticipating in group studies.<\/p>\n
He said the Soeharto administration banned Ahmadiyah's
\nactivities in certain provinces and the MUI issued a
\nrecommendation in the 1980s, saying that Ahmadiah's belief was
\nagainst Islam's theological principles. \"But we find no such
\nhandicaps now,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Consequently, Ahmadiyah has increased the number of its
\nbranches throughout the country to 242 from less than 200 before
\nthe fall of Soeharto.<\/p>\n
India<\/p>\n
Unlike the majority of Muslims in the world, who say that
\nMuhammad was the last prophet sent by Allah, Ahmadiyah followers
\nbelieve that after Muhammad, God also promoted Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
\n(1835 - 1908) of India as prophet. However, instead of
\nintroducing his own laws, Mirza confirmed the laws brought forth
\nby Prophet Muhammad. In supporting their respective beliefs, both
\nAhmadiyah followers and other Muslims use the same Koranic verse
\n-- \"Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is
\nthe Messenger of Allah and the last (end) of the Prophets. And
\nAllah is Ever All-Aware of everything.\" (33:40)<\/p>\n
The word \"last\" is translated from the Arabic word \"khatam\",
\nwhile Ahmadiyah followers translate the word into \"seal\", meaning
\nthat anyone could become a prophet as long as he, according to
\nthem, obtained a seal (like Mirza) from Muhammad.<\/p>\n
As a consequence, many ulemas, including MUI executives,
\nbelieve that Ahmadiyah followers have gone out of Islam, while
\nAhmadiyah followers say that other Muslims are not complete in
\ntheir religious belief. Ahmadiyah followers, therefore, are not
\nallowed to pray in congregation (as followers) with Muslims who
\nrefuse to believe that Mirza was a prophet.<\/p>\n
Such a difference in opinion has encouraged the Ahmadiyah
\ncommunity to establish their own exclusive mosques.<\/p>\n
\"In Jakarta alone, we have eight mosques, each of which is
\nfrequented by about 100 to 400 worshipers at Friday prayers every
\nweek,\" said Zafrullah Ahmad Pontoh, an Ahmadiyah preacher for the
\ngreater Jakarta area.<\/p>\n
Other groups have benefited similarly from the democratization
\nera.<\/p>\n
Husein Sahab, chief of the Al-Huda Center of Research on
\nIslam, said the democratization era had encouraged Shiite
\nfollowers to improve their social service activities. And new
\nShiite organizations have emerged in various parts of the
\ncountry, bringing their number to about 50.<\/p>\n
Jalaluddin Rachmat, for example, hastily established the
\nIndonesian Association of Muhammad Family Communities (IJABI) in
\nJuly under the umbrella of freedom of the government of President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid even though its establishment was still
\ncontroversial among the Shiite society, he said.<\/p>\n
Husein claimed that Indonesian Muslims apparently welcomed the
\nactivities of Shiite organizations. The books they published sold
\nwell and the number of participants of Shiite ceremonies has
\nincreased significantly. Many Muslims of different sects also
\nsent their children to schools established by Shiite
\norganizations.<\/p>\n
A research report on religious beliefs, which was issued
\nrecently by the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Center for
\nResearch and Development, said many Islamic sects in various
\nprovinces continued their activities even though they were banned
\nby local offices or declared by the MUI as having deviated from
\nIslamic principles.<\/p>\n
The Institution for Workers' Islamic Propagation, for example,
\ncontinued the operation of its boarding school in Jombang, East
\nJava, and expanded its activities in 24 provinces across the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The institution's teachings are regarded as having caused
\nuneasiness among local residents because Muslims, according to
\nthem, are regarded as unbelievers if they do not recognize the
\nleadership of its founder, Nur Hasan Al-Ubaidah, now replaced by
\nhis son Abdul Dhohir.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/marginalized-islamic-sects-find-wider-room-for-development-1447893297",
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