Islamic sect banned for crossing political line

Islamic sect banned for crossing political line

By Bill Tarrant

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): At a gathering of his disciples on the Islamic New Year on June 11, Ashaari Muhammad, leader of a now outlawed mystical Sufi sect, outlined his plan to take power in Malaysia.

For Ashaari it was the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. For the government of multiracial Malaysia it was the talk of a megalomaniacal religious fanatic with the potential for unleashing a sectarian nightmare.

Under a sweeping ban announced by Malaysia's religious authorities last Friday, Al Arqam can no longer operate the 257 schools it has set up in the country or run its many businesses with the Al Arqam logo.

People are forbidden to possess the group's slickly-made audio and video cassettes, its posters and pamphlets, or the 64 books that Ashaari has published over the years.

If the sect, which claims 100,000 followers in Malaysia and many more elsewhere, continues its activities underground, members could be prosecuted under the Secret Societies Act, enacted in the 1950s to deal with a communist insurgency.

State governments have announced they will close down the 48 "Islamic villages" where sect members live communally.

One senior Southeast Asian diplomat said Malaysia decided to move against Al Arqam now because "Ashaari crossed the political line".

"There is a very clear line about what is expected of a religious organization. You can't talk politics and say you have a direct line to God," the diplomat added.

One of the reasons cited by the government for the ban was Ashaari's claim to have had "a dialog" with the Prophet Muhammad, during which he discussed Malaysian politics.

The issue is particularly sensitive in a country where Islam is the official religion but only half of the country's population of 19 million are Moslems.

A general election is also due in Malaysia next year.

Officials at Malaysia's Islamic Center say they have tapes and transcripts of Ashaari describing how the movement will take over Malaysia, then Indonesia and finally central Asia.

Rodhi Mohamed, Al Arqam's press spokesman in Kuala Lumpur, did not deny it. But he said the sect will not take power through "Western style elections or through violent revolution" but when Malaysia and then the world becomes a true Islamic society.

According to the group's literature, a great Islamic revival will begin in Southeast Asia that will carry the "black banner" of the new Islam to a messiah who will appear in Uzbekistan just before the Last Judgment Day.

The government may have taken too literally some of the group's more mystical pronouncements.

The Islamic Center, the office in the Prime Minister's Department that deals with Islamic affairs, seized on a reference to the Badar 313 in the group's literature -- a band of holy warriors who defeated a much larger army in ancient Arabia.

The government accused Al Arqam of training a suicide squad of 313 in Thailand, an assertion vehemently denied by Thailand. Al Arqam filed a defamation suit last Friday against the center over the charge.

In a news conference last Friday, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called Ashaari a dangerous cult figure and compared him with David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader who died along with his followers in a shootout and ensuing fire at his commune in Waco, Texas, U.S.

Ashaari, who has outraged officials in Malaysia by saying he is more popular than Mahathir and calling for a referendum to prove it, has been living in self-imposed exile since 1988, after his teachings were first banned in Malaysia.

In an interview on Sunday with the Star newspaper, he vowed to return to Malaysia and sue the prime minister. He said the ban was not a question of faith "but more inclined towards politics".

Ashaari began Al Arqam in 1968 after failing to win election to parliament as a member of the opposition All-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

He repudiated the party and political analysts say he later turned towards Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the main party in the ruling coalition.

Certainly one of the group's most vocal and prominent backers is Thamrin Ghafar, an UMNO member of parliament and son of former deputy prime minister Ghafar Baba.

Ghafar was quietly supported by Al Arqam members in his losing battle last year with Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim to keep his job as deputy prime minister and deputy president of UMNO. Anwar is now the heir apparent to succeed Mahathir.

"All kinds of people have tried to use Al Arqam," the Southeast Asian diplomat said. "Having 100,000 votes on call is a great advantage to any politician."

"UMNO has always been the choice of Al Arqam members, but until now they never had a political agenda," he said.