Marginalized Islamic sects find wider room for development
By Rikza Abdullah
JAKARTA (JP): The current era of reformation has given broader room for marginalized Islamic sects to expand their activities without having to fear being banned by the government.
Followers of the Malaysian-affiliated Darul Arqam, whose activities were banned in 1994, for example, are now improving business activities in various sectors under the name of Hawariyun groups of companies.
Preachers of Ahmadiyah, who claim that their leader Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of India was a prophet, also find no obstacles in delivering their teachings throughout the country.
Lia Aminuddin, whose claim to having received a revelation from the Angel Gabriel was denounced by the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) as being a violation the principles of Islam, also sustains her preaching forum at her house in Central Jakarta.
According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Agency for Research and Development, religious sects in various provinces still continue their activities even though the government, through local prosecutors' offices, has banned their movements on the grounds that their activities have caused uneasiness for other local society members.
"Pressures for a speedier democratization process have apparently caused the government to restrain itself from prohibiting people from practicing their beliefs as long as they do not disturb the interests of others," Mursyid Ali of the ministry said Wednesday.
The pressures started to intensify in 1997 when Indonesia was hard hit by an economic crisis and peaked in the following year, when authoritarian president Soeharto abdicated his office.
In 1996 former leaders of Indonesia's Darul Arqam established Hawariyun groups of businesses, according to its deputy managing director, Abdurrahman Umar. He told The Jakarta Post Friday that the businesses were established to continue promoting the Islamic way of life, as formulated by Darul Arqam founder Asy'ari Muhammad Attamimi of Malaysia.
Hawariyun currently operate businesses in five major groups based in Pakan Baru, Riau, Bandung, Jakarta and overseas. They operate in various fields, from construction, healthcare services, agriculture, tourism, technology, restaurants, manufacturing and general trading. Overseas trading has offices in Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Jordan, France and Germany.
Not all Hawariyun's businesses are profit-oriented. Some are operated to meet Islamic compulsory principles -- that members of society will be regarded as having committed a sin if none of them has carried out a service or produced something badly needed by society.
The consolidated income of the business groups can be used to finance all social activities of Hawariyun, such as education for the children of its followers and sending preachers to various groups of Islamic studies.
"We finance all the costs for the education of followers' children," said Umar, while working on a computer presentation at his office on the first floor of Wisma Pondok Indah in South Jakarta. "We are now sponsoring the education of about 40 university students in Jordan and five others in Egypt."
To operate its businesses, Hawariyun employs some 250 full time activists domestically and another 250 overseas. They are paid on the basis of their daily needs, not on the basis of their professional positions. A manager who has no wife and children, therefore, may earn less than his driver with a wife and eight children.
According to Umar, Hawariyun finds no societal or legal obstacles in carrying out its social and business activities. However, he acknowledged that women members had forgone the tradition of wearing veils and most of the men no longer wore long flowing robes, even though they continued to wear turbans.
He explained that Hawariyun's religious beliefs and practices were actually no different from those of most Indonesian Muslims. They have no policy of forcing others to follow their ideas. "Thus, you will never find Hawariyun members holding public demonstrations proclaiming their aspirations or criticizing the beliefs of others," he said.
Muhammad Lius Maala, chairman of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Community, said on Wednesday that his organization was now no longer required to obtain permits from local authorities before participating in group studies.
He said the Soeharto administration banned Ahmadiyah's activities in certain provinces and the MUI issued a recommendation in the 1980s, saying that Ahmadiah's belief was against Islam's theological principles. "But we find no such handicaps now," he added.
Consequently, Ahmadiyah has increased the number of its branches throughout the country to 242 from less than 200 before the fall of Soeharto.
India
Unlike the majority of Muslims in the world, who say that Muhammad was the last prophet sent by Allah, Ahmadiyah followers believe that after Muhammad, God also promoted Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835 - 1908) of India as prophet. However, instead of introducing his own laws, Mirza confirmed the laws brought forth by Prophet Muhammad. In supporting their respective beliefs, both Ahmadiyah followers and other Muslims use the same Koranic verse -- "Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the last (end) of the Prophets. And Allah is Ever All-Aware of everything." (33:40)
The word "last" is translated from the Arabic word "khatam", while Ahmadiyah followers translate the word into "seal", meaning that anyone could become a prophet as long as he, according to them, obtained a seal (like Mirza) from Muhammad.
As a consequence, many ulemas, including MUI executives, believe that Ahmadiyah followers have gone out of Islam, while Ahmadiyah followers say that other Muslims are not complete in their religious belief. Ahmadiyah followers, therefore, are not allowed to pray in congregation (as followers) with Muslims who refuse to believe that Mirza was a prophet.
Such a difference in opinion has encouraged the Ahmadiyah community to establish their own exclusive mosques.
"In Jakarta alone, we have eight mosques, each of which is frequented by about 100 to 400 worshipers at Friday prayers every week," said Zafrullah Ahmad Pontoh, an Ahmadiyah preacher for the greater Jakarta area.
Other groups have benefited similarly from the democratization era.
Husein Sahab, chief of the Al-Huda Center of Research on Islam, said the democratization era had encouraged Shiite followers to improve their social service activities. And new Shiite organizations have emerged in various parts of the country, bringing their number to about 50.
Jalaluddin Rachmat, for example, hastily established the Indonesian Association of Muhammad Family Communities (IJABI) in July under the umbrella of freedom of the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid even though its establishment was still controversial among the Shiite society, he said.
Husein claimed that Indonesian Muslims apparently welcomed the activities of Shiite organizations. The books they published sold well and the number of participants of Shiite ceremonies has increased significantly. Many Muslims of different sects also sent their children to schools established by Shiite organizations.
A research report on religious beliefs, which was issued recently by the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Center for Research and Development, said many Islamic sects in various provinces continued their activities even though they were banned by local offices or declared by the MUI as having deviated from Islamic principles.
The Institution for Workers' Islamic Propagation, for example, continued the operation of its boarding school in Jombang, East Java, and expanded its activities in 24 provinces across the country.
The institution's teachings are regarded as having caused uneasiness among local residents because Muslims, according to them, are regarded as unbelievers if they do not recognize the leadership of its founder, Nur Hasan Al-Ubaidah, now replaced by his son Abdul Dhohir.