On ban on Ahmadiyah

I read the article Govt mulls ban on Ahmadiyah due to 'permit violation' in your online edition of July 22.

Reading the statement of Attorney General Abdul Rachman Saleh took me back centuries to the age of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

The excuse the attorney general is using is the exact same excuse the Meccans used to justify their opposition and persecution of the innocent, peace-loving and law-abiding Muslims. All the time they were heard saying Muhammad is hurting our feelings and causing disorder and so on and so forth, exactly as the attorney general sounds today!

There are only two possibilities. Either the attorney general, and those who think like him, believe that Ahmadiyah is founded on truth or they believe it to be false. But in either case there is no justification for the banning and persecution of this law- abiding and peace-loving community.

If the Ahmadis are true in their beliefs -- then no ban will yield results. The fate of those who opposed the Prophet Muhammad will be meted out again to the attorney general and all those who support him -- or whose support the attorney general is hoping to gain by this totally unjustifiable step he is proposing.

And if the Ahmadis are false in their teachings then it is clear that the attorney general does not have confidence in the intelligence of the people of Indonesia? He thinks them unfit to distinguish the truth from falsehood.

Assuming, for argument's sake, that the attorney general should have the discretion to ban preaching he deems subversive, other concerns remain, the foremost being: Where will this process end? Let us not worry about all the followers of the many religions in Indonesia, let us just confine ourselves first to the Muslims of Indonesia. Of the numerous Muslim sects, how many will he decide to ban? Because once this process starts in any place the end never comes in sight until the whole society is destroyed by sectarian violence.

I humbly ask the attorney general to study the case of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. They have walked the road on which he is now proposing to take Indonesia. Look where they are today and see if he wishes to take Indonesia there or not. My advice to him is to not take the route that Pakistan has taken.

I hope and pray that justice and peace shall prevail in Indonesia and God will grant her leaders the insight and fortitude necessary to act equitably toward everyone living in Indonesia regardless of their color, creed, religion or race; and to grant everyone the same human rights -- this alone is the way of peace.

ARSHAD M. FAROOQ Pomona, CA