Scholars from RI, Malaysia plan meeting

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muslim religious leaders from Indonesia and Malaysia are considering organizing a meeting of Southeast Asian ulema to deal with religious problems in the region.

Chairman of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) H. Amidhan said here on Thursday that the proposed meeting would discuss problems related to akidah or faith.

"Hopefully, Southeast Asian ulema will be able to prevent Muslim akidah from being influenced by apostate teachings," Amidhan was quoted by Antara as saying on Thursday.

He noted that deviant Islamic sects were flourishing in Southeast Asia, including Ahmadiyah and Jema'ah Islam in Indonesia, and Kumpulan Militant Muslim (Muslim Militant Group) in Malaysia.

The government has banned both Ahmadiyah and Jema'ah Islam in Indonesia, but their communities are still present in a number of provinces throughout the country.

Recently residents in East Lombok destroyed mosques and houses belonging to members of Ahmadiyah and Jema'ah Islam in Indonesia for allegedly practicing a deviant form of Islam.

The MUI, Amidhan said, was also studying whether the material taught at Al Zaitun Islamic boarding school in the West Java town of Indramayu deviated from Islam.

The school has been at the center of a controversy with members of the public accusing it of deviating from the teachings of Islam. Malaysia has stopped sending its citizens to study at Al Zaitun pending clarification from MUI, Amidhan said.

Meanwhile, chief of the MUI's committee for fatwa (edicts) Ma'rum Amin expressed hope that the meeting of Southeast Asian ulema would discuss procedures for issuing fatwa.

He said the meeting needed to issue a fatwa on halal (permitted by Islam) food, sharia with regards profit-and-loss- sharing, banking and insurance companies.

In view of new problems related to Islamic law, he deemed it necessary to revive such a meeting which was last organized in 1992.