Scholars urge MUI to lift Ahmadiyah ban
Scholars urge MUI to lift Ahmadiyah ban
Theresia Sufa and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Bogor/Denpasar
The authorities in Bogor have ordered a halt to the activities of
the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), although debate is
continuing over whether the group's teachings go against Islam.
Noted Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra led the calls on Thursday
for the powerful Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to lift an edict
that declares the teachings of Ahmadiyah heresy, saying the edict
was counterproductive.
Azyumardi, the rector of Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State
University (UIN) in Jakarta, suggested the MUI invite Ahmadiyah
followers to a dialog to listen to their views.
He also urged the government to follow the Constitution, which
requires it to protect citizens regardless of their faith, and to
take action against people who take the law into their own hands.
"I think the edict needs to be reviewed. There have been a lot
of changes since the edict was issued in the 1980s. Why doesn't
the MUI listen to what exactly Ahmadiyah followers are saying?
Perhaps there are some differences in what they believe now from
in the past," Azyumardi said on the sidelines of the Interfaith
Dialog in Bali.
His call came after the Bogor regency administration ordered
the Ahmadiyah congregation on Wednesday to halt all activities
for fear of public disorder. The administration also said the
group's teachings ran counter to Islam.
Bogor regency spokesman Sjahuri said the order was endorsed by
the local legislature, ulema council, religious affairs office,
police, prosecutor's office and district court.
"We also agreed to close down Ahmadiyah's Mubarak campus in
Pondok Udik village and assign a team to monitor the situation in
the field and ensure that the ban works," Sjahuri said.
Thousands of people attacked the JAI campus in Bogor last week
for what they said was the congregation's attempts to spread
their teachings.
Nobody has been arrested over the violence. The Attorney
General's Office is seeking to ban Ahmadiyah as an organization
for violating its founding permit.
Ahmadiyah has existed as an organization since 1953 and today
it has about 200,000 members.
MUI declared Ahmadiyah's teachings heretical in the 1980s
because the group recognized its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a
prophet.
Sjuhari said the decision to freeze JAI's activities followed
the latest MUI edict, which reconfirmed its ban on Ahmadiyah's
teachings.
"We do not think we have been negligent regarding their
activities. We have monitored their existence for a long time and
we even warned them, but they never responded," said Sjahuri.
He added the regency religious affairs office and the ulema
council were providing religious guidance for Ahmadiyah
followers.
Azyumardi regretted the government's failure to take action
against those responsible for the violence against Ahmadiyah
followers.
"The state, represented by the government, must not tolerate
people who take the law into their own hands and force their will
on others in the name of religion.
"Lawlessness will prevail if the state cannot protect its
citizens," he said.
He suggested that the government offer to mediate in the
dispute.
"The government cannot side with one group as everybody is
equal before the law. The government must not discriminate
against citizens for any reason," he said.
The government's failure to provide equal treatment has on
many occasions sparked communal conflict, he added.
Sharing Azyumardi's view was the Civil Society Alliance for
Freedom of Religion and Faith, whose representatives met with
Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh on Thursday to call on the
government to ensure the people's right to practice their faith.
"We demanded the government ensure that everybody is free to
practice their faith and beliefs as stipulated in the
Constitution," alliance member Dawam Rahardjo said.