Sect leader vows to return to Malaysia,
Sect leader vows to return to Malaysia,
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): The leader of a messianic Islamic sect outlawed by the government has vowed to return to Malaysia "as soon as possible", the Star newspaper reported yesterday. "I will return home to face the prime minister," Al Arqam leader Ashaari Muhammad told the newspaper in an interview in Jordan's capital, Amman.
Malaysia on Friday announced a sweeping ban on the sect, which claims 100,000 followers in Malaysia and many more elsewhere.
Malaysian religious authorities say the mystical Sufi sect teaches a "deviationist" brand of Islam.
Among the dozen reasons given by the National Fatwah Council for banning the sect, founded in 1968, was Ashaari's claim to have had a dialog with the Prophet Mohammad.
The Star quoted the 57-year-old Ashaari as saying he would sue Mahathir over statements the prime minister has made about him and Al Arqam.
Mahathir, in remarks to reporters on Friday, compared Ashaari with cult figures like Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, who died along with some 80 others in a shootout with U.S. federal agents and ensuing fire in Waco, Texas.
"If we have to break up their communes, we will do that," Mahathir said.
The ban would shut down 257 schools the sect operates in Malaysia, and forbids people to own, print or sell the group's audio or video cassettes, the 64 books Ashaari has published or an abundance of other Al Arqam literature.
It would also require the group's many businesses, owned by individual members, to stop using the Al Arqam brand name. Several state governments have announced they will shut down some of the sect's 48 Islamic communes in Malaysia.
Al Arqam press spokesman Rody Mohamed said life was continuing normally at the group's main commune in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.
Calm
Children were attending the kindergarten and primary school. The mini-market and book store were also operating. He said the movement would not comply with the ban, but would not put up any physical resistance to the authorities, either.
Police Inspector General Rahim Noor said police would start enforcing the ban once the decree is gazetted by the various state governments, a process that could take a week or two.
Rahim told a news conference on Saturday the authorities would "go to any length" to ensure public safety.
Ashaari appealed to his followers in Malaysia to remain calm, the Star said.
Ashaari left Thailand for Jordan on July 25 after Thai authorities declined to renew his visa. He has lived in self- imposed exile in Thailand since 1988, when his teachings were first banned in Malaysia.
Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei have barred him from visiting after the sect aroused security concerns in Southeast Asia.
Three Al Arqam members, including a sessions court judge, filed suit against the government's Islamic affairs office on Friday saying the government has falsely accused the sect of maintaining a squad of "suicide warriors" in Thailand.
Thailand has denied the accusation.