What Makes Ahmadiyah Wrong?

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - For people who happen to be members of the Ahmadiyah community, everything seems to be going wrong lately. In fact they could be compared to people stranded on an island on the point of being swallowed by a merciless ocean. What has put them in this precarious situation?

"Resorting to violence in settling problems related to Ahmadiyah, in any forms, is something intolerable. In Islam, there’s no tenet whatsoever justifying the use of violence," said Umar Shihab, chairman of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) at an international seminar themed "Islam, Peace and Justice" here last Saturday.

The one-day seminar was jointly held by the central board of of Muhammadiyah, the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Culture and Relations Organization and the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations.

Shihab regretted the acts of violence against followers of Ahmadiyah in some places in Indonesia during recent months, saying that the perpetrators of those abhorrrnt acts had only been individuals claiming to represent Islam.

"The violence perpetrated by those individuals who claimed they were defending Islam, contradicts Islamic teachings and degraded the image of Islam in the eyes of the world," Shihab said.

Shihab, nevertheless, emphasized that Ahmadiyah was a deviant sect because its teachings mention another prophet after Mohammad. "This is wrong and not Islamic," he said, hoping that the followers of Ahmadiyah would soon realize their belief was a deviation and must therefore be deserted.

The MUI chairman advised the government to take real concrete steps to settle the problems regarding Ahmadiyah, like providing enlightenment on true Islam. "Muslims are required to unite with Allah, likewise among human beings," said Shihab.

Three members of Ahmadiyah were killed on the island of Java on February 5,2011 when more than 1,000 people wielding rocks, machetes, swords and spears stormed the house of an Ahmadiyya leader in the sub-district of Cikeusik, Banten province.

A fresh wave of anti-Ahmadiyah sctions since then emerged in many places in Indonesia and came to a climax in the enactment of local laws prohibiting the Ahmadiyah community from conducting their religious activities in East Java and Central Java last week.

Amnesty International on February 23 urged the Indonesian government to meet its commitment to protecting the right to freedom of religion in the face of calls from radical groups to outlaw a religious minority.