Home Worldwide Indonesia January, 2008 Ulema council …

Jakarta (ANTARA News) — The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) here Wednesday slammed the governemnt for legalizing the existence of the Ahamadiyah sect in the country.

MUI Chairman KH Kholil Ridwan said with the decision of the Public Faiths Supervision Coordinating Body (Bakor Pakem) to legalize the existence of Ahmadiyah in Indonesia, the government “has taken part in the soiling of the holy lands of Mecca and Medina.”

“Ulema in the world have already declared Ahmadiyah to be a faith outside Islam meaning they cannot enter Mecca,” Kholil said at a meeting with the Moslem Community Forum (FUI).

The Bakor Pakem’s ruling on Ahmadiyah completely contradicted the wish of the Moslem community in Indonesia, he said, adding that it marked the third time for the government to ignore a Moslem communiy aspiration.

The two ealier times were the non-enactment of the Pornography Bill and the permission given to Playboy magazine to circulate in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the chairman of MUI’s Fatwa (Edicts) Commission, KH Ma’ruf Amin, said MUI was not involved in nor in any way responsible for Bakor Pakem’s decision on Ahmadiyah.

“The Bakor Pakem was previously supposed to consult MUI on the matter but this never happened and they took the decision on their own authority,” Ma’aruf said.

MUI would stick to its stand that Ahmadiyah was a deviant sect and duly inform the government accordingly, he said.

The leader of the Islamic Community Movement (GUI), one of the organizations grouped in the FUI, Habib Abdurrahman Assegaf, said the Bakor Pakem’s decision on Ahmadiyah was an insult to or act of harassment against the Moslem community. “If witin the next 30 days, the government does not issue a ban on Ahmadiyah, the Moslem community in the world may fight for their demand in their own way,” he said.

In a similar vein, the chairman of the Indonesian Moslem Community’s Forum of Ulema (FUUI), KH Athian Ali Da’i, said the government’s decision on Ahmadiyah must be protested and ridiculed because it had slighted the Moslem community.

“The government’s decision ignores the edict issued by ulema in the world in 1974 that Ahmaidyah is a deviant faith,” he said. (*)

Copyright © 2007 ANTARA Source: www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2008/1/17/ulema-council-slams-government-decision-on-ahmadiyah/