PBNU asks FPI to stop damaging Ahmadiyah's property

Jakarta, NU Online
General Chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) KH Hasyim Muzadi has asked the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and many other hard-liners to stop damaging the property belonging to Ahmadiyah members. He said the government had stood firm against the "heretical" sect.

"The MUI (Indonesian Ulema Council) has declared that Ahmadiyah had deviated from Islamic teachings and urged the government to take such actions. It has been enough, do not be copious," Hasyim said in a press release sent to NU Online here on Monday (21/4).<>

The president of the World Conference on Religions for Peace said a belief, ideology or sect could not be faced with violence. Rather, he added, it should be faced with elegant dialogues to seek the best solutions.

Using violence in dealing with the Ahmadiyah would never solve the problem. Even, he said, it would potentially be used by certain sides to damage the image of Islam

"The violence unproportionally carried out by Muslims would widely be exploited by the enemies of Islam both nationally and internationally to discredit and damage the image of Islam," Hasyim said.

As reported thousands of demonstrators, from several hard-line groups such as the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), began Sunday a protest outside the presidential office in the morning after marching from the nearby Istiqlal Mosque.

"Ahmadiyah members have violated our human rights by disturbing our practice of Islam! They are trying to poison our minds with this new prophet nonsense," a protest leader told the clamoring crowd.

"If in one month, the President does not come up with a presidential decree to ban Ahmadiyah, we will disband them ourselves," said another.

The government last Thursday said it was preparing a joint decree to outlaw Ahmadiyah following a recommendation by its Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem).

The board, comprising senior officials of the Attorney General's Office, the National Police, the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Home Ministry, ruled Wednesday that Ahmadiyah failed to commit to the 12-point declaration it signed in January.

The declaration acknowledged mainstream Islamic teachings and abandoned the sect's "deviant" beliefs, including recognizing Mirza Gulam Ahmad, not Muhammad, as the last prophet in Islam. (rif)