JAKARTA, - 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.
"The Indonesian government must state, clearly and publicly, that it will protect the rights of all Indonesian citizens, regardless of their religion - and that includes the rights of the Ahmadiyah community," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director.
The United States embassy in Jakarta Saturday on March 5 issued a statement saying that recent violence against minority communities and new local regulations restricting religious freedom are damaging Indonesia`s international reputation as a democracy with a tradition of tolerance and a commitment to protecting the freedoms of all its citizens.
"As a friend of Indonesia, and as a partner in the G-20 and other international organizations, we support the overwhelming majority of Indonesians who abhor religious violence and support tolerance. Laws should protect citizens from violence rather than restrict their rights," the US embassy says without mentioning the word Ahmadiyah.
Different understanding
Erni Budiwanti in her research titled "Pluralism Collapses: A Study of the Jama?ah Ahmadiyah Indonesia and its Persecution," and publicized by the Research Centre for Regional Resources, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (PSDR-LIPI) and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, May 2009, spotlights the underlying causes for resistance for the Ahmadiyah by the mainstream Muslims.
The multiple faces of Indonesian Muslims, marked by various interpretative meanings on sacred texts are divided along the line of radicalism, conservatism, moderation, and liberalism. Islamic mass organizations represent the multiple characteristics of Indonesian Muslims, she says. Divergent comprehension on scriptural texts could create a situation where they are contested and become the source of conflicting thoughts.
In other words, no unitary or monolithic understanding upon verses and hadith has potentially brought the believers in a circumstance where convergent thoughts and interpretations are challenged and disputed against one another and eventually brought them into ideological clashes.
One instance is the verse stating laa nabiya ba'da (there is no other Prophet after Muhammad). This verse, to most Indonesian Muslims clarifies the finality of the Prophet Muhammad, meaning that there cannot be another God's messenger after him since he is believed to be the last.
Consequently, those who claim that Mirza Gulam Ahmad (MGA), is the promised advent of prophet Isa as the Ahmadiyah followers mostly believe, have instigated tension between them and those claiming Muhammad as the seal of all prophets.
Budiwanti also notes on the Ahmadis' belief system based on their own understanding which is starkly different from the view held by outsiders. Referring to the explanation of the JAI Leader of the NTB Province (Mubaligh Wilayah), H. Saeful Uyun, the focal point of Ahmadiyah belief lays the claim that MGA is nabi zili (a shadowy manifestation of the real prophet).
The word zili literally means a silhouette, and this marks that MGA is a prophet in the allegorical sense as he explained like - when we see ourselves on the mirror, the picture that reflects on the glass is not us. It is a reflection of the real one standing in front of the mirror.
So the Ahmadis see MGA as a prophet in metaphorical sense, like the reflected body on the mirror, said Uyun was quoted as saying by Budiwanti. As a prophet in metaphorical sense he is acting as the silhouette of the final prophet. This means that the main role of MGA does not at all replace Muhammad as the final messenger, but rather passing on Muhammad's teachings to the generation during and after his life.
As the silhouette of the final prophet, he does not bring new Syariah. Instead, he carries on Islamic teachings brought by Muhammad, according to Uyun. The above view has basically offended the outsiders' fundamental belief who comprise of the majority of mainstream Sunnite Muslims confessing the finality of Prophet Muhammad.
Any group claiming prophethood after him is therefore conceived to be against and offending the Sunnite mainstream Muslims' belief. The recognition of the MGA's prophethood had made some of them to perceive that Ahmadis treat MGA as the 26th prophet, while some others judge that the Ahmadis have substituted Muhammad with MGA.
The latter perception has further led them to allegedly view that Ahmadiyah members have also changed the content of the second verse of syahadat i.e. instead of Muhammdarasullulah they utter MGA rasulullah. The thing that mostly stunt the majority of mainstream Muslims is the fact that Ahmadis treat MGA simultaneously as the Masih Mau'ud (promised Second Advent of Isa or the Al-Masih), the Mahdi Mau'ud (promised Messiah).
-kompas.english
