A small building on the edge of a green rice field is the place Syahidin is raising his four children. Facing the area of rice fields the house which is located in Hamlet Ketapang, West Lombok, looks ideal for family living. Through the walls of the living room and bedroom, you can see the rice paddies that seem to stretch all the way. Jackfruit tree protects the yard and the former porch. It’s just that the house is now just …
The local government on Indonesian Island of Bangka is currently expelling members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, after it issued a letter demanding that they either convert to Sunni Islam or face expulsion. The letter, dated Jan. 5 urged members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the Srimenanti subdistrict, Sungailiat district, to convert to the mainstream Sunni teachings of the Indonesian Muslim majority or face expulsion from the regency. It also stated that JAI (Jammat e Ahmadiyya Indonesia) was forbidden from spreading …
Time is running out for the beleaguered Ahmadiyya Muslim Community on Bangka Island. Bangka Island’s top elected official, Tarmizi Saat, told a crowd on January 24 that he would ensure the expulsion of all members of the religious minority by February 6. He warnedthat expulsion enforcement measures from Bangka Island, located off the east coast of Sumatra, could begin as early as January 27. Adding to the fear factor for Bangka’s Ahmadiyya is an open letter circulated on January 22 by …
A tiny Indonesian province has banned a minority Islamic sect from conducting religious activities, a move activists say raises concerns over intolerance in the Muslim-majority nation. The move by Bangka-Belitung, made up of two main islands off South Sumatra, is the latest in a series in which religious minorities including Christians and Shi’ite Muslims have faced harassment and complained of a lack of protection.
LAST month, just days before Idul Fitri, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, worshippers at the An-Nur mosque in southern Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, had a problem: a mob was blocking them from entering. The worshippers were members of a 400,000-strong Ahmadiyya community in Indonesia—followers of a peaceable school of Islam holding that a 19th-century Indian, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet and messiah. Ahmadi Muslims believe in the separation of religion and the state, and they forswear …
Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has said that he has ordered the South Jakarta Mayor and the Spatial Planning Agency to reopen an Ahmadiyya mosque in Tebet, and that he would promise to help the Ahmadiyya secure permits to keep their mosque open there. “We respect all kinds of beliefs. So, if they pray and do not bother other people, we have to let them be,” he said on Friday, adding that moreover, the Ahmadis had been praying there for …
Malaysian State of Selangor’s religious enforcers have threatened several followers of the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Community with arrests in order to compel them to appear in the Shariah court to continue a trial that has been postponed twice since last year. According to the Ahmadis, the Selangor Department of Islamic Affairs (JAIS) is preparing arrest warrants to force 39 of its members ― three of them minors ― to appear before the Islamic courts, consequently violating a civil High Court …
Officials from the South Jakarta administration and the municipality’s Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) sealed the An Nur Ahmadiyya mosque in Bukit Duri Tanjakan, Tebet, on Wednesday morning, affixing a red banner that stated the mosque had been officially sealed by the Jakarta administration. The closure follows a June 12 incident in which a crowd of locals blocked the Ahmadis from performing their Friday prayers at the mosque, forcing them to fulfill their religious obligations in the street. Tri, a …
Members of the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense will question Army chief of staff Gen. Moeldoko, the sole candidate to replace retiring Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Agus Suhartono, over his alleged involvement in what could be deemed as harassment against Ahmadis in West Java in 2011. Although Moeldoko will most likely get an endorsement from most lawmakers. Commission I lawmakers said that it was important to bring up the allegation during a fit-and-proper test slated for Aug. …