With good reason, as Indonesian jihadists have been trying for years to get the Ahmadis to leave, whether by force or otherwise. The inevitability of a jihadist attack (or two) against the remaining Ahmadis will once again remind Muslims that during the holy month, all non-Muslims and those seen as "less than Muslim" are to be targeted.
During holiday times, most of us like to spend time with family and friends and relish in their company peacefully in our own homes. The Ahmadis have no such expectations, and that is the sad part.
From The Straits Times August 2
Muslim sect braces for Indonesia Ramadan violence
JAKARTA - AS MOST Indonesian Muslims started the fasting month of Ramadan peacefully this week, followers of the minority Ahmadiyah Islamic sect braced themselves for hatred and bloodshed.
Ahmadiyah leaders said they feared the worst after a court last week handed down sentences of only a few months in jail to hardliners who killed three sect members in a vicious mob attack.
'The extremists say this is a holy month, everything must be pure and sacred. So we, the Ahmadiyah followers, must be cleared out,' Ahmadiyah spokesman Firdaus Mubarik told AFP.
Islamic vigilante groups, emboldened by a decree ordering the sect to stop spreading its beliefs in the Muslim-majority country, have recently started targeting the Ahmadiyah in an ugly wave of hate crimes.
'For us, the fasting month doesn't mean there'll be peace for us to perform our religious obligations. On the contrary, there are more opportunities for Muslim extremists to mobilise and incite people to attack us,' Mr Mubarik said.
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