This is not the beginning of the end, this is the final act in the cleansing of the Ahmadiyah fom Indonesian soil. A sect of Islam, the Ahmadiyah are seen as "not Muslim enough" thus their eradication at the hands of their co-religionists. As with Christians and Jews their time in Islamic countries is limited.
As I wrote here recently about the Ahmadiyah and the persecution they are experiencing, this piece highlights the dangers they increasingly face, and the absoluteness of Islam when it applies to those who do not practice Islam vigorously enough.
From the BBC News March 3 by Karen McGeown
Indonesia province announces Ahmadiyah curbs
Members will not be able to publicly identify themselves and are being urged to convert to mainstream Islam.
Indonesia is a secular country, where freedom of religious expression is enshrined in the constitution.
Well, sort of. Yes the Indonesian constitution says citizens are free to practice the faith of their choosing, there is this, buried towards the end.
RELIGION
Article 29(1) The state is based on the belief in the One and Only God.
This is a reference to Allah. The Qur'an mentions numerous times that Allah is the One and Only God. Indonesia is not a truly secular country, and because of that it is easier for Islamists to use the law to legally exterminate the Ahmadiyah.
But recently the government has been under pressure from hardliners to ban the sect completely.
Low profile
The province of West Java is home to Indonesia's largest community of Ahmadis, but there are estimated to be more than 200,000 throughout the country.
But now they will be much harder to find.
The local authorities want them to limit their activities, take down signs identifying their mosques and schools, and - ideally - to re-educate and re-integrate themselves within mainstream Islam.
Shades of Soviet Gulags.
They are even encouraging other people in the area to monitor what the Ahmadis are doing.
Lawyers for the Ahmadiyah say the decree violates a law protecting people's rights to worship how they choose.
But hardline Islamic groups say the order is perfectly legal, claiming that the sect's beliefs deviate from the tenets of Islam and therefore violate the country's rules against blasphemy.
And blasphemy in a sharia-accepting country automatically requires death.
Read it all
As I wrote here recently about the Ahmadiyah and the persecution they are experiencing, this piece highlights the dangers they increasingly face, and the absoluteness of Islam when it applies to those who do not practice Islam vigorously enough.
From the BBC News March 3 by Karen McGeown
Indonesia province announces Ahmadiyah curbs
Authorities in Indonesia's West Java have issued a decree which severely limits the activities of a small Islamic sect called the Ahmadiyah.
Indonesia is a secular country, where freedom of religious expression is enshrined in the constitution.
Well, sort of. Yes the Indonesian constitution says citizens are free to practice the faith of their choosing, there is this, buried towards the end.
RELIGION
Article 29(1) The state is based on the belief in the One and Only God.
This is a reference to Allah. The Qur'an mentions numerous times that Allah is the One and Only God. Indonesia is not a truly secular country, and because of that it is easier for Islamists to use the law to legally exterminate the Ahmadiyah.
But recently the government has been under pressure from hardliners to ban the sect completely.
Low profile
The province of West Java is home to Indonesia's largest community of Ahmadis, but there are estimated to be more than 200,000 throughout the country.
But now they will be much harder to find.
The local authorities want them to limit their activities, take down signs identifying their mosques and schools, and - ideally - to re-educate and re-integrate themselves within mainstream Islam.
Shades of Soviet Gulags.
They are even encouraging other people in the area to monitor what the Ahmadis are doing.
Lawyers for the Ahmadiyah say the decree violates a law protecting people's rights to worship how they choose.
But hardline Islamic groups say the order is perfectly legal, claiming that the sect's beliefs deviate from the tenets of Islam and therefore violate the country's rules against blasphemy.
And blasphemy in a sharia-accepting country automatically requires death.
Read it all
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