Amid
increased harassment of Shia Muslims and other religious minorities, the
country's moderate Muslim organisations are calling for tolerance.
Numbering around 6 million, Shia Muslims form under 3% of Indonesia's
population. Despite its history of tolerance and religious diversity, they have
become the target of intimidation in recent years, even being driven out of
villages by mobs of vigilantes.
Some
Muslim organisations in the Sunni-dominated country have been calling for the
government to impose restrictions on them, arguing the Shia Muslims are not
practicing real Islam.
Last month, the Indonesian Ulema Forum (Forum Ulama Ummat Indonesia,
FUUI) issued a fatwa demanding that the Ministry of Justice and Human Right and
the Ministry of Religious Affairs revoke the licence of all organisations with
a Shia viewpoint and ban their activities.
"We've been monitoring Shia groups in West Java for more than 20
years and they seem to be braver in practicing their belief openly. Shia is
actually a form of blasphemy against Islam because they have different view on
the leadership of Muslim people," FUUI leader Athian Ali Muhammad Da'i
told Khabar Southeast Asia.
"Please don't get us wrong. We respect any religion. But if Shia
people want to keep practicing their view, they must establish their own
religion without Islam's name because Shia is not part of Islam," he said.
"It is just like our demand to [the minority sect] Ahmadiyah to
establish their own religion if they want to practice their view," he
added.
But not all Muslim leaders agree. According to Imdadun Rahmat, deputy
secretary general of the moderate Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, Sunni
and Shia Muslims have the same God, Allah; the same prophet, Mohammad; and the
same holy book, the Qur'an.
"Even though Shias differ on who was to take over the leadership of
the Muslim community after the Prophet died, we still consider Shia as part of
Islam and we do not dismiss Shia," he said.
It is not the government's role to intervene in religions disputes or
enforce fatwas, he added.
Religious organisations can issue fatwas or decrees on certain topics
but they must not force any individual or government to implement them, Imdadun
said.
"Fatwa is a study which is conducted by Islamic jurists (ahli fiqih
Islam) on a certain topic," he went on to explain.
"In other words, a fatwa is a religious opinion that is issued by a
religious organisation on any topic and it is not a legally binding instrument.
It is implemented by an individual who has a belief in the fatwa," he
said.
"Therefore, no one can be forced to implement a fatwa in his or her
life. Or force the government to make it a foundation for public
regulation."
A Shia cleric, Tajul Muluk, is currently on trial in Sampang, East Java
for blasphemy. Muluk, the head of a Shia Muslim boarding school on Madura
Island, was arrested after the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa
describing his teachings as "deviant".
According to a report in The Jakarta Globe, more than 300 members of
Sampang's Shia community were displaced in December 2011 when a mob of 500
people attacked and burned Shia houses, a boarding school and a place of
worship there.
The persecution of religious minorities has little precedent in
Indonesian history, Rumadi, a senior researcher at the Wahid Institute, noted
in an April 29th article in The Globe.
"One of our conclusions is that society has become prone to
intolerance. What used to be considered as acceptable has become
unacceptable," he said, citing mob violence against Shia Muslims in
particular.
Abdullah Beik of Ahlul Bait Indonesia (ABI), an organisation that
advocates for Shia Muslims, described FUUI's demand as odd.
"It needs to be understood that even in Saudi Arabia, Shia Muslim
has a place and we can go there for Umrah. Therefore, the FUUI demand is very
odd," he told Khabar.
Moreover, Abdullah added, we must not forget that since we live in
Indonesia, which has a motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), we
must respect each other and live side by side in harmony with other people who
have different backgrounds.
Jakarta resident and Sunni Muslim Ahmad Aqiqi, 30, also does not agree
with the FUUI edict.
"As long as their
religious practice does not violate any human right and regulation, I think
every Muslim has the right to choose what kind of Islam they want to
believe," he said.
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