Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Interfaith leaders condemned on Friday the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) for its issuance of fatwas on Thursday that outlawed liberal Islamic thought and pluralism, while urging Muslims to resist the orders.
They also slammed the state-sanctioned council for failing to come up with an edict banning the use of violence against different religious groups.
Earlier this month a group of Muslim extremists attacked the compound of the Ahmadiyah congregation – which does not recognize that Muhammad was the last prophet – in Bogor, West Java.
The attackers justified their violence with the MUI's 1980 fatwa, which declares Ahmadiyah heretical. On Wednesday, the council reaffirmed the ban on the Islamic sect, and even urged the government to dismantle the group.
"Instead of issuing fatwas that only marginalize majority groups, why didn't the MUI issue one banning the use of violence against groups with different religious beliefs?" said a joint statement issued by the interfaith leaders grouped in the Civilized People's Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Belief.
The alliance includes former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, and Muslim scholars Dawam Rahardjo and M. Syafii Anwar from the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), Djohan Effendi, and Liberal Islam Network (JIL) leader Ulil Abshar Abdalla.
Among other members of the alliance are priest Anand Krisna, and several other non-Muslim leaders representing the Catholic, Buddhist, Christian and Konghucu communities.
Most of the interfaith leaders attended a news conference held at the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) headquarters in Central Jakarta in reaction to the MUI's edicts against Ahmadiyah and progressive Islamic thought.
"With such heretical commands banning people from doing this and that in their religious relationships, I think we should call for the dissolution of the MUI," Dawam Rahardjo told the media conference also attended by Ahmadiyah figures.
"We have to resist the decrees by backing Pak Dawam's appeal (for the government) to dissolve the MUI," Gus Dur added.
He said the MUI's ban on pluralism was irrational since it was an undeniable aspect of Indonesia. "We must stand against any kind of coercion that will only limit our own beliefs," Gus Dur added.
Citing the 1945 Constitution that gives all Indonesians the basic right of religious freedom, the interfaith leaders asked the state to protect the people in professing their own beliefs.
The MUI ended its four-day national congress on Friday after issuing 11 edicts, one of which states that Islamic interpretations based on liberalism, secularism and pluralism "contradict Islamic teachings".
In his speech to mark the closing of the congress, Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on the mullahs to set examples of the implementation of the peaceful values of Islam.
Reiterating his condemnation of the attack on Ahmadiyah, Kalla said all Muslims must also respect differences in religions and beliefs.
"It is for the sake of peace, which is taught in the Koran," he said.
The 11 fatwas issued by MUI
1. Religious teachings influenced by pluralism, liberalism and secularism are against Islam. The fatwa states that Muslims must consider their religion to be the true one religion, and to consider other faiths as wrong.
2. Ahmadiyah, an Islamic group that does not recognize Muhammad as the last prophet, is a heretical sect, and its followers are murtad (apostate).
3. Mixed marriages between people of different faiths are haram (forbidden under Islamic law).
4. Women are forbidden from leading prayers when men are present in the congregation. Women are only allowed to lead prayers in an all-female assemblage.
5. Joint prayers performed with people of other faiths are not recognized in Islam. Saying "Amen" to prayers led by a non-Muslim is haram.
6. Islamic law on inheritance is not applicable for non-Muslim family members.
7. Islam recognizes capital punishment for serious criminal offenses and the state can apply such punishments in the judiciary system.
8. Engaging, believing and practicing in shamanism and fortune telling are forbidden. The publication and dissemination of these practices, such as through television shows, are also considered haram.
9. Determining goodness for the public under sharia must not violate Islamic texts, and the only institutions that have the right to determine such goodness are those possessing sharia competence.
10. Any violation of intellectual property rights (HKI) is haram. HKIs that are protected under Islamic law are those that do not go against sharia.
11. The government cannot revoke the ownership of a person's personal property arbitrarily or by coercion.