Crowds razed a house which functioned as an Islamic boarding school on Thursday, some 25 kilometers east of Malang in East Java.

A witness, Tawi, said residents of Jabung district were agitated by the activities of the owner, Miftahul Huda, who they suspected was propagating the "heretical" beliefs of his group Jamaah Safaatus Shalawat.

He cited an earlier consensus among district authorities that the activities should have stopped by Dec. 22. "But Huda ignored the consensus," Tawi said.

Syamsul Huda, the local leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Islamic organization, said locals were angered by the group's activities, which included praying without wudlu (ritual ablution) beforehand, a mandatory requirement in mainstream Islam.

The group also forbids customary prayer visits to graves, he said. The burning of Huda's house occurred during a meeting on the issue of the group involving local authorities, the regency branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council and representatives of the group itself.