Rahmat, Makassar – A district chapter of the Indonesian Council of Ulema in South Sulawesi has issued an edict declaring a religious group a deviant Islamic sect, and called for a police investigation.

Sahabuddin Hamid, head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) in Maros district, said on Tuesday that he has asked the police and district authorities to take action against the group, Ahad Soht, and its 50 members.

He said Ahad Soht was based in Laiya village, which can only be reached by a grueling climb through mountainous terrain.

"The Ahad Soht sect has deviated too far from the rules and teachings of Islam," Sahabuddin said. According to reports received by the council, he said, the group was led by a man named Daeng Kulle and had been in existence for at least three months.

The group, he said, mixed the local dialect into fixed Islamic prayers and worshiped through a form of meditation accompanied by strange animal-like sounds. Sahabuddin said members believed this would allow them to be possessed by angels.

He said members also observed only two obligatory daily prayers instead of the standard five. "What is most unacceptable is that this sect teaches that there is still another god above Allah and forbids its members from reading the Koran," he said.

As the local head of the MUI, Sahabuddin said, he was issuing a personal plea to Daeng Kulle to stop his group's teachings. "This is clearly an effort to mislead the people," he said. "We also call on people to be alert against the group's teachings."

A spokesman for the provincial police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Siswa, said a letter had been sent to district authorities asking for their help in investigating the group.

"When we have received a reply, we will take the necessary actions, including questioning the leader of the sect," Siswa said.

He added that police had called for a meeting of the Coordinating Board for the Supervision of Faiths and Beliefs to discuss the matter.