Mahdi sect accused of religious deviation

Jakarta, Indonesia - HERETICAL, schmeretical! Indonesians have been hearing a lot of such accusations directed lately against, for instance, the imam who led Islamic ritual prayers in the Indonesian language, or against the Ahmadiyah congregation.

And now, the finger has been pointed at followers of Mahdi, a religious sect leader living near Palu, Central Sulawesi, who has allegedly asked his followers not to practise some of the tenets of Islam or Christianity.

Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the nation's second largest Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah, quickly branded the Mahdi sect “blasphemous and misleading” and urged the government to supervise and assist sect members.

They are people with low educational attainment, live in an isolated mountainous area and are financially repressed, he said, presumably by way of explaining their chosen beliefs.

“Indonesia covers a vast area with a diverse population. It provides very wide access for any religious faith. We have to be very wise in taking care of it,” said Din, also deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council, in Yogyakarta last week.

He did say, however, that he regretted the deadly clash between police and some of Mahdi's followers last Tuesday, in which five people were killed – three officers and two sect members.

The clash occurred as 16 police officers went to the mountainous Gawalise area outside of Palu city to try to question Mahdi, where they met strong resistance from his followers.

Another Islamic scholar, Komaruddin Hidayat, said the heretical stigmatisation of minimally different groups should be avoided because no person or group had the right to judge others as blasphemous.

“What are the criteria for religious deviation? Corruption is also another form of deviance,” said the Islamic studies professor from the Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University.

He said the government should have asked the Mahdi followers for a dialogue first, as that could have prevented the clash.

Islamic jurisprudence scholar Siti Musdah Mulia accused the government of violating the Constitution by detaining people it perceived as religiously heretical.

“As long as any religious group does not commit violence or force others to follow their precepts, the government should let them be free. The state should even protect them,” said Musdah, who is Secretary-General of the Indonesian Conference for Religion and Peace.