President Yudhoyono urged to issue decree banning Ahmadiyah sect

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) KH Cholil Ridwan asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to immediately issue a decree banning the Ahmadiyah sect as it still claimed being part of Islam.

In a press conference on a year-end evaluation and the MUI stance at his office here on Tuesday, Cholil Ridwan said the presidential decree would underscore that the Ahmadiyah sect has not relations whatsover with Islam, and has tarnished and deviated from Islamic tenets.

According to him, other countries all over the world including Pakistan where the Ahmadiyah was founded, had regarded the sect as outside Islam.

In fact, the Ahmadiyah in Pakistan was forbidden to use the world "mosque" as their house of prayer. The Pakistani people, wishing to go on pilgrimage to Mecca, were required to produce an Ahmadiyah sect-free certificate, he said.

Cholil Ridwan also told regional administration leaders throughout Indonesia to issue a provincial regulation banning the Ahmadiyah and its propagation. This decision is already in force in South Sumatra.

In the meantime, another MUI Chairman Prof Dr Umar Shihab said his office continued making Ahmadiyah adherents to understand that the sect had deviated from their beliefs, hoping they would return to Islam.

While some of them understood the deviation from their teachings, others still remained with what they believed in. (*)

source:antara