“The letter of the closure was signed by Yusuf, chairman of the Ciamis Public Order Agency. Since when did the Public Order Agency have the authority to issue the decision to seal [buildings]?”
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| Photo: Twitter - @IslamAhmadiyah |
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By Camelia Pasandaran | June 26, 2014
Jakarta. An Ahmadiyah mosque in Ciamis, West Java, was shut down by the local Public Order Agency officers on Thursday, not long after hundreds of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) members rallied against the group in front of the local district chief’s office.
“The Ahmadiyah mosque in Ciamis was forcefully shut down by the local Leaders Consultative Forum (Muspida),” Ahmad Mbuarik, spokesman of the Indonesia Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), said on Thursday. “The letter of the closure was signed by Yusuf, chairman of the Ciamis Public Order Agency. Since when did the Public Order Agency have the authority to issue the decision to seal [buildings]?”
Members of the local Ahmadiyah community reportedly went to the mosque to pray on Thursday afternoon, but realized on arriving that its entrance door had been locked. A piece of paper placed on the door said:
“To maintain the harmony of religious people and to create public order for the sake of national unity, we order members of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation in Ciamis to stop all activities related to the spreading of deviant interpretation of Islamic teaching in this place, effective today, Thursday, June 26, 2014. Members of the Ciamis branch of the Ahmadiyah group found ignoring this warning will be sanctioned according to the law.”
Earlier this week, hundreds of FPI members rallied in front of Ciamis district chief Iing Syam Arifin’s office, calling on him to close down the mosque.
Responding to the protests, Iing expressed rejection of the group, but said he was entitled to comply to the law, which prevented the closure.
“I am a Muslim … personally, not professionally, I reject [Ahmadiyah]. But in my position [as district chief], there are regulations that prevent this and I have to follow the regulation,” Iing said, as quoted by warta-ahmadiyah.org on Wednesday.
He also said he would take steps in solving the issue.
According to Syaiful Uyun, an imam at the mosque, the Nur Khilafat mosque was built in 1965 and serves a plae of daily congregation for around seven families. He said there had been no issues at the mosque prior to the recent protests.
In April, the Indonesian Ulema Council’s (MUI) Ciamis branch issued a letter banning Ahmadiyah in Ciamis, claiming the move was necessary in safeguarding “the brotherhood among the Islamic faithful” in the district. The organization cited a 2008 joint ministerial decree and a 2011 West Java gubernatorial decree, both of which bans the spread of Ahmadiyah teaching, but not its practice by adherents of the faith.
Read original post here: Indonesia: Ciamis Public Order Agency Shuts Down Ahmadiyah Mosque
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