104 islam, politics and change
a number of developments in recent years have led people to start
questioning the idea of Indonesia as a representative of ‘Islam with
a smiling face’.² But of all the focal points in the ongoing discussion of
where Indonesia is headed in terms of democratisation, controversies
surrounding the freedom of worship have probably generated the most
attention, internationally as well as domestically. The presence of the
minority Muslim³ sect, Ahmadiyah, is one of those controversies.
The most important theological point of contention in the ongoing
Ahmadiyah debate is the status of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908),
and there is a long history in terms of highly complex claims and
counter-claims with regard to the nature of Ghulam Ahmad’s religious
leadership.⁴
Indonesia’s government has experienced considerable difficulties in
coming to terms with the presence of the sect – an issue that was not
really an issue until a powerful lobby group decided to take it up a decade
ago.⁵ The issue has proven to be particularly divisive and has led to
heated debates across Islam-based organisations in recent years. The
Indonesian Ulama Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, mui) declared
Ahmadiyah a deviant sect in several fatwas, most recently in 2005, and
hardline groups have even threatened to topple the government if it fails
to issue an outright ban on the sect. While Ahmadiyah communities
Martin van Bruinessen, ‘What happened to the smiling face of Indonesian Islam?
Muslim intellectualism and the conservative turn in post-Suharto Indonesia’,
rsis Working PaperNo. 222, 6 January 2011, http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/
workingpapers/wp222.pdf.
Whether or not Ahmadis are actually Muslims is at the core of the contro-
versy. I choose to refrain from taking sides in this highly complex debate and
call Ahmadiyah a Muslim sect because Ahmadis identify themselves as Mus-
lims.
A detailed examination of the debate on Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s status is beyond
the scope of this chapter. Herman L. Beck presents Ghulam Ahmad’s ideas and
doctrinal differences between Ahmadiyah and mainstream Sunni Islam in ‘The
rupture between the Muhammadiyah and the Ahmadiyya’, inBijdragen tot de
Taal-,Land- en Volkenkunde161–162 (2005): 210–246, 215–219. Erni Budiwanti’s
account:Pluralism collapses: A study of the Jamaʾah Ahmadiyah Indonesia and
its persecution, Asia Research Institute Working Paper Series No. 117, National
University of Singapore, 2009, is more comprehensive. For a detailed refutation
of many accusations commonly levelled at Ahmadis see M.A. Suryawan,Bukan
sekedar hitam putih. Kontroversi pemahaman Ahmadiyah(Tangerang: Azzahra
Publishing, 2005).
International Crisis Group,Indonesia: Implications of the Ahmadiyah decree. Asia
Briefing No. 78. Jakarta/Brussels, 7 July 2008: 2–3, 14–15.