Hundreds of hardline Indonesian Muslims burnt a mosque early on Monday belonging to a sect that has been branded heretical by most Muslims, police said. The attack in West Java's Sukabumi district came after a government team recommended this month the Ahmadiyya sect be banned because its teachings deviate from the central tenets of Islam.
Sukabumi police chief Guntor Gaffar told Reuters the attack followed an ultimatum by the Jamaatul Mubaligin Forum on Friday to the Ahmadiyyas to remove a signboard from the mosque in two days. He said a policeman guarding the mosque was hurt in the attack and police were questioning eight people in connection with the incident.
Earlier this month, an Indonesian government team, which includes officials from the religious affairs ministry, recommended the government ban the sect because its teachings deviate from the central tenets of Islam. An Ahmadiyya spokesman told reporters in Jakarta the agency's recommendation to ban the group on the grounds that it is heretical had led to increased destruction of its mosques. "The recommendation has caused an escalation of mosque destruction run by Ahmadiyyas across Indonesia," the spokesman, Shamsir Ali, told reporters. Ali said the destruction had increased since the government agency's announcement this month and four mosques had been attacked in less than a month. |