The irony is that the Ahmadis in the West are energetic water-carriers for the Islamic supremacists who consider them to be heretics. An update on this story. "No shame for religious killings in Indonesian town," from the Associated Press, August 9 (thanks to Twostellas):
CIKEUSIK, Indonesia – When Dani bin Misra was released from prison last week after serving just three months for smashing in the skull of a member of a Muslim sect, this conservative Indonesian town let out a triumphant cry."He's a hero!" Rasna bin Wildan said of the teenage killer.
The ferociousness of the attack, captured on video and circulated widely on the Internet, guaranteed no one from the Ahmadiyah group would dare set foot in Cikeusik again, the 38-year-old farmer said as others nodded in agreement.
Their reaction is part of a wider wave of intolerance against religious minorities that is challenging Indonesia's image as a beacon of how Islam and liberalism can coexist.
No kidding, really?
Once the preserve of hard-line preachers, the hatred of Ahmadis now seems to be spreading among ordinary people in pockets of the world's most populous Muslim nation....
How is it that these hardline preachers are able to convince the ordinary people to go along? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who relies heavily on Islamic parties for support in parliament, has remained silent as hard-liners shuttered Christian churches, threw Molotov cocktails at one of their theology schools, and attacked worshippers and priests with knives and clubs as they headed to morning prayers.A string of attacks on the Ahmadiyah — including the torching of mosques and homes — only got worse after a 2008 government decree that said those who follow their practices or proselytize could face up to five years in prison.
Soon after, residents in Cikeusik, a rough-and-tumble farming community less than 120 miles (200 kilometers) from Jakarta, elected a new village chief, Muhammad Johar — the only candidate pledging to take a tough stand against the sect.
Many mainstream Muslims consider the Ahmadis heretics because they do not believe Muhammad was the final prophet.
In the eyes of the villagers, Dani and other members of the frenzied mob who killed three Ahmadis in February were just helping get the job done. Six were wounded, and the others fled with only the clothes on their backs, their houses destroyed and looted.
"I do feel bad people had to die," said Asep Setiadi, 40, as he headed out to his rice field. "But I'm grateful that they're finally gone."
Twenty-eight-year-old Siti Zubaidah, holding her baby girl in a sling as she chatted with a neighbor, had nothing but praise for Dani.
"We had to clean our village," added Wildan bin Satim, 72. "This is no place for the followers of a cult."
The Ahmadiyah, established in 1889 in India, consider its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be a savior and messiah, counter to traditional Islamic teaching. They have tens of millions of members worldwide and around 200,000 in Indonesia. [...]
Clerics raised questions during sermons about the validity of their faith, and residents whispered as they passed in the streets.
"Sometimes teachers would tell the class the Ahmadis are heretics," said 15-year-old Arief Muhammad Zainal, now living in fear in the outskirts of Jakarta with others from the village. "The other students would point and stare. Other times kids would pinch or slap me, muttering 'Ahmadiyah boy' as they passed."
Over time, the Ahmadis started to withdraw. In 2009, they used a $15,000 donation to build a concrete house for their religious ceremonies and stopped going to the mosque.
"They refused to pray with us," said Johar, the village chief. "So how should we consider them as Muslim?" [...]
On Feb. 6, as the Ahmadis were preparing to entertain guests from Jakarta, a mob of 1,500 from Cikeusik and neighboring villages approached with machetes, rocks and wooden clubs.
They surrounded the house and set it ablaze.
Women and children fled, screaming. Some of the men stood firm, fighting back with whatever they could grab, but they were far outnumbered.
"Kill! Kill!" the crowd chanted. "Burn! Burn!"
By the time a video camera was rolling, two men lay naked and lifeless in the mud. The attackers continued to hammer their bodies with bamboo sticks, each thud met with a cheer.
Dani, wearing a black leather jacket and a white skull cap, was the most brutal. The 17-year-old smashed a rock repeatedly into the skull of Roni Pasaroni as the crowd yelled "Allahu Akbar" or God is Great....
But human rights groups say police, under pressure by hard-liners, did not carry out a proper investigation. Prosecutors, claiming the Ahmadis were instigators, didn't call key eyewitnesses.
The relatively lenient sentences handed down last week — three to six months — surprised even Dani's family. Taking into account time served, the teen was released almost immediately. He returned to the nearby village of Cikadu, where he was shielded from the media by his parents.
The Ahmadis from Cikeusik are in hiding. "We live in fear now," said Nayati, a mother of four. "Everyday we are afraid they'll find us and kill us all."
Will the Islamophobia never end?
"Ahmadiya boy" killed by "Adult Suckling boys". The brutality of the "Children of Aisha" on display.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/02/indonesia-lynching.html
"They refused to pray with us," said Johar, the village chief. "So how should we consider them as Muslim?" [...]
Yeah, and if they had showed up at the regular mosques, they would probably have gotten lynched there instead.
Time for the Admadis to leave the dark side and join the Rebel Alliance.
It's noteworthy that Muslim societies react so violently towards any Muslim or Muslim descendant who wishes to revere any teacher who came after Muhammad. The Ahmadis, as Robert pointed out, support all mainstream Muslim organizations in the US, even CAIR. However, Ahmadis are peaceful, as are the Baha'is, also a Muslim offshoot which is viciously persecuted by any Muslim community with the power to do so.
It's clear the Muslim schools are literally violently opposed to any change in Islamic doctrine which could change the way Islam has been interpreted by Muslims for the past 1500 years. You're not going to get any Martin Luthers, John Calvins, Reformations, or counter-Reformations coming out of Islam. By opening a religion to further revelation, it is likely to become more peaceful and accommodating to the modern world, even if the reformers are themselves bigoted, narrow-minded, and fanatically anti-Semitic, as Martin Luther could be. Islam was not designed to be either accommodating or modern.
This sort of incident, which occurs regularly and is sanctioned at the highest levels of government in Muslim countries, bodes very poorly for any hope of modernizing Islam in any significant sense.
"No shame for religious killings in Indonesian town"
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When have Muslims *ever* felt shame over Islamic savagery?
More:
CIKEUSIK, Indonesia – When Dani bin Misra was released from prison last week after serving just three months for smashing in the skull of a member of a Muslim sect, this conservative Indonesian town let out a triumphant cry.
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"Conservative"? Somehow, I doubt Dani bin Misra would have gotten the same hero's welcome in, say, Crawford, Texas—which is also a conservative town.
Calling these vicious Jihadists "conservatives" renders the term meaningless.
More:
"He's a hero!" Rasna bin Wildan said of the teenage killer.
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Quite the "hero". I've seen the appalling video—Muslim thugs beating their unarmed victims to death.
More:
The ferociousness of the attack, captured on video and circulated widely on the Internet, guaranteed no one from the Ahmadiyah group would dare set foot in Cikeusik again, the 38-year-old farmer said as others nodded in agreement.
Their reaction is part of a wider wave of intolerance against religious minorities that is challenging Indonesia's image as a beacon of how Islam and liberalism can coexist.
No kidding, really?
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If someone had insulted these Ahmadiyah, or discriminated against them in some way, that would have challenged their liberal image.
Instead, these people were *beaten to death in the street*—that should do more than just "challenge" this image.
More:
A string of attacks on the Ahmadiyah — including the torching of mosques and homes — only got worse after a 2008 government decree that said those who follow their practices or proselytize could face up to five years in prison.
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Gee—I wonder why? Maybe because such a decree sanctioned harassment and worse? Maybe because a nation with such a law might, say, give a *three-month sentence* to some savage Muslims who beat these sanctioned scape-goats to death? just a thought...
More:
Soon after, residents in Cikeusik, a rough-and-tumble farming community less than 120 miles (200 kilometers) from Jakarta, elected a new village chief, Muhammad Johar — the only candidate pledging to take a tough stand against the sect.
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Hmmmm...so Johar wasn't pledging, say, to fight for better farm prices? That's usually the sort of thing that gets you elected in "rough-and-tumble farming communities" here in the West...
No, instead he was going for the "violent oppression of minorities" vote so popular all over Dar-al-Islam.
More:
In the eyes of the villagers, Dani and other members of the frenzied mob who killed three Ahmadis in February were just helping get the job done.
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Why does "getting the job done" for Muslims so often involve frenzied mobs and murder? Just wondering...
More:
"I do feel bad people had to die," said Asep Setiadi, 40, as he headed out to his rice field. "But I'm grateful that they're finally gone."
Twenty-eight-year-old Siti Zubaidah, holding her baby girl in a sling as she chatted with a neighbor, had nothing but praise for Dani.
"We had to clean our village," added Wildan bin Satim, 72.
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Just the opinions of "ordinary moms and dads"...
More:
"They refused to pray with us," said Johar, the village chief. "So how should we consider them as Muslim?"
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Funny how the next step after deciding that someone is not considered Muslim is to *attack them, murder them, and violently drive them out*...
More:
On Feb. 6, as the Ahmadis were preparing to entertain guests from Jakarta, a mob of 1,500 from Cikeusik and neighboring villages approached with machetes, rocks and wooden clubs.
They surrounded the house and set it ablaze...
"Kill! Kill!" the crowd chanted. "Burn! Burn!"
...............................
"Tiny minority of extremists"? Maybe not...
More:
Dani, wearing a black leather jacket and a white skull cap, was the most brutal. The 17-year-old smashed a rock repeatedly into the skull of Roni Pasaroni as the crowd yelled "Allahu Akbar" or God is Great....
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Why is it always when Muslims are at their most savagely violent that they start yelling about the greatness of Allah? Wait, I just answered my own question...