He swore to base his obedience to Abu Bakir Bashir (Baasyr in this story) on the Qur’an and Sunnah, and yet misunderstood the Religion of Peaceâ„¢ to the extent that he attacked a church. “Java: church attacker, spiritual son of the Islamic leader Baasyr,” by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 10 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Beni Asri, one of the country’s best-known Islamic extremists, arrested after the attack on the Christian church of Solo (Java) last September, has admitted strong links with the leading Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Baasyr. (09/25/2011 At least three killed in a suicide attack on church in Indonesia). Beni Asri has been accused of planning several suicide bombings in Indonesia, and in particular of being the organizer of the attack against the Solo church. Beni Asri was arrested Sept. 30 in his parents’ house in Solok, West Sumatra province.
Beni Asri…made a crucial testimony to Indonesian security services investigators who are trying to trace the roots of radical fundamentalism that is spreading among young people. Beni Asri confirmed he had been spiritually “baptized” by Abu Bakar Baasyr after a short course of prayers and Islamic teachings in Cirebon, West Java, in 2008….
Syarif, the perpetrator of the suicide attack on the Cirebon Police Headquarters, was killed in the attack, which injured several officers. “Beni Asri was very committed, he followed the sermons held continuously by Abi Bakar Baasyr in the An Nur Mosque in Cirebon,” said a police spokesman, Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam. “Beni Asri received ‘baiat’ and his companion was Agung Nur Alam”. The “baiat” is a spiritual oath, professed by young novices in front of their spiritual director and teacher, after a period of intense preparation and physical and moral training. According to the spokesman, Beni Asri was to an extent “kidnapped” by Agung Nur Alasm, Syarif and a third person, Sueb, to bring him to Abu Bakir Baasyr.
Beni Asri recieved “baiat” along with 15 other young unknown men. The only thing he remembers about that day and the “oath” is that he must “be loyal to all that the Amir (the spiritual leader, Ed) tells him to do, based on the Koran and Sunnah of the Prophet, in the effort to achieve the implementation of Sharia. ” After the “baiat” Beni Asri was as an active member of the Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (Jat), an organization founded by radical Muslim Abu Bakar Baasyr after having abandoned, , his former fundamentalist group, the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) after strong divisions.
According to General Alam, Beni Asri was subjected to a brainwashing to inculcate a false idea of jihad (holy war spiritual) in a series of courses held by Baasyr in the Zaitun mosque of Cirebon. Considered the Amir of the Jemaah Islamiyah, Baasyr’s meetings, which were attended by about thirty young men.
In what way was Bashir’s idea of jihad false? Why is the falsity of the jihadists’ version of Islam always asserted but never explained? If they swore an oath to do all that Bashir told them to do based on the Qur’an and Sunnah, why didn’t they ever notice the apparently abundant contradictions between what Bashir said to do and what the Qur’an and Sunnah said to do?