Indonesian sect leader returns to mainstream Islam

Jakarta – Dhul Qaada 02, 1428/ November 12, 2007 – A controversial Indonesian Muslim sect leader claiming to be a prophet announced his return to mainstream Islam, while police said an investigation into whether he had blasphemed would go on. The Leader of the Al Qiyadah Al Islamiyah sect, Ahmad Mushaddeq, surrendered to police last week after state prosecutors had called for him to be interrogated. The sect was declared deviant in a religious edict by the country's chief authority on Islam, the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, two months ago.

Mushaddeq's insistence that he was a prophet ran counter to mainstream Islamic teachings that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the final prophet and could see him jailed for up to five years under Indonesia's contempt of religion laws. But the leader said during a press conference held at Jakarta police headquarters that he retracted all his earlier statements asserting that he was a prophet and said he was just "a regular human being". "I call on all of my followers to be calm, to repent and return to Islam and obey the law," he was quoted by AFP as saying. He begged for Indonesian Muslims to forgive him and his followers "if we offended and created uneasiness, and I hope that we can be accepted back as brothers in faith. "I want people to know that I am not a bad person or lost," he added.

National police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto said the investigation into Mushaddeq's case "will continue, though his announcement could help him in court". Several similar sects have emerged in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, in the past few years. About 90 percent of Indonesia's population are Muslim.

KA/HA/IINA