H

ot on the heels of its campaign against the dissolution of Ahmadiyah, the hard-line Muslim group Islam Defenders Front (FPI) is now setting its eyes on underground music, which its members believe carry messages that would lead young Muslims astray.

In a public lecture at the FPI headquarters in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, senior FPI member and purported Islamic music “expert” Farid Budi Fahri alleged there had been concerted efforts to turn young people away from Islamic teachings through a variety of underground music.

“There has been a conspiracy. A war launched by the underground community [against mainstream Islamic teaching],” he told FPI members who came to the talk last week.

Farid traced the roots of the underground music to a Zionist movement.

He said that a group of people adhering to Zionist ideology has used the medium to conceal their objectives of world domination.

“At the end of the day, it will sow conflict among Muslims themselves,” Farid said.

He went on to speculate that the underground music community, which initially developed as a resistance towards the mainstream industry by independently producing and distributing music, has been subverted by the Zionist movement to spread ideas that would contradict Islam.

“Are these musicians carrying out a Zionist mission? I would say no. The conspiracy is within the music, the lyrics which carry messages and the ideology which would create a lifestyle and counter culture in the end,” Farid said.

He cited the lyrics of John Lennon’s song Imagine as Zionist music, although Lennon was not Jewish and was not considered an idol of the underground music community.

“People keep singing his songs without realizing the meaning behind it,” he said.

He suspected that the song — about a hypothetical state of the world where religion, state and ideology did not exist — carry a pure Zionist message.

Farid also said some underground musical outfits had promoted Satanic messages. He said bands like Sepultura, Metallica and Lamb of God were satanic bands that could turn young Muslim fans away from religion.

The FPI has thus far tried to extend efforts to reach out to punk communities in the city to spread the message of Islam.

“So far we have tried to approach punk communities in Pulo Gadung and Blok M bus terminals so that they can return to the true Islamic teachings,” Farid said.

He said FPI would soon expand its anti-underground initiatives.

“We expect that we can be done with the Ahmadiyah case soon so that FPI can concentrate on other issues like dealing with heresy that is rampant in the underground community,” Farid said.

Responding to the threat, the Jakarta Police said it would look into the matter. “We have not received information about the issue yet,” City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Jafar said.

This is not the first time FPI launched a campaign against creative arts. The Bekasi branch of FPI last year called on the removal of a sculpture design by a Balinese artist titled Tiga Mojang (Three Women), alleging that it was a depiction of the Holy Trinity.