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une 12, Online

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, stating that only government-recognized Islamic organizations, such as itself, should be able to call any people or groups kafir, or infidels. The MUI is claiming the move is meant to prevent religious hate speech, but some scholars and activists are expressing fear that the MUI just wants to expand its power in the world'€™s most populous Muslim nation.

Zacky Khairul Umam, a research fellow at the Institute of Islamic Studies at Freie University, Germany, said the edict was positive, but he reminded all Islamic organizations to refrain from labeling anyone as infidels. '€œIt is better for Islamic organizations to just focus on the well-being of the Islamic society [rather than on labeling],'€ Zacky said.

Your comments:

Get religion out of government and disallow any religious organization from having a say over the population.

I wonder if they will publish an official '€œkafir/infidel'€ list so everyone can be informed as to who would be regarded as the bad person. I bet anyone who is not Sunni is at the top of the list.

X Simaging

The term refers to a person who rejects or disbelieves in God or who hides, denies and refuses to accept the dominion and authority of God, or otherwise pays no attention to the beliefs held by Islamic religion.

Graft, corruption, theft, etc, committed by anyone is certainly not paying attention to the beliefs of
Islam!

Willo

Nobody has a right to call another kafir or infidel or whatever. It is an individual'€™s right to choose whichever religion he wishes and no one else can decide for him or label him. Go look after yourself and your own family. We are not stupid people.

Malam

The word kafir (or infidel, kuffar, etc.) is without doubt a word that drips of and virtually reflects the utter contempt certain Islamic organizations (and with them of course their members) have against any other '€œother-believer'€ (or even non-believers) '€” you can turn it whichever way.

This fact remains. There is then still this other despicable fatwa prohibiting pluralism that just shows in which direction the MUI and with it its council members tries to steer its members.

Charles

Don'€™t pretend to be smarter than the MUI. The council only wants to prevent any groups in the society to issue any fatwa to call members of other groups in society kafir.

Although MUI may also have no right to issue such a decree, it is better than if a violent group issued a kafir decree about other group.

Hoho