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Indonesia's Ahmadis Look for a Home in a Novel 'Maryam' By Olin Monteiro June 05, 2012

Maryam By Okky Madasari Published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama 275 pages Bahasa Indonesia

How does it feel when you are not allowed to go to your own house? How does it f eel to know that your house was burned down and someone else now occupies it? Maryam, the third novel of author Okky Madasari, is a story about the suffering of the repressed Ahmadiyya sect in a small coastal village called Gerupuk in Lombo k, West Nusa Tenggara. Maryam, the main character, was born er is a devoted Ahmadiyya member and members of the village. Growing up, ent Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, and raised in an Ahmadiyya family. Her fath has established good relationships with the Maryam pursues higher education in a promin East Java.

Her parents wish her to marry an Ahmadi man and believe that its the best thing f or her to have a husband from the same religious background marrying someone out side the Ahmadiyya sect will not work. Maryam then falls in love with an Ahmadi man named Gamal. Unfortunately, the rel ationship doesnt work when Gamal disappears and joins an Islamic fundamental grou p, leaving Maryam devastated.

She sets off to Jakarta in search of work, and meets another man named Alam whom she falls in love with and marries. Later in the marriage, she finds out that A lam is not the right man. This unfortunate occasion prompts the pair to divorce and sends Maryam back home to Gerupuk. By the time she returns, she learns that her house is empty and the whole Ahmadi yya community is forced to leave. The sect is accused of being heretics, not a p art of Islam and not an acknowledged religion. Maryam loses her house and her family because of faith. It is a fictional story based on very real intolerance and expulsion surrounding faith, trends which hav e been increasing in Indonesia, according to human rights organizations. The sect, founded by Indian Muslim Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1889, is considered con troversial in many Muslim majority countries. It is banned in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The Ahmadiyas community believes in Islam, but differ in their interpre tations of the Koran. In Indonesia, the Ahmadiyya existed before the nations independence with approxim ately 200,000 followers. Erfan Dachlan, son of Indonesian Islamic revivalist Ahm ad Dachlan who established the Muhammadiyah sect, founded Ahmadiyya following hi s study in Lahore, India. There are two Ahmadiyya groups in Indonesia. The first is Ahmadiyas Qadiyan, pop ularly known as Jamaah Ahmadiyya Indonesia (JAI), which started in Bogor. The gr oup claims that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is a Mujaddid (divine reformer) and a prophet . This is a key point of contention because most Muslims believe that Muhammad w as the last monotheist prophet. The second sect is the Ahmadiyya Lahore, commonly known as Indonesian Ahmadiyya Movement (GAI) based in Yogyakarta, which doesnt necessarily believe that Mirza G hulam Ahmad is a prophet, but rather a Mujaddid. In 1953, JAI was officially recognized in Indonesia to have legal status from a decree handed down by the Minister of Justice. But the acknowledgment did not st op other groups from spreading their hatred. The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa (religious edict) declaring that Ahmadiyya is outside the pale of Islam, heretical and deceiving. Even worse, JAI have come under increasing violence and deadly attacks since MUI issued another fatwa in 2005, saying the sect is Haram and deviating from Quran ic teachings regarding the final prophet. Hard-line Islamic groups attacked the Ahmadiyya headquarters near Bogor and assaulted its members in many areas such a s in East Lombok, Manislor, Tasikmalaya, Parung, Garut, Cikeusik, and other regi ons as well. The Ahmadiyya have the right to exist without fear of expulsion and persecution. Whether Ahmadiyya has deviated from Islam is not relevant. Whats right is protec ting its members as citizens. The character of Maryam represents just one of the many people who follows Ahmad iyya teachings and wants to live a normal, happy life in Indonesia, a country th ats supposed to guard the rights of its citizens. There's minimum protection for all of the Maryams, her family and the members of Ahmadiyya in general. But authorities havent guaranteed the safety of these people. The authorities do not guarantee the protection of their houses, their land, their possessions, the ir rights and above all else, their souls. Although Maryam and hundreds of thousand other Ahmadis cant return to their own h

ouses, they still live among us in a pluralistic society. And like many of us, t heyre striving just to live their lives. Through Maryam, Okky gives us the opportunity to walk in an Ahmadis shoes to foster a better understanding. Asked what inspires her to write about religious issues, Okky says: Im deeply conc erned about the intolerance and discrimination against minority groups in Indone sia. Through Maryam, I intend to fight for the rights of those who have been out c asted and victims of violence. This is a call for Indonesians to give Maryam and the rest of the Ahmadis back t heir home, their rights, their dignity and their happiness. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifelived/indonesias-ahmadis-look-for-a-home-in-n ovel/522461 URL: http://www.newageislam.com/books-and-documents/olin-monteiro/indonesia-s-ah madis-look-for-a-home-in-a-novel--maryam-/d/7557

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