We Want to Pray in Our Mosque

In 1980, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa against the Ahmadiyah sect in Indonesia declaring that Ahmadiyah is a heretical, misleading community and they do not belong to Islam.

The Ahmadis do not believe that the Prophet Muhammad is Islam's final prophet, but claim that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the final prophet and messiah. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the founder of the sect.

The persecution mounted, following the issuance of a controversial joint ministerial decree by then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, known as SBY, in 2008. The decree ordered the Ahmadiyah followers to stop spreading their teachings and conducting activities that deviate from the fundamental principles of Islam.

The decree also imposes up to five-year jail terms to anyone who propagates Ahmadiyah teachings.

Following the decree, hardline Muslims attacked 25 Ahmadiyah followers in Cikeusik, Banten, on February 2011, killing three and injuring five followers of the sect.

After President Jokowi took office in 2014, the reported attacks against religious minorities decreased, but Human Rights Watch reported that at least seven Ahmadiyah mosques remained closed in Indonesia under the 2008 ministerial decree.

Read more about the police harassment in Al-Misbah mosque in Bekasi in 2013 here.