Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) often promotes interfaith tolerance. Ironically, in several regions a number of NU figures patronized minority groups such as the Ahmadiyya based on the SKB regulations of three ministers (Minister of Home Affairs, Attorney General and Minister of Religion) on 9 June 2008 and statements of deviance. Why?

Rizal Aris, administrator of the Bogor Regency Jam'iyyatul Qurra' Wal Huffazh Nahdlatul Ulama (JHQNU) experienced persecution by Bojonggede NU officials after speaking at the Siratun Nabi event at the Ahmadiyah Center in Parung Bogor in 2019. Rizal said to the Ahmadiyya Congregation, Rizal said, 'The Ahmadiyah are not misguided .' Rizal's opinion was recorded by someone. The video is widely circulated among nahdliyin, a term for NU members.

One evening, five Bojonggede NU officials came to Rizal at the Nanggerang Islamic Boarding School, Tajunghulur District, Bogor Regency. They asked, “What does Rizal think about Ahmadiyya?

“Ahmadiyah is Islam like other Muslims. The creed is the same, the Prophet is the same, the holy book (Al Qur’an) is also the same and the pilgrimage continues to Mecca,” Rizal replied. Not unexpectedly, Rizal’s answer resulted in a threat. “Once again dealing with Ahmadiyah, we will burn this pesantren!”

A number of Islamic boarding schools owned by Rizal were damaged, banners welcoming new students were removed. “Watch out! if it is still related to Ahmadiyya there is a bigger action.” I asked Rizal after the incident, what did you do? He sighed. Then he replied, “After one year I kept my distance from Ahmadiyya friends after that they were on good terms again.” As a result of this incident, Rizal was marginalized by society; his lectures were rejected, sermon schedules were canceled, recitations were dismissed.

None of this made Rizal falter. “I am firmly convinced that Ahmadiyah is not heretical.” NU is indeed not monolithic although the kiai or NU officials show a tolerant attitude. NU leaders in the regions could have shown a different attitude. As happened in Bogor. The climate of religious harmony in Bogor is difficult because there is an Ahmadiyya center.

History of Ahmadiyya and the heretical label

The Ahmadiyya religious community was founded in 1889 in Qadian India by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Ahmadiyya Congregation is a religious community that claims to be Muslim. Ahmadiyya is different from other Muslims regarding the understanding of Ghulam Ahmad as Imam Mahdi. In the Ahmadiyya tradition, there are two categories of prophets: the tasyri category in which the Prophet Muhammad is the last tasyri prophet; and ghairi tasyri, a group of prophets who do not carry sharia. He is divided into two: mustaqil, a prophet who stands alone, and ghairi mustaqil, who becomes a prophet because he follows other prophets.

The ghairi mustaqil category is a prophet who carried out the sharia of the Prophet Muhammad. Ghulam Ahmad is a mustaqil ghairi. Since it was first introduced in Indonesia, the Ahmadiyya conflict has continued to occur until it culminates in Ahmadiyah versus the Indonesian Ulama Council which is a group of Sunni Islamic organizations in Indonesia. The MUI, which declared itself to be the representative of Muslims throughout Indonesia-minus the Ahmadiyya, of course, at the Second National Conference (Munas) which took place in Jakarta on 26 May-1 June 1980, issued a fatwa confirming that the Ahmadiyya Congregation was a congregation outside of Islam, heretical and misleading.

This fatwa was based on a fatwa issued by Rabithah Alam Islami-a forum of Muslim scholars belonging to the World Muslim League, which also issued the same fatwa against the Ahmadiyya Community at its annual conference in Mecca on 6-10 April 1974. Fatwas from two institutions-MUI and Rabithah Alam Islami are based on three things that are considered deviant in Ahmadiyya teachings: 1) the prophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad; 2) differences in the interpretation of Al-Quran verses, that the Ahmadiyya Congregation’s interpretation is said to be deviant; 3) the concept of jihad in which the Ahmadiyya Congregation is said to have abolished jihad. The fatwa that appeared during the New Order era did not cause widespread polemic among Islamic groups, but it became a problem when in 2005 the MUI again strengthened the fatwa given the increasing dominance of mainstream Islamic groups in the period after the fall of the New Order.

Rais Syuriyah PBNU Masdar Farid Mas'udi is of the opinion: Whether or not Ahmadiyah is deviant is a matter of terminology. Again the norm is "To you your religion, to me my religion." So everyone has the right to practice their beliefs.

In 2008, the Central Coordinating Board for the Study of Doctrine and Community Beliefs (Bakor Pakem) stated that Ahmadiyya was not a forbidden religion. Masdar in an interview with journalists stated that the decision was right to reduce acts of violence against members of the Indonesian Ahmadiyya Muslim Congregation (JAI)

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