Few religious communities in Indonesia face as much persecution as Ahmadiyah. Followers of an Islamic sect that is officially considered deviant by the government and most of Indonesia’s majority Sunni Muslims, they are systematically discriminated against by the government and their communities have been the targets of numerous violent and sometimes deadly attacks in the last few years.
But, despite not seeing eye-to-eye with so many of their countrymen, thousands of Ahmadiyah followers recently pledged to donate their corneas to Bank Mata Indonesian (Indonesian Eye Bank) after their deaths, potentially giving thousands more the gift of sight. So many pledges were made, in fact, that it was recognized by the World Record Museum of Indonesia (MURI)
Organisasi Ahmadiyah menjadi lembaga keagamaan yang secara berkesinambungan mendonorkan mata ke Bank Mata Indonesia. #rekormuri pic.twitter.com/OOenA6dbPO
— Rekor MURI (@MURI_org) July 22, 2017
Ahmadiyya has become the religious institution that has donated the most to Bank Mata Indonesia (Indonesian Eye Bank).
Tercatat 6.800 anggota Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia sbg calon pendonor, 258 anggota telah mendonorkan kornea mata, (cont)
— Rekor MURI (@MURI_org) July 22, 2017
6,800 members of Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia have pledged to be potential donors, and 258 members have already donated corneas…
dan telah membantu kerusakan kornea mata sebanyak 516 orang.
— Rekor MURI (@MURI_org) July 22, 2017
… and helped repair the corneal damage to 516 people
Komunitas Ahmadiyah dari desa Manislor, Kecamatan Jalaksana, Kuningan adalah desa dengan 1.715 penduduk yang mendonor.#rekormuri
— Rekor MURI (@MURI_org) July 22, 2017
The Ahmadiyya community from Jalaksana Village in the district Manislor, Kuningan, alone has 1,715 pledged donors.
The pledges came from thousands of Ahmadiyah congregants from all over Indonesia. The chairman of Ahmadiyah Semarang, Ibnu Sartono, said on Sunday that the donated corneas could ease the burden of the people with visual impairments either from birth or caused by accidents.
Ibnu said the idea of donating corneas originally came from Ahmadiyah’s Central Leadership board and it immediately got an overwhelmingly positive response from their congregations.
“We did not think there would be so many (volunteers) so the number of donors is well beyond our original estimates,” Ibnu said as quoted by Merdeka.
“At the very least, we hope that what we are doing can inspire other Muslims to help their fellow human beings, regardless of their race, religion or political affiliation.”
Ibnu said their goal now was to get 10,000 potential donors so that they can help more of their fellow Indonesians see more clearly.
“We want to show our solidarity with our fellow human beings who are experiencing suffering, in the hopes that we too can be given the same space to exist alongside other groups in Indonesian society.”
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