Ustaz Maulana saying the controversial comment during a recent episode of his TV show, ‘Islam Itu Indah’.
Muhammad Nur Maulana, more commonly known as Ustaz Maulana, is arguably one of the most famous Islamic preachers (though some might argue he entertains more than he preaches) on Indonesian TV.
He became the subject of controversy when, during a recent episode for his TV show, he said that leaders shouldn’t be chosen based on their religion.
Given how some Muslims have struggled to accept non-Muslim leaders in Indonesia (FPI VS Ahok the most notable example), it comes to no surprise that some conservative Muslims found Ustaz Maulana’s statement to be highly controversial.
Yesterday, the Islamic Reformist Movement (Garis) reported Ustaz Maulana to the Jakarta Metro Police on the grounds of blasphemy towards Islam.
“That [not choosing Islamic leaders] is clearly against Islam’s Sharia law,” said Ustaz Adang Nurmansyah, the leader of Garis, as quoted by Kompas.
Adang is hopeful that if proven guilty, Ustaz Maulana would be jailed for five years.
Even though Sharia law requires that leaders in an Islamic society to be Muslim, the people at Garis seem to have forgotten that we’re not an Islamic country (despite Indonesia having the largest Muslim population in the world). In fact, our Pancasila ideals and Constitution clearly state that religious diversity must be preserved in Indonesia – and that religious diversity applies to our leaders, too.
So if they want to live in a society that guarantees its leaders are Muslim, then perhaps they should move to Aceh.
