State restrictions on the Ahmadiyya sect in Indonesia and Pakistan: Islam or political survival?

Abstract

Indonesia and Pakistan have both adopted state policy that restricts the religious freedom of a minority heterodox sect, the Ahmadiyya, which is viewed by mainstream Muslims as a non-Muslim minority. This outcome is somewhat puzzling as there is a great discrepancy between the institutionalisation and formal privileging of the dominant religion – Islam – in the two Muslim majority states. I find that the similar outcome is attributable not to the institutionalisation of Islam in the state, but rather to the political survival needs of the regime, motivating it to adopt the policy demands of Islamist actors to repress the Ahmadiyya sect.印度尼西亚和巴基斯坦都施行了限制少数异端艾哈马蒂亚教派宗教自由的国家政策。艾哈马蒂亚被主流穆斯林视为非穆斯林少数派。这个结果有些令人费解，因为在两个穆斯林占多数的国家，在主导性宗教即伊斯兰教的体制化与特权化之间存在差异。笔者发现，类似的的结果根源不在伊斯兰的体制化，倒是在于政权的政治生存需要，即响应伊斯兰主义主体压制艾哈马蒂亚教派的政策需要。