Maman Abdurrahman looking way too smug

Indonesian Islamist Maman (not to be confused with “maman,” a French way to refer to one’s mother) Abdurrahman has it out for anyone showing a hint of religious tolerance. Abdurrahman is the chairman of Indonesian Islamic organization Persis, and has some crazy ideas about how Muslims should behave during the holiday season.

Like many others before him, Abdurrahman has decreed that celebrating non-Muslim holidays such as Christmas is an act of kufr, and is thus forbidden in Islam. What triggered this was Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s announcement that he and the vice president would attend Christmas festivities though he is a Muslim. “Even though they are the country’s leaders, they are forbidden to attend such Christmas celebrations,” Abdurrahman commented. He went on to say that Christian government personnel should be sent to the event instead of Muslims, though the Christians that would be sent would be nowhere near as prominent. Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia shared Abdurrahman’s decree on their website, considering it valid. Apparently reaching across the aisle and trying to encourage religious tolerance and moderation is against Islam… who’da thunk it?!

Abdurrahman has also spoken in support of Palestine, commonly referred to as the stone-throwing, honor-killing-packed portion of Israel. “Israeli occupation against Palestinian territory is illegal and it has been 65 years without any proper justice,” Abdurrahman said. Uhh, what about justice for all the terror attack victims in Israel? What about the continuous concessions to Palestinian jihadists, including one-sided prisoner releases? What about the fact that elsewhere in the middle east, Jews are discriminated against due to the anti-Semitic teachings of Islam? Abdurrahman doesn’t care about any of that; rather, he’s too busy organizing pro-Palestinian conferences and “pilgrimages” to Masjid al-Aqsa, an Islamic holy site in the old city of Jerusalem. In fact, Abdurrahman claims his group Persis is planning to send Muslims there in the near future to help support “the Palestinian cause.” Whether or not that will involve jihadist activity remains to be seen.