Citing Imams of Ahlulbayt, Indonesian writer warns of mixing religion with politics

An op-ed published in one of Indonesia’s most popular newspapers warned of the dangers of exploiting the Islamic religion by opportunistic politicians as a means of justifying their narrow worldly goals.

Published in the “Klik Anggaran” newspaper and translated by Shia Waves Agency, the article titled “Religion and Politics: Between Commodity and Opportunism” said that “Amir al-Mu’minin Ali ibn Abi Talib, peace be upon him, was martyred by the sword of the Kharijite (Abdul Rahman ibn Muljam), following incitement by politicians aspiring to the position of caliphate under false pretexts”.

It added that the “next tragic story” in this series is the martyrdom of Imam Hussein ibn Ali (peace be upon him) on the land of Karbala after being besieged by the minions of the tyrant Yazid ibn Muawiya, motivated by the need to preserve the political power that the latter seized.

This led to Yazid’s killing of the innocent, including the beloved grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them), and later he went beyond that level of criminality when he made the pure head of the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him) a toy in the court of the Umayyad palace in a cruel way that makes it almost unbelievable, the article continued.

The author of the article, journalist and writer Riyad Arasy, confirmed that “the two historical facts above have firmly proven that the link between religion and politics will lead to division, not only through ideological friction, but also through violence, hatred, and bloodshed, so that religion becomes completely devoid of love, while politics fails to achieve prosperity.”