The Ahmadiyya and the Study of Comparative Religion in Indonesia: Controversies and Influences

As an organization of foreign origin, the existence and contribution of the Ahmadiyya in Indonesia has been a subject of debate. Some scholars ignore it completely as unimportant, while others consider that it has had significant influence. The contribution of the Ahmadiyya to Indonesian Islam most asserted by the movement itself is its efforts to check and respond to Christian missionary activity. In what way has the movement actually made a contribution to that effort? How widespread is the influence of the Ahmadiyya in the discourse on Christianity, in particular, and the study of comparative religion, in general, in Indonesia? Why has the Ahmadiyya paid more attention to the issue of Christianity than other Muslim groups? This article aims to answer these questions by analysing literature on Christianity written and distributed by the Ahmadiyya in Indonesia and the effect this has had on relations between Islam and Christianity in two fields – religious mission and academia. The article presents three propositions. First, Ahmadiyya literature, with its apologetic, polemical and controversial character, had a significant influence on the academic study of comparative religion during two periods of instability: the late colonial era and the first two decades after the declaration of independence in 1945. Second, Ahmadiyya literature on Christianity has been most influential through the way it sets out to create a sense of the superiority of Islam and its compatibility with modernity. Third, for the Ahmadiyya, the issue of Christianity, particularly the death of Jesus, has been used as evidence that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the second Messiah.