Millah Abraham, also known as Gerakan Fajar Nusantara by its abbreviation Gafatar, is a religious movement with roots in

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

based in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Founded by Ahmad Mushaddeq, it claims over 50,000 members. It has been persecuted by the

Indonesian government The term Government of the Republic of Indonesia (, GOI, sometimes also referred to as Government of Indonesia or the Central Government () especially in laws) can have a number of different meanings. At its widest, it can refer collectively ...

, with its founder Mushaddeq sent to prison.

History

Millah Abraham is led by Ahmad Mushaddeq, who in the 1990s began to believe that he was receiving messages from

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

, and that he was a successor to

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. His beliefs became known as Milah Abraham, which accumulated approximately 50,000 followers in

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. Mushaddeq's followers also began a back-to-the-land movement emphasizing

organic farming Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...

and agrarian self-sufficiency, known as Gafatar.

Persecution

As of 2016 there were more than 7,000 members of Gafatar. Gafatar encouraged its followers to sell their possessions and move to more rural farmland in

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

, in order to avoid persecution by Indonesian authorities. In January 2016, the Ministry of Home Affairs of Indonesia banned activities of Gafatar and a mob destroyed the Gafatar compound in

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...

. Indonesian authorities detained approximately 7,000 practitioners and began relocation and re-educating them. More than 25 members were charged with

blasphemy Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

, and 11 have spent time in prison. While the

Constitution of Indonesia The 1945 Constitution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (, commonly abbreviated as ''UUD 1945'' or ''UUD '45'') is the supreme law and basis for all laws of Indonesia. The constitution was written in June–August 1945, in the ...

guarantees freedom of religion, in practice freedom is extended to only six official religions:

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

. A police spokesman, told the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' that the teachings of Milah Abraham's contradicted those of Indonesia's established religions and so violate the law.

Beliefs

Millah Abraham teaches that the major

Abrahamic religions The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...

, including

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and

, have been corrupted by humans, necessitating a sequence of new

prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the ...

. It claims to be the latest installation of the Abrahamic religions. Mushaddeq teaches that "just as Judaism had given way to Christianity, and Christianity to Islam, it was Islam’s turn" to give way to Gafatar, which will "in turn be superseded by a new iteration of Abrahamic faith centuries from now."

Distribution

Its followers are concentrated in

References

{{reflist Islam in Indonesia Islamic new religious movements Abrahamic religions Religions derived from Islam