She is a woman who is used to being in control and is not afraid of expressing her opinions. She has a dignity about her, certainly a worldly sophistication: the aura of the grand dame who has seen a lot of history and has helped make some of it. South African writer Nadine Gordimer, 81, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, is noted for her novels and short stories about the inhumanity of apartheid. Several were once banned in her own country. Gordimer was in New York recently to talk about her latest project, "Telling Tales." It is a compilation of 21 short stories "that capture the range of emotions and situations of our human universe," she writes in the book's introduction. The stories are by world renowned authors - five Nobel prize winners including Gabriel Garcia Marquez arid Gunter Grass, and writers who likely will be on the shortlist for future Nobel literature prizes. Anglo-Indian writer Sal-man Rushdie, for example, tells a quietly horrifying tale in The Firebird's Nest about the men in India who marry for dowries, burn their young brides, and remarry to acquire yet another dowry. John Updike writes in Journey to the Dead about a middle-age man's preoccupation with, and terror of, an acquaintance's impending death from cancer. Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, in the humorous story Sugar Baby, portrays a group of friends looking back at their years surviving the Biafran war and how one of them managed to make it bearable. There are other memorable reports on the human condition from Margaret Atwood, Woody Alien, South African writer Njabulo S. Ndebele and Gordimer herself. The story collection, published by Picador Press, was put together to raise money to battle AIDS. Published in paperback in December, the book costs US$14 in the United States, has 40,000copies in print and is selling "very well," according to the publisher. Only a year ago, Gordimer wrote to writer friends and others whom she didn't know but whose stories she admired with the idea of putting together an anthology of short fiction. "I thought if they (musicians) could get up and sing," to raise money to battle AIDS, "we (writers) could sit down and write." Along with the anthology's writers, 13 publishers releasing the book in other countries have also agreed to contribute their proceeds to fighting AIDS. Literary agents and at least one translator say they will waive their fees, and the bookstore chain Borders has agreed to make a donation. Almost 40 million people throughout the world now have the HIV virus. Over 20 million have died since the virus was first diagnosed, in .1981. "The risk of a pandemic which makes those numbers modest is real, "said Rushdie, author of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses. "The sad thing is we actually now have in our power the tools lo arrest the spread of the disease," Rushdie said. "The worst thing we can do is pretend it's not there, "said Updike, winner of two Pulitzer prizes for his fiction. "It's very easy to be a well off American and feel very aloof from it. In the '50s, we didn't think about atomic warfare being possible. In this century, we try not to1 think about AIDS." A petite woman with an erect carriage, her silver hair combed back meticulously into bun at the nape of her neck, Gordimer has a businesslike demeanor on this overcast December morning. She has no time to comment on the stunning view from her 37th floor Manhattan hotel room as she talk about AIDS. Gordmier's books included The sport of life, a richly documented chronicle of post colonialism; My sun's Story, about a married black man who falls in love with a white activist; and Burger's Daughter, banned for three months in South Africa when it was released in 1979, which details the struggles of the daughter of the late South African Communist party leader. South Africa leads the world with the (number of HIV/AIDS victims over 5 million, according to the United Nations Development Program. Gordimer is particularly aware of the babies. The Salvation Army runs a hospice in Johannesburg for about 30 infants born with HIV and abandoned by their mothers. "They live there and they die there," Gordimer says. "They are found by the police in public toilets, in the streets in bins." She has designated that all the money raised by Telling Tales be given to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAG) in South Africa, an anti HIV/AIDS activist organization. She is especially impressed with Zackie Achmat, 41, TAG chairman and one of its founders, who has AIDS. Achmat applauded Gordimer and the other writers included in Telling Tales for their inspiring effort. "There's a holocaust happening to poor people particularly in our country, based on a combination of drug company profiteering, bureaucratic neglect and also locally and globally, personal and social complacency," Achmat said in an interview from his office in Capetown, South Africa. Are there plans to promote the book further? Gordimer is "a bully," Rushdie said, half joking. "We all do what she says we're waiting for her to give us her orders."

Actress and activist Nurul Arifin has just been named a Young Global Leader for her passionate efforts in campaigning for social equality. Nurul, a Bandung native, has worked with many nongovernmental organizations in raising public awareness on HIV/AIDS and women's rights. The World Economic Forum officially announced on Tuesday that Nurul was among the first 237 young leaders to have been selected and who had accepted the opportunity to take part in The Forum of Young Global Leaders, working in close cooperation with the World Economic Forum. Among the young leaders selected from 8,000 candidates are Nicole Kidman, Tiger Woods, J.K. Howling of Harry Potter fame, soccer player Zinedine Zidane and Yahoo! cofounder Jerry Yan. "It's a surprise. I'm glad that. I was appointed among many big names, including world-famous celebrities. I still don't know how the committee got my name," Nurul told The Jakarta Post on Monday. She said she received a phone call two months ago from a nomination committee member, who told her about the selection of Young Global Leaders. Due to her poor English ability, Nurul asked her 10-year-old daughter Maura to take the call and give her e-mail address to the committee. Nurul came to appreciate the prestige and aims of the forum when Maura told her about the institution. "Now, I'm taking intensive English lessons. I often declined invitations to speak abroad because of my English. I'm not confident enough to speak in English," she said. It seems the former model is not daunted by anything and, instead, relishes challenges. "I shall concentrate on globalization and fundamentalism as well as AIDS arid women's issues in June at the Forum of Young Global Leaders in Davos, Switzerland." She expressed concern that the rise of fundamentalism in the country was a response to globalization, which the poor perceived to be a mode of domination by developed countries. Nurul said the poor were vulnerable to fundamentalism, especially religious fundamentalism, as the only way to resist the injustices of globalization. "Right now, I fear an increase of fundamentalism. This did not happen in the past, when people respected pluralism," said Nurul, who had just returned to the capital after a four-day visit to Aceh. Nurul said she was happy the international community was working hand-in-hand with Indonesians to help tsunami survivors without any political or religious discrimination, but was saddened to learn that a Christian political party had been prevented from contributing to the relief effort. She was also dismayed by rumours that a local Islamic political party had accused many Christian groups of taking advantage of the aid effort as a cover for proselytizing. "Helping victims should not be done in the name of any political party. I refused when the Golkar Party wanted its name to appear on clothing worn by our volunteers," she said. The mother of two joined Golkar to include AIDS and women's rights among the party's focus. "Entering the .system is one way to effect change," she said. Nurul's dedication led to her nomination as a Golkar legislative candidate in last year's general elections. Although she had many sup-porters within the party, she did not make the cut to the national-level elections. She said the stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS was still the main obstacle in the campaign against AIDS, and lauded the recent decision by former South African president Nelson Mandela to announce that his son had died of an AIDS-related disease. "I agree wholeheartedly that AIDS should be spoken about openly. It would make AIDS like any other disease. It's not a moral issue," she said, adding that AIDS was just one small aspect of the broader injustices faced by women in Indonesia and the world. "Many urban women may say that they have no problems in their lives. They should look at the data and reality here that show that many women still suffer." Last year's global campaign on HIV/AIDS focused on women of all age groups, since they were most vulnerable to infection. Nurul's commitment to these social issues led her to the University of Indonesia, from which she graduated with a degree in political and social sciences. Meanwhile, Nurul is also an acclaimed film actress with five Indonesian Film Festival nominations for best actress under her belt, and acts in several soap operas. She plans to pursue a Master's degree next year. She said she became aware from her studies that many notions of a woman's duty were really social constructs. Although many cultures still discriminate against women, Nurul said she would struggle for gender equality without abandoning her own culture. "Feminists in the. West are different from those here, although we also struggle for women's equality. I respect multiculturalism." Nurul hopes that the future world would be better for all and uphold the principles of multiculturalism. "Hegemony, injustice or monoculture, or the large gap between developed, and poor countries should no longer persist. "They should be replaced, instead, by greater tolerance and respect for different cultures," she said.

The end of Cold War has taught many countries to prefer promoting an economy development throughout the world rather than prioritizing huge amount of military oriented production. Countries which were affiliated with Socialist Bloc in the Cold War started to reform their economic system and decided to establish intense relationship with countries which implemented open market system. One of former Indonesian diplomats said that: One interesting thing can be observed here is the effects of this change on Japan, the second largest economic power in the world, and her foreign aid or Official Development Assistance (ODA). Before going further, we have to know what does ODA actually mean? ODA is simply an aid given by the members of Development Assistant Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development to developing countries. Japan herself was one of the founding members of DAC. Talking about the effectiveness of Japan's ODA, I,once, attended a lecture given by an Islamic expert in Japan. She used to work for a foundation (I can't remember the name) which gave an educational aid to Peshawar, a city in Pakistan. In Peshawar, Japan's ODA was used to build schools and provide teaching materials. She showed us some pictures of those schools and we evidenced that those schools, which were built by Japanese nationals' taxes, have lost most of their chairs, tables, and windowpanes. Moreover, high tuition fees and unqualified teachers who were unable to utilize modern tools, such as computer and overhead projector, just worsened the condition. Why did the government of Japan aid Pakistan? How effective actually Japan's ODA is? Should Japan increase her ODA? The pattern of Japan's ODA is influenced by her relationship with other donators, especially the USA. We can make a link between the pattern of Japan's ODA with the USA-Japan bilateral security relations. The USA expects Japan to pay a compensation for being protected by its nuclear umbrella by economically and financially supporting particular countries which are geopolitically important for the USA, like the USA's backyard (Nicaragua, Panama, Latin America), Philippines and Pakistan. Pakistan is located side by side with Afghanistan, which was invaded by the USSR in the Cold War era. We should also analyze the utilization of Japan's ODA in Indonesia since Indonesia has always been one of the largest recipients of Japan's ODA. Former Indonesian ambassador for Japan said that: Until the year of 2001, Japan had given Indonesia US$ 18.2 billion of loan, US$ 1.3 billion of grant, and US$ 2.4 billion of technical cooperation. All of those aids were distributed through Japan International cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). One of the projects funded by Japan’s ODA was Hydroelectric Power and Associated Transmission Line Project in Kotapanjang. The program itself did not gain a huge success, besides it caused an environmental degradation in the area. There was also a sneaking suspicion that there was a practice of fund corruption done by Indonesian local government and Japan’s private companies which won the tender. Like in Indonesia, ODA projects in Brazil also ignored environmental preservation. Therefore, we can conclude that not all of the development aids are effective and used appropriately. Based on the conclusion above, I would like to address another question, should Japan increase her ODA? We have to remember that due to her geographical characteristics, Japanese people are ignorant of what is going on in the world. Moreover, parliamentarians are not interested in foreign policy issues either since they are not related directly to votes. Japan’s foreign policy is determined by Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), which, people said, is not competent in many ways. ODA or economic resources is the only diplomacy means available for Japan since Japan does not possess neither natural resources nor nuclear people, and Japanese people do not have neither language skills nor diplomatic skills. Moreover, Japan is not even a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Indeed, Japan's ODA is the second largest in the world, but how big it actually is? In 2005, the amount of Japan's ODA was 786.1 billion yen and Japan’s population was 128 million people. It means that the amount of ODA given was only equal to the total consumption of coffee by Japanese people per month assuming that each person drinks 1 cup of coffee per day and price of 1 cup of coffee is 200 yen. Moreover, 786.1 billion yen was just 0.91% of Japan's Gross National Income. Indeed, there are problems in the amount, effectiveness, and the appropriateness of Japan’s ODA, but, again, considering that ODA is all what Japan has for diplomacy, Japan should increase its ODA whilst trying to involve Japan's government in monitoring the utilization of the ODA. hey, those ODA came from Japanese nationals' taxes.. What do you think?

When I started blogging again, I promised my readers that, one day, I would write something about the relationship between the USA and Israel. This post might not be a perfectly analyzed one, but I strongly suggest my readers not to give comments with profound hatred of zionism or Arab or whatsoever. I would not appreciate that kind of comments. I do not support neither Israel and the USA nor Arab countries, I am just trying to be objective. In the USA, there has been a widespread criticism of the government's action to continuously support Israel, because: * It costs huge amount of money, which actually can be used in other areas of the world. * It is a hypocritical foreign policy, looking at the facts that Israel ignored the United Nations concerning the solution of Palestinian matters and Israel has questionable records of human rights. Before going further, we have to understand the background of this issue. The USA's support for Israel is consistent and historical. Geopolitically speaking, it is important for the USA to maintain a good relationship with Israel. Israel is an isolated country in Middle East and surrounded by hostile Arab states, thus it relies on the USA for survival. This made it easier for the USA to further its interest in Middle East; the USA could use Israel to prevent another country in Middle East from gaining too much power. Basically, Israel is important because it can be used to maintain status quo in the region. The USA's support for Israel is also connected with oil issue and its foreign policy. It is unarguably true that the USA's domestic policy depends heavily on the ability of the government to maintain the stable oil supply with depressed prices. Some Presidents of the USA were forced to withdraw due to their inability to maintain the prices of gasoline. Fearing of losing control of oil supply, the USA established US-British alliance against Iran when Iran wanted to nationalize oil industries in 1953. This was, indeed, a selfish issue. Let's continue reading this post!! The USA was also concerned about a challenge to Western hegemony possessed by countries in Middle East. That was why the USA provided Israel with sophisticated weapons, which cost lot of money, in order to return the balance of power to Israel, whom it can trust. For instance, in 1981, when there was a suspicion that Iran clandestinely built nuclear weapons, the USA and the UK backed Israel to attack the oil refineries and nuclear reactors of Iran. Even until today, Iran has always been seen as an imminent danger. Iran has a potential to become a regional power in Middle East. Iran is a large semi-industrialized nations of educated populations. Iran has vast oil resources, and it is located in the borders of Kaspian Sea and side by side with Azerbaijan. As we know, Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan is one of the centers of oil distribution to central Asia and Europe. Basically, having an influence in Caucasus is important and Iran has it. Iran is also be friendly with and aided by Russia, which wants to kick the USA out from central Asia, in order to further its nuclear research. On the other hand, even with helps from the USA, it is still difficult for Israel to become a regional power. Iran's nuclear projects would dwarf the power of Israel to a certain extent that Israel could not be used anymore as a foreign policy mechanism by the USA. In addition, Syria and Hezbollah as a non state actor consistently contested Israel. All of these things would lead or, probably, have led to regional instability and arms race. Please read my post about Prisoner's Dillema Theory to understand more about the danger of arms race. Therefore, despite a storm of protests inside the USA, it is not very likely for the USA to stop supporting Israel; instead, the USA and Israel would probably strengthen their symbiotic relationship. Israel could not form alliances with neighboring states to relax dependence with the USA because, as I have mentioned before, Israel is geopolitically and culturally isolated from other Middle East countries. Israel does not have its own vast resources. Moreover, there is a facade of Israeli independence. Therefore, Israel had no choice but to allow the USA to use Jerusallem as the USA's battleships to launch "an attack" to Arab countries. The USA closes its eyes of Israeli internationally wrongful acts and ignores settlements of Israel-Palestinian matters instead because it wants to further its interest in Middle East. What would you do if you were an Israeli leader? Then, why is the USA concerned about the oil? I think the answer is very obvious. Besides oil issue is closely connected to its domestic policies, the USA has passed the era of Peak Oil,which will be covered in my following posts. What do you think?

Education is a main factor that plays important role in developing a country because all aspects in our life depend on the quality of education. If a country has good education quality, all aspects in the country will be good. Therefore, the first thing must be considered to develop the country is education field. This policy has been practiced by Japan and other advanced nations. They improved education quality to advance their nations because they believe that education is indispensable to develop their nation even when Nagasaki and Hiroshima was bombed by Allies, the first question asked by Japan emperor was how many teachers killed, not how many army were killed in the war. Education has some aspects that influence the success of learning process. All aspects are interrelated with each other. So if there are some disordered elements in learning process the result will be imperfect. Then, to produce good output all aspects supporting learning process must be controlled. One of significant elements in education is student. The aim of education is to create generation can master varied science but the learning process can not get maximum result if the students don’t have good characteristic. For that reason, the first thing must be done is to shape a student having good characteristic, like having great motivation, active, and creative. So, they can support the creation of good learning process. The most importance characteristic must be owned by good student is having big motivation in the study because big motivation can motivate the student study hard and be diligent. They will also immediately hopeless when they deal with difficulties. For that reason big motivation is the base modal in learning process needed by the students. The other important characteristic is being active and critical in learning activity. One of indicators that show active students is when he or she is in the class he or she often asks question to the teacher, and give respond to the teacher’s explanation. The proactive student will get clear explanation from the teacher; beside they will also create new things. So the will create useful creation for their society. The last characteristic is creative attitude. The creative student will not rely on their teachers as knowledge source. They will look for other source they need to study by themselves. For example borrowing book from library, buying reference book in bookstore, or borrowing book their friends. Active students also can find appropriate method in studying for themselves because every students have different way to study. Such as: reading a book in quiet place, or studying by puzzle, etc. When the characteristic above is fulfilled, learning process will run well and create excellent generation, at least education result will be better. This is my article that I sent KGRE to take part in Kangguru competition. I hope critical suggestion from the reader to make my writing better. Thank b4.

Ahmadiyah, Anarkhisme dan Pluralitas Pemikiran Oleh: Tedi Kholiludin Pemimpin Redaksi Jurnal Justisia Fakultas Syari’ah IAIN Walisongo Semarang Peneliti di Lembaga Studi Sosial dan Agama (eLSA) Semarang Sejak awal kehadirannya di bumi nusantara, jemaat Ahmadiyah selalu mendapat cibiran dari kebanyakan orang Islam. Mereka dinilai sebagai komunitas penyebar aliran sesat, karena menganggap Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad adalah seorang nabi dan rasul. Ini tentu pendapat yang berbeda dengan pemahaman umum. Terlebih lagi Jemaat Ahmadiyah menilai bahwa Mirza Gulam Ahmad juga dipercayai sebagai Isa Al Masih yang dijanjikan Allah akan turun di akhir zaman, sebagaimana termaktub dalam al Qur’an 61:10. Sehingga gelar yang disandangnya adalah masih mau’ud. Karena mengembangkan ajaran “sesat” inilah kemudian mereka seakan menjadi komunitas yang terisolir dari komunitas muslim yang memiliki pandangan “normal” tentang agama. Tak jarang mereka mendapat perlakuan yang kasar dan tidak manusiawi, seperti halnya yang terjadi di Parung Bogor 15 Juli lalu. Terror juga dilakukan terhadap jemaat Ahmadiyah di beberapa tempat di Jawa Barat. Di Bandung misalnya, Pengurus Jemaat Ahmadiyah setempat masih merasa was-was seiring maraknya larangan terhadap kegiatan jemaat tersebut yang ditambah lagi dengan keluarnya fatwa Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) yang memutuskan bahwa ajaran Ahmadiyah sesat. Hal yang sama juga terjadi daerah lain di Desa Manis Lor, Kecamatan Jalaksana, Kabupaten Kuningan. Jemaat Ahmadiyah daerah tersebut mengaku kerap menerima teror dari sekelompok masyarakat, bahkan di depan jalan masuk desa tiga hari lalu terpasang sejumlah spanduk yang intinya menentang keberadaan mereka di desa itu. Terlepas dari ajaran yang mereka anut dan yakini, model kekerasan yang dipraktekan kepada komunitas Ahmadiyah jelas sangat bertentangan dengan norma hukum maupun norma agama. Dalam UUD 45 dijelaskan bahwa melaksanakan ajaran keagamaan yang sesuai dengan keyakinannya adalah hak umat beragama. Sementara, norma agama secara normatif juga mengajarkan agar selalu mengedepankan amar ma’ruf daripada nahiy munkar. Padahal jika ditilik secara lebih mendalam, banyak hal yang sebenarnya menarik dicermati dari gerakan Ahmadiyah ini. Ada banyak sisi kelebihan yang tak dimiliki firqah lain. Sebagai jaringan keagaman internasional Ahmadiyah hingga saat ini masih tetap mendakwahkan ajarannya melalui saluran Muslim Television Ahmadiyah (MTA) yang merupakan stasiun muslim pertama di dunia yang mengudara secara internasional. Stasiun televisi yang memancar dari London itu dapat diterima di seluruh dunia dan disiarkan selama 24 jam dengan menggunakan beberapa bahasa yaitu Bahasa Urdu, Arab, Inggris, Perancis, Bosnia, Bangladesh, Indonesia dan Jerman. Melalui cannel MTA inilah, pidato-pidato pidato-pidato Khalifah Jemaat di London bisa langsung disimak oleh pengikutnya di seluruh jagat. Seperti khutbah Jum’at Hazrat Mirza Taher Ahmad dan sebagainya. Hingga saat ini, jemaat Ahmadiyah telah menyebar ke-120 negara. Dan, dalam penyebaran agama Islam di Amerika dan Eropa sebenarnya umat Islam harus mengucapkan rasa terima kasih kepada Jemaat Ahmadiyah. Merekalah yang mendakwahkan Islam secara bijak, jujur, terbuka dan jauh dari aksi kekerasan dan anarkhisme. Bahkan di negara yang penduduknya kebanyakan non muslim, Ahmadiyah justru lebih bisa diterima. Di Rwanda, Hongkong dan Portugis Ahmadiyah telah menunjukan eksistensi komunitasnya. Itulah torehan prestasi yang hingga saat ini jauh melebihi komunitas Sunni, Syi’ah, NU, Muhammadiyah, atau kelompok keagamaan lainnya. Inilah torehan tinta emas yang barangkali sulit ditemukan bandingannya dalam komunitas umat Islam. Tetapi, prestasi itu tetap saja tidak membuat umat Islam di Indonesia terutama, bisa menerima Ahmadiyah sebagai anak kandung Islam. Kemajuan dalam pengembangan sistem informasi seakan tidak memiliki arti, tatkala pemikiran keagamaan yang dikembangkannya dianggap melenceng jauh dari landasan normatif yang sebenarnya juga masih dalam perdebatan. Saat ini, pemikiran keagamaan memang sedang diuji karena sangat lekat dengan idiom-idiom kafir, sesat dan murtad. Benar mungkin kata Intelektual asal Mesir Amin al Khuli bahwa kapan pun, pemikiran memang sebuah kekafiran. Ia diharamkan dan diperangi. Bersama lalunya zaman, ia menjadi sebuah aliran bahkan keyakinan dan pembaharuan. Ini artinya bahwa di satu sisi pemikiran menjadi sebuah keharusan untuk melakukan pembaharuan. Tetapi di sisi lain pemikiran keagamaan (al tafkir al diniy) juga sepertinya membuat seseorang menjadi sulit untuk lepas dari lingkar kesesatan bahkan kekafiran (al takfir al diniy). Meskipun demikian, sebenarnya ada satu hal yang patut dicermati, tentang klaim yang selalu mengatasnamakan agama tersebut. Tafsir tunggal atas kebenaran nampaknya masih mendominasi alam pikiran umat Islam saat ini. Apa yang dipraktekan oleh kelompok mayoritas selalu dipersonifikasikan sebagai ajaran agama yang absah. Sementara, kaum minoritas yang memiliki penafsiran berbeda atas doktrin agama dinilai melanggar pakem dan karenanya tidak sesuai denga norma syari’at. Padahal dalam pemikiran keagamaan, yang sesuai dengan mainstream belum tentu memiliki kadar kebenaran tinggi. Begitu juga sebaliknya. Pemikiran yang disuarakan oleh kaum minoritas bukan tidak mungkin justru merepresentasikan kehendak Tuhan. Kaum Minoritas Yang Tertindas Kejadian yang menimpa sekte Ahmadiyah sebenarnya juga ada dalam tradisi agama lain. Di Islam sendiri, banyak kaum minoritas yang juga bernasib sama dengan Ahmadiyah. Di Iran kaum Bahai juga dituduh kafir dan dianggap telah mencerabutkan diri dari tanah kelahirannya sendiri. (Payam Akhavan: 1996). Oleh Ulama Syi’ah Iran, kaum Baha’i kemudian dipinggirkan dan diisolir dari berbagai spectrum kehidupan, ekonomi, politik maupun system religiusitas. Yang lebih mengerikan mereka menjadi korban kampanye genosida yang diberlakukan atas usaha pera teolog Islam. Dan hingga saat ini kampanye tersebut masih berlangsung. Entah sudah berapa banyak korban jiwa yang jatuh karena penyiksaan terhadap mereka. Untuk menjustifikasi kebenarannya di hadapan rakyat Iran dan menangkis kritik di forum Internasional, pemimpin Iran menegaskan bahwa Baha’i dianiaya bukan karena keyakinan agama mereka, tetapi lebih karena mereka adalah agen dari imperialis-zionis yang bertujuan menghancurkan pemerintahan Islam. tetapi beberapa pengamat justru meragukan kebenaran argumen ini. Karena kaum Baha’i tidak pernah terlibat dalam urusan politik partisan atau kegiatan-kegiatan subversif dan bahwa enganiayaan atas mereka merupakan contoh jelas dari genosida yang dilancarkan terhadap sekelompok kambing hitam. Pengalaman yang menimpa sekte Bahai di Iran itu juga dialami oleh komunitas pengikut Madzhab Pure Land dalam Agama Buddha. Mazhab Nichiren yang memiliki cara pandang keagamaan yang eksklusif menilai bahwa telah terjadi banyak penyimpangan atas teks, ajaran dan praktik di kalangan umat Buddha pada abad ke 13 di Jepang. Penganut mazhab ini yakin bahwa Lotus Sutra adalah satu-satunya teks suci yang valid. Dari sini, Nichiren menganggap orang seperti Shinran dan Honen serta pengikut Mazhab Pure Land adalah bagian dari orang yang melanggar hukum sejati (Dharma). Nichiren menganggap bahwa membunuh orang yang melanggar Dharma termasuk Shinran dan Honen tidak akan pernah tertimpa hukum karma. Mengutip pernyataa Buddha Nichiren mengatakan bahwa membunuh orang lain akan masuk neraka, menjadi hantu kelaparan atau binatang, kecuali dalam kasus pelanggaran Dharma. Selain dua komunitas di atas tentunya masih banyak kelompok keagamaan lain atau individu yang dinilai sebagai penyebar aliran sesat. Dalam Islam sebut saja misalnya nama Fazlur Rahman (Pakistan), Nashr Hamid Abu Zayd (Mesir), Muhammad Syahrur (Syria), Amina Wadud, Farid Essack, Abdul Karim Soroush (Iran), Nurcholis Madjid, Gus Dur atau Ulil Abshar Abdalla (Indonesia). Dalam tradisi agama Kristen ada nama John Shelby Spong serta nama lain yang menjadi sasaran kemarahan kaum “agamis”. Dalam dinamika pemikiran keagamaan, cara pandang yang selalu menilai sesat pemikiran orang lain tentu menjadi penghambat laju perkembangan pemikiran itu sendiri. Ragam pemikiran yang seharusnya menjadi bagian dari khazanah pemikiran keislaman justru menjadi mafsadat bukannya rahmat. Padahal Nabi sendiri menghendaki bahwa heterogenitas pemikiran harus berwujud di atas horizon keterbukaan dan saling memahami. Jelaslah sudah bahwa sebetulnya tidak ada seorang pun yang dapat menangkap suara terdalam dari agama. Yang selama ini dilakukan tidak lain adalah upaya untuk menafsirkan agama yang menjelma dalam pemikiran keagamaan itu. Jadi sungguh tidak beralasan jika ada yang mengklaim bahwa ada kesesatan dalam sebuah pemikiran. Karena tidak ada yang mengetahui siapa tentara-tentara Tuhan, kecuali diriNya. (wa maa ya’lamu junuuda rabbika illa huwa). Ini artinya bahwa otoritas untuk memvonis sesat atau benar sebuah ajaran bukanlah milik manusia. Apapun produk pemikiran keagamaan semuanya belum dapat dijamin kebenarannya. Begitu juga dinamika yang terjadi di Ahmadiyah. Mereka sedang berproses untuk menguji kematangan doktrinalnya. Dan tidak hanya Ahmadiyah sebenarnya yang sedang melakukan proses itu. NU, Muhammadiyyah, Persis, dan ormas serta kelompok keagamaan lain berada pada tahapan yang sama. Sungguh tidak beralasan jika saat ini kita masih menyibukan diri dengan klaim-klaim itu. Yang terpenting adalah bagaimana hal tersebut kita pahami sebagai kekayaan khazanah pemikiran keislaman yang dapat membuat kita lebih dewasa dalam beragama. Karena kepercayaan dan keyakinan terhadap ajaran agama merupakan suatu hal yang asasi dan harus dihormati. Terlebih pluralisme pemahaman terhadap teks-teks Islam merupakan suatu kewajaran dalam diskursus keagamaan dewasa ini.