Indonesia Muslims clerics against "2012"

From Al-Arabiya:

Hollywood's latest doomsday offering "2012" has caused a storm in Indonesia, with conservative clerics condemning it Thursday as a "provocation against Islam".

[W]hile most viewers said they had enjoyed the film's apocalyptic vision of life after December 21, 2012, when the fulfillment of a Mayan prophecy sees the Earth engulfed by catastrophe, senior clerics were deeply troubled.

The country's top Islamic body, the National Council of Ulema (MUI), is divided over whether or not to issue a fatwa or religious edict against the film. One local branch has already done so, to little apparent effect.

"The controversial things about the film are, first, in Islam doomsday should not be visualized or predicted, it's the secret of God," council chairman Amidhan told AFP.

"For the common people, the portrayal of doomsday in this film could distort their faith, that's what I'm worried about."

He also complained that the film showed mosques being destroyed but not churches, despite sequences depicting the Vatican collapsing and Rio de Janeiro's monumental Christ the Redeemer statue crumbling to pieces.

"The film shows that everything including Kaaba (Islam holiest shrine) and mosques were devastated except for churches. The film is a provocation against Islam," Amidhan said.

"The Indonesian film censorship body should have cut part of the scene on the devastation of mosques or the Kaaba because it hurts the Muslim people."

But few people who emerged from a packed matinee showing in Jakarta on Thursday shared the clerics' worries.

"It's actually a beautiful film. The MUI branch is wrong about issuing a fatwa as the movie actually has increased my faith and not the other way around," insurance broker Ian Ramelan, 49, said.

"I'm a Muslim, my faith in Allah is stronger after watching this flick," he added, urging the clerics to worry more about rampant corruption in Indonesia than about Hollywood's apocalyptic Christmas blockbuster.