Millah Abraham, also known asGerakan Fajar Nusantara by its abbreviationGafatar, is a religious movement with roots inIslam based inIndonesia.[1][2] Founded byAhmad Mushaddeq,[3] it claims over 50,000 members. It has been persecuted by theIndonesian government, with its founder Mushaddeq sent to prison.[4]
Millah Abraham is led by Ahmad Mushaddeq, who in the 1990s began to believe that he was receiving messages fromGod, and that he was a successor toMuhammad.[4][1] His beliefs became known as Milah Abraham, which accumulated approximately 50,000 followers inIndonesia andMalaysia.[1] Mushaddeq's followers also began a back-to-the-land movement emphasizingorganic farming and agrarian self-sufficiency, known as Gafatar.[1]
As of 2016 there were more than 7,000 members of Gafatar.[5] Gafatar encouraged its followers to sell their possessions and move to more rural farmland inBorneo, in order to avoid persecution by Indonesian authorities.[1]
In January 2016, theMinistry of Home Affairs of Indonesia banned activities of Gafatar and a mob destroyed the Gafatar compound inWest Kalimantan.[6][1] Indonesian authorities detained approximately 7,000 practitioners and began relocation and re-educating them.[1] More than 25 members were charged withblasphemy,[1] and 11 have spent time in prison.[4] While theConstitution of Indonesia guarantees freedom of religion, in practice freedom is extended to only six official religions:Islam,Protestantism,Catholicism,Buddhism,Hinduism andConfucianism. A police spokesman, told theNew York Times that the teachings of Milah Abraham's contradicted those of Indonesia's established religions and so violate the law.[4]
Millah Abraham teaches that the majorAbrahamic religions, includingJudaism,Christianity andIslam, have been corrupted by humans, necessitating a sequence of newprophets. It claims to be the latest installation of the Abrahamic religions.[1][4] 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way to Christianity, and Christianity to Islam, it was Islam’s turn" to give way to Gafatar, which will "in turn be superseded by a new iteration of Abrahamic faith centuries from now."[4]
Its followers are concentrated inWest Kalimantan.[7]