“Let not believers take disbelievers as friends and protectors rather than believers. And whoever does that has nothing to do with Allah, except when taking precaution against them in prudence.” (Qur’an 3:28)
“Regional Election; Playing the Religion Card in North Sumatra,” Tempo, July 5, 2018 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Listing six reasons for choosing a leader, an invitation bearing the letterhead of Al-Ihsan Mosque in Jalan Sei Batang Hari, Medan, circulated on some online chat groups a day before the election for the Governor of North Sumatra. Quoting a verse of the Quran, the message argued that it was not allowed to choose a non-Muslim leader. The invitation closed by calling on people to perform the dawn prayer in the congregation before heading to the voting booths together on the day of the election, on Wednesday last week.
Despite not mentioning any candidates by name, the message was clearly designed to get people to not vote for running mates Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Sihar Sitorus. In the election for Governor of North Sumatra, Sihar is the only Christian candidate. Djarot, Edy RahmayadiandMusa Rajekshah, who they were running against, are Muslims.
At the Baitul Muhsinin Mosque in Rantau Prapat, which is about nine kilometers from Al-Ikhsan Mosque, calls to pray the dawn prayer together and to travel en masse to the voting booths (TPS) can be seen on a banner at the gate. The mosque caretakers who put up the banner included the slogan: “From the Mosque to the TPS for a Muslim Community Victory.”
Sugiat Santoso, Vice Chair of the Edy-Musa Campaign Team, said that such calls benefited their candidates. “The cohesion of the Muslim community was very solid on the day of the election,” saidSugiaton [sic] Thursday last week….