Sect tries to turn away Malaysia PM's wrath: The prophetic dreams of the leader of a little-known Muslim sect have infuriated the country's leader, reports Terry McCarthy in Kuala Lumpur

(First Edition)

A GROUP of small children in traditional Islamic, green robes and white skull caps filed past on their way to school, giggling and waving. In the coffee shop, a woman wearing black robes and a veil served sardine sandwiches and sweet, milky tea. Next door, other women were shopping and across the square a group of singers were recording in a small, purpose-built studio: the title of the tape was to be 'Love and Care'.

This was Sungei Penchala, a commune on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur that serves as the headquarters of the Al-Arqam Islamic sect, branded a deviationist movement and a danger to society by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. But its tree-lined streets, cheerfully painted houses and smiling inhabitants did not conform to the image of a fundamentalist terror camp.

Springing from the mystic tradition of Sufism, Al-Arqam was founded in 1968 by Ashaari Mohamed, and now has about 100,000 members in Malaysia and elsewhere in the Muslim world. Mr Ashaari preaches that an Islamic revival, starting in Malaysia, will sweep through the world and that a Messiah will soon be born.

His message struck a chord with some Malaysians, who have been alienated by the country's meteoric economic development. But few people took much notice of the communes, with their schools, shops and maternity clinics, until Dr Mahathir announced the banning of Al-Arqam as a religious sect in August.

According to the Prime Minister, Al-Arqam had supposedly trained 313 suicide bombers, in Thailand, for unspecified acts of violence, routinely treated its women like 'sex slaves' and threatened to make Malaysia into a fundamentalist state.

Dr Mahathir came down hard on Al-Arqam: eight members, including the charismatic Mr Ashaari, were detained under Malaysia's feared Internal Security Act (ISA). This provides for detention without trial for 60 days, which can then be renewed for periods of two years at the Home Minister's discretion. Dr Mahathir also holds the post of Home Minister. Hundreds of other Al-Arqam members have been questioned by police. The sect's 48 communes across Malaysia have been raided, and its teachings have been officially banned.

But apart from the Prime Minister and a handful of his top security officials, few Malaysians understand why Al-Arqam deserves such harsh treatment. No proof for the existence of the suicide bombers has been produced and Thai police say they never existed. Although Mr Ashaari has been preaching Islamic revivalism for 26 years, violence has always been explicitly repudiated. The group has no criminal associations and has no apparent links with mainstream fundamentalists in the Middle East.

'The fundamentalists are using violence to establish Islam, but that is wrong,' a spokesman for the commune in Sungei Penchala said. 'The practice of Islam is to be kind to people, not to hurt people'. The man did not want to be named because of recent police harrassment. His commune had been raided again yesterday morning. 'We have said no matter how hard (the government) press us, there won't be any violence - we will confront them, but by the book, in the courts'.

The alleged treatment of women as sex slaves makes them indignant. 'We allow polygamy, yes, although only if the man can support more than one wife. But which is better - to marry four women or to have four mistresses? Which is more of a sex slave?' asked the spokesman, in an indirect reference to several recently publicised cases of marital infidelity among top members of the government.

Their version of Sufism is unashamedly modern. 'Unlike other Sufis who are separated from the world, living as ascetics in caves to get close to God, we believe that the more we work in the world, the closer we are to God. We call it 'Technological Sufi'.

Perhaps what really got under Dr Mahathir's skin, was a dream Mr Ashaari said he had, where he had a conversation with the Prophet Mohammed. According to the vision, Dr Mahathir's political future was not too bright - in fact he was to lose power within two years. Mr Ashaari, who had been living in Thailand, has never had much love for the Prime Minister. But to put the Prophet's seal of doom on the hyper-sensitive Prime Minister was the last straw.

Early last month Mr Ashaari was expelled from Thailand into the waiting hands of Malaysian security officials. Until the Prophet's dream comes true, he is likely to remain an involuntary guest of the Malaysian government.