IT FEELS like a terrible blast from the past, a sequel of a horror movie but scarier and more petrifying.

That is what it seems to be with the Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH), the touted successor of the banned 1994 Al Arqam movement.

The Al Arqam, which was reportedly founded in 1968, was quite intriguing given the expanse of its business empire spreading across several nations on different continents.

Domestically, several dozens of its mini markets, book stores and restaurants were set up within and outside its communes across the length of the nation.

By the time it was banned and leaders incarcerated, the Al Arqam reportedly had accumulated millions of ringgit in wealth and assets, both domestically and abroad.

In its heady days, the Al Arqam reportedly had some 10,000 followers just before it was banned. Its sympathisers were reportedly to almost double the figure.

Some prominent political figures were members and, in its leadership, included a then Sessions Court judge as well as a former magistrate as its legal adviser.

Some may wonder how such a movement could garner such popularity then when, unlike today, social media was non-existent.

While the image of Islam remained as its selling point, the Al Arqam was also quite effective in its branding, media positioning and public relations exercises. And its success stories in entrepreneurship added to its glamour and attraction.

It is therefore not surprising that Global Ikhwan is enjoying similar “successes” since it is declared as the successor to the Al Arqam.

Compared with the current issues on Global Ikhwan, the case against Al Arqam was more straightforward. In 1986, eight years before the Government banned and declared it a deviant movement, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) had already engaged and debated with them.

One of the findings made then by Jakim was that the Aurad Muhammadiah book, the exegesis of Al Arqam’s belief system, was against the Islamic principle.

Only in 1994 did the National Fatwa Council ban the Al Arqam, declaring that the teachings of its leader, Ashaari Muhammad, were against the teachings of Islam and their interpretations were against the Islamic akidah (creed) and syariah, which in effect rendered the movement deviant.

After it was decreed as such, the authorities swooped down on the movement, in particular its headquarters in Sungai Penchala, Selangor, and arrested its top leaders, including Ashaari.

Horror stories emerged about the exploitation of women and the abuse of polygamy. The issues with their children were confined more to lack of care, including the refusal to obtain modern health treatment.

However, there were other untold stories before the crackdown.

One which remained an urban legend is the alleged kidnapping of a foreign girl whose mother had married a local and joined the Al Arqam. While the al Arqam purportedly claimed that the girl had voluntarily followed them, the foreign mission reported that she was kidnapped.

That was supposed to have triggered the investigation and subsequent crackdown on the Al Arqam.

Apart from that, there were stories of regular divorcing of wives in their polygamous relations which led to regular changing of partners as well within their circle.

While most of these stories were bandied, they did not become the core or rather the main cause for them being banned. It was the deviant teachings that unravelled the Al Arqam.

Simply put, criminality was not the emphasis of the ban of the Al Arqam.

After the ban, the members dispersed and regrouped under a new entity called the Rufaqa group and mainly resumed the small businesses previously managed by the Al Arqam and their main centre was in Rawang, Selangor.

Some of its members even made it big in the entertainment industry, chalking hits through their all-boys/men Nasyid groups in the late 1990s.

Unlike the Al Arqam whose male members and leaders were distinctly recognisable with their olive-green flowing robes and big turbans and applying kohl on their eyes, the Rufaqa were less conspicuous, donning the more traditional Malay garbs and skull caps.

However, when Rufaqa were rebranded as Global Ikhwan, their leaders and followers were again conspicuous with colourful robes, some bright and loud as opposed to the Al Arqam’s sombre coloured robe.

Now, the Global Ikhwan is in dire straits, and the allegations against it are more serious in the sense that it is criminal, involving sexual abuse, grooming and exploitation of children.

It has yet to be declared deviant by the National Fatwa Council though the Perlis chapter had, making it the first to do so.

Such declaration is actually of import as it immediately severs any of the movement’s activities to Islam and that it had exploited Islam to gain sympathy and support.

Otherwise, the divide places Islam in a bad light.

Simply put, the crackdown on Global Ikhwan is not a crackdown on an Islamic movement but on a deviant sect that had committed criminal activities which is not tolerated by Islam or other religions.

There will, however, be doubters as to whether the crackdown on the Global Ikhwan is genuinely for its criminality or otherwise. Such doubts would always exist as was when the crackdown was conducted on its predecessor, the Al Arqam.

The unfortunate part is that the Al Arqam and the Global Ikhwan are 20 years apart, meaning that after two decades, such a deviant movement proved that it cannot be extinguished and capable of re-emerging and preying on the helpless.

But surely, twice-bitten should stop it from becoming serial or cyclical.