Indonesia on Wednesday (Dec 30) banned the hardline religious group the Islamic Defender's Front, raising the prospect of rising political tension in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

The ban came after last month's return of the group's spiritual figurehead, Rizieq Shihab, from self-exile in Saudi Arabia, leading to concern in government that he could be seeking to harness opposition forces against President Joko Widodo, widely known as Jokowi, using Islam as a rallying cry.

What is the Islamic Defender's Front?

Formed in the late 1990s, the Islamic Defender's Front...