"Allah" Ban Part Deux

Pas lawmakers divided over who is allowed to use the word “Allah”

By Adib Zalkapli

KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — The heated debate in Parliament today over the the usage of the word “Allah” showed a division within Pas as some of the Islamist party MPs explicitly supported the use of the word by non-Muslims.

During his winding-up speech for the motion of thanks to the King, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi reiterated the government’s stand that the word Allah cannot be used by non-Muslims, citing state enactments and gazetted decrees by Islamic authorities.

The matter was brought up by Sri Gading MP Datuk Mohamad Aziz who said that the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims was an attempt to insult Islam.

Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad of Pas later cited the Quran to show how the word “Allah” was used by the non-Muslims.

He was supported by another Pas lawmaker Shah Alam’s Khalid Samad, who argued that the word “Allah” is Arabic for God.

Zahid then asked the duo whether it was the official stand of the Islamist party, to which Khalid said it was the decision made by the party’s Islamic scholars’ wing.

Baling MP Taib Azamudin, however, disagreed with his party colleagues saying that he was more interested to defend the sanctity of Islam.

“It is illogical to argue based on the language point of view, others cannot use the word ‘Allah’,” said Taib.

In his reply, Zahid said Taib’s stand on the matter is consistent with the government’s.

“What was said by Baling is the stand of the government of Malaysia, it is the stand of Jakim (Islamic Development Department),” said the de facto Islamic Affairs minister.

The use of the word Allah by non-Muslims has been a contentious issue in Malaysia after the Catholic weekly, The Herald, challenged the government’s directive banning the publication from using the word “Allah”.

Source: Here.


Religious freedom: 'Allah' part of Iban prayers
By : TAN SRI LEO MOGGIE ANAK IROK, Kuala Lumpur


VIEWS attributed to influential personalities, including Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, prohibiting the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims are very disturbing -- including for those of us whose mother tongue is Iban.

Islam is the official religion of this country. No one questions that. Similarly, the Constitution guarantees the right of religious freedom.

Followers of different faiths worship in their own ways and there is always some sensitivity attached to religious issues. Thus, I will not touch on matters of theology or religious doctrine. Moreover, this is more a question of language.

I am told that "Allah" is a standard Arabic word for God and is also widely used in the Middle East by non-Muslims.

Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman, assistant minister in the Chief Minister's Department (Islamic Affairs) in the Sarawak government, noted that the word had been used by the followers of the Sidang Injil Borneo in Sarawak for more than 50 years.
Furthermore, the Majlis Islam Sarawak does not think that Muslims in Sarawak are confused when non-Muslims use the word "Allah" in their liturgy (Borneo Post -- March 9).

My parents and family members were baptised into the Catholic faith in 1947. As a 6-year-old boy, I was taught to pray to "Allah Taala". The Creed, the acclamation of faith in the Christian prayer, when rendered in Iban begins as follows: "Aku arap ke siko aja' Allah Taala, Apai Ke besai Kuasa, Ke ngaga Seruga enggau dunia."

In my own immediate family, through inter-marriage, there are Muslims, Christians and Hindus. Once a year, at Gawai Dayak, we visit the family longhouse. When the prayer leader reads excerpts from the Iban translation of the Bible, the words "Allah Taala" are an integral part of the prayers.

After the Gawai, when we return to Kuala Lumpur, the grandchildren continue to attend mengaji lessons. There is no hint of confusion among the Muslim members of the family.

Ahmad Zahid is no ordinary individual. He received the highest number of votes among the three newly elected vice-presidents in Umno. Going by tradition, it may be expected he will be appointed to a senior and important portfolio in the new cabinet line-up.

One hopes when he is given wider responsibility, as different from aspiring to a post in Umno, he will recognise that those of us who use the word "Allah" or "Allah Taala" in our Christian prayers and publications have no other agenda but to practise our faith in our own language.

How can that be made illegal?

As published on NST and The Star.

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What I find most objectionable in this whole issue is how an elected representative can even utter words like " the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims is an attempt to insult Islam"!

It's either a sign of his foolishness or worse, ignorance, and like that proverbial "katak di bawah tempuroung" who in his narrow little world, assumes that the word "Allah" should only be used by Muslims, while totally oblivious to the fact that "Allah" is a word that is used by Christians in many parts of the world as well. And as far as I know, no Muslim in these other countries has indicated that the use of the word is insulting to Islam or seen as a challenge to the sanctity of Islam!

Personally, I am in favor of abandoning the use of "Allah" when refering to our Almighty God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not because the Malaysian government has banned the use of the term in any publication using the Malay language, but because I feel that it is time that we use the most accurate name to call our Almighty God.

Let's start using Yahweh, the Hebrew word to refer to Almighty God, because it is the most accurate name for Almighty God, a name that occurs over 6000 times in biblical manuscripts.

It should be noted here that ArabBible.com has started replacing the name "Allah" with the name "al-Ilaah" on their online version of the Van Dyck Arabic Bible. The name "al-Ilaah" means "the god", and that term does not introduce a foreign word into the Arabic language.

Since the translated Bibles used by the indigenous groups in Malaysia is using "Allah" which is a borrowed word to refer to God Almighty, I see no reason not to, nor difficulty in, replacing the borrowed word with another, in this case a more accurate one, which is Yahweh. For the Christian, no matter what native tongue he/she is speaking, Yahweh is a familiar name.

For all the gods of the nations are (worthless) idols:
but the LORD (YHWH) made the heavens.
Psalm 96:5