1. The Malaysian Insider（http://www.themalaysianinsider.com）
(1) Stop demanding religious equality, says ex-Fatwa Council chief, 28 December 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 ― Non-Muslims should drop their demand to use “Allah” for their gods as the Arabic word is fundamental to Islamic belief and therefore exclusive to Muslims, National Fatwa Council former chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Ibrahim was reported saying in a Malay daily.
Ismail was weighing in on the latest debate over the Arabic word for god, in a row between Islamist opposition party PAS and its secular ally, DAP, which appears to be a hot-button topic in the run-up to national polls due soon.
“Enough is enough, enough with all the other policies, including the ones enshrined in the Constitution that has been claimed for equality, to be granted equal rights... therefore the right to recognise the concept of the divinity in this religion, don’t grab, challenge and manipulate so. The name ‘Allah’ is still something basic and fundamental to Islam.
“The name ‘Allah’, from a philosophical point, its definition and concept is not equal with the name Tuhan, God, Lord and so on in the usage of other religions,” he was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian in its front-page report today.
Ismail was further reported saying those insisting the word “Allah” be allowed for use in Malay bibles should desist due to linguistic and cultural differences.
He gave an example that Arabs could swear by the word “Wallahi” hundreds of times in their daily conversation but the oath was incomparable to that understood by Muslim Malaysians in the local language and that this difference between an ordinary oath and the Syariah term was explained in the Quran.
“The same, therefore, with the use of the name ‘Allah’ that is being attempted to be compared with other languages, especially Arabic, even though this comparison should be understood from a linguistic and cultural angle between Malay and Arabic,” Ismail told the newspaper.
Without naming anyone, he urged the parties against looking for petty reasons to justify the usage of “Allah” for the Christian god.
Christians form 9.2 per cent of Malaysia’s 28.3 million-strong population, with many in east Malaysia using the Malay language and the word “Allah” to refer to their God.
In recent years, the Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word “Allah”, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word “Allah” denotes the Muslim god.
A legal tussle over the use of the word “Allah” remains unresolved, with the Catholic Church still barred from publishing the word in its weekly newspaper, despite winning a High Court decision on December 31, 2009.
This is due to the Home Ministry filing an appeal in January 2010 against the High Court’s decision, which has since stagnated in the courts as no date has been set for its hearing.
Last year, shipments of the Alkitab, the Malay-language Bible catering to the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Bumiputera Christians, were blocked from entry or confiscated at ports, before the government finally bowed to pressure and released them.
(2) Unconstitutional to ban non-Muslims from using ‘Allah’, Sikh community says, 29 December 2012
by Clara Chooi, Assistant News Editor
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 – It is unconstitutional to ban anyone from using the word “Allah”, the Malaysian Gurdwara Council (MGC) said today, insisting that the National Fatwa Council’s 2010 edict on the word could not apply to non-Muslims.
In a statement here, MGC president Jagir Singh pointed out that the council does not have direct jurisdiction over non-Muslims and could not issue fatwas to bar the community from using a specific word.
He also cited Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution, which he said does not allow such a restriction against non-Muslims.
“Fatwas are advisory in nature and do not apply to non-Muslims. Moreover, any fatwa issued that contradicts the supreme law of the land (the federal constitution) would be illegal and void,” he said in the statement issued yesterday.
The latest polemic over the use of the word “Allah” by Christians to refer to God hit media headlines last week when Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (picture) spoke on the issue in his Christmas message.
The DAP secretary-general triggered uproar when he urged the federal government to allow the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Christian Bible.
He pointed out that this has been allowed in Sabah and Sarawak for the last 50 years and practised in the Middle East for more than a thousand years.
But DAP’s partner PAS leapt into the fray immediately to dispute Lim’s call, insisting that Christians should not use it in the Alkitab as it does not reflect the actual meaning of “God” in the original text.
PAS also said that using the word “Allah” in the Alkitab will confuse both Christians and Muslims.
In Penang, state Mufti Hassan Ahmad berated Lim for raising the issue and reminded him of the council’s 2010 edict, where it had banned the use of the word by non-Muslims, along with 39 others.
But DAP chairman Karpal Singh came out to defend his party comrade yesterday, reminding Muslims that those of other faiths apart from Christianity also use the word “Allah”.
As an example, Karpal said that the word “Allah” appears 37 times in the Sikh bible, while the orang aslis, the babas in Malacca and even the Bengali language uses the word.
Jagir also reminded today of the 2009 High Court decision on the Catholic publication Herald’s use of the word where it was ruled that laws restricting non-Musims from using the word would be “unconstitutional”.
Yesterday, former council chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Ibrahim was reported as saying that non-Muslims should stop demanding to use the word “Allah” as the Arabic word is fundamental to Islamic belief and therefore exclusive to Muslims.
“Enough is enough, enough with all the other policies, including the ones enshrined in the Constitution that has been claimed for equality, to be granted equal rights... therefore the right to recognise the concept of the divinity in this religion, don’t grab, challenge and manipulate so. The name ALLAH is still something basic and fundamental to Islam.
“The name Allah, from a philosophical point, its definition and concept is not equal with the name Tuhan, God, Lord and so on in the usage of other religions,” he was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian in its front-page report yesterday.
Christians form 9.2 per cent of Malaysia’s 28.3 million-strong population, with many of them in east Malaysia using the Malay language and the word “Allah” to refer to their God.
In recent years, the Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word “Allah”, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word “Allah” denotes the Muslim God.
A legal tussle over the use of the word “Allah” remains unresolved, with the Catholic Church still barred from publishing the word in its weekly newspaper, despite winning a High Court decision on December 31, 2009.
This is due to the Home Ministry filing an appeal in January 2010 against the High Court’s decision, which have since stagnated in the courts as no date has been set for its hearing.
Last year, shipments of the Alkitab, the Malay-language Bible catering to the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Bumiputera Christians, were blocked or confiscated at ports, before the government finally bowed to pressure and released them.
2. Malaysiakini（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
(1) 'Allah' a journey, not controversy, 28 December 2012
by Azly Rahman
Only in Malaysia is the world perhaps witnessing a raging debate on who has the patent to the word ‘Allah’; simply translated as ‘the/that god.’ It seems to be a seasonal debate to get the political parties to wrestle over the linguistic or semiotic of the word; one that connotes and denotes 'the Force of Divinity' that Man has attempted to understand, revere, love, and fear yet can never comprehend.
This is simply because we are in a matrix of truth and representation, and in a prison-house of language unable to see what the Ultimate Reality looks like.
What's in a name? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. And even more so this Shakespearean "a rose is a rose" type of problematique seems relevant in a world of political manipulations such as in Malaysia when race and religion are the twin determinants of political evolution.
The debate on the origin of the word ‘Allah’ is obviously interesting as a topic of dissertation or as an inquiry theme in fields such as bio-semantics, bio-semiotics, linguistic philosophy, philology, or the study of the transcultural flow of language as yours truly embarked upon on the origin of the words ‘Cyberjaya’ and ‘Putrajaya’ in a dissertation submitted to Columbia University, a few years back.
To ascertain the origin of the word ‘Allah’ might also yield those studying it to also explore the origin of the concept of ‘god’, ‘religion’, ‘scriptures’, and even the notion of soteriology in the study of religion; a human enterprise that began with the agriculture society and what the sociologist Karl Wittfogel would term as the ‘hydraulic societies’.
The attempt to name ‘god’ and to call it by ‘special nouns’ have been a human cognitive exercise since Man has been trying to figure our what causes his crop to do well or to be damaged or destroyed, the night to go dark and the sun to illuminate, or the fate of his or her clan as the tribe moves from one planting area to another after slashing and burning crops.
The search for ‘god’, perhaps noted as early as the discovery of cave paintings in Southern France moving on to the conceptualisation of the Divine and Ultimate Reality, to the birth of Zorastrianism, to Judaism, to Christianity, and to Islam (in the Fertile Crescent) and in the non-monotheistic conception of it in cultural philosophies such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism (in the Indus valley).
These are ways that Man has tried to name the un-namable, explain the unexplainable, and conceive the unconceivable.
I am not sure if there have been controversies or people killing each other over who has the right to the name of this or that god. The Romans and the Greeks have gods in common playing different roles, but I have not come across crisis and conflict in such naming of gods in these two civilisations.
No need for controversy
At this point in human evolution, in this age of reconciliation of the post-Mayan calendar, Malaysians (especially Christians and Muslims) need to be less childish in the fight over patenting and branding ‘god’. It is a name conceived differently anyway, as different as how each soul conceives the Divine.
Whether one calls god Allah, The Lord, Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu, Bhagwan, Waheguru, Yahweh, or Hashem or not call it anything at all but refer to it in mere silence and reverie, the ultimate aim is to ‘connect’, and hence the Latin term ‘religio’ which loosely means ‘to connect’. Herein lies the limits of language insofar as the naming of ‘god’ is concerned.
There is no reason to be locked into controversy but all the reason should be to engage in exploring human creativity in trying to understand Absolute or Ultimate Reality.
Because we are social beings plunged into a world of materialism and our existence always in dialectical opposition with world of Appearance and Reality, if we take the Platonic Theory of Forms as a framework of analysis, and because we are always engaging in a world of realism first and foremost, our focus needs to be on how to live a life examined as societies of human beings always empathic to the lives of others less fortunate and to dwell on similarities rather than differences.
We ought to focus on making sure fellow men and women are accorded the basics of life - food, shelter, clothing - and how these will contribute to the cultivation of dignity, rights, and responsibility.
In Malaysia, this means people of all religious faith ensuring that caste and class in society is gradually, but surely abolished and that the rich will not become richer by any means manipulative and necessary.
A wide-awake society that includes the ideological warring factions called the Muslims and Christians fighting over the word ‘Allah’ ought to be aware of what will continue to divide and conquer them, so that their praxis or the act of translating theory/perspective to practice for the common good is not clouded or even debilitated.
It would be necessary to allow any religion to use the word ‘Allah’ I would venture to say, if the word means everything good and brings them to do ultimate good. Muslims and Christians alike may perhaps need to do a philological and linguistic-genealogical research of the word ‘Allah’ or even the history of the word ‘god’ itself in order to be more enlightened of the issues and attendant claims or ownership.
Surprised they may be in discovering that we were once inhabitants of the Tower of Babel trying to figure out what word to use to name the nameless, and what shape to create to represent the Formless.
Until we Muslims and Christians come to this dialogical crossroad, the road to political manipulation in Malaysia is always paved with linguistic distortion in service of crypto-crony-capitalistic intentions!
・DR AZLY RAHMAN, who was born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York) doctorate in International Education Development and Master’s degrees in the fields of Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 300 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience spans Malaysia and the United States, over a wide range of subjects from elementary to graduate education. He currently resides in the United States.
(2) Sikh group: Fatwa on Allah ban 'illegal and void', 29 December 2012
The National Fatwa Council’s ban of the non-Muslims’ use of the word ‘Allah’ is unconstitutional, said the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council (MGC) representing the Sikh community.
The ban that Penang mufti Hassan Ahmad was reported repeating on Wednesday is wrong on two counts, said MGC president Jagir Singh in a statement yesterday.
Firstly, he said, a fatwa does not apply to non-Muslims, and secondly, Article 11(4) of the federal constitution does not support any such prohibition on non-Muslims.
Jagir cited the 2009 High Court decision on the Catholic publication Herald’s use of the word ‘Allah’, which deemed that laws restricting its use by non-Muslims would also be construed “unconstitutional”.
Therefore, he said, Hassan’s statement is “irreconcilable with the constitution”.
“Fatwas are advisory in nature and do not apply to non-Muslims. Moreover, any fatwa issued that contradicts the supreme law of the land (the federal constitution) would be illegal and void.”
He also argued that state legislations’ attempts to ban usage of certain words based on Article 11(4) - that prohibits the propagation of other faiths to Muslims - did not apply to non-Muslims.
“Even a first-year law student will know that Article 11(4) does not prohibit the use of such words by non-Muslims,” he said, adding that the judgement on the Herald case pressed the point home.
‘State enactments subject to constitution’
On Wednesday, Sinar Harian reported Hassan reminding Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng that, “The Penang mufti’s department has decided that words such as ‘Allah’, ‘takwa’, ‘haji’ and ‘masjid’ can only be used by Muslims.
“The rule was enforced during Pakatan Rakyat’s regime and agreed by Lim as the chief minister, in which he has been notified and regulations have been enacted,” Hassan was reported saying.
The mufti was responding to Lim’s Christmas Day message that took a swipe at Prime Minister Najib Razak for the government appealing the Herald ruling and thus keeping the controversy alive.
Jagir said that while Hassan has pointed out enactments on 40 words that non-Muslims cannot use, including ‘Allah’, the non-Muslim community had not supported such enactments.
He recounted how the then Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism (the Taoists at the time were not yet members) in 1988 objected to the Perak’s ‘Control and Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religious Bill 1988'.
The council had at the time told the state that some of the prohibited words were “pre-Islamic and have been used by non-Muslims for centuries... Muslims and Christians in 33 countries are using the same word ‘Allah’”.
The state was also informed that, “In the case of the Sikhs, most of the prohibited words (in the proposed Bill) are in use in their holy scripture and in their exegetical texts... we must in all conscience reject this Perak Bill,” said Jagir.
“The Middle East countries and our neighbour Indonesia allow for the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims,” he said, adding that the matter had only been politicised and made an issue in Malaysia since the late 1980s.
He advised Hassan to “study the constitution” and the 2009 Herald court decision.
“The mere passing of the enactments cannot override the constitution and may be unconstitutional,” he said, adding that it is the Federal Court’s duty to decide on the constitutionality of enacted laws of the states,” he said.
(3) Karpal rises to Guan Eng's defence over 'Allah' row,29 December 2012
DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh has risen to the defence of the party's secretary-general Lim Guan Eng's Christmas day call for Christians to be allowed to use the term 'Allah', stating that it was not intended to hurt Muslim sensitivities.
He explained that Lim's call was meant for Christians in Sabah and Sarawak where the word has been in use for generations.
It is surprising, therefore, that Penang Umno secretary Azhar Ibrahim has publicly come out with a scathing attack on the Penang chief minister that what he had said in his Christmas message should not hurt the feelings of Muslims, he said in a statement yesterday.
Karpal added that in any event, the use of the word 'Allah' should not affect the sensitivities of Muslims in the country.
The word ‘Allah' appears 37 times in the Sikh holy book. No objection has ever been taken by Muslims for the use of that word by Sikhs when reciting their holy book.
The word Allah also appears in the Bengali language. In Malaysia, the orang asli use the word and so do the Babas in Malacca, he said.
As such, Karpal said that there was no ill intention on Lim's part when making the call.
Nothing sinister should be read into what the chief minister said as he had no intention of hurting anyone's feelings.
Therefore, he added, calls for Lim to issue a public apology are not justified.
Lim had in his Christmas message urged Putrajaya to allow Christians to use the term 'Allah' in the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bible.
DAP later clarified that the call was only for the term to be allowed for use in Sabah and Sarawak.
In response, PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali and information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that the term 'Allah' should not be used in the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bible as the correct translation for God should be 'Tuhan'.
PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim later said a Pakatan Rakyat meeting will be called to hammer out the issue.
(4) Get over 'Allah' row and move on, 29 December 2012
'Allah, Tuhan, Tua Pek Kong, whatever... I am ashamed to be a Malaysian, fighting and arguing over the right to use God's name. Who on earth can decide?'
Anwar to call meeting with Pakatan heads on 'Allah' issue
Rahman: ‘Allah' is a name. Names are always retained even when you translate from one language to another.
Hence, the Malays retain the name ‘Allah' in everyday usage and do not change that name to ‘tuhan'. Jesus spoke the Aramaic language. The first bibles were in Greek/Latin/Hebrew and the name used for God is Eli, Eloah or Yahweh.
Christians should have kept to those names. The English bibles translated those names to god. But God was never the name used by Jesus. Neither did Jesus use ‘Allah'.
The problem arose in Malaysia when the English Bible was translated to Bahasa Malaysia. Now who is the expert in Bahasa Malaysia?
If Christians are honest, they will consult Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to get the correct Malay translation for God. It definitely cannot be the name ‘Allah'. It is the word ‘tuhan'.
Now why do the Christians insist on ‘Allah'? It is anybody's guess.
Geronimo: In response to Rahman's posting, for your information the matter of using ‘Allah' by the Christians was never resolved nor settled.
The case was in fact awarded to the plaintiff, the Catholic Church. Umno decided to appeal the case and it has been left in the attorney-general's (AG) office since then, collecting dust.
I am a Catholic and we use the word 'Allah' during our Sunday masses (in Bahasa Malaysia). So what? Are these bigots going to conduct another covert operation in the churches to check if we are using the word?
Perhaps someone should check with the patent office whether they have registered the word as a trademark.
Oh, by the way, where is MCA chief Chua Soi Lek and his ilks? Why are they suddenly so quiet about this issue? Don't tell me there are no Christians in MCA.
Chelsea: According to Islamic belief, ‘Allah' is the proper name of God, and humble submission to His will, divine ordinances and commandments is the pivot of the Muslim faith. Christians and Jews also use the word ‘Allah' to mean ‘God'.
The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for 'God' than 'Allah'. (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Roman Catholic, uses ‘Allah' for 'God'.)
Arab Christians for example use terms ‘Alla-h al-ab' meaning ‘God the Father', ‘Alla-h al-ibn' meaning ‘God the Son', and ‘Alla-h ar-ru-h al-quds' meaning ‘God the Holy Spirit'. (See ‘God in Christianity for the Christian concept of God')
And here in Malaysia, we have Muslims who cry out loud against its usage by the Christians. It really proves a huge ignorance of this word and its existence. It is not even a Malay word. Thanks to who? Umno.
Allah, Tuhan, Tua Pek Kong, whatever... I am ashamed to be a Malaysian, fighting and arguing over the right to use God's name. Who on earth can decide? As a human, no religion can have exclusivity over a name.
My God is Jesus. But if the Buddhists want to call their Buddha Jesus... go ahead. I would be proud and not feel threatened.
Enlightened: The problem is not the word ‘Allah' used in the Bible. It is the tendency of Christians to go around converting people and in some instances the less educated fall prey to their agenda.
This act itself shows disrespect for other religions. Taoists, Maoists, Buddhists and Hindus will be able to relate to this.
Timothy: It is nobody's business to tell nor force me on how I should address my personal god, To me, he is the ‘Allah' of Abraham, God almighty who is also ‘Allah Al Raheem, Allah Al Rahman, Allah Al Azeez'.
When I greet my Muslim and Christian friends here "Assalamuaalaikum," they would reply with "Muaalaikumusalam", and vice versa. We have no problem with that.
It is just only some Malay Muslims on this planet Earth who fear the weakening of their akidah (faith) all because of what others believe. To those people, don't go to Europe then, everyday you will find yourself having weak knees.
Keturunan Malaysia: I don't have to agree to anything on how to address God as I so please. It is all about me and Him and nobody else's business. Can anyone hear what I call him in my heart and mind?
HumptyDumpty: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is not so smart after all. It was unnecessary for him to raise the issue now just on the eve of GE13.
If it was raised by Umno then it is a different matter. When he did that, it just opened the floodgates and the pressure is on PAS to state its stand again.
This is a sensitive topic and it is not easy for ordinary Muslims to understand the derivation of PAS' decision. In principle, PAS' decision is right. However, in context of the Malay Muslims' siege mentality, they feel threatened lest Muslims get confused.
Umno's spin is not easy to deflect as many Malay-born Muslims are still ignorant about their own religion (thanks to Umno) and many Muslim scholars are still more Malay than Muslim themselves.
Joe Fernandez: Christians should not set themselves up to be scapegoats like in the Middle East, West Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
We don't want to root for BN and be persecuted by Pakatan Rakyat and vice versa. Christians should not vote along party or coalition lines. Instead, they should vote out all incumbents holding a seat for three terms or more.
Other incumbents should be voted out if they didn't perform and/or didn't stand up for Christians when they were being attacked from all sides by fanatics. Let's see what the results show.
Not Confused: This is just a rogue PAS member trying to get headlines - a bad idea. I am Christian and will use the word ‘Allah' any time I please, and I don't give a damn about the government's jaundiced views on the use of a word that is in the dictionary.
No one, race, religion or individual can claim exclusive rights over any word. ‘Allah' has been used by many races and religions the world over for hundreds of years. Muslims, and least of all Muslim Malaysians, do not have the right to its exclusive use.
Get over it and move on.
Proarte: The 'Allah' prohibition is an example of the arrogance of power and invidious calculations by politicians who abuse Islam.
‘Allah' is a term which Malay Islam cannot hijack. With due respect, the majority of Malays have a superficial understanding of the Quran and have theologically been dumbed down by Umno, PAS and even Anwar.
If they understood the Quran, they would know that the Quran affirms the Torah and Bible as being Allah's message to humanity and that the Quran is a continuum of this process. Are Malay Muslims implying that Ibrahim of the Torah and Isa of the Bible are not Allah's prophets?
Internationally prominent Muslim scholars are bewildered over the Malaysian 'Allah' controversy. Tariq Ramadan who lectured in Malaysia recently informed us the word 'Allah' pre-dates Islam and has never been a Muslim prerogative and that the issue should never have arisen.
Sheikh Yusof Qardawi, in turn, has been quoted as calling the Malaysian 'Allah' prohibition "a joke".
・The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda.
(5) What now for 'Allah' row, ban Sikhism as well?, 30 December 2012
'It is pathetic. Hindi songs are full of the word ‘Allah'. So banning Hindi movies would be the right move.'
Sikh group: Fatwa on Allah ban 'illegal and void'
Mohican: Extremely useful and very well put, guruji (spiritual teacher). Even though I am no Sikh, I respect Sikhism and the holy Guru Gran Sahib as it is a sacred scripture of a great religion.
As a Christian, I was taught both at home and at the mission school which I attended that all religions must be respected. For anybody who thinks that his or her religion is more supreme than others smacks of arrogance and is therefore irreligious in his/her outlook.
The supreme god made all one and equal, and we are all his children however great or small we may be.
Lionking: Narrow-minded so-called Muslims in Malaysia such as Penang mufti Hassan Ahmad are making fools of themselves. Is this what they learn? It is pathetic and it shows how shallow their thinking is.
Hindi songs are full of the word ‘Allah'. So banning Hindi movies would be the right move.
Grow up and be more rational. The word ‘Allah' appears in the holy book of the Sikhs, so now what, ban the religion too?
Abasir: The congenitally ignorant in Malaysia should be alerted that there is a hymn sung by Hindus all over India and in all parts of the world (including Malaysia) containing the word 'Allah'.
It is a hymn that is also featured occasionally in Hindustani movies (which has a strong following among certain ethnic groups in Malaysia) and in Richard Attenborough's multi-Oscar awarded film 'Gandhi'.
It has not offended the more than 160 million Muslims in India. But then we are here in PM Najib Razak's 1Malaysia where everything is contaminated by the Umno virus.
Quigonbond: Two questions - first, can the chief minister interfere with a matter that is Islamic in nature? Hassan should be careful to put the blame on Lim Guan Eng before getting his facts and laws right.
Second question - even assuming the Chief Minister's Office has the right to enforce as it deems fit, has the Penang government the right to enforce it against the Sikhs? I bet the answer is a resounding ‘no'.
Which reminds Malaysians again that five years of Pakatan Rakyat state administration is hardly enough to turn the tide of cynicism, extremism, corruption and abuse of power in Malaysia. I look forward to at least 10 to 15 years of Pakatan rule in federal power.
Onyourtoes: It is not just unconstitutional but a contempt of court since the appeal is still pending - so on what legal basis was the fatwa in Penang issued?
Wanderer: A bloke like Hassan, a so-called Muslim scholar, brings shame and confusion to Islam. The word Allah is used by so many religious faiths in other countries, yet the Muslims in those countries have never objected.
What makes Umno Muslims, marbles wipers here, more Muslim than the rest?
Senior: Are the Muslims here weaklings compared to Indonesia and the Arab countries that they need a fatwa on the word ‘Allah' so that their faith is not misled? I think not, but someone wants them to be more Muslim than Arabs and Indonesians.
AJ-N: I am Muslim, and this issue is really embarrassing. Malays, as usual, are behaving like the Jews, thinking they are special and discriminating all other races/religions in Malaysia. Indeed, this is a non-issue in Arab countries.
Hang Babeuf: Elsewhere in the world it is okay for non-Muslims to use ‘Allah', but here in Malaysia it cannot be used except by Muslims, and only for officially (government-) approved purposes?
It sounds crazy. It is crazy. Rules like that would be okay for a god who needs a passport, visa and landing card to travel across state boundaries.
But for a god who is considered a universal king and lord of the universe? That sounds a lot, but for some that's not enough.
If he is only that, they say, and the Malaysian government is something greater, then it is entitled to impose that condition on his mundane movements here and there.
They can try to impose that restriction. But meanwhile god travels where he pleases, without a passport, and under whatever name through which his faithful know, revere and honour him. Or her...
Imran Firdaus Zain: When did the Sikh religion come into being for it to use the word ‘Allah'?
Ubah lan: Imran Firdaus Zain, Sikhism was born before the Malays became Muslims. I don't think you have any doubts as to whether Christianity or Islam came first, or do you?
Oh, I forgot, in Malaysia, history can be rewritten, just like how the Hindu kingdoms of Malaysia are almost non-existent in our history books today.
Perplexed: Sikhism was born as a middle path when the Muslims and Hindus were busy killing each other 500 years ago in India.
Hence Sikhism is also commonly known as an amalgamation of the best of these two religions. That's why a Sikh temple has a dome structure. Want to ban that too?
Anonymous #06659895: If the word 'Allah' had been used by other religions prior before Islam, my question is who copy the word 'Allah' and from whom?
Abasir: Malaysian Gurdwaras Council president Jagir Singh said, "...the matter had only been politicised and made an issue in Malaysia since the late 1980s."
This is another one from former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad's long list of mischief to undermine the constitution.
James Dean: This Allah issue is a gift from Mahathir to all future Malaysian generations. BN will never be able to resolve this issue, and BN will not want it to be resolved.
Chandran Sukumaran: I doubt if it is written anywhere in the holy book that non-Muslims may not utter the word ‘Allah'. How can Malaysia progress if such a non-issue is being politicised? May Allah save Malaysia!
Ez24get: Hailam chicken rice is quite popular among the Malays - a dish whose recipe came from the non-Malays a long time ago.
Then comes one day, a ruling is passed that the name "hailam chicken rice" cannot be used by non-Malays as it is a dish enjoyed by the majority of Malays and they could confuse the popular hailam chicken rice prepared by the Malays with the other type of chicken rice eaten by the non-Malays.
Now taking a step further, non-Malays are subsequently banned from eating hailam chicken rice. Hailam chicken rice is just hailam chicken rice eaten without fuss in other countries and in the past in Malaysia.
Malays, all these while, never had problem in distinguishing halal hailam chicken rice from the non-halal hailam chicken rice. It's only the politicians who are creating the imaginary confusion for fear of losing power.
Geronimo: Just watch how Umno will react to this new situation. Earlier on, they came up with a cockamamie idea that it was okay for Sabah and Sarawak to use the word 'Allah' but not Christians in Semenanjung.
Now with the Sikhs joining in the fray, they will come out with a decision that the Sikhs can use the word, but not the Christians. And they are asking us why we are not voting for them.
・The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda.
3. Malaysian Insider（http://www.themalaysianinsider.com）
Embrace Islam if you want to use ‘Allah’, Harussani tells non-Muslims, 30 December 2012
by Zurairi AR
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria today told non-Muslims who insist on using the word “Allah” to refer to their Gods to convert to Islam if they refused to accept that the word belongs only to Muslims.
The controversial cleric also accused the Christians community of intentionally provoking Muslims by pressing on with their demand to use “Allah” in their holy book.
“The matter is already in the (Islamic) enactments of every state, they’re provoking Muslims on purpose so Muslims will melatah (over-react),” Harussani (picture) told The Malaysian Insiderhere.
“Christians should not interfere with Islam, they’d be better off taking care of their own religion. If they want to use Allah, convert into Islam.”
The latest polemic over the use of the word “Allah” by Christians to refer to God hit media headlines last week when Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng spoke on the issue in his Christmas message.
The DAP secretary-general triggered uproar when he urged the federal government to allow the use of the word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Christian Bible.
He pointed out that this has been allowed in Sabah and Sarawak for the last 50 years and practised in the Middle East for more than a thousand years.
Harussani reiterated today that the name should be exclusive to Islam to not confuse Muslims, a view shared by DAP’s partner PAS which insisted that Christians should not use it in the Alkitab as it does not reflect the actual meaning of “God” in the original text.
The mufti also warned Muslims to not easily play into the hands of Christians by over-reacting, despite stressing that it is important for the adherents to express their disapproval.
Malaysian Gurdwara Council (MGC) said yesterday that it is unconstitutional to ban anyone from using the word “Allah”, insisting that the National Fatwa Council’s 2010 edict on the word could not apply to non-Muslims.
In a statement, MGC president Jagir Singh pointed out that the council does not have direct jurisdiction over non-Muslims and could not issue fatwas to bar the community from using a specific word.
In Penang, state Mufti Hassan Ahmad berated Lim for raising the issue and reminded him of the council’s 2010 edict, where it had banned the use of the word by non-Muslims, along with 39 others.
But DAP chairman Karpal Singh came out to defend his party comrade, reminding Muslims that those of other faiths apart from Christianity also use the word “Allah”.
As an example, Karpal said that the word “Allah” appears 37 times in the Sikh bible, while the orang aslis, the babas in Malacca and even the Bengali language uses the word.
On Friday, former council chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Ibrahim was reported as saying that non-Muslims should stop demanding to use the word “Allah” as the Arabic word is fundamental to Islamic belief and therefore exclusive to Muslims.
“Enough is enough, enough with all the other policies, including the ones enshrined in the Constitution that has been claimed for equality, to be granted equal rights... therefore the right to recognise the concept of the divinity in this religion, don’t grab, challenge and manipulate so. The name ALLAH is still something basic and fundamental to Islam.
“The name Allah, from a philosophical point, its definition and concept is not equal with the name Tuhan, God, Lord and so on in the usage of other religions,” he was quoted as saying bySinar Harian in its front-page report.
Christians form 9.2 per cent of Malaysia’s 28.3 million-strong population, with many of them in east Malaysia using the Malay language and the word “Allah” to refer to their God.
In recent years, the Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word “Allah”, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word “Allah” denotes the Muslim God.
A legal tussle over the use of the word “Allah” remains unresolved, with the Catholic Church still barred from publishing the word in its weekly newspaper, despite winning a High Court decision on December 31, 2009.
This is due to the Home Ministry filing an appeal in January 2010 against the High Court’s decision, which have since stagnated in the courts as no date has been set for its hearing.
Last year, shipments of the Alkitab, the Malay-language Bible catering to the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Bumiputera Christians, were blocked or confiscated at ports, before the government finally bowed to pressure and released them.
4. Malaysia Chronicle (http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com)
(1) SHUT UP HARUSSANI! Don't make Malaysia more of a loony bin than it already is!, 30 December 2012
by Joe Fernandez, Stan Lee, Malaysia Chronicle
It’s confirmed now that Malaysia has become one big loony bin! This is the only country in the world where politicians and government lackeys such as Perak chief cleric Harussani Zakaria have nothing better to do than to quarrel over who and who cannot use the term Allah for God in print in Peninsular Malaysia i.e. in this case in Malay print in the Bible.
The Internet is exempted. Likewise, there’s no Umno Government prohibition on using the term Allah for God in Malay print for the Bible in Sabah and Sarawak. There’s also no Government prohibition on using the term Allah for God in non-Bible print. Not many realise that there’s no Government prohibition either on using the term Allah for God in English print or any other language whether in the Bible or non-Bible material.
This explains why there has been only ominous silence from the Home Ministry on Allah in the Sikh Holy Book and in Bahais and Mizrahi Jews also using the term.
Sikhs too call their God Allah since Sikhism is a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam created by Guru Nanak in Lahore, now in Pakistan but then in undivided India. Guru Nanak claimed in Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Scriptures written in Gurmukhi in eastern India, that he was taken to God’s Court and given nectar by God to drink. Apparently, he was then instructed to reveal to mankind that God was neither a Hindu nor a Muslim and had no religion.
But all that hasn't stopped ruling party Umno and its religious chiefs from stirring up religious mischief. There's little doubt Umno - embattled and corruption-riddled - is now at its weakest. It needs to deflect attention from its string of shocking corruption scandals. Umno leaders know they need to rally the Malays behind their party as never before. And what better way than to use, or is it abuse, Islam to claim the moral high ground.
"Christians should not interfere with Islam, they’d be better off taking care of their own religion. If they want to use Allah, convert into Islam,” Harussani was reported as saying.
The dumbest contradiction & clearest proof of abusing Islam for politics
There’s also no Government prohibition on using the term Allah for God in song, prayer and worship by anyone in any language.
Umno Government thinks that Malays would be confused by Allah in Malay Bible
Again, the Umno Government does not want to see the term Allah for God in this print. Allah activists can make an issue of the fact that Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Malaysia are not one and the same language and that the Bible is not in Malay but in Bahasa Malaysia, among other languages.
The Government’s reasoning against Allah in Malay Bible print is that Muslims would be confused. The population estimate in 2004 was as follows, according to the CIA World FactBook on Malaysia: Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, Orang Asal 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8%. The religious picture: Muslim (or Islam) 60.4%, Buddhist 19.2%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6%, other or unknown 1.5%, none 0.8%.
In a contradiction in terms, the government doesn’t seem to realise that Christians in Peninsular Malaysia who use the Bible in English might be confused as well.
Muslim politicians suspect a sinister plot by Christians to confuse Muslims
The fact is that neither Muslims nor Christians in Sabah and Sarawak would be confused. The Sikhs aside, Allah in Malay, English or other print is a peculiarly Borneon problem in this part of the world. This is the crux of the matter which seems to have escaped the politicians in Peninsular Malaysia or Malaya as Sabahans and Sarawakians prefer to call it.
One development which might be troubling Muslim politicians in Peninsular Malaysia is that Christians in Malaya too now want to use the term Allah for God in all print. They see this approach as necessary to be in solidarity with fellow members of their faith on the side of the South China Sea. The sea, according to the Catholic Church in a novel take, does not divide Malaysians but brings them together.
Muslim politicians in Peninsular Malaysia suspect a “sinister” Christian plot to confuse Muslims through Allah and lure them away from their Faith. They fear that Muslims might conclude, and not entirely without justification, that Islam is just another branch of Christianity like the Protestant denominations which rebelled some 500 years ago against the authority of the Vatican.
When yours truly was in school in Peninsular Malaysia and long after, the thought of a Christian calling God Allah as in Borneo and in the Middle East never crossed the mind.
In fact, had such a thing been suggested in school before by the Christian brothers, the initial reaction would have been one of shock, horror and confusion. The word Allah would have definitely stuck in the collective throats of Christians in Peninsular Malaysia and probably strangled them to death.
The reason that Christians in the Peninsular Malaysia now want to use the term Allah for God may also be due to the reason that they can only smile if asked something in English, and prefer to use the Malay language.
An added factor is that there are many Sabahans and Sarawakians in Peninsular Malaysia, as many as 200,000, formidable block in the electoral rolls.
Also, Muslims settling down in Europe in large numbers partly to make up for the virtual elimination of the Jews by Adolf Hitler, Christians on that continent too appear to have since discovered that Allah is the right term for their God as well.
Syed Hamid’s political mischief-making will haunt our political future
This Allah problem was wholly created not so long ago by former Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar – he claims to be Arab and not an Indian Muslim tracing his roots to the Indian subcontinent -- for political reasons. He was then eyeing a high post in the Umno hierarchy. He used the Printing Presses Act in going after the Catholic Church on the issue. For his troubles in “protecting Allah for the Muslims”, Umno members kicked out Syed Hamid from all party posts and he was dropped from the Federal Cabinet.
Even then, Syed Hamid did not want to bite off more than what he could chew and conveniently ignored the fact that Jesus, for example, was Isa in the Malay Bible as in the Quran. The difference was that Isa was Nabi (Prophet) to Muslims and Penyelamat (Messiah and Saviour) and Anak Allah (Son of God), both exalted positions, to Christians.
A Muslim reading the Bible in Malay would be intrigued that Isa (Jesus) in Christianity was not as portrayed by Islam in the Quran. However, this point seems to have escaped the politicians in their eagerness to harp on the term Allah for God in the Malay Bible.
Another point is that Mary, the mother of Jesus the Son of God, is Siti Mariam in both the Quran and the Malay Bible. In the Quran, Mary is portrayed simply as the mother of Jesus and not as how Christians revere her.
The third point is Allah – the Almighty, the All Powerful -- is not God’s name but just one of the Creator’s many attributes which function as names. God, according to Jews, Christians and Muslims, has 1001 attributes but only 100 including Allah is known and the rest have been hidden from mankind.
So, if the Umno Government prohibits Christians in Peninsular Malaysia from using the term Allah for God in the Malay Bible, what about the other attributes of God? No prohibition? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Islam
The final point is that Allah was known and in usage long before the coming of Islam 1,500 years ago. So, where’s the logic in prohibiting religions which have always used Allah for God from using the term just because some Malays are likely to be confused?
Allah was never a problem during the time of the first four Prime Ministers in Malaysia – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak Hussein, Hussein Onn and Mahathir Mohamad. Syed Hamid’s political mischief in the past has again caught up with us in the present to haunt our future.
Will PAS turn rogue
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng and various PAS leaders have all made the right noises on the issue until recently, when a certain faction within PAS shocked everyone by suggesting that non-Muslims should agree not to use Allah as a 'pragmatic' way of resiolving the issue.
The racist mainstream Malay media has gone to town on the issue and made it appear that both Dap and PAS are at loggerheads on the Allah issue. Such mischief-making is typical of the mainstream Malay media which probably wants to see the country burn so that they can boost their flagging street sales.
Now, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wants to meet and discuss the issue again – already discussed before, noted Anwar – and re-affirm what they had already agreed on before. And that is to stick by the federal constitution, which does not prohibit non-Muslims from using the Allah word. Totally the opposite to the stance taken by Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Umno party.
Article 3 of the Federal Constitution guarantees Freedom of Worship. So no surprise what statement Pakatan will reiterate. The only wild card is whether PAS will throw in spanner in works and reverse its previous stand.
(2) The Great 'Allah' Debate: Do we want 2 Malaysias or One Malaysia?, 29 December 2012
by Baru Bian
The basis for arguing whether non-Muslims can use the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God must rest on its context, etymology, and the relevant laws surrounding it. Political expediency should not and must not dominate the debate. Too much is at stake for it touches on the very heart, soul, and spirit of one’s belief and faith regardless of what one believes. I, therefore, urge those with differing viewpoints to exercise restraint, tolerance and goodwill. We must be reminded that we are indeed treading on Holy ground.
I also call on both the ruling coalition and the opposition to agree to a common moratorium not to use the Allah or Alkitab issue as political posturing for the forthcoming 13th General Elections. This is not to suggest that we must avoid discussing it at the appropriate forum.
Ten percent or slightly over two million of the population in Malaysia are Christians. Of this, about two thirds are Malay speaking bumiputra Christians mainly in Sabah and Sarawak. They rely on the Malay language or Indonesian Bible known as the Alkitab, which uses the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God. The word is of Arabic origin, which predates Islam. Christians of other ethnic communities like the Ibans in Sarawak refer to God as ‘Allah Taala’ or God Most High in their Bible known as the Bup Kudus. Our Sikh brothers and sisters too use the word ‘Allah’ in their Holy Scriptures to refer to God.
But not all Christians use the word Allah to refer to God. They use appropriate words for it. For the English language Bible, the word, needless to say is ‘God’ and not ‘Allah.’ Likewise, the Chinese and Tamil Bibles use other words and not ‘Allah’ that are theologically appropriate and significant.
What about the East M'sian Christians working in the peninsula
The context of the Malay-speaking world using the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God rests on its etymology or the historical development of it. The first portion of Christian Scriptures translated into Malay was done in Indonesia for the Gospel of Matthew in 1612, four hundred years ago! This was one year after the authorised version of the Bible was translated into English known as the King James Version (KJV). The Malay translation was also the first non-European language translation of the Bible. Surely we can treasure this rare heritage as Malaysians.
Some have suggested that this is an East Malaysian problem and therefore the word ‘Allah’ can be used here while over in the peninsula, the word should be ‘Tuhan’. This proposition is misplaced as it suggests we have two Malaysias instead of 1Malaysia. This is dangerous for national unity.
We must also remember there are tens of thousands of East Malaysian Christians working in the peninsula as well as Orang Asli. Do we want to deny them their constitutional right to refer to God as Allah as they do back home?
Why suddenly is it causing CONFUSION?
East Malaysian Christians have been using ‘Allah’ to refer to God for generations. This has never caused confusion among Muslims before or after the formation of Malaysia in 1963. Why should this cause confusion now after half a century?
Our Rukunegara uses ‘Tuhan’ and not ‘Allah’ to refer to God just like the Indonesian Pancasila. In terms of common usage, this is a reasonable expression. However, in the Biblical context, the word ‘Tuhan’ refers to Lord and not God or Allah. It is, therefore, not acceptable to ask Christians to switch the two words and take them to mean what they do not mean in their liturgy and worship. One cannot force someone of another religion to change words in their Holy Scriptures simply to satisfy believers of another religion. This is wholly untenable.
It was three years ago on 31 Dec 2009, that the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled in favour of the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, who is the publisher of Herald, that even though Islam is the religion of the Federation, this does not empower the government to prohibit the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Malay edition of the Herald. It also found that the word Allah was not exclusive to Muslims.
It must be noted that the said High Court decision was a decision made in the light of our religious rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The Government has appealed against this decision and the Court of appeal is yet to rule on the matter. But for now, the High Court has spoken clearly on the issue and in the circumstances, we should respect our legal system and allow the law to take its course.
BARU BIAN, ADUN N 70 BA’KELALAN
CHAIRMAN, PKR SARAWAK
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