YES. 'It has long been widely used by non-Muslims'

The Straits Times, January 6, 2010

Malaysia's High Court verdict last week allowing the Catholic Church's weekly newspaper, The Herald, to use the word 'Allah' has provoked strong reactions in a country where politics is closely entwined with race and religion. They fall largely into three categories:


THERE is nothing wrong with allowing Christians to use the word 'Allah' as it has been used for a long time by those in Sabah, Sarawak, Indonesia and the Arab world, say non-Muslims and several Muslim leaders and opinion makers.

They sayMuslims are surely not so weak in their faith that they could be converted just because 'Allah' is used by others.

Also, the High Court's decision should be respected, they say, referring to calls to lodge police reports against the ruling and for the country's rulers to intervene.

The Catholic Church had also argued that the word 'Allah' predated Islam as a generic term for God.

It said 'Allah' was used widely during church worship in Sabah and Sarawak, where many indigenous tribes were part of the Christian community.

Mr Asri Zainul Abidin, the former mufti of Perlis and a respected Muslim scholar, told the Malaysian Insider: 'All of mankind, regardless of their religion, should say that Allah has created the world, that Allah tells us to do good and so on.

'These words are the truth. It is not appropriate for a Muslim to protest when he hears a non-Muslim say such things.'

Mr Gan Ping Sieu, a spokesman for the Malaysian Chinese Association, said on Monday that lodging police reports would be like 'questioning and asserting pressure on the independence of the judiciary should one disagree with any judgment made'.

Social activist Marina Mahathir, a daughter of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, said there were 'idiots' out there who were 'basically telling the world that they are people easily confused by nomenclature'.

She wrote in her blog that Muslims should be confident enough not to be easily confused on matters of religion.

A Christian Cabinet member from Sabah, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, said Christian communities in the state have long used the term 'Allah' to refer to God as they speak the Malay language.

'The Sabah communities have always used Bahasa Melayu as it's the regional lingua franca and Christianity has been in Sabah since 1881,' the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister was quoted as saying by the Malaysian Insider website.