Posted on 10/19/2013 1:54:34 PM PDT by NYer
.- An appeals court in Malaysia has prohibited non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” to refer to deities, even though it is the standard Malay term for “god.”
The Oct. 14 ruling comes in a case relating to The Herald, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.
The court's verdict “violates the right to religious freedom and freedom of expression enshrined in the (Malaysian) constitution,” said Fr. Lawrence Andrew, editor of The Herald.
“It is a retrograde step in the development of law in relation to the fundamental liberty of religious minorities.”
“Allah” is the Malay language equivalent of the English word “god,” and is a loanword from Arabic. Malay is the official language of the country, and Malaysians of all religions use the word; not just Muslims.
The term “Allah” is used around the world by Arab Christians, and has been included in the Malaysian version of the Bible for 400 years.
Father Andrew noted that a Latin-Malaysian dictionary published in 1631 by the forerunner of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which translates “Deus” as “Allah”, establishes “decisive proof of the legitimate use of the word 'Allah' by Christians.”
Despite this, the appeals court said the term belongs exclusively to Muslims and that its use by others could cause public disorder. Some Muslim groups in Malaysia have argued that Christian use of “Allah” could encourage Muslims to convert to Christianity, according to the BBC.
The court's decision stems from a 2009 government decision saying that The Herald could not use “Allah” to refer to God in Christianity. The paper sued, and a court ruled in their favor, but the Malaysian government appealed.
Now that an appellate court has ruled against The Herald, Fr. Andrew said that Archbishop Murphy Pakiam of Kuala Lumpur has given his approval to appeal the ruling to the Malaysian Supreme Court.
The ruling was “influenced by political pressure,” Fr. Andrew claimed.
Though the Malaysian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, Islam is the established religion. More than 60 percent of Malaysians are Muslim, and about 10 percent are Christians.
Fr. Andrew said that “all Malaysian Christians will take part in a prayer vigil in the coming days, praying for peace and religious freedom in Malaysia.”
What in the name of “Allah” is that about? :)
Who are they to say what you can and can’t call God?
Everyone should use it whenever they choose to.
Bob.
phony moon god of pedophile demon possessed butcher works for me.
You know what you can do with your goddamned allah?
I am confused. I understand why Christians in Arabic speaking countries use Allah since that is, basically, that language’s word for God. But, why in the world would the Christians in Malaysia need to use it? They don’t use Arabic in that country, so why would they be using an Arabic term for God? Why are they not using the Malay term for God, which is something like Tuhan? This would be like people fighting about whether Canadian Christians should call God Dios. It just seems strange.
The Malay word for "god" has been "Allah" for centuries, reflecting the strong Arab linguistic and cultural influence on the Malay Peninsula and the sprawling string of Islands in the area once known as the Malay Archipelago but now mostly controlled by modern Indonesia. Arab traders came to dominate the important Malacca Strait in the 13th and 14th centuries, which linked the markets of Asia to the Middle East and Europe, leading to both the spread of Islam and of Arabic influence on local languages throughout the islands.
"Allah yang maha kuasa," or "almighty God," is a phrase that is typically heard in Catholic churches in Sarawak, Borneo, and in Protestant churches on Sumatra in Indonesia. The word "Allah" of course, is also voiced to the heavens by Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem at Christmas and is used by the Eastern Orthodox Christians in Egypt, commonly referred to as Copts.
That this use of "Allah" is largely uncontroversial in the Arab world, which has plenty of religious conflicts of its own, points to the unusual nature of the Malaysian government's effort.
Political Islam has become a more important force in Malaysian society in the past 30 years, and Malaysia operates under two sets of law – one for Muslims, and one for everyone else.
"Fictional".
“moon god” works for me.
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