Back to one of my favorite topics, the Malaysian Allah problem, ever so quickly just to catch you up, in the Malaysian language, the word for God is Allah. But the Muslim dominated government has banned non-Muslims from using the word Allah in their worship. For a bit more check out my previous posts on the subject back in May and November.
So there was a court case over who has the right to use the word Allah, and the courts have decided that the Government cannot restrict the right of people to use the word Allah in their worship.
That makes a lot of sense, after all in other Muslim majority countries such as Egypt and Indonesia, Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims are free to use the word Allah for God, and in the same vein, whenever I have heard Muslim worship in this country, when prayers are said in English, they refer to God, rather than Allah.
Now one would think that the courts ruling would be the end of the matter, but no it isn’t, since the ruling there have been fire bombings of Christian Churches and Schools, and its causing a lot of tension in the country.
It probably doesn’t help that the government has decided to appeal and try and keep the word Allah, just for Muslims, it just drags the whole thing out. I understand that there are historical reasons for the government favoring the Muslim majority, but in my personal opinion this is going a little too far, especially when you get government ministers saying that “Allah is only for the Muslim god”.
The thing is most Muslims recognise that other religions worship the same God, they call them People of the Book. Its believed that earlier faiths are divine in origin but were corrupted by man and the true message lost along the way. The Qur’an says:-
“And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by what is best, except those of them who act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our God and your God is One, and to Him do we submit.” Qur’an 29:46
There are other passages but this one stands out for me most, and pretty well sums it all up. Islamic law goes a bit further and generally speaking in most interpretations offers a great deal of protection to non-Muslims, including the right to freely practice their faith and exemption from Zakat and in many cases military service.
Now speaking with a Malaysian friend whom is shortly to return to her homeland, its apparent that the above is generally speaking true, and its only a small minority who really have an issue with Christians using the word Allah, but unfortunately this small minority have a lot of influence in the government.
The government has condemned these attacks, and has over the past couple of years been working really hard to bridge the various ethnic and religious divides within Malaysian society under the 1Malaysia banner. But it’s the government which has been actively pursuing the Allah issue in the courts. For me this really puts into context why governments should not interfere in religious issues, nor should religions try to get mixed up in politics, it always leads down a nasty path.
Ultimately I think that both sides in this disagreement need to sit round a table and agree what all of their sacred texts say, that they share the God of Abraham. It’s easy to say that isn’t it, and if that can be accepted, then surely, the word used to describe God can be the same.
God Bless
Michael
