The first day of 2010 in Malaysia started with a reversal ruling by Kuala Lumpur High Court to government banning on the word Allah from Roman Catholic church publication. The religious polemic between Muslim and Christian community in Malaysia is now in a legal tug of war, with the Home Minister committing to petition for appeal. The Muslim community remain divided by the recent progress, that unsuprisingly inter-related with political factions in Malaysia, with pro opposition supporters unrefuting the High Court decision.
Allah is the standard Arabic word for God. While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to “God”. The term was also used by pagan Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia.
The concepts associated with the term Allah (as a deity) differ among the traditions. In pre-Islamic Arabia amongst pagan Arabs, Allah was not considered the sole divinity, having associates and companions, sons and daughters – a concept which Islam thoroughly and resolutely abrogated. In Islam, the name Allah is the supreme and all comprehensive divine name. All other divine names are believed to refer back to Allah. Allah is unique, the only Deity, creator of the universe and omnipotent. Arab Christians today use terms such as Allah al-’Ab (“God the Father”) to distinguish their usage from Muslim usage. There are both similarities and differences between the concept of God as portrayed in the Qur’an and the Hebrew Bible.
It is true the name Allah predates Islam? The popular view is that Islam is exclusively associated with the revelation of Prophet Muhammad SAW roughly 1431 years ago. Among the core teaching of Prophet Muhammad PBUH however involved believing Islam as the continuation to the religion of Isa PBUH (Jesus), Musa PBUH (Moses), Ibrahim PBUH (Abraham), and going all the way back to Adam PBUH, the first human on earth. As Islam views it, to say something predates Islam would literally means to predate all humanity.
In relation to the usage of the word Allah in Malaysia Roman Catholic publication, it is very important to get the facts straight.
1. Regionally, Christianity had only flourished in Borneo long after Islam has established itself, with Christian missionaries actively converting pagan tribes in Sabah and Sarawak during the Rajah Brooke era.
2. The calling of god as Allah in local Christian teachings got nothing to do with Arabia pagan god, the Christian term for god was purposely localized to imitate the name of existing native god, the god of the majority, which is the god of Muslims. Furthermore not one Orthodox Coptic Arab Christian Missionary ever laid foot on Malaysia soil to justify calling god as Allah. All missionaries were from England and other European countries.
To be technical one can says the name Allah predates Prophet Muhammad PBUH, but at the same time, the same name was also non existence in any Roman Catholic Bibles produced in the country(s) where all the Christian missionaries had came from. The local Muslims reservation on this issue is not entirely baseless.
It is important to know exactly where both side stand on this matter. Its common for Muslims to back the Islam side, and Christians backing the Roman Catholic side. However, to have another large group of Muslim unopposing the Christian view on this matter is something worth sinking our mind into.
According to Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the spiritual leader for Parti Islam Malaysia (PAS) cum Chief Minister to the state of Kelantan, a key figure in the opposition coalition, Islam is a blessing to the universe, that translates into Islam is for all (Arabic; “Rahmatan Lil-Aalamin”). The one god in Islam is also the universal god of all religions. Other religion should be welcomed to call their god by Islam name.
Related posts:
- Christmas in Malaysia
- Malaysia ‘Allah’ Ban Overturned
- Na Tok Kong, Worshipping the Muslim Deity
- Post 4 Attacks on Malaysian Churches; “Everything Going To be All Right”
- ‘Allah’ issue; 4 More Churches Attacked and RM600,000 Relief
Tags: Borneo, Christian, Islam, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Malay, Malaysia, Malaysia Insider, Malaysian, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Sabah, Sarawak
“The calling of god as Allah in local Christian teachings got nothing to do with Arabia pagan god, the Christian term for god was purposely localized to imitate the name of existing native god, the god of the majority, which is the god of Muslims. Furthermore not one Orthodox Coptic Arab Christian Missionary ever laid foot on Malaysia soil to justify calling god as Allah. All missionaries were from England and other European countries.”
What I can not believe!