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.

Technorati Tags: Borneo, Christian, Islam, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Malay, Malaysia, Malaysia Insider, Malaysian, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Sabah, Sarawak

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Christmas motifs and decoration in a shopping mall

In shopping malls, shopkeepers and retailers take the opportunity to erect a non-religious motifs such as snow, stockings, Santa and his reindeer. There are also the candy canes and Christmas tree, come complete white, green, red and gold, which are regarded as the traditional colors of the season. All commercial centers and hotels decorated themselves in sync with the atmosphere of Christmas.

Religious Adherents Statistic of 2000, Malaysia Department of Statistics

Christmas in Malaysia also refer to the church gatherings comprising of people of different beliefs (excluding Moslems) to observe the festive spirit. The celebration and the festivity continue till the morning hour.

Sabah will host the Christmas Open House this year at Padang Merdeka here on December 27 and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to officiate the event. The concept of ‘open house’ is unique to Malaysia. Such practice is a norm for all religious festivities – friends, families and strangers are welcomed for a visit thus enjoys the delicious feast prepared by their hosts.

Christianity in Malaysia is a minority religion practised by 9.1% of the population. The major Christian denominations in Malaysia include the Anglicans, Baptists, Brethrens, independent Charismatic churches, Lutherans, Methodists, non-denominational churches,  Presbyterian and Roman Catholics. Majority of Malaysia Christians live in East Malaysia (Borneo) consisting 28% of  Sabah population and 42.4% of Sarawakian.

In Malaysia, Jesus too is recognized and loved by other spectrum of the population. The Moslems that constitutes the majority 60.4% of Malaysian, have different perception on Jesus.
In Islam, Jesus (Arabic: Isa) is considered a Messenger of God who had been sent to guide the Children of Israel (Bani Israil) with a new scripture, the Injil (Gospel). The Qur’an, believed by Muslims to be God’s final revelation, mentions Jesus 25 times. It states that Jesus was born to Mary (Arabic: Maryam) as the result of virginal conception, a miraculous event which occurred by the decree of God (Arabic: Allah). To aid him in his quest, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles, all by the permission of God. According to Islamic texts, Jesus was neither killed nor crucified, but rather he was raised alive up to heaven. Islamic traditions narrate that he will return to Earth near the day of judgment to restore justice and defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal (“The False Messiah”, also known as the AntiChrist).

Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is considered to have been a Muslim, as he preached for people to adopt the straight path in submission to God’s will. Islam rejects that Jesus was God incarnate or the son of God, stating that he was a mortal man who, like other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God’s message. Islamic texts forbid the association of partners with God (syirik), emphasizing the notion of God’s divine oneness (tauhid). Numerous titles are given to Jesus in the Qur’an, such as al-Masih (“The Messiah; the anointed one” i.e. by means of blessings), although it does not correspond with the meaning accrued in Christian belief. Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter’s coming.

Christmas is 'almost' a non-religious affair in Malaysia

Muslims believe in the virginal conception of Jesus by Mary, which is recounted throughout several passages in the Qur’an. According to the Qur’anic narrative, Mary had withdrawn into a temple and was visited by an angel an agent of divine action or communication commonly identified in Islam with the angel Gabriel (Arabic: Jibreel) but also with the created spirit from God by which he enlivened Adam. He proclaimed to her the conception of Jesus.

Mary was startled, for she had vowed her virginity to God and intended to retain it. The angel reassured her, stating that such a conception was easy for God, who wished to make from her a sign to men and a mercy from Him. The Qur’an describes the conception as the result of a creative decree made by God, similar to the creation of Adam. Some Qur’anic exegetes describe the event of conception as the angel’s breathing into the cloak of Mary; which, upon putting it on, resulted in Jesus being conceived. Afterwards, Mary withdrew “to a distant place.”

After delivering Jesus, Mary was overtaken by the pangs of childbirth, resting near the trunk of a palm tree. Jesus then addressed her from the cradle, to instruct her to shake the tree and obtain its fruits and also to allay Mary’s fears of a scandal surrounding his conception. She then showed the new-born to her family, and in silencing immodest rumors he declared: “Lo, I am God’s servant; God has given me the Book, and made me a Prophet. Blessed he has made me, wherever I may be; and He has enjoined me to pray, and to give alms, so long as I live and likewise to cherish my mother.” (Resource: Wikipedia)

Technorati Tags: Anglicans, Baptists, Borneo, Brethrens, Catholics, Christian, Christmas, Gabriel, Gospel, Isa, Jesus, Jibreel, Lutherans, Malaysia, Malaysia Travel, Mary, Maryam, Methodists, Moslem, Presbyterian, Qur'an, Sabah, Sarawak

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Is this the real Pygmy elephant?

The origins of the pygmy elephants, found in a range extending from the north-east into the Heart of Borneo, have long been shrouded in mystery. Their looks and behaviour differ from other Asian elephants and scientists have questioned why they never dispersed to other parts of the island.

But a new paper published today supports a long-held local belief that the elephants were brought to Borneo centuries ago by the Sultan of Sulu, now in the Philippines, and later abandoned in the jungle. The Sulu elephants, in turn, are thought to have originated in Java.

Javan elephants became extinct some time in the period after Europeans arrived in South-East Asia. Elephants on Sulu, never considered native to the island, were hunted out in the 1800s.

A family of Bornean Pygmy Elephant

“Elephants were shipped from place to place across Asia many hundreds of years ago, usually as gifts between rulers,” said Mr Shim Phyau Soon, a retired Malaysian forester whose ideas on the origins of the elephants partly inspired the current research. “It’s exciting to consider that the forest-dwelling Borneo elephants may be the last vestiges of a subspecies that went extinct on its native Java Island, in Indonesia, centuries ago.”

If the Borneo pygmy elephants are in fact elephants from Java, an island more than 1,200 km (800 miles) south of their current range, it could be the first known elephant translocation in history that has survived to modern times, providing scientists with critical data from a centuries-long experiment.

Scientists solved part of the mystery in 2003, when DNA testing by Columbia University and WWF ruled out the possibility that the Borneo elephants were from Sumatra or mainland Asia, where the other Asian subspecies are found, leaving either Borneo or Java as the most probable source.

Radio-collaring Pygmy elephants in Sabah, Borneo (June 2005)

The new paper, “Origins of the Elephants Elephas Maximus L. of Borneo,” published in this month’s Sarawak Museum Journal shows that there is no archaeological evidence of a long-term elephant presence on Borneo.

“Just one fertile female and one fertile male elephant, if left undisturbed in enough good habitat, could in theory end up as a population of 2,000 elephants within less than 300 years,” said Junaidi Payne of WWF, one of the paper’s co-authors. “And that may be what happened in practice here.”

There are perhaps just 1,000 of the elephants in the wild, mostly in the Malaysian state of Sabah. WWF satellite tracking has shown they prefer the same lowland habitat that is being increasingly cleared for timber rubber and palm oil plantations. Their possible origins in Java make them even more a conservation priority.

“If they came from Java, this fascinating story demonstrates the value of efforts to save even small populations of certain species, often thought to be doomed,” said Dr Christy Williams, coordinator of WWF’s Asian elephant and rhino programme. “It gives us the courage to propose such undertakings with the small remaining populations of critically endangered Sumatran rhinos and Javan rhinos, by translocating a few to better habitats to increase their numbers. It has worked for Africa’s southern white rhinos and Indian rhinos, and now we have seen it may have worked for the Javan elephant, too.”

A mother and baby Pygmy Elephants

Important Facts
* Borneo pygmy elephants are smaller than mainland Asian elephants. The males may only grow to less than 2.5 meters, while mainland Asian elephants grow up to 3 meters. They also have babyish faces, larger ears, longer tails that reach almost to the ground and are more rotund. These elephants are also less aggressive than other Asian elephants.The scientific name is Elephas maximus and they are sometimes refered to as Elephas maximus borneensis, although they have not been officially determined to be a separate subspecies from mainland Asian elephants.
* The elephants are found primarily in the state of Sabah in Borneo Malaysia, with a few individuals having a part of their home range across the border in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
* Large areas of Borneo’s forest are being rapidly cleared and replaced with tree plantations for rubber, palm oil and timber production and satellite tracking has found that the pygmy elephants prefer the same flat, lowland forest as commercial industries do, leading to competition for habitat.

The original article can be read here at WWF Malaysia; Extinct Javan elephants may have been found again – in Borneo. All right reserved.

Naked-Malaysian: If an extinct Javan elephant sub-species can even be found in Malaysia, why the necessity to accuse another country for commiting cultures theft? Many Indonesian ethnics also migrated to Malaysia in ancient times. To justify and preserve the same sentiment would require another accusation of Malaysia’s ‘claiming‘  the Bornean Pygmy elephants.

Technorati Tags: Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Borneo, cultures theft, Ganyang Malaysia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Malaysia Deals, Malaysia News, Malaysian, Sabah, WWF

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