This is — simultaneously — a manifestation of Islamic supremacism and of insecurity. Malaysia’s Federal Court has acted to ensure that Muslims maintain a dominant position in modern, moderate Malaysia. But this ruling was also designed, in the words of the court itself, to make sure that Muslims don’t convert away from Islam. A religion that needs a death penalty for apostasy and rulings like this to protect it is desperately insecure and afraid of challenges.
“Malaysia’s top court: ‘Allah’ for Muslims only,” by Eileen Ng, Associated Press, June 23, 2014:
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s top court ruled Monday that non-Muslims cannot use the word “Allah” to refer to God, delivering the final word on a contentious debate that has reinforced complaints that religious minorities are treated unfairly in the Muslim-majority country.
In a 4-3 judgment, the Federal Court rejected a challenge by the Roman Catholic Church and upheld a government ban on the use of the word. Most Christians in Malaysia worship in English, Tamil or various Chinese dialects, and refer to God in those languages but some Malay-speaking people on Borneo island have no other word for God but “Allah,” a Malay word derived from Arabic.
The church had argued that the ban failed to consider the rights of all minorities in the largely Muslim nation. The lengthy court cases, which began in 2009, had also raised the fundamental question whether freedom of religion guaranteed by the constitution is real.
“We are disappointed. The four judges who denied us the right to appeal did not touch on fundamental basic rights of minorities,” said Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of The Herald, the newspaper at the center of the controversy.
“It will confine the freedom of worship,” he said. “We are a minority in this country, and when our rights are curtailed, people feel it.”
The Federal Court ruled that the church had no grounds to appeal last year’s lower court decision that banned the use of “Allah” in the Malay-language weekly. The Catholic Church may ask the court to review the decision, Andrew said.
The government says Allah should be reserved exclusively for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the country’s 29 million people. If other religions use the term, that could confuse Muslims and lead them to convert away from Islam, it claims….
Can’t have that!
John Hartley says
Why should Christians wish to refer to God as Allah, the devil?
Matt Millburn says
Because the people there have no other word for God than Allah. It would be like banning a religious group to use the word God in English.
john spielman says
then use the alternatives for God, (who is NOT Allah -which is another name for Satan), such as Yahweh, Jehovah(the English dervation of the Hebrew Yahweh) or the LORD, I AM,
AnneM says
Better that Christians use any of the names of God that is found in the Bible instead, and here is a website:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.cfm
karpenter says
The Word ‘Allah’ Is Not Malay.
The Christian Malay Must Certainly Have Other Names
Like:
GOD,
or Maybe:
Jesus Christ
redjupiter says
GOD is not ALLAH. GOD in Arabic is RAB. we never ever use ALLAH. It is a muslim Deity that lives in the city of Mecca.
Wich says
Yes, I think it’s high time they stop using that Allah name because we’ve seen that this Allah is the killer, this people’s Allah is only happy when his people kills as many as they can afford to kill those who they don’t like for having another God. The Allah of Islam is not God the Father but Allah the monster!
john spielman says
Satan is descibed in the Bible as a deceiver, murderer,and liar. All these are actually atributes of Allah, not GOD, as described in the qur’an and hadiths of Muhammed, pbuh,(perpetual banishment unto hell)
AnneM says
AMEN.
That is why Christians should really stop using that name, allah.
Champ ✞ says
Exactly, John!
Yes, and allah is NOT the God of the Bible …
Excerpt:
Muslims believe that there is no other God besides Allah and that he is the God of the universe. They claim that not only is he their God, but that he is the God of the Jews, the Christians and everyone else. When examining the profile of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and comparing it with Allah’s profile, there are a number of distinct differences between them that can only result in one conclusion: These profiles simply do not match! Allah is NOT the God of the Bible!
More here:
http://kingmessiahproject.com/is_allah_not_God.html
John Haller says
According to Islamic doctrine, Abraham and his descendants as well as all the subsequent prophets, up to and including Jesus Christ, were all Muslims. By their own definitions the name of God is Allah and so, according to their own sources Allah is the god of these prophets as well. Malaysian Muslims can’t have it both ways. Bye the way, the language that Malaysians and Indonesians speak is based upon the Hindu and Buddhist languages of Sanskrit and Pali. Not Arabic. Pali and Sanskrit were the languages that were spoken by the Scholars and officials of the previous Hindu/Buddhist cultures, that pre date the Advent of Islam in the Arabian peninsular. Unfortunately Malaysian Muslims are the “Johnny come lately” of SE Asia. The Malay Muslims call themselves the Bumiputra(in Pali, sons of the earth) but they are descendants of the Javanese culture that migrated there in the 19th century after the Brits and Chinese arrived there.
Mazo says
Malays are from Sumatra and migrated to the Malay peninsula before the 10th century AD because they already established the Srivijaya Empire there.
Don’t spread bullshtye about Javanese being Malay. They are not. A few Malay politicians with roots in Java does not mean that the entire Malay population is from Java.
jewdog says
I can think of some other words that should be the exclusive property of Muslims: bigoted, stupid, insecure, fascist, primitive, intolerant, violent, supremacist…
Reality Check says
Yes, I wouldn’t mind giving up all those words in the favour of Mooooslims!
Uri says
allah = baal
same imaginary bloodthirsty joker
correct name for God is YHWH
JEHOVAH – “He will come to be.”
YHWH = verb “to be” in future passive tense – third person singular. God was signaling the coming Christ.
Jay Boo says
“When the Lord says ‘you are blessed’ then you are blessed.”
“When the Lord says ‘you are living’ then you are become”
Jay Boo says
(then you become)
Uri says
יהוה
HE WILL COME TO BE
voegelinian says
I don’t think the verb “to be” has a passive voice — in any tense (past, present, or future). The voice of a verb, whether active or passive, indicates whether the subject of the sentence is the actor, or is being acted upon. In English, there is often no visible distinction in the spelling, but the grammatical logic is still pertinent:
Paul hit John (active voice of the verb “to hit”).
Paul was hit by John (passive voice of the verb “to hit”).
What would be the passive voice of the verb “to be”…?
The verb “to be” is an intransitive verb — which means it doesn’t take an object. Intransitive verbs are incapable of having a passive voice for that reason.
Jerry says
More accurately, the Hebrew YAHWE יהוה means:
Was, is and will be.
It is not a name.
It is a description.
Alex F says
The Malaysians banned about 20 words, but did not provide any alternatives which could be used instead.
This is actually good news, as Christians forced to convert to islam can no longer recite the shahada (profession of faith) since it contains the banned word, and therefore cannot be forcefully converted.
Jay Boo says
“This is actually good news, as Christians forced to convert to islam can no longer recite the shahada (profession of faith) since it contains the banned word, and therefore cannot be forcefully converted.”
—————
Good point Alex F
Except that Islam always finds a loophole in its duplicitous ‘double-speak’ dogma.
logitechie says
I’m a non-Muslim Malaysian who frequents this blog. There is a word for God in the Malay language: Tuhan. However, The Herald publication, most Christian Malaysians from North Borneo, and the Bibles printed in the Malay language have used the word Allah to describe God for centuries. Only recently have these Muslim non-governmental organizations (NGO) got wind of these Bibles and word usage that they condemn the usage with accusations of “covert conversion” attempts and accusations of trying to undermine the Islamic faith and “confuse” Muslims.
Jack Diamond says
So much for the “we all worship the same God” and the “three great Abrahamic faiths” mantra. Muslims don’t believe any of that but foolish Christians do. It’s always been unfortunate that Arab Christians also use the same term Allah for God, unfortunate for the “confusion” it can cause in implying the Christian and Islamic deity is an identical one. Unfortunate for Christians who might not understand the heresy that is Islam. Nevertheless, the fact that it also apparently “confuses” some Muslims would be the one good thing about it.
karpenter says
Muslims Are Easily Confused
voegelinian says
As a matter of principle and peaceful defiance, non-Muslim Malays should consciously wean themselves away from the Slavemaster word Allah. There is no good argument for retaining Allah — unless one thinks that passive Stockholm Syndrome inculcated through unthinking cultural habit is a virtue.
Kk says
The court is 100% correct.
Jay Boo says
One would think that President Obama’s recent pandering visit to reassure them that Islam ‘really is a religion’ would have helped Malaysian Muslims from feeling so insecure about Islam.
Salah says
God is much, much more than just a name. God has qualities, God *is* his own qualities. So, this ruling is a completely stupid one.
Robert wrote:
“A religion that needs a death penalty for apostasy and rulings like this to protect it is desperately insecure and afraid of challenges.”
And *THAT* is why we should be extremely optimistic: Islam *IS* insecure. Islam *IS* afraid of challenges. Islam *IS* slowly but surely dying.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/05/dying-islam-lislam-mourant.html
Jay Boo says
It won’t be long until a (CAIR pandering) liberal university’s drama department stages a play or musical about this from the Islamic perspective.
Jay Boo says
Muslims claim it is wrong to look up or show jot when one prays to the unknowable Allah.
Yet they crawl on the floor in earnest searching beneath their feet for Allah.
Being a Muslim is very serious business indeed.
Allah must be impressed.
Jay Boo says
Muslims claim it is wrong to look up or show joy
Jaladhi says
Why should non-Muslims be using allah for describing their God? They should not, whether court bans it or not!! Allah is a killer, alter ego of Mohammad and not any kind of god – to call their own god as allah is an insult to their God.
Non-Muslims should learn and dump this criminal word forever from their vocab – the sooner the better!!
mariam rove says
well said. M
Jay Boo says
Is it a sin that one should want to live a peaceful life and be happy?
“Ha Ha Ha ”
laughed the imam
Flying fish says
Hope this bans non-muslims there from casting the shahada, the evilest curse ever created and oath of allegiance to satan = allah.
Walter Sieruk says
In all fairness there is no good reason for a real Christians to use the word “Allah” for the word God. For the God of the Bible is not the god of Islam.
In that through the passing of time it has become widely accepted that the word Allah is just the Arabic word for God. This started when Bible truth compromising Bible “translators’ substituted the word Allah where the word God should have been used the Arabic translation of the Bible. Furthermore, in the glossary in the book ASSASSINS ! by DR. Haha Lung defines Allah as the “Pre-Islamic Lunar god: the god of Islam.” Likewise, the book INSIDE ISLAM by Reza F. Safa on pages 2,23 reads “In pre-Islamic times both Allah-worship and Baal -worship involved the worship of the sun the moon and the stars which defines them as astral religions[ Such cults are condemned in the Bible, Second Kings 21:3,5. 23:5. Second Chronicles 3:5. ] The crescent mot ,which was the symbol of moon worship is also the symbol of Islam. In short, the god of Islam is not the God of the Bible.
The words in brackets are my own, also some of the books which expose this above truth are WHO IS THIS ALLAH ? by G.J.O.Moshay
UNVEILING ISLAM by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner
THE ISLAMIC INVASION BY Robert Morey
PHILISTINE by Ramon Bennett
Walter Sieruk says
A former Iranian citizen, Muslim, and Hezbollah member who is now a Christian and an American citizen, Dr. Daniel Shayesth has written a book entitled ISLAM: THE HOUSE I LEFT BEHIND on pages 7,8. it reads “Allah is the generic term for God in many Middle East cultures. Allah is identified as one of the 360 or so idols worshiped by the Arabian people for centuries before Muhammad was born. Many do not know that Allah was the mood god of the Arabians. This explains the crescent moon found on minarets and mosques.”
Thus Christians should want to really use the word Allah for the God of the Bible since the god Allah is just a false pagan mood god
Burt says
Yet again another example of harm to the faithful wrought by Modernist traitors to Catholic tradition. By almost completely abandoning the historical language of the Church, Latin. The Catholics of Malaysia should have no problem they just need to use Latin to refer to God. It still is the official language of the Church even according to Vatican II.
Then they might be able to avoid this nasty little trap set up by their Islamic government devised as just another means of persecuting the followers of Christ. Our Lord did make clear just as the satanically influenced world hated Him, it will also hate His followers.
dumbledoresarmy says
Why should the Church Universal be bound to *Latin*?? That would be a mimicking of Islam, in which *Arabic* has been exalted over all other languages, and in which only the Arabic Koran is considered holy.
The Latin bible and liturgy were originally *translations* – created because *at the time of translation* that was the main language “of the people” in Rome and the western Roman empire.
The Latin Bible was itself a *translation* – from the Greek Septuagint (until Jerome went back to the Hebrew original) and the Greek New Testament.
When the language situation in western Europe changed it made sense to translate the Bible again…into the languages of the peoples. *Precisely* as it had *originally* been translated into latin, and for the *same* reason: so that people might hear the Word in their mother tongue. When Latin ceased to be the “mother tongue”, then, to be blunt, the Bible needed to be *retranslated*.
In the East, the Copts used Coptic until the Muslims forced them to become Arabic speakers. The Syriac Churches still speak Syriac, which is neither Greek nor Latin. When the Byzantine church evangelised the Balkans and Russia, the liturgy and scripture were translated into the languages of those peoples. Armenians and Georgians worship and read Scripture in Armenian and Georgian. Do you suppose they are doing wrong, by so doing?
Or is it not simply an ongoing manifestation of what happened on the day of Pentecost, when a crowd of people from many different countries heard the wonderful works of God being proclaimed…each one in his own native language and dialect?
Ever visited the Bible Society website? The work of translation continues, all over the world, for the very good reason that it is necessary for the church to strike deep roots among any people. Just recently, in Australia, the Christians among a very small aboriginal people-group, the Gunwinggu of the Northern Territory, are rejoicing because the New Testament has at last been translated into *their* mother tongue .. now they can readily understand what it means, and deepen their understanding of their faith.
Thinking From First Principles says
I agree with not using the ‘a’ word.
One other person in the discussion picked up on the important point regarding the death penalty for apostasy. Since Muslims themselves expect that Islam will become extinct in the absence of a death penalty for apostasy, that is the kryptonite for Islam. The counter-jihad movement will do well to enlist the liberal media in a vigorous campaign to declare any religious coercion as a crime against humanity – and especially in calling for a global ban on any penalty for apostasy. This should be made the defining question for politicians running in the 2014 and 2016 elections – “Do you support a UN Resolution banning religious coercion as a crime against humanity?” Stated as such it is clearly not targeted at just one religion, and is consistent will all of the values of freedom espoused by conservatives and liberals alike. The best defense is a good offense, and here is a case where that can be done on a philosophical basis against the most important piece of the philosophy of hate.
apran says
I think the Christian should fight back by not using any Islamic name to anything related to Christian to show that Islam is wrong.
For example, in Indonesia, the government uses the name Isa al Masih for Christian related holiday, the Christian should demand that that the government changes it to Yesus Kristus. If the same case applies in Malaysia, the Christian should demand the change.
Using Islamic names in Christianity is a kind of recognizing Islam’s soverignity, it is time to fight back.
Tradewinds says
Don’t worry insane Mohammedans – I would never defame Jesus (God) by calling Him your moon deity’s name. So, cool your jets. Figuratively and literally.
P.S. Have you people ever thought about seeing a psychiatrist?
Champ says
LOL!!!! 😀
Tradewinds says
Glad you enjoyed, Champ!
Martin Hanson says
Who the hell do they think they are? Allah be buggered!
Ron Barak says
” A religion that needs a death penalty for apostasy … is desperately insecure.”
That may also explain the monotonic growth of Islam: if none is leaving (alive), and some (misguided?) are joining, than the number of people identified as belonging to Islam will invariably grow.
redjupiter says
I agree with them. Allah is an Islamic deity and has nothing to do with the Christian’s or Jewish God. In my country we never, ever , ever refer to GOD (rab in Arabic) as Allah even though we were Arabised. ALLAG means muslim FULL STOP.
Elise says
How many Islamic tales have been stolen from the Old Testament and fabricated as Islamic? Let Muslims use the word Allah for it only belongs to the liar and corrupter Satan. One can certainly see from the misguided, violent, selfish, undisciplined, non compassionate lives that Muslims must live that Allah is a false God. If there is a God, the creator, he or she created men and women with the intelligence and compassion to use free will to make earth a better place for all. Many of the rules from the Old Testament are not followed by Christians and Jews today,because we have KNOWLEDGE and COMPASSION.
A real loving God would not force women to cover their faces and bodies to protect men from their cowardly inabilities to control their sexual desires. Why is it in Muslim countries that women covered with rugs or wearing Western dress get harassed by men? Perhaps they should spend some prayer time to ask God for self discipline instead of blaming women for their troubles.
Those of us who believe in Jesus are not promised a place in Heaven based on how many nonbelievers or Jews that we kill. Christians are not murdered for questioning their faith or questioning something written in the Bible. A religious belief like Islam that promotes hatred and the murder of nonbelievers, as a way to enter Paradise, makes Allah appear to be the Devil. Allah is not my God, no matter how much the Muslims steal names and stories from the Old Testament. God is love Allah is hate.
Reality Check says
That was a wonderful post. Elise! Thank you so much!
Martin Hanson says
Heaven protect us from Allah!
Brother Mark:) says
For those of us here that believe that “Allah” is the name of a moon god, I will offer you this:
http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Sources/alaha.html
Lets not forget that a Malaysian mufti has issued a decree declaring 40 words that can’t be used by the non Muslim:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/01/malaysia-mufti-forbids-non-muslims-to-use-40-words-including-allah-quran-and-sharia-on-pain-of-fines
“The words are among the 40 decreed by the Penang mufti, as provided under subsection 48(3) and (4) of the Penang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, as exclusive to Muslims.
The other words are “Allah”, “Firman Allah”, “Ulama”, “Hadith”, “Ibadah”, “Kaabah”, “Qadhi’”, “Illahi”, “Wahyu”, “Mubaligh”, “Syariah”, “Qiblat”, “Haji”, “Mufti”, “Rasul”, “Iman”, “Dakwah”, “Wali”, “Fatwa”, “Imam”, “Nabi”, “Sheikh”, “Khutbah”, “Tabligh”, “Akhirat”, “Azan”, “Al Quran”, “As Sunnah”, “Auliya’”, “Karamah”, “Syahadah”, “Baitullah”, “Musolla”, “Zakat Fitrah”, “Hajjah”, “Taqwa” and “Soleh”.
A Penang Mufti’s Department spokesman said besides prohibited from using the words, non-Muslims were also forbidden to write or publish any of the words in any form, version or translation in any language or for use in any publicity material in any medium, including print, electronic and any form, that could insult the sanctity of Islam.
The decree was enforced on April 29, 2010.
Those found flouting the decree would be charged under Section 3 of the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment (Penang) 1996.
The section says any person, whether he or she is Muslim or not, who develops doctrines or religious beliefs other than Islamic religious doctrine or belief among Muslims is guilty of an offence triable in the civil court and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding RM3,000 or imprisonment not exceeding two years or both.”
and as well, the state of Kelantan in Malaysia has enforced the law prohibiting non-Muslims from using 24 Islamic words and phrases, including “Allah” for more than 30 years.
The thing that I believe should be the main issue here really, is that ANY religion could ever be so self righteous, and supremacist as to think that it could not just use but own a language to the extent that others not of their belief should be banned from using certain words, because only THEY have the right to do so. THIS is a classic demonstration of fundamentalist Islam.
Brother Mark:)
talktruthful.com