Source: Daily Times

Starting with Ahmadis, the heat has now started reaching the Christians in Malaysia, which, in time, will reach other faiths and doctrines as well 

A Malaysian appeals court has ruled that non-Muslims cannot use the word Allah to refer to God, even in their own faiths, overturning a 2009 lower court ruling. In 2009, The Herald, a Catholic newspaper, was prohibited by the Malaysian government from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Malay-language edition to describe God. The newspaper took the matter to court, and a court ruled in its favour in December 2009. The government launched an appeal. The appeals court has now ruled that the term Allah must be exclusive to Islam or it could cause public disorder.

The sane can only wonder how referring to God by His personal name can cause disorder in a community when the Holy Quran makes this call to the Jews and Christians: “O People of the Book! Come to a word equal between us and you — that we worship none but Allah, and that we associate no partner with Him, and that some of us take not others for Lords beside Allah. But if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we have submitted to God’” (3:64).

In Malaysia, people of all faiths use the word Allah in Malay to refer to their God. The Christians argue that they have used the word, which entered Malay from Arabic, to refer to God for centuries but the appeal court said, “The usage of the word Allah is not an integral part of the faith in Christianity.” The court ruled that the constitutional rights of the publisher had not been infringed. Lawyers for the Catholic paper had argued that the word Allah predated Islam and had been used extensively by Malay-speaking Christians in Malaysia’s part of Borneo for centuries. It gave no consideration to the fact that Malay-language Bibles have used Allah to refer to God since before Malaysia was formed. The Christians, who form around nine percent of the Malaysian population, have said that they will appeal. Churches in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak have said that they will continue to use the word regardless of the ruling. Obviously, with a sharpened tool in the hands of the extremists, this means trouble for Malaysia.

Christians in Indonesia and much of the Arab world continue to use the word Allah without any government opposition. Imagine the implications of such a ban if it were to happen in Lebanon with its around 40 percent Christian population, all of whom use the word Allah to describe God not only in their religious books but also in everyday conversation.

Read further