Hindu Indians predate Arabs and shape the Malay language more
profoundly than Arab which meant that Allah had never been the word
for God in Malay.
The word for God in Malay is Tuhan or Dewa.
And the Arabs didn't come as Arabs but as preachers so they don't
bring with them the Arabic pagan description of Allah, let alone the
other number of gods that the pagan Arabs pray to.
The Arabic word for God is ILA, and Muslims use this word more than 5
times a year in their daily prayers. Allah is a special name for God
with pure monotheistic properties not to be shared with other
religions,
because it shaped the belief of Muslims.
Allah is one of the many god's names in Arabic, but why on earth did
the Christians use Allah as a translation of God as stated in the
English Bible.
We are talking about Malay translation where Allah has always been the
name of the MUSLIM god, not God itself. For God the Malays use Tuhan,
and Malays use it everyday again in their prayers in Malay.
In Arabic Muslims use the word ILA to mean God, nor ALLAH.
Why should Christians want to mis translate Allah into God in Arabic
and Malay, and why only translate it in Muslim majority areas, if not
to mislead Muslims and non-Muslims alike that the Christian God is
exactly the same as the Muslim God.
The damage could already had been done. Many Christians in Malaysia
and Indonesia already believe that Allah is the same in Islam and
Christianity which implies that Islam also accepts Trinity concept.
This is blasphemy of the highest kind in Islam. Any of such Christians
should be reoriented to the correct Christianity teaching instead of
confusing it with Islam. Just because it is done in public does not
mean that it is right. In fact it is worse.
Any Christians, who think that their God is exactly the same as the
Muslim God is being Misled and cheated of the highest kind as well and
must be stopped and corrected. It is not fair to these Christians and
to Muslims.
The only way out is for them to choose other names of God to represent
the Chrisitan gods, just like the Arabs who use adjectives in addition
to Allah-Alhab(Allah the father) in order to distinguish their God
from the Muslim God. That is more fair.
Global News Blog
Malaysia Catholics allowed to call God 'Allah' again. Why the fuss?
Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, worships the God of Abraham. So
why is Malaysia's government trying to prevent Catholics from calling
God 'Allah?'
PrintBuzz up! PermissionsEmail and shareRSS
By Dan Murphy Staff writer / January 4, 2010
After a three-year battle, the Roman Catholic church in Malaysia won
back the right to use the long-standing Malay-language word for God:
"Allah."
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A judge, responding to a suit filed by the editor of The Herald, a
Catholic weekly distributed primarily to Catholics in the Malaysian
portions of Borneo, found that an earlier government restriction
allowing the term only to be used by Muslims was unconstitutional.
But the freedom to use what is commonly understood to be the generic
word for the God of Abraham – in both Malaysian and in the closely
related language of Indonesian – may not last long. On Jan. 4, the
government said it would appeal the ruling. The official state news
agency Bernama reported that "the Home Minister had justified the ban
on grounds of national security and to avoid misunderstanding and
confusion among Muslims."
The government's sensitivity on the issue seems to have less to do
with linguistic precision and more to do with the complicated role
Islam has come to play in Malaysia's political life. The country is
about 60 percent Muslim, with most adherents belonging to the ethnic-
Malay majority. But a sizable number of ethnic Malays on Borneo are
Christian, both members of the Catholic church and various Protestant
groups. A large portion of the country's ethnic-Chinese minority are
Christians as well, with a smaller group of its ethnic-Indian
population adhering to the faith.
The Malay word for "god" has been "Allah" for centuries, reflecting
the strong Arab linguistic and cultural influence on the Malay
Peninsula and the sprawling string of Islands in the area once known
as the Malay Archipelago but now mostly controlled by modern
Indonesia. Arab traders came to dominate the important Malacca Strait
in the 13th and 14th centuries, which linked the markets of Asia to
the Middle East and Europe, leading to both the spread of Islam and of
Arabic influence on local languages throughout the islands.
"Allah yang maha kuasa," or "almighty God," is a phrase that is
typically heard in Catholic churches in Sarawak, Borneo, and in
Protestant churches on Sumatra in Indonesia. The word "Allah" of
course, is also voiced to the heavens by Palestinian Christians in
Bethlehem at Christmas and is used by the Eastern Orthodox Christians
in Egypt, commonly referred to as Copts.
That this use of "Allah" is largely uncontroversial in the Arab world,
which has plenty of religious conflicts of its own, points to the
unusual nature of the Malaysian government's effort.
Political Islam has become a more important force in Malaysian society
in the past 30 years, and Malaysia operates under two sets of law –
one for Muslims, and one for everyone else. Alcohol is freely
available in much of the country, though it's technically illegal for
Muslims to drink it. That distinction led to a Muslim woman, who had
ordered a beer in a Kuala Lumpur restaurant, to almost be caned last
year. Malaysia also has a number of casinos, but national identity
cards are checked at the door to keep Muslims out.
The most militant of Malaysia's Muslims have warned of efforts to
"Christianize" the country and alleged at the time the government
banned the Catholic use of the word "Allah" that its use was
deliberately confusing and could be used in an effort to win converts.
The Catholic church in Malaysia has argued that it was simply using
the word best understood by its parishioners.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) is the most powerful group
pushing for Islam to have greater influence over Malaysia's political
life, and currently has 23 seats in the national Parliament. PAS has
favored the ban in the past, and in a statement on Monday said it was
"disappointed" with the high court ruling but urged followers to stay
calm.
"PAS is worried that allowing the use of the name Allah in this
publication will create confusion among Muslims, especially among
converts and those wanting to draw closer to Islam,'' the Party said
in a statement. The party said restrictions on use of the word are
important to "close the door to wickedness for the Muslim community"
and added that "it needs to be stressed that PAS is not opposed to
freedom of religion."
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