Malaysia fights right of Catholics to call God 'Allah'
The government of Malaysia is fighting a court ruling that allowed non-Muslims to use the word Allah to refer to God, a decision that triggered protests in the Muslim-majority country, the Associated Press reports.
In an appeal filed Monday, the government says “Allah” is an Islamic word and implies that its use by others could be used to convert Muslims to other religions. “Allah,” an Arabic word, predates Islam and is used by Arabic-speaking Christians in places such as Egypt and Syria.
The Malaysian High Court ruled last month that a newspaper published by the Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur could use it as a name for God.
Subsequent protests by Muslim groups, although peaceful, have raised fears of friction between the Malay Muslim majority and the large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who mainly practice Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Religious minorities and some moderate Muslims welcomed the High Court decision.
Comments
Heck, this fight is a supreme example of why the religious all over this vast globe are inane and practice a form of juvenile delinquency. The Catholics as usual are devious--why the hell do they want to call god Allah, if not to convince Muslims, a rose presented by any other religion is exactly the same as a rose presented at their mosques--subterfuge, the Catholic bishops are masters at this game-- conversion is their occupation--desperate are the Christians of the depleted churches of the West to nab some souls for themselves-- Asia and Africa are the new hunting grounds for the cheetahs of the the Western churches--they want permission to call God Allah? I need no permission to call them crooks.
Ravensfan Anon
Posted by: Anonymous | January 5, 2010 7:27 PM
Ravensfan Anon - Someone who openly mocks what others value in an inane attempt to set their own views up as superior also practices a form of juvenile delinquency. I am assuming you aren't so ignorant as to not realize that 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 also was used by pagan Meccans as a reference to possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia.
There’s nothing like reading the ramblings of a self righteous atheist showing the world why atheism is and will always be a footnote in human history.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 6, 2010 11:24 AM
Hey Anonymous,
I have a new moniker for you--Pagan Meccan Anon--we are talking of Malaysia here Anon--not of pagan Mecca and not of pre-Islamic Saudi Arabia nor of Syria or Egypt. If it was natural as breathing to the Christians of Malaysia to call God Allah they wouldn't be running around asking legal permission to do so. The type of Islam in South Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia is less Abrahamic and more local in flavor, with its own unique character than you seem to realize Anon--there Allah belongs with the Muslims and when the Christians pop up to suggest otherwise the battle is on--as it is always on among the inane and the religious--the two words being synonymous Anonymous. Wow--I love that--what rhymes you inspire my man, (or woman).
Ravensfan Anon
Posted by: Anonymous | January 6, 2010 8:55 PM